page 2 I now turned my attention to the turret. Even though Mori includes a new emergency escape hatch with the mantlet I chose to use the kit hatch. The only difference between them is that the Mori escape hatch has better detail on the inside. Since the hatch would be closed I chose to save the Mori hatch for later use on a model with interior detail. Basic construction was now finished.  Detailing begins The turret and the chassis were now ready. I started by adding some texture to the armor plating. The armor that was used on the Tiger tanks was rolled and not cast, so the texture has to resemble small nicks produced in the rolling process. I took my Proxon motor tool and attached a ball shaped grinding bit to it. I spun the bit at as low RPM as possible, and allowed it to skip and bounce on the surface of the armor. It takes a bit of practice and I will recommend trying it out on an old model or the bottom of the model you are building.  I now wanted to replace the molded on cupola with the new one from Mori. I removed the old one brutally with a knife, only leaving about 0.5mm which I removed with a needle file and fine grit sanding paper (600 grit wet or dry sanding paper).The new cupola only just fills the hole, so be careful not to remove too much plastic when you remove the old one. I attached the new cupola with acrylic binder instead of super glue, it gives you a bit more working time for careful positioning. The new cupola from Mori looks amazing and I will definitely use it again on a future project.  I then did some weld seems. On the chassis I used heat stretched sprue. I cut a piece of the stretched sprue equal in length to the seem I wanted to do and glued it in place with Tamiya extra thin cement. I brushed some more glue on top of the stretched sprue until it became soft. I then took a small tool I had manufactured from a small screwdriver which end I had rounded a bit, and pressed it into the soft plastic to make the weld seem pattern. If the plastic goes a bit hard just brush some more glue on it. When I finished the weld seem pattern I carefully brushed some more glue to soften up the pattern a bit.  On the turret I wanted to do some weld seems around the hooks for the spare track links. Here I used Humbrol putty which I applied to the cavity where the hook would sit, I then brushed some glue on the hook and pressed it into the putty which then squeezed out all around the hook. With the same tool that I use on the weld seems on the chassis I made a weld seem pattern in the putty, if the putty becomes a bit too dry just brush some glue on it. The next day I trimmed the weld seems with a knife and again brushed some glue on it to soften the pattern up a bit.    copyright©2005 ausfwerks |