A huge shout out to my friend Sam for soldering 'how-to'primer, how many things was I doing wrong before??

I think I have the hang of this... yeah right.. I'm not soldering Aber tool clamps yet, but it's a start.

I've been using 400 grit paper to take the nickel finish off the Eduard parts, which is why some look brassy and some parts look silver/nickel.

I fluxed and tinned the edges of the parts before folding, folded, and then ran a hot, clean iron down the joint. Poof!!.. solder melted and flowed. Parts afixed! All of these were parts I could reach from the inside to actually run the iron down the tinned inner edges, but hey I'm happy with it.
I have not tried/had to try to tin the inner edges and then heat them together from the outside yet.

I'm not happy with the crappy pics, but that's a learning curve for another time.

My inital attempts on Panzer IV shirts in nearly chronologocal order from upper left, clockwise.


I was getting neater until that last one too!

Having a sheet of glass as a worktop and using the edge of the etchmate as a brace, I was able to solve most of my 'I need 3 more hands' problems, bracing the piece and pressing down with a probe to line up the edges. A quick pass of the iron and viola , or some other large stringed instrument, and the bits are soldered.

The parts are big ones from the Eduard M113 zelda interior set. Battery box and 7.62 and 50 cal ammo can racks.




Amazing how the #$%@%#@#@ camera can capture the texture of a t-shirt but not the details fo the part I want!

The seat post was slightly less successful,I needed to fill a slight gap with some solder. But that's ok, I can't fold and glue that part neatly anyway.


One happy camper,
Mike

Ok, first off, sorry for the mis-typing in the title.. fat fingers, no coffee.. something like that.

Last night I added the inner dividers to the ammo boxes and except for the spaces I couldnt reach with the fat iron tip in the last divider (note to self, next time do one end, add dividers, then do other end. )

From there I tackled the interior lights and mounts, the 9 piece battery box cover, and a 7 piece radio rack and hangers.

My picture taking skills are not quite up to getting the shiny metal in focus, but I'll add scans of the Eduard instructions and maybe try a pic later.

I've got to say, I resisted learning to solder for a long time, but wow! what a difference it makes. All the Shear strength that CA lacks, in some ways less mess if slightly more prep time, and overall a neater joint.

If someone as clumsy as me can do it, you can too!

Mike