Jack12477

Thats very fine delicate work. Excellent
Alan

Okay, that is were I stop the hobby!! That is incredibly small....you are hurting yourself ☺️
 
Yves

Photo etch pieces are folded into ammo boxes.
 

 
The ammo boxes are mounted to the quad .5 inch AA gun platforms.
 
 

Interesting kit. I'll follow along. Is there a jig for those wheels?

Introduction
Anyone who has followed my builds will know that I have a fairly eclectic taste in models, and this is no exception. I bought this kit on a whim one day several years ago when Model Expo were having one of their frequent sales. I thought it would make a very attractive addition to my model collection, and my wife liked it too, so what was I to do? This model was designed by Ken Foran (a well-known member of MSW), who also did the plans, instructions and prototype model. In addition to being a member of the MSW forum, Ken has also published the book Model Building in Brass, which is a must have coffee table and go-to reference book. Ken’s work is truly outstanding, and I only hope that I can do his gorgeous design justice.
 
Rather than re-type the history of the Allerton Steam Pumper, I have included a photo of the box lid, which tells the story. The model is in 1:12 scale (1” = 1 ft) and the completed model measures 14 ¼” (362mm) long x 5 ¾” (146mm)  wide x 9” (228mm) tall.
 

 
What’s in the box?
The kit contents are interesting in that there is very little wood at all.   What wood there is, is laser cut basswood and appears to be of decent quality. There is a plethora of cast Britannia metal fittings, some nicely machined aluminium hubs and a number of photo-etched steel and brass parts. With all of that metal in the build, the finished model weighs in at a hefty 6lbs 8oz (just shy of 3kg). The instruction manual is 64 pages long and includes quite a number of colour photos to support the detailed instructions. At first reading, this manual is a considerable step above the typical kit offerings. Also included is a set of 5 large pages of plans and drawings as well as two further pages giving details of clear plastic parts and wheel templates.
 
Here is an overview of the box contents (minus plans):
 

 
And here a few close ups of the various component groups.
 
The only wooden parts – the wheels and their spokes:
 

 
Several bags of Britannia metal parts:
 

 
More cast metal parts and the machined aluminium hubs:
 

 
More cast metal parts and some brass photo-etch:
 

 
Some photoetched stainless steel parts:
 

 
A range of small parts:
 

 
More small parts and the wheel tyres in the long packet at the rear:
 

 
The plans sheets:
 

 

 

 

 
 

 
And the additional drawings:
 

 

 
And finally, the instruction manual:
 

 
I'll be back when construction begins in earnest.....
 

Just started and almost ready 😉
Nice work

Individual links and rollers sounds daunting but I bet it helps understand the mechanics better. I've got to think bigger and try a 1/350 ship and a 1/35 AFV but I do like the tiny world and it delays the display issue creeping up on me
Alan

Yep the early wooden front idler wheel.... Later they were made of welded steel....
An interesting way they did the tracks.... I had the priviledge of doing individual track links with individual rollers on mine.... (RPM 1/35th scale)
Nice crisp detail for a 1/72nd scale model....
 
Tempted, but I do like my 1/35th scale....

With the Penelope diorama on hold while the Sculptamold dries and the Kujawiak waiting for primer to dry I thought I would investigate the contents of the Flyhawk Renault FT17 box a little more closely. Somehow a few hours passed and progress is being made. The hull was straightforward to build up with everything fitting well. The detail is very crisp and impressive. Some nice PR parts complete the details.
 
The track and drive wheel assembly had me reading the instructions and playing with the parts several times to ensure the assembly was correct. Its not obvious in the photo but the little chain drive in the top left is a folded PE part and is going to be invisible in the final assembly. The sprocket wheel and the front wheel are specific to the variant being built.
 

 
The hull needs some more PE adding which will make it quite delicate. I may wait until painting of the major assemblies is complete and the tracks are added. The turret and tracks are completed as far as being ready for priming 

 

Thanks for looking
 
Alan
 
 

I am beginning to think that your garage is the high end garage in town. The garages I grew up with and even had in my last house, were just a trench in the floor that was narrower than the wheel width of the car. They had boards that fit over them when not being used. The work bench area was all wood and even the vice was just a wooden leg vice with a pipe handle screw. Mine had metal jaws fitted. In fact I still have one in my storage shed that I could not stand to throw away when I rebuilt the shop the old shop in my last house. I would venture to say that it dates back to the time the house was built in 1905. 

What an  excellent little boaty  mate  - see thats  got you ready for  1/700  scale.
 
OC.

