Work continues on the base for the Panzer Ferry with the base receiving some profiles to the sides. made from mounting card I sprayed the inside surface with acrylic primer to seal it as there would be some more filler added to bring the base and profiles together.
Once those were stuck in place the gaps were filled with more filler.
I will need to let that dry and then paint the surface which is a job for tomorrow as the Man Cave has reached temperatures even saunas have trouble getting too!
Following a couple of days for the glue to dry with several bricks added to keep everything flat,
...the diorama base for the Panzer Ferry kits was subjected to a bit more shaping. Nothing subtle was used! Just a large saw that made short work of bringing the foam to its required shape.
Whilst in Home bargains the other day I saw these tubs of ready mixed filler for a mere £1.29. At that price I thought that it might be useful for the diorama. So in amongst the carious Mrs. W essential items that were too good a bargain not to buy at that price that kept appearing in the trolley, two tubs of filler joined them.
The filler lived up to hopes and spread nicely from the tub.#
It starts to come together, which are my famous words where I think things are going well before some calamity strikes! However, no calamity so far, just progress with the Panzer Ferry where the stanchions are now in place along with ropes. I left the majority of the stanchions in the down position flat against the deck as the final diorama setting will be for the vehicles to be on land.
Hopefully, it will really start to come together once the diorama base is completed!
Recipe for a diorama. Take lots of bits of foam that you would normally throw out...
...select suitable pieces and place on a board...
...cut to rough shape and glue to board leaving it to dry for a day or two!
Once the glue is dry it can be carved to shape then covered in filler before being landscaped! Sounds simple saying it but not so simple to do!
There are three components to the Panzer Ferry. The actual barge and the two tracked boats that powered it across water. The barge was joined to the tracked boats by means of chains. One at each end of the boat and these were then attached to the arms that protruded from the side of the barge.
The problem with the kit parts is that they ate neither shaped to attach to the barge and their length is too much!
I had to shorten them - luckily I had not glued all the sections together - and then dip them in boiling water to soften the plastic so I could bend it. Mrs. Woody's coffee cup came in very useful - just hope she doesn't read this!
After some time this is what I was left with! I really need to get that base started now.
Not exactly a lot to blog about as it has been a day of gardening! But, I did manage to paint the stanchions of the Panzer Ferry!
As the supermarket advert says - every little helps! I just could do with a lot more help!
Not a lot I can say other than I pleased that is done!
All the ropes, stanchions and chains are made! They need painting and mounting and I need to give some thought to a base for the models!
Dealing with these small parts on the Panzer Ferry kits seems to be taking as much time as building the main kit did!
At the moment it is the construction of the chains which attach the ferry barge itself to the two tracked boats. It may look simple but there are small parts and they are a real pain to clean up and actually assemble! Strangely enough, as I write this I am listening to The Chain by Fleetwood Mac! How bizarre!
Heat makes slow progress but progress does at least mean moving forward! So much for the philosophy in this heatwave and lets get back to the current project of finishing off the Panzer Ferry kit. I knew the brass etched parts would be an issue and so it came to pass as I lost one of the parts that goes onto of the stanchion and into which the guard ropes are attached. I did try to find the part, one moment is was there the next gone never to be found! So it was a case of making a part. I did try a few things but settled on making an oval of wire that whilst it looks rough close in will look OK once fitted as these parts are tiny.
I also got the various ropes that fasten between the stanchions cut to size and the etched brass clips fitted.
Hopefully as it cools off weather wise some of this may move on a bit quicker or maybe I am just getting slower the older I get!
Back when I started this Blog I had a few Finish It Friday posts where I finished a almost completed model. It was quite successful for me and saw a number of other wise shelf queens finished off. However, for reasons that I cannot recall, the whole Finish It Friday went by the wayside. However, whilst doing the control panel for my model railway layout I keep bumping into two boxes which are from this build of the Dragon Kit 6625 and 6669 Panzer Ferry,
Now in my usual way 95% of the kit has had been built and painted back in 2022 but there were some stanchions and chain to add which I never goy round to.
Luckily the box contains the parts!
At this point I realised why I probably put the finishing touches to one side - etched brass parts!
Well, hopefully not literally away but they are on the vehicles with ropes fastening them to the deck so that they actually anchor if needed! Its been a day of adding small parts but the Panzer Ferry is coming on . The boat hooks certainly add a splash of colour. A few more parts to add to the upper parts of the vehicles and then it is how to add the chains fastening the pontoon to the vehicles. It would also be good to add a suitable vehicle to the pontoon but I am jumping ahead of myself! In the meantime a pew pictures of where I have got to.
Further work on the Panzer Ferry kits which has seen the boat hooks painted up in the white and red suggested in the plans and shown on the kit box art work. Not necessarily a good choice of colours if you are trying to camouflage a vehicle from the enemy but then who am I to question! The decals have also been applied which totaled eight in total so not too much stress there. I think it will be time to mount the anchors next so I need to find some scale rope to tie to them. Strangely there is no mention or illustration in the instructions of anything that would connect the anchor to the vehicle. I cannot see much use in an anchor with no rope!
It is back on the work bench and it has been some time since I last worked on the Panzer Ferry kits so it took me some time to re-establish in my mind and with the instructions and the models in front of me exactly where I am with them. As always it is the small items I need to finish. There are a few small parts that need to be painted and fitted as well as the transfers needing to be applied.
With that in mind it was time to go through the sprues and find the parts I need. Not so easy as you may think as there are so many surplus parts to the kits that what I actually needed has taken some finding! I have located what I need, there are others but I will return later for those. 4 boat hooks, 4 hull rubbing strips, an anchor and a pully were prepared for painting.
Just hoping it warms up tomorrow!
Well the tracks, suitably rusted and polished metalised where necessary, have been put back on the hull of the second amphibious vehicle.
I still have a selection of smaller parts to add including the chains that fasten the two amphibious tanks to the pontoon. I fear getting those to fit may see the swear jar grow with a few contributions whilst I do that job!
Having climbed all over the Rocks By Rail Museum's dragline excavator yesterday I was quite familiar with rusty tracks which was useful as today I had to make the tracks for the second amphibious vehicle rusty! Firstly though I had to finish assembling the second set for the other side. I followed the same method as the first and it went well - learning as I get older! The bits of card along the top of the track are there to induce the sag that the real track would have between the idle rollers. As I had used Tamiya Extra Thin glue the joints between the track links were still flexible some time after being glued allowing the sag to form
With the various wheels mounted to the hull, the amphibious tank can now stand on its own wheels! Because I try to anticipate what may go wrong, like in the future tracks breaking, I tend to glue tank wheels on to the hull using a glue like UHU. It provides a reasonably strong joint between parts but it is usually possible to separate parts in the future without major damage. Using a plastic cement would melt the two parts together bonding them into one piece. UHU on the other hand holds the two parts together without bonding them and given the flexible nature of the glue parts can be separated without damage in the future with some well placed but reasonable force
Next thing is the tracks which will just about bring this model to the same level of completeness as its partner vehicle in this Panzer Ferry.
Despite having spent a fair amount of time on this model my mind has not been inactive in thinking about other projects. My 00 gauge layout has been developing at, for me at least, lightning speed and I am looking at the next stage. The photos below may show a white strip of card supported by a tub and a couple of bottles but this in my mind is the basis of a road bridge crossing the four railway tracks.
Imagination is a great thing and I can already see in my mind a finished bridge with scenery crossing the railway and making a great scenic focus point. Now the difficult bit is transforming that imaginative image into reality! Will I produce what I imagine? I will let you know in due course - anything could actually happen!
