Good Late Afternoon All Fellow Rocketeers (and Headbangers*),
I'm finally going to post this update before the weekend building blast begins and the fridge is out of cold ones...But first,
Paul - Thank you Sir for coming along on my madness. I wouldn't worry about scratching the bowser unless you plan on depicting one of the 3 test launches done by the British in October, 1945. They were the only ones to use the bowser for fueling. The bowser was a Luftwaffe item. Operational V2 units never used them. They used Opel Blitz 3t Tankwagens, F 404 for B-Stoff and F 405 for T-Stoff. I wish I had seen the Leadwarrior kits sooner as I got some from Azimut. When are you planning to start yours if I may ask?
Jim - Thank you too, but it was (kinda) a bad case of laziness on my part. I just ordered the Gen set and a set of Opel Blitz resin tires too. I am not sure how many reels I'll need in the end though. So far it looks like at least 7 - 8...
On the last episode of Slice and Dice, we had plugged up the parts for the van body for the Maultier. We had also narrowed the floor too. While still on a roll and a few cold one left in the fridge, we hacked away at the Maultier cab to give it a little used look. The one side louvre will show a glimpse of the motor. I also got rid of the Opel Blitz emblem on the radiator grill. Late war Opels didn't have them...
I then went back to the Steyr louvre/vents for the generator and played with some measurements on salad dressing foil. After 2 hours, I gave up as there would be no way for me to slice all the louvres into the foil and remain
sober sane!!! I will etch the plastic piece and do a black wash after the paint is on it...
Back at the Maultier van body, I decides to cut all the pieces for the roof and the roof trim. The body also has an extension on the roof too. Looking again at my reference pics, I noticed that the vents (left and right) over the side panel windows had to go too. Sliced them off and cleaned up the mess as best as I could. I then laid out the pieces for this holiday photo……….
Next up was gluing the four panels together and keeping them square. That went well and after they dried for a while, it was time to glue on the roof. Did a test fit and...DOH!!! It wasn't wide enough because I didn't take the curve into account while making it. What the hey, I cut out a new one and by George, it fit. So we glued one side and waited………………..
I then glued it on the other side. One of the times in life when you wished you had three hands as other side panel was warped……………….
Sorry for the blurry pic, but it all held together and we have curved roof. In the meantime, I had also glued the roof extension together and was letting it dry too. The big moment had arrived and it was time to see if they fit together……………...
Boy, did I get lucky. It's not glued on yet, but you can see the marks for where it goes. There is still lots to do on the main roof and the body anyway.
Trim has been glued on the main roof. It needs some tidying up with putty. Now we went back to dicing more plastic sheet. We needed to make the wheel well storage locker doors and the window shades for the body windows. The cable exit flaps were also conjured up...…………..
We just have to put it all together now and add the little bits to it. When I'm finished, I only hope it looks like this………..
I might just throw a camo net on top to cover up all my
butchery scratch work!!! Thanks for stopping in and have a great plastic weekend. Remember, weekend =
beer garden bench time!!!!!!!!
Prost
Allen
* This weekend is "Rock Im Park" and "Rock Am Ring" here in Germany. 3 day festivals for headbangers of all ages……………………………………….