Nearly done, rust to go 

Just stunning work on the details like the barrels, etc. Gary.    BTW, any chance of dog in there?   As kid, any garage my dad took me to had a dog.  But that was in the 50's.

Yeah, needs a watch dog. 😉
 
These details are really making the garage pop. Super work.👍

I'm late to the party, but what a party! Superb and convincing work there, Gary. You are the king of grunge!

Excellent work  - really nice.
 
OC.

Mark, Egilman. Keith, Ken and Popeye - thank you so much for your comments of information and support.  I really do appreciate it.  And thanks to all for looking in and for the "likes".
 
Pit Frame
 
The pit frame begins with a CAD drawing.
 

 
 
 
This drawing describes the three “steel” frame pieces and the lengths needed for each.

 
 
The drawing is used as a cutting template for the styrene. The image below shows an extra “I” beam member which I decided not to use as it really crowded the pit.
 

 
 
 
The four concrete footings are made from basswood painted with acrylic.
 

 
 
The top view drawing is used as a positioning template. A couple of strips of double sided cellophane tape are placed on the template to keep the four long beams positioned properly as everything is cemented together.
 

 

 
 
Styrene sheet that scales to around .75” is used for the steel plate which covers the parallel beams. After cleaning everything with isopropyl, the “steel” was brush painted with flat-black enamel and selected areas were lightly textured with a cosmetic sponge. Once the enamel dried, I applied a light mahogany colored acrylic wash and allowed it to dry. Then a heavier gray wash on top of that, which I mostly wiped off with my finger leaving the color predominantly in the recesses. Then just a touch of rusty pigment powder and finally some edge highlighting with graphite.
 

 
 
Then glued in place.
 

 

 
 
 
 

 
The frame is made entirely of basswood and the drawing is used as a construction template. The wood was stained with an India ink/alcohol solution beforehand. The tiny dots pretending to be bolt heads are just pin holes made with a pin dipped in ink.
 

 
 
The barrels are white metal pieces that needed some filing and cleaning up.
 

 
 
The catch tray is folded paper from the sticky end of a Post-It note. Once it was formed, a drop of very thin CA was applied which saturated and hardened the thing. Black oil paint was applied in and out. The barrels are base painted with enamels followed by pigments.
 

 

 
Thanks for taking a look.
 
Gary
 
 

Evening all, a bit more progress  on the farmhouse  -  I added a few more White layers  then made up a few frames around the doors, they will have there head frames  after I have  fitted  the clear plastic for the windows, I then did a bit of Black painting.
I also painted and fitted the chimney stacks,
 
OC.

A slight correction... the tank referenced above has a red heart.. as you read Patton's order he specified black as the battalion color... A bit of explanation and slight correction needs to be made...
 
When Patton was given field command of the AEF's tanks, there was only one tank battalion the 426th.... In a few months they had sufficient personnel to form a second battalion, the 427th....
They now had a need to tell apart the different battalions so Patton adjusted the order to account for this and red was the color assigned to the 427th Tank Battalion...
 
Since the image shows a red heart, the tank is Unit #1 of the third section of the 4th company of the 427th Tank Battalion.... Not the 426th TB...
 
Just in case of any confusion..... (or if anyone actually read the order as posted) {chuckle}

Yes indeed Mark, I will be placing some firing form the Dorma windows  as they had a vantage point  over the wall and buildings, my way of looking at is  - early in the battle  the main farm was still intact  and  the KGL  was  uisng all of its  vantage points to shoot at the French, its this stage I want to replicate  - even possibly with the main courtyard gates open and KGL firing from that position also.
 
OC.

Sounds like a good plan OC.  Will there be any men inside the farmhouse or just nearby?   Unless you put in some lights, I would think the interior will be pretty dark even with the white walls.  The thing is, you'll know what's inside which always good.

Six bangers were stock as I recall but there were options for V8's.  The first car I bought was a 56 Chevy that had the optional small block V8... a 265 as I recall with the two speed slushamatic transmission.   

I have got some paint and she has been glossed.The color of the blue was a bit to conjure up not many manufactures make it and the chip was darker than RLM78 but this dark? I for the second time used blue tac and did not care for the results it came out light in some areas and fine in others and then it left a grease line in some of the light grey.So,I had to go back and freehand every dk grey line and then retouch the lt.grey lines were the grease mark remained so then I just free-handed the blue.I should of just free-handed the whole plane like usual would of saved me about and hour the Badger Renegade airbrush is quite capable and up to the job.The freehand was done @25psi and the mixture consistency of whole milk.

This paint  scheme, but on a signal tank.

 

Wow, great info. Thanks 
Second impression