ajcollard

Hi

I'm new to this model making business - made my first one today and absolutely loved it. Can't believe it's taken me 28 years to discover it!! The geek in my has finally come out.

Anyways, I've been making a Mk II Sherman Tank (Love the WWII tanks) - it's tiny coz didn't fully understand the 1:72 thing but will now be getting a 1:35 after reading someone elses post on here!! Aiming to get good enough to make the RMS Titanic that I've had my eye on for a while (any suggestions on a scale for that? Want it to be fairly big and impressive looking!!

I have one problem in finishing my Sherman - the tracks which are rubber state "join by applying heat" - can someone give me some tips on how to do it and what to use. Don't want to ruin it as I'm quite proud of my first attempt. Looking forward to getting the paints out now and finishing it off!

Thanks in advance - maybe I'll post a picture of it later - get some feedback and all that!!

GEEDUBBYA

Howdy AJ

First, let me welcome you to the forum, we are glad to have you here.
Now, on to your question. to join the treads using heat, I usually take an old butterknife and heat it over the burner on the stove. However, if you have an electric stove, be sure not to let the metal knife contact the electrically charged burner element....as this could be bad lol.
Ok, after inserting the "Pegs" on one end of the tread through the "holes" on the other end of the tread, simply take the heated knife blade and very gently push down the peg tops, thereby melting the plastic . Push them down far enough that the pegtops become mishapen and wont be able to be pulled back through the holes.
Now be really careful because the hot knife will go thru plastic just like it will go thru butter.
You want the knife hot enough to have time to move it to the treads, get it in position and be able to still melt the plastic, BUT.......you dont want it so hot that the plastic "Burst" into flames.
OH, I almost forgot to tell ya, once you heat the knife, especially using a gas stove, cool it off and DO NOT place it back in the silverware drawer.....the wife will "go ballistic" if she sees you have "burnt" one of her knives.....just throw it in your "junk box or junk drawer" being a guy, i know ya have one. But be sure it has cooled first.
As you press down the "peg" with the hot knife, slide it off to the side quickly to "smear" the heated plasctic to the end with the holes, this should make a strong bond that will last forever practically.
Since you are new, I am including a link to a site with some really good information and a section devoted to "tips and techniques".
Even though i am giving you the link, we still want to see and hear from you here in the forum, I just give out this link because it does have useful things for modellers on it. The link is: http://www.craigcentral.com/models.asp

I hope this has been of some help, again, welcome to the forum and have a good day,

Greg aka GEEDUBBYA (GW)

alan2525

Good hints and tips there - don't put the burnt knife back with the other silverware so the wife finds it - just hide it in the junk box!

Welcome to the forums AJ and we hope you enjoy your time with us - even if it's just for a day! Sorry listening to the killers...

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ajcollard

Thank you so much!! Can't wait to finish it off now - have to wait for the wife to go out and steal a knife! I have uploaded some pictures of it so far - I think I need to sand/file/something like that the bits on the side where I took the parts off the original holdings - other than that I don't think it's too bad.

Oh and I'm not a guy but the wife would go ballistic and I do have a junk box to hide it in!! (and just for info - I'm a pretty girly lesbian not one of those scary ones who you would think would enjoy model building - and chopping wood!!!!)

GEEDUBBYA

Howdy again Miss AJ ,

Well its great to see another female modeller in here, we dont have many, but there are a few.
Us Guys tend to forget that we dont dominate the model building market lol.
I looked at your gallery at the tank is looking good, i dont believe you will have any trouble building the treads.
However, in Lieu of a butter knife, you can use a standard screwdriver (flat tip) in the same manner, the only drawback is that it might ruin the screwdriver. (I know, ...typical guy, more worried about ruining a screwdriver than a piece of silverware...lol ).
But, i am a machinist/mechanic and I do have my priorities lol. Besides, being a bachelor, I eat alot of finger foods and my dining accessories usually consist of eating off of a paper towel, and the occassional plastic fork.
It has been said before that "My cooking is so bad, the flies in the kitchen took up a collection to get the hole in the screen door fixed".
Now i hardly agree with that because my ex wife was even worse than me when it came to cooking, her cooking was so bad that "for the first two yrs we were married, I thought Toast had bones, it turned out that she had been making pork chops".
Anyway, if you have any difficulties or any more questions, please dont be afraid to ask, we all enjoy meeting new ppl and telling what we know lol.

