SPA Modeler

Managed to squeeze in some bench time, and to do some pics yesterday. The base part here get´s glued to the turntable of the gun later, with the rubber part being the connection.





You see that the PE parts don´t match up. No idea if it´s my fault, or the pieces are short. But nothing to worry about, as it won´t be too visible later, if at all.

I did replace some unnecessary PE strips displaying bolts by resin bolts from MasterClub. No idea why RPG did choose to do them in narrow PE strips, while the same time moulding bolts on the sides of this part. My replacement might not be perfect, but I like them much more.



This is the base the large radar dome will be put on later. The tiny PE hooks are folded and soldered together.

Same with the hooks here, with many more to come! This is the lower side of the gun mount. Turned over it looks like this:



I tried to level out some depressions in the part using Gunze Surfacer. A fresh bottle makes a huge difference! No idea how many parts are seen here. Many...
How cool to see I missed some mould lines. Sanding...

Optics and accessoire:





A shame RPG didn´t provide clear parts here. Must think about how to make a lens.

The large ammo container:

Here we have the two mounts the gun is moving in up and down. The insets needed filler. Not perfect, but enough for me.







These are not finished yet. I first have to sand the handles. I like to do this after glueing them on, as I can handle them better then.

The inner sides of the box that holds the gun and stuff.



Will mask and paint these first, as reaching this area with paint later will be rather hard.

If you have seen the video above you will recognize this assembly:



It still needs some very small PE parts added. Will be fun, if you almost cannot see such parts in your tweezers!

This gears will be glued onto the lower side of the gun mount later:





You see 14 PE parts on this gears! Did I mention tiny PE parts?



I decided to solder all those hooks, just to give it a try. Worked like a breeze! First, I did cut half of the links from the PE frame, so I could fold these halves of the hooks over after having them pre-tinned. Another swipe with some flux, folding the hooks over, and add some more heat to solder them together. Hope my words make any sense...
What solder you see here on the finished hooks will be sanded away before glueing them to the plastic.

My friend Terry did glue the muzzle PE part, but I doubt the sturdiness of such a bond here. So, I again used solder.



The muzzle PE part first got annealed, then cleaned and bent using my "Rolling Set for PE" from "The Small Shop". Bought once, will last forever!

Indeed the gun assembly took some time, and nerves. I did not apply any glue before the whole assembly was done. This enabled me to adjust the barrels, and all other parts to be straight. Then all was fixed using CA glue.



Don´t mix up the two plastic parts that go to the ends of the rolled PE part! The barrels merge towards the muzzle, so these plastic parts differ in the location of the barrel holes! There is a very small plastic part seen just before the ring in the middle. This part was the hardest to get in place.

And here we have the gun barrels. I really like how they came out!



More to follow.

This kit is packed with detail. I'm enjoying watching it come together.

I’d be going insane with all those tiny PE parts. It’s enough for me to go crazy and looney in the head. Following this in awe.