Morn All,
I do hope all of your goosebumps have gone down and things are back to normal. Been driving on (with my eyes closed), but first a few words from the sponsor(s)
Rick, Thanks buddy! Yea, I guess I don't have any other choice but to keep on going with the Beast. All of the links are finally done.......
Paul and Tim, I'm starting to worry about you two. At first, I thought Paul OD'd on dark chocolates while typing the end of his post and having flashbacks of Fair Maidens and such. Then Tim, you jump in and support it. Easy on the tutti's buddy. It's over my head, but cool all the same???....
Richard, I can't say much about the Italeri kit, but the Trumpeter kit basics have been molded in many of their KVII based kits. Funny is that JR's and Tim's kits have Link and length tracks and JR's has rubber ones too. My kit was made in the middle of theirs and has indy links. That's a 13 year timespan. Go figure...........
David, Thank you for the offer and for the heads up. I guess I will have to try it out and see for myself. Luckily, it wasn't that expensive. Most of the time, I use my pliers for bending etch and making handles too.....
Dude 2, Come on John, David's always polite and straightforward too. That's why we like him..........
Jakko, That's the set I bought and as I said, wasn't too expensive. I'll have to do a test with them. Thanks for posting up the photo. You got the back side of the stage in it. I have a few of the front side and they were taken with a 126 camera too. I just cant find my negatives to copy them though. I have a banana carton full of pictures and it's tough as I am trying to digitalize them with a scanner for my kids. Too many negatives, too little time I'm afraid.................
With the Nasty finally done, it was time to put all the bits together into two runs of tracks. 88 links, 44 w/horn and 44 w/o each. The links really go together well with just pressing them into one another and form some good runs. I used an aluminum strip to keep them straight if they wander. I normally use MIG extra thin for my work, but for the tracks, I switched to TET as the MIG dries in 7 minutes and the TET in about 10 or more. Worked out perfectly,
View attachment 445296
Here the bottom run is on and drying. To the right is the other bottom run. You can see how the tracks push together and even stay straight without glue against the alu strip. The downside is they are extremely light and hard to hold in place on the road wheels. With Friuls, you have the weight to help and you can do the whole run at one time. Anyway, the damn hull kept slipping around as I worked so I found a solution for that,
View attachment 445297Throw some weight in it to hold it still. That worked and I could do the top runs and add the sag these puppy's normally had. Above, is the other run made in two pieces too, so you can paint them and add them before the fenders are added. If you glue the fenders on first, you can't get them on with the sag in 'em. I'll tack the fenders on for hissy stick work and then, after the tracks are mounted, glue them on permanently.......
There is a dust/rain cover on the gun mantlet and if you glue it in place, you can't elevate the gun. Out with the micro drill bit and made it hinge by drilling it out. I used a 4mm long bit of brass wire for the pin,
View attachment 445298
It moves and I'm happy with that.........
Slowly we are getting somewhere, but still a lot to do. Thanks again for looking in and the comments. I also hope the Orffs and tuttis are wearing off, LMAO!!! Keep all the C, C and abuse coming as it motivates me to no end!!! Have a good one............................
Na Zdorovie (Prost)
Allen(ski) Pres.
RBB Factory #69