Takom Pz.Kpfw.I Ausf.B Abwurfvorrichtung

Here's a look at the sprues, etc. Nicely done, as you might expect from Takom.

Spoke too soon. I haven't even had a chance to break it myself!

Test fit of suspension units. I can see this lot will need painting before assembly.

Further progress on the suspension units

I've encountered a bit of an issue with mounting the suspension. You can see the intended method here. The shaft goes through the bogie, through the hull and is held in place by a C clip. The first issue is that the bogie half doesn't fit on the collar on the hull side as it should. You can just about force the parts together, but they spring apart as soon as you relax the pressure. I've had to scrape plastic from the bogie until it achieves a good fit.

The second issue is that the C clip that should clip on to the end of the shaft just isn't up to the job. The first one I tried broke. The second one pinged across the room & vanished. However, I had already decided that this method wasn't going to work.

I'm going to replace the C clips with pairs of PE strips. The shafts don't need to rotate since they form the supports for the outer bar that runs from one bogie to the other (see pic 13). I can cement the shafts to the hull, using the PE strips to set them at the right depth. I just have to ensure the cement doesn't capilliary through to the bogie.

Success! The bogie still moves, without being too loose and the shaft can rotate as well. I may add some thick CA around the outside of the PE to really stick it down well.

Could they have put more EP tabs on this? Cleanup of that lot took a while.

Test fitting the fenders and hull top parts.

WARNING! - Step 22 of the instructions has you fit grill P32 to hull rear deck P14. Then Step 23 tells you to drill out the two 1mm diameter holes which are now blocked by the grill. It's not impossible to do. I used a knife to poke through the holes and drilled out from the other side.

Come on, Takom. You can do better than that!

Steady progress adding all the bells & whistles to the hull. There will be quite a gap to full where the upper & lower glacis plates meet. I might have to fill & rescribe it.

The main components are still dry fitted.

The hull is now assembled, just a few small parts to add, which I may leave until later to avoid breakages. The upper hull consists of three main parts: The front armour plate, the upper superstructure and the engine deck. The instructions would have you assemble them in the order I just listed them, but in hindsight, I think I would reverse the order of assembly. The reason for this is that the engine deck has the most positive method of location. The superstructure butts up against it well and is therefore quite easy to locate correctly. The front armour plate has the least definite method of location, so is best done last. I had to do quite a bit of sanding to fit the engine deck last and had a gap to fill between the armour plate & the superstructure.

The next step is to get some primer on it. There was a fair bit of filling to be done, but nothing too difficult.

The PE tags over the hatch locks were a bit of a trial due to their tiny size.

Final test fit of wheels before priming.

Primed & base coated. Semi-gloss coat next.

Ready to go into makeup!

Filter, wash, decals & some weathering done.

So far, so good. The weathering needs finishing on the wheels, which can them be fitted properly. Tracks next. Then it's time to add the fragile parts so that I can break them off again. Next I'll build up the throwing device and get it all but finished before adding it.

The tracks are assembled. Finally.

The throwing arm is almost done too. I still can't figure out how this thing is supposed to work.

Looks like it fits okay.

The throwing device. Which doesn't actually throw anything. Well, that doesn't look too vulnerable, does it?

My method for simulating wood grain begins with a black base, then adding a streaky buff coat. Any excess buff can have a bit more grain effect added by scraping some buff off with a blade. Once this is dry. I'll coat the wood with a thin brown wash (multiple coats until it looks right), then finally it will get a coat of translucent orange to simulate the varnish. The final matt coat on the kit will tone the effect down a bit.

Steady progress. All the parts are off the sprue and being painted for assembly.

The road wheels and idlers are fitted and the towing cable is fitted on the front. I've also test mounted most of the tools on the fenders. I'm waiting for a decal set for the fire extinguisher label to arrive. In the meantime, I'm throwing tons of rust pigment at the exhaust.

The exhaust is fitted. Once it has set, I'll add more pigment. There isn't any on the outlet at the moment as I was using that to hold it.

Getting close now! The tracks are being painted & weathered. The MG's need some gunmetal pigment and sticking in place.

The fire extinguisher is still awaiting the label decal to arrive. I might try another coat of brass on the ends as it isn't really showing up very well. Having said that, it looks much better in the photo than in real life.

The bracket which holds the cutters to the jack was an utter nightmare to fit! There is hardly any contact between the two parts, so nothing for the glue to bite on. I must have stuck it on four times. So far.

I'll wait until I've done the overall weathering before sticking the shovel in place as it rests above the axe.

Quite pleased with the tow cable. Black base, Alclad steel, Humbrol rust wash and AK thinners to cut that back a bit.

Fitting the PE exhaust cover was a bit of a trial as one of the two fixing lugs on the top edge broke off. No idea where that went. I ended up removing the other lug and improvising the fitting. It got damaged when a demo charge went off too close. That's my story and I'm sticking to it! The throwing arm needs a clear coat before fitting.

The fire extinguisher decals arrived today. Echelon D166288 German Fire Extinguisher Labels of WWII, Part 2, 1/16 scale to be precise. You get 10 decals, 2 each of 5 different types. I had to cut a strip out of the middle, but the decal seems to have gone on fine with a dab of microset and microsol.