Just like everyone else here, cleaning up road wheels. I do them the first thing, and get them out of the way. Another pain is cleaning up thin parts like grab handles.

Ron C.
Ashtabula, Oh

DJ, I take the brush-guard in question and break it up. Meaning if its already molded to it's final shape (as most are) I take it apart with my knife. Cutting it into what it would be like for the guys at the factory before it gets welded together.

Usually you need to make 4 pieces of it to be bent into a curve. (like headlight guards, 2 for the left and 2 for the right) With one curved piece layed out, I take a very thin piece of wire (the best is from small guage speaker wire, 22 and above) and trace the length of the original kit piece. I do this in order to measure the length needed for all the curved pieces. This is now my "master length" which is now used to make all 4 equal lengths.

Once all 4 of these are cut to size, it's just a matter of bending it to form the curve needed. For this I use wooden dowels, or paint brush handles...anything that is round to the diameter needed. Just use the original as the guide. If the original fits snuggly onto the dowel or whatever, you're there. Bend all 4 to this size curve. Just keep refering back to the kit piece till you get it right.

After that, the "cross-members" are the easiest. I use the same thin guage wire as before and measure the required lengths. Just make a note if the cross-members are inside welds or outside welds. Insides require a little shorter piece, and outsides need a little more length...of course

If the model doesn't have holes in the hull for the guard placements, I drill em with a pin vice. Super-glue the main or curved pieces first, than super-glue each cross-member to the mains. I like to build them on the model, rather than build them first. Prevents them from breaking apart while afixing to the model.

If you have reference material for the guards you are replacing, try to look closely at the photos. You can usually see weld "globs" on the guards where the cross-members were joined. This is easily replicated using the super-glue. Just add a little dab to each joint with a needle or the piece of thin guage wire from earlier. Helps to hold em too!
Hope this helps a bit.

I guess I'm a bit late in this, but.. the most dreaded thing for me is looking for small fragile parts that I dropped on the fluffy carpet... Man that is awfull..

Mario M.

KMM I'm with you on those DML sherman links That's why I go with RHPS or AFV Club thet snap together However the AFV Club vvs links have a non flush ejector pin mark on the inside of the shoe Cordless Dremel motor tool w/sanding drum to the rescue

19K---that sounds like a reasonable approach. I am going to give it a whirl tonight and let you know how I make out.
Thanks
DJ

I too think the wheel clean-up is tedious. But for me, removing and cleaning the super-thin brush guards and turret rails...without breaking em! Of course if they break it gives me an excuse to make new ones out of wire. :-)

After many, many attempts to remove & cleanup to my satisfaction things such as turret & grunt rails, I officially gave up trying and now make all of them from scratch. Not only is my sanity more intact, but the scratch built handrails look more authentic anyway.


Tread.

I really hate removing mold separation lines on every part.... Especially with kits that have 250+ parts..

Don't buy Tamiya's Dragon Wagon then! :-)

Gunnie

Owhh, shucks, and I was just wondering what to do with the $100 in my pocket LOL

Well shucks - you could hop on over to Hobby Link Japan and buy ALL of Red Squadron from Star Wars: A New Hope :-)

Gunnie

to bluefalcon47,
with your c-note, get a famo, it is better than the dragon wagon

Oh, oh! I'll do that!!......
......eventually.....
....i hope.....

YodaMan

For me, the most dreaded tasks in armor modelling is:

1) Roadwheels
2) Sink Holes
3) Filling Tamiya's motorization holes
4) Rounding out barrels that come in two halves (I love love you Jordy Rubio)
5) DML's individual Track Links

My least favorite things:
1. Building LTL track. That's why my Firefly Vc and M4A4 are hanging fire. Got some Accurate Armour resin tracks hoping for an easier solution, but those present difficulties too. Tried bending them using hot water; can't get them to hold the bend I like and they break real easy. Good thing I got three sets, I'll probably sacrifice one learning .
2. Cleaning up seams in impossible places. DML's corrected Firefly suspension, you know who you are...
3. Cleaning up road wheels. Glad I don't do German armor, that's all I can say on that one.
4. Removing mold lines/ dealing with the results of misaligned molds. I HATE oval MG barrels, pioneer tools, etc.
5. Agree with just about everything anyone has said on this topic! :-)
Greg

You'll think I'm insane... I rather enjoy the clean-up process. It's kinda like Christmas Eve as a kid, you really look forward to what comes next. Anticipation! What I don't really enjoy is the weathering and such. Once the primer and base coat are on, I think, WOW I'm done! Then I'm ready to pull out another kit. I guess if I were any good at the weathering stage, I would enjoy it more.
Don

And:




Ditto to all of the above!!

Mine is as follows:

1) Making impossible small hinges from Aber...(More of a problem because of my skills)
2) Dragon Individual Track Links
3) Clean individual tracks

Theres a few things that I dread the most and they are:

1. Cleaning up the model table, and mopping the floor when it floods so nothing gets wet especially decals.
2. Getting a cut on your finger with a knife, or a bottle of paint after the top breaks off
3. Sanding off all that ^%$#!*&* resin off the conversions, or figures

Mike

Road wheels.. definitely road wheels... on German tanks. I have three partially conpleted Tigers... sans road wheels!!

Oh, tip for doing road wheels.

Paint them the base color, then string then on anold brush or dowl and clamp them together. Then paint the edges. It works well for Patton or other US roadwheels of that type. If you get a little paint out of place it is not that hard to fix it...

the most dreaded to me:
1). putting rifle straps on infantry and machine gunners.
2). link-to-link track
3). entering hobby shows, people are telling me i should(they think i'm good).
4). apathy- i have difficulty staying focused on my subject.

modelbuilding is a great hobby, but sometimes it gets a little overwhelming. what keeps me going is that i remember that this is a fun hobby. i hope never to take this hobby to seriously and do the best that i can.

thats true pak40 in model building you are only limited by you imagination

I don´t have much of a modeling career yet but here we go:
1. Starting anything is the tough spot for me. Right now I´m just staring at my Schwimmie and I don´t know how to proceed with it. Just have to wait until it decides to build itself I guess...
2. Cleaning up figures, it´s so easy to lose every detail in drapery for example.
3. Cleaning the airbrush, especially when using enamels
4. The dark bags under my eyes.

Toni

You know, that really dosen't work... I've tried it. If they made a model that did build itself, think of the sales! And when the tech gets more advanced, all you have to do is push a button to have a piece added to the model... then there's speed building contests! (see why they don't like to let me think before 8:30 AM?)
Envar, I also agree with you about cleaning enamels from an airbrush. That's why I stick to acrylics mostly. The stickyness of enames always gets on my nerves...

YodaMan
Go Red Wings!!!