Back to the 70s and 80's!

Well my music choice for today's model making session was Hits of the 70s, An anthology of Supertramp and Sound of the Suburbs! That all added up to about 4 hours of music/model making as the Hits of the 70s tape is a double one.

The time saw me complete the engine and gearbox of the present build of the K5053 and even get as far as starting part of the chassis with the winch which fits in-between the chassis rails. 

The next stage with the engine and gearbox is to get it painted The instructions don't indicate what colour it should be but a brief internet search reveals that the colour is usually aluminum/silver as I guess the components are mostly aluminum! A coat of black primer should give a good base for the aluminum paint that I will be using and then it will be picking out the few components such as hoses and fluid reservoirs in the appropriate colours. Having used a magnifying glass to see various parts of the engine I can see the hose clamps have even been included on the moulding. I continue to be impressed by both the quality of the mouldings, their detail and the fit of them. Despite so many parts the locations are all positive and when you bring sub assemblies together all the parts meet up where they should which given my ability to get things wrong is amazing! Hopefully the rest of the build proves as good as these first stages. There are a couple of small areas at the bottom of the engine where I had to fill a gap in the plastic. For these small areas my filler of choice is Vallejo acrylic putty which literally can be brushed into place, dries quickly and sands easily to a smooth finish. 

I have now completed up to Section 11 on the plans which totals about 50 parts so far. Given that there are 69 sections in the plans and over 400 parts there is still a long way to go! Good job I have a few hundred music cassettes to go through before I even start on the CDs!

Finish it Friday

I am guessing that most modelers have them - a model or two or even more that sit on a shelf or in a box just waiting for a few small jobs to finish them. I have to admit with the number I have I probably bump up any averaging calculation by an immense amount. However with today being Friday and there being no such thing as Model Kit SOS (now there's an idea for a TV show!) I thought it about time to start lowering that average with a 'Finish it Friday' project. The lucky recipient for todays attention  was a Revell 1/25 scale Kenworth Dump Truck kit number 07406. I built this back in about 2015 and for some reason never got round to adding some steps and ladders to the chassis and tipper body and applying some final transfers or are they now decals - shows my age! Anyway for reasons that probably made some sense to me at the time the truck went on a shelf and the steps and decals hung around the work bench for nearly 5 years including surviving the work bench moving without being lost! Today in little less than an hour the steps were added and the decals applied. Job done - well almost - just have to straighten the CB aerial that I see to have knocked and only just noticed as I uploaded the photographs! Oh well! 

From the point of view of the kit it certainly is not the best and shows its origins from the 80's. There are only half formed brake cylinders so if you look inside the chassis there are just holes where the rest of the cylinders should be. The tyres do not sit on the wheel rims very well. As with most kits with vast amounts of chromed parts the designers always seem to have the part attached to the spru so that when removed the loss of the chrome is very visible. However for all of its faults it still builds up into an impressive truck with that full on American look. No weathering (apart from a dilute wash of balck on the radiator grill) as these guys keep their rigs uber clean in real life.

On the Volvo front there has been some movement. Unlike the Kenworth dump truck above the Volvo FH 16 will be showing evidence of a working life where cleaning is something for the outside bits like the cab and side skirts. The chassis is being treated to some airbrushing, washes and weathering at the moment. Still more to do but there is progress.

Whether next week will se another 'Finish it Friday' is uncertain but at least there is now one less model awaiting! Do you have any models in a similar situation? Let me know in the comments section.