Here is my in progress photo.
Base coat of paint is on, now on to weathering.

Here is my start up photo Of the BergeTiger by Rye.


Tom

Bumbling along Bob? You scratch build faster than I unbox a kit!

That is a lot of fine looking plastic hanging off that beast.

Love the way you created the lights.

I concur, you are far along,

I don't know what you mean by 'bumbling along'; your scratch-built conversion is amazing!

Am constantly impressed by the builds going on here, as well as the selection of kits. Kind of makes my bumbling along seem out of place, but for whatever it is worth here is the latest update....



Starting to make the push pads. The fancy ones are for the sides and the simple one is on the center. You can see my lights in progress. Basically thick clear plastic, tin foil and in the case of the marker light... Tamiya Clear Orange.



You can see the light setup in the one side push pad. Didn't figure that I would be able to do a decent job painting it all after it was built so I did it now.



The center push pad sort of in place. I have gotten pretty good at stacking stuff to hold things like the push pads in place.



The three push pads hanging in place. I need to do a bit of adjustment and then I will glue them solid. The support system is a modification of the one shown in the Leopard Trilogy books.... as that shows an early configuration, and I am modeling a later one.

Next back to the work deck frame. This will also include the tow points that come up through the work deck at the front.

Later, Bob

No problem, should be a very nice build, looking forward to it, Tom!

I would like to change to the Rye Field Model BergeTiger.
Is that okay?

Yeah, the mold release agent on this thing was nuts! It was sticky and thick like resin. Had to soak everything in Simple Green to get it off.

Thanks, my kit went together pretty well. The lower hull was slightly warped and I couldn't figure out the rear, engine fan doors, based on the instructions. They seemed to describe it backwards or something like that. Anyway I glued them in and walked away to the next step.

The mold release material they used on my kit was thick enough to scrape off with a slotted screwdriver, though







Haha

LOL. Well, the Renault is just for scale comparison in the photo. In fact, the Renault is actually too small to even go over it!

It must have been very well balanced

How did they get such a big bridge on a little Renault?

I agree looking good so far.

It's looking very good, Mark

I found your blog on another site as I was searching for reference photos. I hope mine turns out half as nice as yours. The bridge has been something of a challenge to this point, but the chassis seems to be going together smoothly enough.

I agree. I've built that IT-28 Bridgelayer several years ago and had a lot of fun.

What started as a dry-fit of the bridger turned into a completed bridge section:


The fit was so tight that once everything was together I was concerned I would break something trying to take it back apart so I decided, "What the heck; just glue it."

This kit is no Tamiya shake'n'bake kit, but it's the nicest kit from any Russian company that I have built.

Go for it Peter. You'd still have the plastic option if things don't turn up to your expectations.

Bob, the minime I'm building is all plastic -- and I'm not complaining!

Cheers,

Tat

That will look great, Linus!

Hi all

I picked up this the other day although the boxing is actually Asuka.

Mark, I am going to bet he is probably like me. I start a debate like that knowing that I will tackle the PE part, and half way through building it start to wonder about my sanity.

Peter, After all the superb work on the suspension units if the PE is a real improvement over the kit part (which looks pretty good actually) it would be shame not to take a run at it. But it is your call...

The question is.... Does Tat's small version come with the PE option for the claw? Inquiring minds want to know....

Bob

"debating whether I am Masochistic enough to tackle that one"

You know you want to...

Some work done on the upper hull too. I have fit the driver hatch and the rear compartment hatch. The rear hatch was just the radio operator's hatch from the gun tank and used to cover a storage compartment.

I replaced the Trumpeter ones with Dragon ones from the spares box. The Trumpeter ones were inaccurate. The lock fitting is upside down on the rear hatch and on both hatches the lock was set too far inward of the edge. There are no photographs of the closed hatches on the real vehicle so there is some conjecture around whether the hatches had locks or not, so shaving these off the Trumpter kit was an option.

I still have to fit the handle known to have been fitted to the front edge of the hatches (Trumpeter got that right):


I have also made a start on the Geschossgreifer (shell gripper). The ends are just fitted for the pic. Trumpeter also provide a multipart PE version... debating whether I am Masochistic enough to tackle that one.

That is it for now

Okay where I am up to.

Well my 'rear end' tendencies got the better of me, as they usually do. I was not that happy with Trumpeter's 10 year old take on the suspension and running gear in this kit. Their drive sprocket was actually quite good with bolt details on the inside as well, as was the idler, but the idler has a PE ring to depict the undercut rim of the real deal, but Trumpter made it oversized so it sits on the face of the Idler rim, when it should actually be recessed inside the rim. The drive sprocket housings were really terrible when compared to the originals though ..... so I removed it all!!

Found an old Tristar Panzer IV Running Gear Set 2 in the stash, and could not resist using it. Whilst not actually depicted on the box top, the set also contains the Drive sprocket housings for the different Ausf versions of the Panzer IV, the various drive sprockets and all BUT the Early pattern Idler I need for the Ausf D...... but I have a Tristar Ausf D kit that actually contained 2 sets of these ... GOLD :-)

Any way, here is the hull with most of the suspension in place:


Comparison of the Tristar Set with the Trumpeter, where you can see so much more detail and the retaining bolts are much larger - look more the part:

.

Still have to fit the bolts to the Tristar ones; the Tristar set doesn't have them so I will shave off the Trumpeter ones and use those. Note also the Dragon tow mounts - again so much better than the trumpeter ones.


Comparison of the Tristar Drive housing to the Trumpeter one. I had to remove all moulded on detail from the hull side to fit the Tristar one:


And of course, the road wheels and return rollers to complete the set - note the name 'Continental' on the tyre side:

Welcome aboard Marc. Interesting choice of kit. I will be really interested to see how that one goes together.

Bob, your work just continuous to impress. I do not know what else to say.

Clayton, I agree wholeheartedly, the gallery will be amazing.