Trumpeter Cougar AVGP

[Beobachtungsbereich]

I used to rip the cones off the antennas. They were useless.

What you could do is use a bit of glue and dip the tip in it and let it dry upside down to form the tear drop shape.

As for antenna tie downs...perhaps some scrap PE frames cut to size and bent?

Regards

 

[NecronautDrummer]

also look at teh back of the styrene pack it should say what is 1/35 scale the big pack has it listed

Well, look at that! Never noticed it before. I was trying to match a wire thickness to what was on the sprue. And look at all those goodies from RB! Thanks again, Spud!

I used to rip the cones off the antennas. They were useless.

What you could do is use a bit of glue and dip the tip in it and let it dry upside down to form the tear drop shape.

As for antenna tie downs...perhaps some scrap PE frames cut to size and bent?

Regards

That's in fact what I was going to do if I couldn't find anything else: dip the antenna end in PVA repeatedly, and just cut & bend a PE sprue piece for the tie-down. However, I'll definitely check out some craft stores for some beads of the right size and shape!

I once left the ball end off while prepping a vehicle for exercise. My thought was that it's just another thing we'd potentially lose while training, and it didn't seem to increase reception or transmitting, so we'd keep it stashed somewhere safe. My crew commander agreed. Useless or not, I must say that my troop commander was not very happy with me because of that... :

Won't make any progress on this build until tonight. Fortis (one of our utility companies out here in sunny Alberta) is cutting power and gas services to the town for a couple hours this afternoon, so I won't be doing any building until later tonight. Cheers!

 

[NecronautDrummer]

I've stalled. I'm waiting on some mail-order goodies (tools, PE, and other parts for the build), and trying to get an old airbrush I found up and running again, since the lower hull is ready for some paint. I don't want to progress too far, or I'll have a heck of a time trying to get primer and paint in some of those nooks and crannies.

And I'm having a heck of a time with the plastic handles, they're too small to properly sand and smooth. I'm just gonna use wire. Now, I thought I had some CA glue around here... nope. Need some of that too. :

 

[spud]

defo get that ab up and running and practice on some card if you never used one before.

 

[NecronautDrummer]

I had one of the Testors Model Master airbrushes from the mid-90's, back when I first got serious with modelling. Pretty much this type:

I couldn't even find the proper one on Google Image Search, the suck factor was so high. See how they obviously had to add in the spray from the nozzle in the box art? That's cuz it wouldn't work!!
It was cool for about the first five passes, but I just couldn't clean it properly. The entire body and nozzle were sealed units, you see. I can't count how many $15 nozzles I went through to keep it functioning:

At one point, I'm sure my LHS was only stocking the tips for me, cuz I just didn't know any better at the time. If I somehow appeased and appropriately honored the airbrush gods, it MIGHT spray paint. If it did, I used it on my models, no matter how splotchy or spattery the spray was. Out of frustration, I went back to rattle cans after a couple years.

All in all, I never practiced with it, simply because just getting it to work was such a chore. I didn't feel like I could waste an opportunity of having it work, just for mere practice.

It'll be a couple weeks yet, but I'll see if the old Holbein airbrush http://www.scalemodeladdict.com/forum/index.php/topic,4132.0.html can be resurrected, without having to throw too much money at it.

 

[Myke]

Testors have cornered the market on disposable airbrushes. I tried using one of those back in the day too when they first came out (ignorantly thinking they were the next big thing), and had the same issues. Hated it.
If you are looking for a decent airbrush for cheap, Badger has some good ones.

 

[NecronautDrummer]

Too late. I just found a Paasche talon with all 3 tip sizes for a deal way too good to pass up. I seriously looked at the Badger 100 series, and I still might ask for a 100 side feed for Christmas, just because

Testors have cornered the market on disposable airbrushes. I tried using one of those back in the day too when they first came out (ignorantly thinking they were the next big thing), and had the same issues. Hated it.

Oh, thank goodness. For a while there, I was thinking that I was just a big airbrush idiot/bigot, hating so much on the Testors airbrushes. It's all worth it to know that at least one other person out there shared my pain

Hey everyone, thanks for putting up with my long-winded posts. While modelling keeps me off the streets at night (and is dang cool and fun!), I've found over the last few years that just writing out my train of thought gives me some free therapy, and clears and focuses my head. Heck, sometimes, just writing about a problem and some of the various ways it could be solved sometimes gets me to an answer before anyone else posts. The odd time, I can even offer an unlikely tip: for example, did you know that lighter fluid could be used as an enamel paint thinner for airbrushing? It also flattens glossy or semi-gloss enamels.

I am in no way responsible for any jet action or flame-outs due to this tip, whether used in a commercial spraybooth, a DIY spraybooth, or just having a lit cigarette around while airbrushing

 

[NecronautDrummer]

Just a quick update on my progress over the past night...


I added the driver's hatch lock-down using styrene rod and a former piece of hatch handle.


I sanded off the extra tie-downs molded at the front of the hull. Methinks I'll be sanding off the rest of them and replacing then with some cut-up channel instead. The spacing of them is all off on the driver side. More to follow on that little experiment.



I can't seem to get the kit-supplied handles to look good (I can't sand them properly, they're too small!! :'( ) So instead, I've replaced all the latches and added the ones the kit forgot with brass rod, and built some loops to sit on top of the engine grille (the kit neglected that detail too). However, they seem too big. I might try bending up a piece of unwound guitar string instead, and see if I can tighten up the loops a bit.

