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CDW

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Everything posted by CDW

  1. CDW
    Beautiful, a stallion!
  2. CDW
    I twisted together 4 strands of 30 gauge wire to create a cable for the winch. It seems a little too much diameter so will re-do with 3 strands for a smaller diameter. If any of you have ever been a “swamper” for a winch equipped dozer, you will have a healthy respect for steel cable. The cable will often get frayed with individual wire strands jutting out. Even with heavy leather gloves on. The sharp strands often poke through the gloves giving a painful stab wound to the hands and fingers. It’s probably hard to believe, but I would completely wear out a new pair of leather work gloves every day. Company doesn't supply them either. It’s an individual expense.
  3. CDW
  4. CDW
    She even went with me to buy the models today. She never gives me any grief for buying hobby items, Never has in almost 50 years.
  5. CDW
    Uncle Joe was my mentor. In 1933 Joe was born, one of 16 children all of the same mother and father on a farm in West Virginia. While his dad was away at work, an employee of Columbia Gas company, all the kids had chores to do to help keep food on the table. When Joe reached the ripe old age of 8, he decided (probably from necessity) to go to work full-time with his older cousin, Lester. Lester was a logger, driving a team of Belgian work horses to haul huge cut logs to a sawmill. In new pipeline construction, a 100-foot-wide right-of-way is cleared pushing trees off to each side. The timber was pretty much free for the taking as it most often was in locations very difficult to access and even more problematic dragging it to the sawmills. Joe learned to command his own team of horses and by the time he was 18 years old, had saved enough money to buy his own dump truck, trailer, and D6 dozer. From this humble beginning, Joe built his own multi-million-dollar gas and oil pipeline business.
  6. CDW
    Remember that movie, The Blob? That's the way my stash is growing. 😅
  7. CDW
    Attended a distress sale today and picked up additional kits. The dozer is a D7 like the one I am building now, only no winch. It’s also a completely different tooling. It was done in cooperation with Mig Ammo.
  8. CDW
    With the covers removed, the spring tensioner for the idler wheel can be seen. A grease fitting on the shaft in front of the spring puts tension on the tracks when grease is injected.
  9. CDW
    Once the snow started in the fall, pipeline construction would cease for the winter season. All heavy equipment in need of maintenance would be brought into the yard, then pressure washed, then brought into the shop where it would be disassembled and often rebuilt, repainted, etc. Spent a lot of good times working, joking, smoking, and drinking moonshine with good friends.
  10. CDW
    There’s a lot to do before slowing down.
  11. CDW
    Turning out such a beautiful model, Harry. Hope you have a place of honor for her when you're finished. Your sub-assemblies keep getting better and better.
  12. CDW
    The road wheel/idler/drive sprocket assemblies are fairly complex. This one side took more than a couple of hours to clean up and assemble. Too bad so much of the assemble gets covered with panels and will never be seen. However, s kit like this could make an incredible maintenance diorama.
  13. CDW
    Starting the color coats, I like to thin my paint 2 parts thinner to 1 part paint and lay down very thin, multiple coats rather than heavy ones do as not to obliterate detail. Since more paint coats will be applied after the tracks and remainder of the model is assembled, this will be enough painting for now. Paint and thinner is Mr Color lacquer.
  14. CDW
  15. CDW
    The next steps of construction will add the road wheels, idlers, and drive sprockets, so now is the time to get this assembly all primed and painted before the track/wheel assemblies go on. The kit did not provide any material to create the cable for the winch. I ordered some 30 gauge soft wire which I will use to make my own cable from scratch.
  16. CDW
    My current sprue nipper tool collection. soon to be joined by the God Hands. 😬
  17. CDW
    Thanks Edward
  18. CDW
    Of course, yes, that's exactly the way I normally do it with small parts with the small saw I photographed and posted in a previous post. However, this is not sufficient with these small parts, they still break even then. It's one of those things you can't get your mind wrapped around until you try to do it yourself. I've been doing these plastic model kits more than 60 years so there are very few techniques I have not tried. There is a very specific plastic nipper I have not yet tried due to the high cost of it, called "God Hands" nippers. The nippers are designed in a very specific way so that only one side of the nipper is the blade while the other side is a flat piece the blade comes down upon. These nippers are probably the most precise you can buy and are specifically made for very fine work. I will probably break down and order a pair this week. Amazon.com: GodHand Ultimate Nipper 5.0 GH-SPN-120 for Plastic Models : Arts, Crafts & Sewing
  19. CDW
    Thanks for the comments. As for a flat surface and a sharp blade I agree. Trouble is finding a small enough flat surface. It’s like dancing on the head of a pin. As for whittling, plastic too brittle for that.
  20. CDW
    Larger parts are fine, but some are cast so small they easily break apart so yes they are brittle.
  21. CDW
  22. CDW
    I kid you not, at least a half dozen of those delicate parts broke in 4 or more pieces and had to be reassembled/glued back together. What a pain in the butt. I guess you can say, I'm getting my money's worth with plenty of things to do. Guarantee you this is not a kit for the lighthearted.
  23. CDW
  24. CDW
    We were never allowed to cuss when I was growing up, but I learned the technique at Parris Island. Since then, I have had many years learning to perfect this skill but remain a novice compared to THE mentor, Senior Drill Instructor Lee Ermey.
  25. CDW
    The pedals and linkages shown in the previous photos go here. It took some extra cussin’ to get it to fit.

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