TOPIC:

More progress on detailing my tractor ...

Fuel tank & rear lights:






Steering wheels control stalks, instrument binnacle, fake vents & ignition:









Chassis details ... looks far too much like a 80s Palitoy Y-wing for my liking






Nose weight bar & left side details ...




... including toobox:





Working on the nose weights; gaps are for 10g steel weights, so potentially 100g of extra weight on the front to curb wheelying, if necessary:





I have about 100ml left out of the 1 litre can of Dichloromethane I bought just over a year ago, but it's coming out BROWN with iron oxide ... it quickly settles out so I'll be able to use most of it, but this time I bought some in a plastic can instead.

I forgot to mention I've been keeping track of the number of discrete pieces I've cut & stuck together, mostly styrene obviously but the total is over 500 bits

At least I'm nearly there, I just have to have a go at rear mudflaps & also the radio fitting/headlining in the cab & that should be the construction done.

I count 547 pieces Jonny its just fantastic. I dread to think how many hours has gone into it, definitely worth it

Dam wrote:

...I dread to think how many hours has gone into it ...

TBH I haven't been counting the hours, all I can really say is it's taken up all of my "hobby" time for about 5 weeks so far

Working on the box section for inside the top of the cab ...






Fitted, along with radio, speaker & vent grille details; I debated whether it was worth doing this bit as it just won't be seen from any normal viewing angle - but it's really made the cab a whole lot stiffer & tougher ...






I'd been thinking for some time that the spikes on the rear tyres would have to go - today I attacked them with the razor saw:





And after finishing with the Dremel, including taking the lettering off the Holiday Buggy fronts:






Mudflaps:






Nose weights completed:





They're held on by M3 grubscrews underneath:






I guess that's all the fabrication done, now it just needs a few holes drilling for wiring, then a bit of preparation for painting - just in time for the long, cold & damp British Autumn/Winter

Jonny wrote:

I have about 100ml left out of the 1 litre can of Dichloromethane I bought just over a year ago, but it's coming out BROWN with iron oxide ... it quickly settles out so I'll be able to use most of it, but this time I bought some in a plastic can instead.

Once again an awesome build! The attention to detail is amazing.

Where do you get this stuff? Is it the same as the solvent weld stuff you can get for plastic waste pipes etc from B&Q?
How do you apply it in use?

This is awesome, you really have skills that make me green with envy. Speaking of green, when you've finished it I have a paddock that needs slashing.

Martin wrote:

...

Where do you get this stuff? Is it the same as the solvent weld stuff you can get for plastic waste pipes etc from B&Q?
How do you apply it in use?

Just search for "Dichloromethane" on eBay, plenty of options regarding quantity (250ml to 25L, there may have even been 100L drums), purity (mostly 99.9 or 99.5%, the rest usually being stabilisers & water; I avoided the recycled stuff), container type etc etc.

It's not the same as ABS/PVC pipe Solvent Weld, that appears to be jellified MEK (Methyk Ethyl Ketone). I'm not saying that wouldn't work, but I haven't tried it, it's a different solvent - and a different technique - so I have no idea. Pipe weld stuff you (apparently) put on both parts to be joined with a brush, then push together & hold.

DCM is not quite the same as EMA brand "Plastic Weld" either (though that is mostly DCM too), nothing against it at all & it comes in a nice brown bottle with a child-proof cap, I just found it comparatively poor value (it's only a 57ml bottle), and top heavy so if you use it direct from the bottle, chances are you WILL knock it over & being thinner than water it will go everywhere & melt anything vulnerable really quickly.


DCM joining of model styrene parts is a bit more like brazing - you press the two bits together & run the solvent around the edge so it gets sucked in by capillary action. That's usually enough for non-load bearing structure or detail bits, for anything that's going to be exposed to more torque I tend to quickly pull the joint apart & repeat a couple of times with some wiggling to really melt the faces together & clamp up overnight; that seems to work better than trying to get the two parts to stay wet while you bring them together. I use 00 to #4 size brushes depending on the scale of the joint, these do need taking out of regular circulation though, as melted styrene tends to build up. Usually I'm a fan of artificial bristles, but you do really need to use natural bristles (even cheap ones). I decant into Tamiya 10ml glass jars as they're stable & don't hold too much so evaporation is not much of a problem.

nodtec wrote:

This is awesome, you really have skills that make me green with envy. Speaking of green, when you've finished it I have a paddock that needs slashing.

I don't have any special skills (in fact I'm quite physically clumsy & uncoordinated), it's just practice & slowly growing confidence to be a tiny bit more ambitious each time. In terms of Gladwell's 10,000 hours theory, I would guess I'm a about half way towards "success" in plastic model making (spread across kits, RC, scale bits & painting all the above) so things should be to a reasonable standard...



I had always planned to make something to tow behind this tractor - specifically a Massey Ferguson seed drill (I had one of those in my childhood too). I'm now thinking doing something more practical & a mower could fit the bill - all it really needs to be is a trailer with a motor, prop, battery & a simple on/off switch

This is absolutely stunning, Jonny!
Tamiya should hire you ASAP!