Have a good day,

Greg aka GEEDUBBYA (GW)

AerynPk

Welcome to the forum AJ hope you enjoy your stay here. Building the titanic is a big step. Get more experience and then you will be able to do it. It was the same for me when i wanted to build the C5 galaxy its a beast 1:72 vacform. Still gaining experience from that. The tips i got on vacforms was from Barry (wonwinglo) he has a site with all the information on it.

Welcome tot he forum again hope you enjoy it here just like i have here. Slowly the woman are joining the men on here. One more guys see its not just men who do the hobbie lol.
Regards Char

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I miss you dad and will always love you with all my heart.

Bunkerbarge

Hi AJ and firstly a warm welcome to the forum. I'm glad to hear that you have discovered the joys of plastic modelling and so join a band of the elite!

Don't forget with the heated knife scenario, although Greg has just about covered every thing, that you can use just about any metal tool for the purpose. Old electrical screwdrivers do tend to score highly in this regard though as they have a nice flat end, just the right shape for what you want, they are small so require very little heating up, I used to use a candle, and they have a plastic handle so you aren't going to burn your fingers!! It won't be any use again as a screwdriver but think of it as gaining a plastic welding tool rather than loosing a screwdriver.

As for the Titanic, I would suggest that you do a few small projects first to develop your skills and preferences as regards techniques, paints, glues etc before venturing on to something too big that might frighten you and put you off for life. Have a read of our tutorials and have a look through the gallery to get some ideas and guidance and try out a few differrent types of kit that will demand differrent techniques. A model such as the Titanic requires precision in building, masking and painting that is quite different to what is needed for a military vehicle so try something like a vehicle that has a gloss finish and maybe uses more than one body colour.

When you feel up to the Titanic then have a look at the huge range available. I would certainly start with an all plastic kit rather than a mixed media kit and I would probably not go with such a small model as you won't have much to show for your efforts and not have much detail to see. The Academy 1/700th scale kit and the Revel 1/570th scale kits are probably a bit too small and toy like to appeal.

Without going to the really big and expensive stuff to start with I think you might find the Revel or the Academy 1/400th scale models a bit more of a decent size and something you can be proud to show off after you have finished it.

If you want to go a bit bigger, but getting a bit more expensive there is the Minicraft 1/350th kit as well.

I would certainly get hold of a Titanic book for reference, of which there are dozens available, and I know I am going to get jeered for this but watch the film as well! I know there is a degree of poetic license used but the modelling is superb and the research they put into that movie was unbelievable. It will also put you in the mood and generate the required degree of enthusiasm that you are going to need!

Good luck and keep us up to date with your progress.

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“Dirty British coaster with a salt-caked smoke stack, Butting through the Channel in the mad March days"

GEEDUBBYA

".....and I know I am going to get jeered for this but watch the film as well! "

Lol, are you trying to scare her off bunker?


Greg



Hows this for a mental image: Bunker up on the bow of a ship, his arms spread like he is flying all the while singing celione dion songs.


(Please consult your family physician for psychological treatment if that image was too painful lol).

Bunkerbarge

AJ, I've just had a look at your Sherman and I have to say it looks pretty neat for someones first model. Most people have glue all over the place and something of a disaster sat on the bench in front of them.

If you don't mind I would make one suggestion that will dramatically improve your models in future and that is how you remove the parts from the plastic trees or "sprues". You need to get hold of a pair of electrical side cutters, such as these:

http://uk.rs-online.com/web/search/s...164+&x=24&y=16

and use them to carefully snip the parts away from the sprue. When you have done that you need to first of all carefully remove the tag of plastic that will remain on the part with either a hobby knife or, as I use, a scalpel, and then finally clean up the area where the tag was with an abrasive or a file. You will find that emery boards are very usefull for this (something else to pinch from the girlies!) and when you get it right you should be left with a component of your model that you cannot tell where it was originally attached to the sprue.

Cleaning up the parts is a very important part of making the model and all the parts should be dressed up to remove any excess plastic or "flashing" and then test fit before committing to glueing.

As you gain experience with these things your enjoyment and satisfaction with also increase significantly and you will soon be amazed at what you can achieve with a few very basic and simple tools.

Have a read through the "Back to Basics" thread to get a few ideas here:

http://www.scale-models.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2298 ("Back to Basics")

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“Dirty British coaster with a salt-caked smoke stack, Butting through the Channel in the mad March days"

AerynPk

OMG That is to funny. That had me in stiches nice comment there Greg. The movie was bad but the graphics were good.

If you want a book about the titanic i found the most interesting one was Raise of the Titanic. Has anyone else read this.

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I miss you dad and will always love you with all my heart.