[LaserCutCard] Gothic Bastion

[LaserCutCard]

Hmm You will need to use plastic Rods for the cannons in any case. Why not using the thin Evergreen Plastic-Rod 020" and cut some spacer to fill the gaps? Would look more close to the original then they can achive with the cutted Card?!

I have thought of that but adding that amount of plastic rod to the kit will be too expensive... so I will put that idea in the build instructions as an option.

Attached are two pics - one being the Evergreen Plastics half-round shape that would be perfect for this and the other being a rough test using hand-cut 2mm wide card.

I think the 2mm wide card does a good enough job creating some detailing, and the evergreen plastic can be used if you want to go for greater realism.

I will add some of the 1.5mm wide pieces to the next cut to see.

[dampfpanzerwagon]

Plastic rod?

I find that cheap plastic knitting needles (you can buy second hand in charity shops of full packs in Pound stores) are perfect for replacing more expensive, purpose built plastic rod such as Evergreen.

Just a thought.

Tony

[tin shed gamer]

Neal,
Just a quick note- track plates run in the opposite direction.
lf your machine is capable then a beveled edge to the rear edge of the 1.5mm would give a cleaner look.A 45 degree angle would work best.That way you can construct a 3mm wide ladder cut with a 45' cut centred at 1.5mm and running the length of the ladder.This will give you double the number of plates for the run simply by turning one half over so both diagonal slopes of the 45' cut are face up.

Mark.

[LaserCutCard]

Neal,
Just a quick note- track plates run in the opposite direction.
lf your machine is capable then a beveled edge to the rear edge of the 1.5mm would give a cleaner look.A 45 degree angle would work best.That way you can construct a 3mm wide ladder cut with a 45' cut centred at 1.5mm and running the length of the ladder.This will give you double the number of plates for the run simply by turning one half over so both diagonal slopes of the 45' cut are face up.

Mark.

Right angles only. Also, these pieces are fiddly enough as it is at this size (2mm x 7mm) and the recuts are going to be even smaller

So what I will have to aim for is giving the visual idea of the plates with the parts available in the kit, whilst leaving it up to you if you want to kitbash to add detail.

Bear in mind that as it is, the builder is going to have to glue 80 of these little pieces into place by hand, one at a time. That is already a big ask.

[LaserCutCard]

In case you haven't already noticed, the "rivets" are actually holes in the card, not bumps.... so they give the impression of riveted plates without actually being there 

[tin shed gamer]

There's nothing wrong with it as it stand.
As for the number of parts it's a necessary evil and one you'll not loss ground on.what would make it easier to model is to include a crenulated jig for even spacing of the plate bars .from the waste card(it doesn't need to be in the kit.just a 'how to' on the site.)
I personally make one trick pony jigs,and tools for the majority of scratch builds.As it's often the best way to undertake repetitive detailing.

[FramFramson]

Not a bad idea.

I also thought of the styrene rod idea, but figured it would add too much to the cost of the model.

[agentbalzac]

As one with experience with LCC kit-bashing - I'd seriously stick with the 2mm card bits at most, and spend the rest of your time/expertise developing your other cardboard coolness.    Personally I wouldn't bother to include either, and leave it up to the modeller to source as required.

Judging from the pics, the existing score-marks on the tracks provide a sufficient guide for either 2mm x 7mm card, or for other plastic embellishments.

My two cents.

agentbalzac

[tin shed gamer]

Neal,
It's been bugging me ,I've been waiting until I see the parts frames!but I might as well ask now.Why 80 2mm wide strips?Is it simply because your adjusting the model as you go? Because you can build the track with fewer production strips and end up with the same effect for less effort.

Depending on your final parts frames it's possible to do the track plates easily with 15-16 2mm strips
10-11 at 2mm by 42mm and 5 at 2mm by 28mm(excluding cuts) based on a quick count of track links in earlier pictures so give or take a couple. It really depends upon your frame layout.

Mark.

[LaserCutCard]

Neal,
It's been bugging me ,I've been waiting until I see the parts frames!but I might as well ask now.Why 80 2mm wide strips?Is it simply because your adjusting the model as you go? Because you can build the track with fewer production strips and end up with the same effect for less effort.

Depending on your final parts frames it's possible to do the track plates easily with 15-16 2mm strips
10-11 at 2mm by 42mm and 5 at 2mm by 28mm(excluding cuts) based on a quick count of track links in earlier pictures so give or take a couple. It really depends upon your frame layout.

Mark.

This might explain it a bit better

There should be enough thin strips to cover all the visible parts of the track, leaving the bottom part that touches the ground flat.

[LaserCutCard]

Here is the MK IV resized to exactly 1/48

We are also messing around with a MK IV "Indiana Jones" upgrade - which features a modified top hull that takes a Cromwell turret.

The turret fitting is compatible with certain other kits.

The Cromwell turret will come with a choice of 2 different cannons... the Indy cannon and a battle cannon.

The upgrade kit also comes with "heavy rocket guns" to replace the 6pdr sponson guns.

[YPU]

The turret fitting is compatible with certain other kits.

The upgrade kit also comes with "heavy rocket guns" to replace the 6pdr sponson guns.

Just a minor deviation on era and genre then. 

Very smart, I hope you catch a lot of that Not granny White money. 

[LaserCutCard]

Just a minor deviation on era and genre then. 

Very smart, I hope you catch a lot of that Not granny White money. 

We prefer to see this kit as a timeless classic, with a very large value for "timeless" 

[agentbalzac]

The turret fitting is compatible with certain other kits.

Not quite sure what you're tantalisingly implying here but I'll be getting a turret so I can build it as a 95mm Cromwell CS turret to swap onto my 1/48 Tamiya kit when it needs to do duty as a D-Day Royal Marines vehicle... 

[tin shed gamer]

It looks like more than enough room for the tweak I had in mind to reduce the track build by roughly 3/4.
If you can rotate the strips and increase them from 13mm to 42m (assuming there's approximately 90mm,of height on the sheet just for ease )then you can use the same net/ grid  but with only twenty 1.5mm runs)
The idea being that you attatch them to the tracks before removing them from the frame.So 1.5mm strip covers four track plates in one go.Now depending on preference the modeller can do all twenty (which make the 'cornering ' a little more curved.Or fifteen strips across the four widths of track,then remove them up that point and do the last five one set of four at a time to give you more authentic links for the ends.
It's easier twenty easy to handle '4cm' lengths than 80 '1cm' lengths.It doesn't seem such a chore especially as it's done before the track released from the frames.

Your influences are definitely as stated ,The Indiana Jones version is a winner. The other versions would make Rick Priestly chuckle,
Mark