Maybe I should not be surprised that there is still much to do!

Well, I surprised myself in that the main parts of the A39 Tortoise are now together!

It is now at a stage where there are some parts that still need to be added such as the side skirts, towing cables, spare track links and fire extinguishers but these are best left off to paint separately. As I posted earlier in the build, the running gear still needs adding but again it needs to be painted separately before being put in place. And then of course there are the tracks which are individual links that need cutting off the sprue, cleaning and gluing together! Maybe I should not be surprised that there is still much to do! 

More parts added to the Tortoise!

 More parts added to this beast of a machine! 

The rear end is getting towards being finished with the final towing arrangement fitted in the middle. There were 13 parts to this and yes it does move and rotate as MENG intended it to which caused me some headaches to achieve though! The exhaust which is to the left on the cutting mat, need a bit more work as I literally sanded parts of it so thin to get rid of a joint that it almost collapsed! However, once done, that should really add to the rear end.

A few other parts to the sides and front have also been fitted but those 6 large holes are for the spare track links which were carried on the side of the body. To make painting easier I will be adding those after the painting is done.

Right! back to the slow slog of adding all those small parts!

Dilapidated but working just and that is just like me!

 Out with Mrs. Woody for a drive out and some lunch as it was her birthday I could not help but appreciate the day not only for Mrs. W's special day but because despite being mid October it was a stunning day weatherwise!

What cloud there was had something special about it and which I can remember being taught about at school!

Dropping in on Wymondham Windmill I took, what for me is a good photo - well I think anyway! Love that mackerel sky which according to Google consists of multiple rows of cirrocumulus or altocumulus clouds in an undulating, rippling pattern resembling fish scales - just as I recall from my school days!

That cloud was still about as we ended up at Whissendine windmill. 

It is a working windmill despite two of its sails having been taken off and laying in the yard presumably waiting repairs. It would certainly make an interesting model to build - dilapidated but working just and that is just like me!

There is that Mackerel Sky again.

You can go inside and wander about and when we were there it was grinding floor which is for sale at £5.50 a kilo.

There is obviously a lot of history to the mill and when we have some more time we will come back. Mrs W was ready for her birthday lunch which was much enjoyed at....

gf

Slowly this kit comes together!

 Slowly this kit comes together. 

The various holes in the body are being filled in by hatches and other parts. Still more to go - ibn fact surprisingly more than I though when I first opened the kit box!

That is where the machine gun turret that I posted about yesterday fits. It looks tiny in comparison to its surroundings.

The towing points are massive in relation to any other I have dealt with on a model but I guess with a weight of 78 tons for the real tanks they had to be massive. The three on the front are finished.

The two on the back however do need to be finished and there are still more holes to be filled with parts! They will eventually!

Almost a kit on its own!

For an assault gun, the A39 Tortoise had a fair amount of defensive armament including a small, rotating secondary machine gun turret mounted on the roof of its casemate superstructure, alongside a third machine gun mounted in the front hull plate. The crew of seven included two machine gunners to operate them. Unusual but the turret does make a nice model in its own right! There are about 30 parts to make this!

The turret also features a 6-barrel smoke discharger cluster (or smoke bomb launcher bank) directly attached to its side.  Alongside this smoke grenade unit, the secondary turret houses twin 7.92mm BESA machine guns. Because this small turret is capable of 360-degree rotation, the attached smoke discharger unit could pop smoke screen cover in any direction the machine gunner or commander faced, adding vital tactical flexibility to an otherwise slow, 78-ton vehicle!

It should look good once added to the main part of the body!

Why, as modellers do we do this?

Why, as modellers do we do this? What's that Woody, you may ask, or maybe not! However, the answer is to put ourselves through all sorts of tiny manipulations involving magnification aids that then result in parts flying off over the floor requiring on the knee searching or failing to fit as planned as the glue melts the wrong part of the piece gluing it to your finger and all of this then adds significant quantities to the swear jar! The end result is this in the case of the MENG A39 Tortoise!

Great, Woody! What's so hard about that? Well maybe look at this...

Yes! This travel support for the gun barrel can be opened or closed and the locking bolt works!

It may have taken two hours to get this together and it will probably lie on the model unused until the landfill site takes delivery in years to come but I know it is constructed and works like the tool maker envisaged!

Aat the moment it feels a bit....well tortoise in progress!

More small parts added to the A39 Tortoise although on a model like this the details seem to fade into the enormity of the vehicle!

Todays progress has seen various periscopes fitted to the upper part of the body along with various parts of towing eyes to the rear of the body as well as a few other unknown parts to the upper side of the main body.

It will eventually all go together ti make a great overall model but at the moment it feels a bit....well tortoise in progress!

Open the hatch! But why?

 

This is the commanders hatch to the A39 Tortoise Assault Gun. It may look fairly simple in nature but it took me two hours to build the 17, many tiny, parts that go together to form this simplistic looking part! I am not even sure why it is designed to open as there is no interior detail to this kit and more over, with reflection, why I took so much time and effort to ensure that it would open? Probably best not to ponder on that thought!

Adding it to the upper body does feel good as it brings the model that bit closer to being finished although there are still a number of large holes that will need something building to fill them! No doubt more multi part assemblies that will take hours to build. Tortoise by name, tortoise speed of build!

The gun is fitted!

 Like the tortoise this beast of a machine is named after my progress building the kit of it is slow! I have to admit that upon opening the box I did not think there were too many parts but there are more than I first thought! However, with the running gear constructed I can begin the perhaps speedier in terms of visual changes, build of the upper hull. With respect to the running gear, I have decided to leave it unattached to the lower hull for the moment which will make painting the eight running and return wheel structures along with the drive and idle wheels a much easier task. Careful masking of the lower hull where the running gear structures attach should mean a strong paint free gluing surface as I intend to paint that too before any gluing takes place. The irony is that most of the detail will be covered by the side skirts that attach to the hull! However, not being too sure at this stage as to how much these skirts will cover or not means that I am playing safe and painting everything!

Progress so far sees the front plate of the upper hull detailed with various lifting points and the gun has been constructed and fitted to the body.

I just need to fit the muzzle to the gun barrel but I need the glue to set that joins the two parts together before I can sand them smooth. A job for tomorrow!

I do believe that if you saw that coming in anger towards you a clean change of underwear would be advisable!

Moving on from the running gear of the MENG A39 Tortoise kit, I find myself taken aback by the sheer size of this beast of a machine. 

In real life 78 tons of weight, 32 feet of length, 12 feet of width and 10 feet of height meant that this was not an easy item to transport! Originally the 25 ordered were due to come into service in September 1945 and be used to destroy enemy fortified defences. However the end of the war reduced the order to 6 with one being sent to Germany were successful trials showed that the design was manufacturing matched expectations. Never the less the end of the war and the difficulty in transporting it resulted in no further vehicles being constructed. One remains at Bovington Tank Museum where it was overhauled in 2011 and now runs under its own power. Here is video on YouTube of it running at one of the Museums Tankfest events.

I do believe that if you saw that coming in anger towards you a clean change of underwear would be advisable! 

In the meantime I will carry on bullding this beast!