[Geek44]

G'day all.
Here's what I've been doing lately. I've been largely uninspired by the aircraft kits I've started with a view to completing 'something quick' but stupidly () I've chosen braille scale biplanes...okay per se, but 'quick'?
I picked up this Elefant from my stash, looked it over and thought it would make a good 'practice' model both for my handling of PE and zimmerit. Just so happened that this is one of the projects I'd been buying bits 'n pieces for for a couple of years and so, had a detail set by 'Voyager'. It has some pretty nice PE which will make damage easy and some resin parts as well which are less replacement parts for things already included, but extra bits for those willing to take some time and maybe even a few 'risks' with what would normally have been an expensive kit. I was lucky enough to get this one at about half price on eBay last year. So...here we go.

 ExpoElefant 025.jpg (44.93K)
Number of downloads: 468

Above is the rear plate with a few odds and sods attached. The brass tool box was too good to cover with zimmerit so I'm pretending it's a recent addition. The vehicle I plan to depict served in Italy and will be gree camo on a dark yellow base. I've done two monochrome vehicles...it's time to try the next step.

 ExpoElefant 040.jpg (43.65K)
Number of downloads: 436

The above mentioned toolbox.

 ExpoElefant 039.jpg (64.56K)
Number of downloads: 433

Here's the bench. You can see the brass...there's lots of stuff. I was mystified at why Voyager would include resin copies of the very distictive bolt-heads visible on the outside of this vehicle. There's been brass folding, part cleanup and the usual Tamiya Liquid cementing. I reached a point where I had to consider how I was going to represent zimmerit.
Peace.

[Geek44]

Doing the flat plate under the nose of the vehicle was pretty easy in the end. I mixed up a small lump of Milliput with about as much water as needed to turn it to the consistency of peanut butter. It gets a bit messy but everything is water soluble. It also takes a long time to cure from this viscosity so you have ample working time. I use a flat scalpel blade to literally spread the filler, which is dry compared to putty, carefully on the single plate. When it was covered, a finger dipped in water smoothed it out a bit. If you do this wet, it smoothes out quite well. One has to try and achieve an 'evenish' coat. I then used the end of a flat file dipped in water now and again to sculpt the zimmerit pattern. Doing this plate I covered the beautiful welds with Milliput...what to do?

 Zim 1.jpg (54.1K)
Number of downloads: 430

 Zim 12.jpg (45.42K)
Number of downloads: 433

Pics of my practice run on an old Tamiya Panther G turret. That old kit has proven to be a valuable failure from about ten years ago...maybe more. It's become a testbed for many things...this being one of the more productive.
Peace.

[MAGNA]

Oh boy!! An Elefant! That is one kit I would like to have in 1/35th. An Italian campaign one as well, something different for a change. Nice choice Geek. I'll be watching this one closely as you go.

[Freightshaker]

Nice job on the Zimm. Years ago I tried it on a Tiger and wasn't impressed with my results. I've avoided it ever since.

[lufttiger]

There must be something in the air, everybody is building an elephant now.
I've been doing one for a month, Pvt Mutt is doing one as well, the same one
i am, which is the old - lasted version with Zimm on it. Yours must be an
older one as well?
Its looking good tho!
Oh btw, did the first version of these that fought at Kursk have a bow machine gun?
I'm thinking they didn't, also any pics arround here of the elephant?

[McCoy]

Nice work Nick! This will for sure be a good one to follow! Good zimmerit n' I like the toolbox!

Chris: No Elefant's did see action at Kursk but the Ferdinand did n' that one lacked both zimmerit n' the bow machine gun.

BTW, I've got my Elefant out from my stash n' is really thinkin' on beginnin' with that one even if I've had some other models planned before n' yet have to finish my sad Cromwell.

[Geek44]

Thanks for the input lads...I've been steadily working on this one for about two weeks I guess. It's the Dragon kit from their '39-45' series. It's nothing compared to the Premium Editions or the three in one's as I said.

