Landships II

Now this is what I'm talking about. Exactly what I want to do with my Takom Male!

Looking forward to seeing how this progresses, and what build considerations you find along the way.

Good luck, and keep the updates coming.

PS - Takom click tracks are now shipping from web shops. If you fancy saving some time.

Many thanks for your comments.

 

Compound eye: I will change kit tracks with the new ones from Takom but I cannot find them on the net. Have you links to any shop selling them?

Gwyn Evans: thanks for your note. I change my program so I will put the Top Towing Arrangement on the Takom Female I have on my model depot.

 

Now some news from the workbench.

First of all in this post you will find some pictures of the real tank I found on the net. As usual all pictures are only for discussion purpose and copyright is still of their owner.

 

Rear doors

 

As you can see in these picture sponson doors lack of the bottom flap (in the gun tanks they were intended for ejecting empty shell case) and of the pistol port.

 

 

 

Looking at these pictures I noted I cut wrong front armour vision slot because I started from these on the right side but I didn't note in the gun Tanks it was in a different position then Supply.

On Supply Tanks they are at the same height of those on the side so I fill them and cut new ones (see pictures at the end of message)

 

I draw the door profile on CAD, cut the bottom flap and then reported side edge lenght on CAD. Doing this I could cut the bottom profile to fit exactly the cutting line.

 

 

Then I glued them to doors, cut the pistol port, filled with Mr Surfacer 1000, and sanded smooth.

 

 

As usual I can download files I made

 

http://www.ferreamole.it/images/modelli/mkiv_supply/rear_doors.zip

 

To fill the side MG holes I follow the metod suggested by Paul Budzik in this video

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaXWFM6zbLc#t=242

 

Since I had no dental resin I use normal epoxy resin

 

First attach a piece of sell tape on the outside of the armour

 

 

then mix resin componets and pour it inside of the hole. Wait for hardning.

 

 

Peel off sell tape

 

 

Fill with some MS1000 and carefully sand smooth.

 

I made some resin copy of pistol port cover from part E6 and E7 (I need mirrored cover) and I glued on the front armour. Put them at the some heigth of those on the side and refear to pictures for the orizontal position (look at pictures of original tanks to fix the correct position).

Make a paper rouler to fix revets you saved before, glue them on one armour (side or front) and use this as a rouler for the other armour (rivets were at the some height).

 

 

 

Now start asesembly sponson. Fit is not so good so check several time before gluing. I had to modify some parts on the internal side to have a better fit and then still fill some gap.

The first sponson finished. Note front vision slot on their new position and the older filled

 

 

 

 

 

Fit to side hull is very bad so I think I will glue sponson before starting aseembly it,

 

 

but the next stage will be to modify the drive cab with its new upper hatch.

 

Please feel free to make your commets and give suggestions.

Regards,

Pierantonio

 

Compound eye: fitting is poor because of sponson part misalignment and not because of kit weak point. In my opinion there are too many parts in the sponson so it is a little difficult to mantein a perfect alignament of all of them.

Some modellers on the net complained about general fitting but I found many problem are caused only because a wrong shape and dimension of some joint. Cutting and sanding some plastic frome edge improved fitting a lot and it became near perfect.

In the following pictures you can see where and how I improved some areas.

 

The drive cab

 

 

 

 

 

Sponsons

 

 

 

 

I cut also part G17's edge to improve parts G10 and G11 fitting. I used parts G16 and G17 as a base for parts G1 and G6

 

 

Gas tank

 

 

Tamiya tracks fit Takom sproket and idler wheels near perfectly.

 

 

 

At step 20 and 30 the stated upper returner roller is wrong because it was a type A and not a type B.

 

I finished also the right sponson

 

 

 

Then I made tyhe upper hatch on the drive cabin roof.

I had only these two picture (only for discussion) and I am not even sure these were supply tank because usually the three digit number was for training tanks in England.

 

 

 

It looks like those on the MKV tanks so I cut it referring to some picture of this tank (a rectangular 0.25 mm sheet of 20x16.5 mm) adding a pistol port and some bolts

 

 

Then I glued the resin copy of the Tamiya rear hatch. I had to move hinges but otherwise it works well needing only some filling with thinned Ms Surfacer 1000. Refear to the Tamiya MKIV thread to see how I obtained the resin copy. I glued also the pistol port Takom forgot on the roof.

 

 

 

 

Regards,

Pierantonio

 

To have a better alignment of wheels (assemblies A and B) I glued assembly A as per instruction and then I built assembly B gluing one wheel A2 to axel A1 and then the second A2 turning it 180 degrees. Since parts A2 are not symmetrical, doing this increases space between wheels to allow a better fitting of flanged wheels A4.

On hull parts many rivets interferes toghether or with wheels so I cut some of them from part C31 and erased all details in bottom part of parts F1, F2, F3 and F4

 

 

 

 

General hull fitting is not so good. Luckly this area is hidden by tracks. Try dry fitting many times before gluing and use side hull part (F3 and F4) as a template for cabin parts and then glue the last hull sponson.

I didn't use all parts which became invisible after assembling hull sponson.  

Muffler PE parts are too long.

 

 

I added a Hotchiss MG from a Meng FT17 on the front plate

 

 

Note that Suppply Tanks retained the pistol port on the floor of driven cab

 

 

Use a home made template to align upper rails.

 

 

 

 

Front hatches are resin copies of Tamiya model.

 

 

The beam with only some work to show wood grain.

 

 

A first try for decals. They will be printed by a professional server.

 

 

And now she is ready for paint.

 

 

 

Regards,

Pierantonio

I scratchbuild the sladge. No exact dimension (my sladge is 90x70x25 mm), I used my eyeball meter looking at some pictures I found on some books I have. The cardboard on the middle is only to save some wood strip

 

 

 

The End! Two weeks ago she won (with my Black Arrow II MKIV) the second prize at a national contest in Padua, special section "modelling the Great War"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hello

Here a MK IV supply , conversion of EMHAR kit

Best Regards

Olivier