Love 'em, hate 'em

Photo-etched parts.
I can't get around how weird they are. They're awesome with all the details and true-to-scale size, at least moreso than plain plastic pieces. Bigger parts like grilles, handles and armour plates have never been a problem of any sort, they're nice to work with.

But those 1,5mm x 1,5mm buttons that are to be bent with some dark magicks to form a couple of 90º angles and after that they need to be glued to the model - when the glueable surface is close to nothing... Or those slightly longer but somewhat narrower pieces that should be bent as well and then connected to the aforementioned part. Flaaaaa.

Usually those things are done with more or less swearing, and done, not skipped. More or less twisted but hey, I don't own any precision instruments for these things - yet. From the PE pieces of this kit a few have made a nice "ka-zing!" sound followed by some clicks when they've fallen on the floor, never to be found again. Oh well, what can I do? I tried, then gave up and the vacuum cleaner shall solve the problem of the lost pieces.


Now, after another deep breath, I'll keep reporting.
In the early week I fixed the ammo cartridge holders (it was somewhat frustrating at times). Maybe a couple of the separators went wrong but I imagine I'll get to fix them if needed. If not, I'll claim that the crew broke them. You know artillerymen and how they are ;)

Next I attacked the targeting equipment. Nothing awful happened, building was fun and quick. At least if we forget that the PE-crosshair device broke off at least five times, that's why it's missing from this photo:

This evening has seen me fighting with those ridiculously tiny pieces and while a bunch of them were drying, I built the base of the gun (all seven pieces). I also tried if the gun even fits on that thing, it did. Goody.
This photo has the upfolded loader's chair-thing drying. The left one shall wait in peace, because I had to mengelify those pieces off, they weren't designed to be reattached... so we'll see how they end up. Or where.

The model looks a bit weird at this point, but it's just because the flat gray basecoat is a bit difficult for the eyes to get a hold of. Or that's what I tell myeslf.



I really, really shouldn't have said that this is almost done in the previous post :P