The lower hull's as finished as I want it to be before I paint some of the nooks and crannies. However, it'll be a couple weeks before i have my Mr. Surfacer, airbrush, and paints, so no colour for a while. And the old Holbein airbrush I found in a back room at work is currently soaking in a restorer bath overnight.

Since it's on my mind right now, I'll ask everyone: I know I'll need a true primer (unlike GW Basecoat) to get the paint to bite onto the metal and PE parts. Will the Vallejo primers (the kind you can pretty much airbrush straight from the bottle) work, or should I just go with a rattle can of Krylon primer?

Later this week, I'll be adding the bits of channel to sub in as tie-down loops. I think the size I have will scale nicely, and add some more authenticity. If it doesn't work, I already have a few sets of the resin loops (both styles) on order from Tiger Models, along with some chain for the rear hatch handles (Thanks, MadMan!).

I feel like I'm falling behind, compared to a lot of the armour builds here... ??? Meh, I have until February. Plenty of time. ;D

 

[Leighbo]

Interesting subject, looking forward to seeing the progress!

 

[TRM]

Making some nice progress ND!! Nice fix on the handles!!!

 

[Beobachtungsbereich]

Very nice detail! I wouldn't worry too much about the grill lift points. They were pretty much the same size on some of the Cougars.

I don't know if you have any photos of it, but there was an air nozzel infront of the center episcope for blowing air and act as a wiper (it didn't work very well, but it was better than nothing).

What are you planning on using for the engine grill blast plate?

This build is inspiring me to make this kit circa Oka timeframe....the wife is going to kill me. ;D

Regards

 

[NecronautDrummer]

What are you planning on using for the engine grill blast plate?

That was one of the details the kit supplied ;D . I just haven't got around to putting it on (same with the wire cutter, pioneer tool clips, etc). I want to get the tie-downs done before any of that, since it'll require a lot of handling & sanding of the model. And small details will inevitably break off if they're put on before this, IMHO.

 

[NecronautDrummer]

I don't know if you have any photos of it, but there was an air nozzel infront of the center episcope for blowing air and act as a wiper (it didn't work very well, but it was better than nothing).

Yeah, I do remember that little part (along with the windscreen power socket). I'll do the power socket once I get my circular punch from MicroMark. As for the air nozzle, I'm not sure. None of the scratch material I have is that small. I don't know, we'll see....

Thanks everyone!

 

[Myke]

Coming along really nice mate! I wouldn't worry to much about falling behind, like you said you have till Feb. haha.

In terms of primers, I'm not sure how good Vallejo is on metals, but I can say that Tamiya is the best primer on the market and it's great for metal and plastic.

 

[NecronautDrummer]

I have a bottle of tamiya's surface primer here, but I was hoping I wouldn't have to airbrush a lacquer. Although, I'll be airbrushing in a dedicated fume hood at school over winter anyways so the fumes wouldn't matter too much (too cold to open windows up here in Canuck prairie country come November or December).

Or were you referring to tamiya primer rattle cans?

Regardless, I'd better get dinner going, and watch my latest acquisition, Batman: Year One. After that, off to the workbench. Should have pics up from my progress later tonight. Cheers!

 

[Myke]

I've sprayed the Tamiya white primer once through the airbrush and didn't like it. I use the gray and shoot it straight out of the rattle can. I think it is possibly the best product out there for model building. Stuff is amazing.

 

[NecronautDrummer]

Pics later tonight, I promise!! Ended up building into the wee hours last night, and needed to get to bed. But the tie-downs look really good! ;D

 

[J14]

Looking forward to seeing it. I really want this kit, but I have promised myself no new stuff till I finish the 4 shelf queens that stare at me everytime I go in the man cave.

 

[NecronautDrummer]

As promised, the tie-down experiment...

I used Plastruct centre channel plastic strip as a starting point for the tie-downs. The edges are a 90 degree angle, so I smoothed them down into a curve before slicing 1 mm thick wafers off the strip, making sure I was cutting at a right angle. A little Extra-thin was applied to the spot on the hull, then I stuck on each piece with a set of tweezers. I didn't tape a line down for myself to follow, although in retrospect, I probably should have. Oh well, they look pretty good as an add-on, and they look EXACTLY like our old hull tie-downs! ;D I might replace the bottom 3 on the above pic, as they were my first three, and not quite as uniform as the other ones applied to the rest of the hull.


Just a shot of the front of the hull. I dry-fitted the turret bottom half, breech shield and main gun to make sure the engine grille blast plate was positioned correctly. As well, I'm filling in some holes on the hull. The sides are supposed to receive jerry can mounts according to the kit instructions, but they'll instead be fitted onto the sides of the turret storage box, where they usually were attached on the real thing. As well, you'll see some bondo glze on the top of the hull. That's where the pioneer tool mounts will be. Instead of using the kit-supplied pioneer tools, I'll use the photo-etch tool mounts from Eduard's Revell Scorpion PE set. As previously stated in an earlier post (or thread?), we tended to keep our tools inside the vehicle, rather than on top of the hard-to-reach 8-foot hull. We had TONS of room inside, for 3-day exercises, at least.

No more posts until next week, unfortunately. Instead, I'm gonna win... in Sin City! 8)

 

[Quaralane]

Looking good