That’s how I first started. I used a compass for the spacing. Not from Hobby Lobby. Some expensive AF German brand. Used the needles to start the holes too.
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Rather than struggling to drill the holes in strip you might try drilling them along the edge of sheet the desired thickness and cutting it away afterwards.
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@18bravo, I still have most of my old drafting tools from when I was drafting by hand. I use them for modeling now.
@Seanmcandrews, thanks for the tips. I think I will skip the tray area and leave it as is. With the cover on, it looks OK as is.
I did cut out the wading gear off the sloped areas. This is where I am as of now. Still needs more cleaning up but moving on to the other two Tamiya kits that I have to also remove the wading gear from.
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The tray isn’t that hard to do. I used sheet styrene, angle styrene and some Archer rivets when I added one to my M2A2 backdate using a Meng M3A3 as a base. They are almost impossible to see, but the rivets are on the outer edge of the grey angle piece.
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Great job! Still deciding if I want to attempt it. I have two other Tamiya kits I have to remove the wading gear from so I might give it a try.
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If you leave the cover on, not a problem. The kit doesn’t have these latches though:
But if you do remove the cover, there’s no sense in adding rivets or bolt heads- no reason to put them back on once you’re removed the cover, as your photo shows.
Or as in this one where they use the holes as tie down points for their litter:
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Thanks for the reference photo showing the cover still on. I think I will leave mine like that.
I did attempt to scratch build a tray but not liking it. I miscounted the holes. Mine only has 13 and I think there should be 15. The holes aren’t all aligned. I did make a starter hole but the drill bit still moved out of alignment.
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The Tamiya Bradleys are on hold until I get new #17A chisel blades. I need the chisel blades to remove the wading gear. I am waiting on a delivery from Excel.
I ordered these shown below off Amazon and they are absolute garbage. Most of the blades arrived with jagged edges. The few that looked normal, the slightest of touches and the edges just disintegrated leaving the jagged edges. These were Harfington. Avoid at all possible costs. Here is an example of what they looked like when they arrived.
Wow, looks like QC at the manufacturer leaves a bit to be desired… Thanks for the heads up on the brand, definitely going to give them a wide berth!
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Yes, they are from Harfington. Avoid them at all costs.
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Someone posted several years in the “tools” section a “great” find - set of blades of all sorts, complete with a handy storage box.
I knew enough not to purchase it, but as luck would have it, I received it as a gift. With my slightly aggressive use of the chisel blade the collar split open, rendering it and the whole handle useless. Nice box I guess.
Hope you didn’t injure yourself when the collar split. I have an old handle that the collar split as well. I also have the old X-Acto wooden box. It had quite a few assorted tools in it but my brother took all the tools. I still use the wooden box to store my tools in.
No, but several other instances have altered my fingerprints over the years. Thank God for super glue.
I still several of the large handles with the deep red plastic grips that I inherited as a teen.