SimonT - RAM Kangaroo Mk1

[SimonT]

Evening / morning or whatever,

for some reason I started thinking about this one that has been up in the stash for some time so decided to dig it out and give it a go


Resin kit from Poland by Accura


comes in a compact box stuffed with little bits of resin and a couple of big bits


instructions are drawn on A4 sheets and are not too bad


main hull upper and lower wrapped in cling film - casting is pretty good, the resin doesn't smell and is very similar to plastic in its consistency


bags of bits - individual track pads and connectors which should be fun

If you are squeamish look away now

I made a start cleaning up the parts and stuck a 2mm chisel right into my thumb


done basic clean up on these bits

The firewall needed a bit of sanding down so that the hull top would sit down and the inside of the hull top needed the recess cleaning up so the lower hull would sit inside

One sprocket tooth was basically just an air bubble so I trimmed the remains off and replaced it with plastic card. A few of the bolt heads will need replacing as well - all par for the course on resin kits

The small mg turret had a couple of bubbles in the lower edge so I filled them with a mix of plastic strip, CA and resin sanding dust



Found these two pics from the stowage manual which should help with assembly and detailing - I can already see a few things not included in the kit......

 

[papa 695]

Ouch,Simon I hope it wasn't too bad a cut. A very interesting build and kit. Never seen the Kangaroo before.
A nice start apart from you cutting yourself.

 

[Dave Ward]

Simon,
good looking pieces of resin! The only Kangaroo I ever made was the Italeri model, not based on the RAM, but more a 'defrocked' Priest, and quite ancient.
What are the track castings like? Do they need a lot of clean up, or do they just click together?
I'll follow this, hope it all goes together well, since you've made the blood sacrifice!
Dave

 

[Tim Marlow]

Good start on this, pity about the finger
I’ll drop in occasionally to see how it develops....
Tim

 

[JR]

Simon.
It's a long time since we've been treated to a claret photo, glad it's not too bad an injury .

Certainly looks some thought went in to producing the instructions and the drawings along with the mouldings.
Now the question ....... How long before you start to remove some part and replace with an updgraded Simonized one .
I shall sit and wait !

John .

 

[Si Benson]

Morning Simon,
Can’t remember if the red stuff is a good or bad omen for the rest of the build....rather like the look of this.
Good luck
Si

 

[Andy Belsey]

I hope the finger has stopped throbbing! Ouch!!
Andy B

 

[MikeC]

Simon.
Most of us usually have the odd prayer, or at the most a drop from the bottom of the beer glass, but live sacrifices is taking it just a bit too far...... We must be accident prone, I tried to take off my finger with the side cutters, shall we start a club.
Seriously, looking forward to seeing this project throughout it's build, looking at the castings it does not appear to bad.
Cheers, Mike.

 

[Jim R]

Hi Simon
Off to a fine start I see. "Blood and pewter" - the only way to moggle!!
To my shame I have only ever heard of the Skippy type of kangaroo and have not come across Accura either. Looks very well cast with good detail. Is it unusual for resin kits to be 1/35 - aren't they more common at smaller scales? I do like John's comment
"Now the question ....... How long before you start to remove some part and replace with an upgraded Simonized one .
I shall sit and wait !"
Out of the mouths etc
Hope you can make progress without further injury.
Jim
b****y hot ain't it!!

 

[Steve Jones]

Mr T

I am sure there are easier ways of making resin filler. I hope all is well now and that the build is coming along. Look forward to seeing the next update

 

[SimonT]

Ian - leaked quite a bit but nice clean cut. Was sore for a couple of days but soon sealed itself up

Dave - I remember the Italeri kit although never actually bought that one. Local model shop (way back when we had such a thing) had one for years - wasn't very popular
Track castings are in need of a lot of clean up - decided to order up a set of Broncos from Dawns Grocery Store and keep the resin ones for making short lengths of welded on track armour if required on future build

Tim - cheers, all mended now

John - it has been a while since self mutilation took place (probably just a result of not doing so much modelling with one thing or another)
Wait no longer - bits have been replaced

Si - not sure, thanks

Andy - yes thanks

Mike - I am quite good at stabbing myself. The other day I dropped my scalpel and it landed point down in my leg! Luckily my jeans slowed it down so it only stuck in about 5mm and the bleeding stopped quite soon
Casting appeared quite good at first but I am finding that parts need a fair bit of fettling to get them to fit and smaller details are either marred by air bubbles or blurred edges so some work required. Nice plastic like resin though so easy to work with

Hi Jim - Skippy, now that takes me back. There are probably more 1/76 and 1/72 resin kits around overall due to there being more kits catered for generally in 1/35 plastic than the smaller scales. There are still quite a few in 35th though (Accurate Armour and Resi-Cast spring to mind plus all the figures) along with 48th. You also get 43rd cars then ships and planes and a whole host of other stuff such as sci-fi / fantasy

Kangaroos were APC's - as DaveW mentioned there were defrocked M7 Priests (gun removed, plate welded across the opening). Also M3 Stuarts and M4 Shermans with turrets removed. This kit is based on the Canadian RAM tank (which were replaced in service by Shermans) with turret removed for use as heavy tractor / APC

Very 'ot - nearly midnight and temperature here upstairs is still 26degC

I've never heard of Accura either - found this by accident on eBay when I was searching for something else

Steve - CA, resin powder and a drop of blood to add colour so you can see where it needs sanding back


Right - finally got a bit of time this evening so there follows an update.........


locker lids were rather wishy washy so replaced them with copper sheet - start of new hinges from microstrip


also made a start on the latches


grab handles added to hull top from brass wire - the resin ones were rubbish


made a start adding the internals after cleaning them up


found that I needed to chamfer the rear edges off the internals in order to let the hull top sit down

Oh, looks like I fell asleep mid post as it is now 6am


The lower hull rear plate took a lot of work before it would fit and had to be ratchet clamped in place while the CA set


the rivets on the lower hull had not worked very well at all so they were all scraped off and I made a start replacing them with punched pewter ones

That's it for now, thanks for dropping in

 

[Jim R]

Morning Simon
Steady progress. The replacement locker lids - are they just a single sheet of copper or have you folded down the edges? Looks really neat anyway.
Jim

 

[SimonT]

Morning Jim,
Flat with just the front edge folded down, very long L shape

 

[Steve Jones]

Do you understand the concept of morning, evening and night time Mr T or does it all just merge into one long day? Lovin your work as always. It's soooooo small!. Look forward to seeing some more

 

[SimonT]

Ay up Steve - does all tend to merge into one very long day

Not so small with this one as it is huge 35th

 

[Mickc1440]

Looking forward to a larger scale piece from you, and yet another vehicle I'd never heard of. Great start
Mick

 

[papa 695]

It's looking good Simon. Really liking the additions/changes.

 

[JR]

Greetings Simon.
( multi use, regardless of a specific time .)
Mmm, knew it, its started already and were only on the first page, so not a long wait.
Like the locker from the copper sheet, that is a very clean and crisp fold Simon.
A sighting of pewter, always heralds the start of additions .
John.

 

[RM6239]

Simon
See where thinking gets you Simon, clean straight cuts are the best mate and at least the blood proves you're not a modelling android , I put it down to a rush of excitement at building something so big. Already adding that particular Simon touch to it I see. Nice progress so far and I better follow something called a Kangaroo.

cheers
Ross

 

[Bobby Dale]

Simon
hope it did not hurt to much when you "Rammed" that chisel into said digit Oh! sorry could not resist i'll get my coat on the way out Lol
Great looking resin kit no signs of much Warping with this one yet ? , and I must get into rivits i'm missing out
Bobby