Landships

New project: the Mack Bulldog!

2006-12-29T12:31:00.000+01:00

My original intention was to start building the FSF 1/72 S:t Chamond, but my trusted old Dremel just died - and you can't build *anything* resin without a motor-tool of that type.

Oh, well - those things happen. So now I have switched to another kit, a plastic one: RPM's Mack Bulldog. I have been waiting to this one for a while. Partly because I fear RPM kits - this phobia kiecked in when I built their EXTREMELY complex 1/72 FT-17 - beautifully detailed but an absolute pain in the posterior to build.

The RPM Bulldog IS a complex kit as well, but not as frustratingly complex as their FT-17. The parts go together well, and I intend to leave out parts that cannot be seen anyway, like the very nice engine assembly, with transmission and all - and, yes, the steering wheel is correctly connected to the Front wheels. I know it's a bit like cheating, but this is only a Hobby, right?

B-Zug finished!

2006-12-22T14:44:00.000+01:00

Now the model has been repaired, and finished. And has been put on display in the Landships Model Galleries.

Due to lack of space, I only make temporary dioramas. I have a number of terrain boards, that can be used as basis, and then trees, figures, small details added. And then I do a photo shoot, and then dis-assemble the whole thing. My stock of available terrain boards are slowly growing. Next, a wintery one is to be be built. But that is another story.

So, the MGM B-Zug is finished. It was some work, but not too ardous. And I think it was really worth it, because this vehicle really has that exotic "Great War"-look.

What next? I don't really know. I am actually considering building a 1/72 model of a Observation balloon, just to try something new. Or else I will finish my Lebedenko/Tsar-Tank kit. We'll see.

Disaster strikes!

2006-12-19T10:08:00.000+01:00

I was just getting near completing the B-Zug, weathering it with some colour pigments, when I slipped with the hand while putting on the lid on the pigment jar, and - crunch - THIS happened:

So now I will have to start repairing it. Oh, well: at least it broke in a very clean way...

Small painting tip

2006-12-18T18:34:00.000+01:00

A small tip regarding painting very small parts, that can be difficult to handle - and even tend to get lost: I use poster-board needles, that are stuc into an "invisible" part of the part. And then a piece of blue-tack is used to pin the whole assembly to my working tray. Thus:

What you see here are the two cable-drums, that are to be attached to the rear of the B-Zug.

The B-Zug, part 2

2006-12-17T09:54:00.000+01:00

The work is proceeding in a steady pace. I really enjoy modelling when you CAN'T do everything at once, when the kit itself forces you to work in stages, menaing that you can and must step-away now and then, and do all the other things that life requires. It takes time, but it's more relaxing.

This is the front of the B-Zug, by all intents and purposes finished. The Tolls Boxes have been given handles by thin lead wire - an excellent modelling medium BTW - the Lights have been drilled out, painted white, and then filled by Clear Kote. A correction is visible here: the MGM kit has the cranking handle in dead centre, whiel at least some of the B-Zug's had a special contraption, whereby the handle was placed to the right (left in the photo) connected to a small chain drive - again lead wire.

And this is the rear. Some painting remains to be done, also a winch wire is to be added - lead wire, of course. Notice the "cockpit". Most trucks in this period had a minimum of instrumentation, just a rev meter, if that. The B-Zug, being a technically advanced truck - with the diesel engine driving an electrical generator, that powered the whole train, had a more advanced instrumentation. Luckily I had a very good photo of the cabin, showing the dials, the steering wheel details etc.

The MGM B-Zug

2006-12-16T11:57:00.000+01:00

The kit I'm working on right now is the MGM 1/72 B-Zug, the Diesel-Electric Tractor used to pull many of the Austro-Hungarian heavies, like the 24cm Kanone M.16.

As always with MGM kits, the subject is exotic but the kit itself is a bit annoying. The finish on some parts are a bit sloppy - you can see the imprints of messy gluing - and on this one I had to redo all the cooling fins on the engine cover, a chore believe me. And there are a lot of small detail changes to be made.

But I come to grow more and more interested in WW1 Softskins, not least for their exotic appearance: there is no mistake in knowing that you are looking at a vehicle from the early days of motor transport!

As you can see above, I've done some careful shading, especially of the cooling fins. It will become a nice-looking model, that will reward you for the effort put in.

Blog kick-off

2006-12-16T10:09:00.000+01:00

Well, I am trying blogging as well. I think I need a form that is less ambitious than your standard article on my site Landships. Both when it comes to the scope of the text, and the amount of time needed to get it up and running. This is just shoot and scoot, if you know what I mean.

So here you will hopefully find small items of text about the same things that you can find on the Landships site, that is: the Great War and its Military Machinery - and on the War in general - and on the modelling of this stuff.

Thanks for looking! And remember: if you are interested in this stuff, the Landships site will surely prove interesting to you. And if you have questions, the site hosts a Forum, that contain lots of people that can surely help you.