Blackadder's Landkreuzer P500; Die Wühlmaus
If the Wine is Sour, Throw It Out:
If the wine is sour, throw it out has ever been my maxim. One of my favorite movies is 'The Agony and the Ecstasy' where Michelangelo dissatisfied with his work scraped it off and started over. The lesson I learned from that was never be satisfied with 'Good enough' so when I saw five years ago that this tank was not going to come out the way I envisioned it I put it aside for better days.
[url]http://i.imgur.com/IyflQu4.jpg[/url]
http://i.imgur.com/IyflQu4l.jpg
Well better days are here and still I am dissatisfied. First my behemoth has too small a track width as was my initial thoughts half a decade ago so I set out to remedy this.
Note in the image above the Baneblade on the left tracks equal about a third of the overall width of the tank excluding sponsons where as the tank on the right about a quarter including the new added on centimeter of width. So now not only do I need to widen the track housings but I also have to widen the tracks as well which will necessitate making new tracks. This is a daunting project as I do want to make tracks with precisely the same design as the gorgeous original Baneblade skull track segments. So the first order of business will be to make two track links; one with the skull and one with the standard track design but a quarter again larger overall. Then I have to explore the possibility of casting them them.
The second problem with the tank in the image above is the front deck is sloped side to side which was not apparent in the then original black plastic model but is painfully obvious in the white styrene sheathed present. That shall have to be rebuilt.
[url]http://i.imgur.com/o9Ifcus.jpg[/url]
http://i.imgur.com/o9Ifcusl.jpg
In the above image we see the added on strips I will use as a basis for the widened track housing. The lower stringer will define the upper edge of the bogie access panels. The sponsons will be positioned maybe a quarter inch more forward.
[url]http://i.imgur.com/l5ZrKOE.jpg[/url]
http://i.imgur.com/l5ZrKOEl.jpg
This rear image shows where I am dissatisfied with the engine housing, the angled panels on either side were not large enough top to bottom so I am redoing them as well the left side panel already chopped away.
[url]http://i.imgur.com/scJGi2N.jpg[/url]
http://i.imgur.com/scJGi2Nl.jpg
This top view demonstrating perhaps more clearly the object of my discontent.
As I said, the wine was sour............