Work continued and it came time to zimmerit some more. I started to try to apply my zimmerit around the prominent bolt heads generously moulded onto the surface by Dragon...no luck there, it was a mess. I washed the whole thing off with a stiff brush and water and wondered how I was going to solve this. After about two days it came to me what the resin replacements in the Voyager set were for. I spent another day avoiding the issue .
In the end, I carved off all the bolt heads but left enough to find where the centre of it would be. I then drilled a hole there. I planned to poke some wire out from the inside to locate the resin replacements.

 ExpoElefant 066.jpg (47.68K)
Number of downloads: 410

Above are the bolt-heads Dragon have moulded onto the surface.

 ExpoElefant 067.jpg (40.35K)
Number of downloads: 410

After removal, drilling and a coat of Milliput has been applied.

 ExpoElefant 069.jpg (37.19K)
Number of downloads: 410

After hitting the area of the drilled holes with a round grinding bit in my motor tool to provide a flat surface, I've started to place the resin parts.

 ExpoElefant 070.jpg (48.21K)
Number of downloads: 410

All the bolts now replaced...I have about 20 more that will need to be done like this .

Peace.

[Geek44]

At this point, I'd describe my zimmerit job as 'reasonable' in that it isn't quite what I wanted but near enough. I'm pretty sure I can learn to do this technique better with a bit of practice. I've seen it done better than I'm doing it but this is really my second serious attempt. Still, I'm pretty happy with it. Tonight, I finished the zimmerit on the lower hull and assembled some part of the fighting compartment that will be affected by zimmerit...namely, the large, rear loader's hatch and the little 'hatch within a hatch' which I love. This vehicle has one on the roof too.
Peace.

[Maglar]

Well atleast you're building something, besides that biplane you were in a drought! [I only build 3 a year, we knoww Nick!] Good work so far, I say resume on the biplane

[Aussie Dave]

You do know Nick that everybody is their worst critic?

Your zimm job looks fantastic mate, have a little faith on how it will all turn out when it's painted etc.

I have to ask you, how do you apply the glue to your PE parts?



Cheers,
Dave

[lufttiger]

That's a great Job Nick!

[Geek44]

Dave, the PE. I have some very fine wire that I use to touch into the glue which I put a few drops of into the lid of a Humbrol tin. After about two dips, the wire gets a dry lump on the tip which picks up more glue. When the lump gets too big, I snip the end of with scissors and start again. Or, I dip the part straight into the glue if that's practical. I use a small piece of blu-tack to pick up the tiny parts and a bigger lump to secure them to the bench...I'm getting better at not losing the tiny bits . There are clasps on the toolbox on the rear plate that have three parts. I still find these very difficult to bend and assemble...my eyes just can't do it and my fingers are way too thick dammit. You need about five hands.
I think when it's all together and has a coat of paint it should look okay. My opinion is that you can make any model look good with a good paint job.
Peace.

[Freightshaker]

That's really coming along great Nick!!

[Geek44]

Thanks Scott...I'm trying a new approach with this one. I'm just 'doing it' withou agonizing over every decision that needs to be made. I'm hoping it will be a quicker build. I'm also attempting to use as much of the detail set as I can as a kind of academic excercise...in the past I've only used bits and pieces of detail sets.
Peace.

[McCoy]

Lookin' really good! You should put a weld seam in the vision ports as they were welded shut on the Elefant.

[Geek44]

Are those the two circular ones on the 'cheeks'?

[Geek44]

I mean this...

 Vision Port.jpg (48.36K)
Number of downloads: 131

Peace.

[McCoy]

Yes, that's the ones... Check LT's Elefant thread in the Land Warfare section n' you'll see how it should look.

[Geek44]

Cheers mate that's a help.
Peace.

[Geek44]

Y'know I've seen that before on models but thought it was bad zimmerit technique (like mine ). I spent quite a long time digging the Milliput out of those slits.
Peace.