Summer Nostalgia!

I’ve totally forgotten about this build. It it is almost done.

Debating to eithe leave as-is or add decals. Of either the old USSR or from the East German NVA.

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I think it needs some decals, NVA scheme allows you to almost have that clean finish you’re thinking about.

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Great color choice on antenna🥂

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Some more steps; tireblack, gloss, decals and track issues.
These are too long, so I am taking a chance. I took them off, cut them and will shorten them by one link. And then nail them in place with a liter of superglue.

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Very impressive! Excellent build, Steviecee.

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A little silvering on the decals, but that is part of the nostalgia.

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That was before the additional coat of clear paint. It is a lot less now.
But yes, very old, stiff, thick decals.

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Hi Everyone,

There are some fun builds happening here! At the start I asked for a vote, and on the site the P-40B wins! I also asked non-members to vote, the tally is in and I’m thinking that the nieces pushed this one off the P-40 path onto the SBU2 path due to color.

I’m sneaking the P-40 in under the radar, and this is a fun build session so we should have fun. With the decision on the Kingfisher, I realized that even for a fun build I needed to address three issues. One, the cockpit, two the wing/fuselage mating area and three, the float.

First order of business was to lay an interior green.

Then cut the floats off so the bottom fuselage can be worked on, and the top of the float.

So far, it doesn’t look too bad! Stay safe and have fun!

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Permission to come aboard?

My project will be a Tamiya M41 Walker Bulldog with AFV Club individual link tracks. Both boxes are still in the shrink wrap.

The AFV Club M41 shown in the picture will serve as a reference to help correct the Tamiya kit. My project will not use any parts from the AFV Club kit since it dates from 2003. For example, the vinyl mantlet cover from the AFV Club kit, resting on the Tamiya box in the picture, will serve as a reference to sculpt a similar cover for the Tamiya kit using Milliput.

As an aside, I plundered the AFV Club M41 to provide correct road wheels for an Italeri M24 Chaffee. That unfinished build was started about 14 years ago, before AFV Club and Bronco released new M24s. :face_exhaling: I also chopped the AFV Club M41 hull to make a tracked truck dragster that never went anywhere. Don’t ask. The Tamiya M41 hull from this campaign build will also serve as a reference to scratch build a new hull for the AFV Club kit, thus allowing me to piece the AFV Club back together and finish it with the Italeri M24 road wheels…if I can find them. :upside_down_face:

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Smart build, the paint finish is really sharp and clean.

Good stuff. :+1:

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As an alternative, use one of the old Standard Excuses: No wheels/tracks - “It’s hull down”.
(Some of the others being:
Model is overscale - “It’s German”
Model is underscale - “It’s Japanese/Italian”
Model assembled from parts of differing scales - “It’s British”
Turret missing - “It’s an ARV”
Turret only - “It’s dug in”)

The other use is as a basis for a Sci-Fi Hovertank…
:crazy_face:
Cheers,

M

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Here is how I used the AFV hull to detail the Tamiya kit.

Probably should put this kit in the unfinished group build and be done with it.

Some other details I have added on the Tamiya hull.

Two other details I found in the box that wasn’t on the Tamiya, front lifting rings in front of the lights (someone sent me them from a Takom kit)
image
and smoke generator.

HTH

Edit: Looking back on an old club thread. There is rings on the return rollers to add if you like.

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That is very funny and I did consider converting the remains of the AFV Club kit into a grav tank or walker.

Come to think of it, The Great Ones campaign requires a diorama base. I could build an M41 rising out of the water, shooting, a la Chuck Norris in Missing in Action. Haahhahahah!

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Thank you, Ryan! Those pictures are super helpful. I have not yet done any research on the M41 and do not own any reference books on the subject.

What did you use for the weld seems? String saturated with some kind of epoxy or super glue? They are very precise and have a nice texture. Once upon a time I used Milliput or thinned Testor’s Contour Putty for that sort of thing.

Wow. You even bored out the periscope glass. I’m not sure I want to tackle that.

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Thanks. I went a little overboard with trying new things and that cost the project for me. I probably should’ve drill the periscopes out but oh well.
I used online photos and AFV instructions for my build. Those weld lines are Archer Fine Transfer (rip) weld beads.

I also got these.

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I am sorry your M41 did not make it. Trying new things can definitely lead to some very unhappy places.

Archer Fine Transfers offered some great products. It was very surprising and sad to discover the company had closed. I still have a supply of the casting marks but never tried the welds.

Oh good grief. It did not occur to me that M41s use M24 type idlers. Maybe I can use the Fruil idlers from an M24 as a template to scratch build a more accurate set for this kit. I also found out this morning that I need to make 160 track pads from sheet stock. So much for the weekend build.

Curiously, the hull pan in my kit has fewer holes than yours did. I wonder if anything else changed.

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Permission granted!
Enjoy the ride!

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The Chaffee needs M41 wheels?

Fifteen years ago, I read that the AFV Club M41 offered the most accurate wheels for an Italeri M24. Since I wanted to build the most accurate M24 then possible, I purchased an AFV Club M41 and plundered most of the wheels for the M24. I also purchased a set of Fruil M24 tracks because they are the correct ones for World War II and it includes more accurate sprockets and idlers with the holes.

In hindsight, it was a fool’s errand but I did not know I would drop out of model building for over a decade.

Also, I found the Italeri road wheels! Now I need to scratch build an M41 hull pan and finally decide what tank gets what wheels.

I recently purchased said M24 with Accurate Armour resin WW2 tracks and On the Mark PE-set. And just now saw a Tamiya M41 floating by and I remembered having read about the wheels.