SPA Modeler

Carlos, well played, sir. Very well played, indeed. Greetings from Ceti Alpha V!

speedgraflex wrote:

I remembered! Where do I find spare links to attach to the front of the vehicle? I don’t know if anyone makes links. This is where I am blind stumbling in the dark with armor builds! Tracks! Help!

I believe that the 250 family used the same tracks as the 251 family. If so, AFV Club and Hobbyboss both make some affordable styrene Indy links for the 251 series.

speedgraflex wrote:Carlos, well played, sir. Very well played, indeed. Greetings from Ceti Alpha V!

Carlos, thank you so much for your knowledge, my friend. Good to know. I will check. It also appears that the tow cables were tied up to either side from below the armored plate to have cables at the ready. I was reading through your Tiger build for clues to either scratch build or purchase ready-made versions. It is kind of a boggle how just a few “details” lead to further discoveries. I did read on Wiki a bit about how these half tracks were designed, but the specifics you provide are greatly appreciated! Thank you so much.

A few wrapped plastic sprue shots; more to come.





Tracks tracks tracks tracks

Looks good! I’ll bet that there are a few extra track links on those sprues. Perhaps enough for what you need on the front...

Thanks, Carlos... I found an X-Acto cutting board from long ago yesterday so I am excited. I like gray cutting boards better than green... easier on my eyes. I’m thinking about how to snip those tracks then keep them together during the building-painting-weathering process. It’s time to take the plunge. First though I am thinking I might cut some styrene sheet to make a mock-up of the body, just to try painting ideas out, I guess it would be a kind of a paint mule. My idea was to copy the top dimensions in styrene, just roughly, then try paint-hairspray-rubber cement on layers to figure out what works best. I wanted to use a lot of my Gunze Sangyo stock if possible but I am going to have to order either AK or Mission Models to create the camo color... unless I luck out on a mixture. I also think I could use the kit’s crosses and GREIF decals to see how to best create what was underneath them.

You could always go to your closest Hobby Lobby and grab the old Tamiya 251 kit with the 40% off coupon for cheap to use as your paint mule. Similar shapes & angles, and much easier to build than mocking up your own with sheet styrene. At 40% off that kit is pretty cheap.

Enter the dragon.

A Fabergé egg. That is how this was designed. Side panels! Oh, dear oh dear. I decided to go for it, and stop spending time thinking about it. Step 1-gluing the sides on the base plate. I had to get medieval to make those sides fit. Re chamfer edges. Brought out the files. It was hard core. So I decided I would do the perhaps unthinkably stupid idea to make step 2-gluing the sides to the top of the egg. I wanted to see... what would happen. And that was primordial soup for awhile.








Just to be clear—the egg is in two pieces. I can still glue the interior inside... but I would not want to have to glue those top panels on when the interior was done. No way.

Stikpusher wrote:You could always go to your closest Hobby Lobby and grab the old Tamiya 251 kit with the 40% off coupon for cheap to use as your paint mule. Similar shapes & angles, and much easier to build than mocking up your own with sheet styrene. At 40% off that kit is pretty cheap.

This is a darn good idea.

NICE!! I've always like the 250 and 251 half tracks. I'm still trying to figure out just where there is room for the entire crew of 6 in this thing though.