One of the things to do now, before we go any further, is to build the remainder of the parts. The volute springs, the tension roller the rear tension arm etc. Another thing to do at this point is to clean up all part lines, sink holes, and other molding issues. Best to do this now cause once this is assembled, its going to be a real pain and maybe even impossible to do this later.
An area I found needing lots of attention is the VVSS volute springs. Out of the 12, only 3 went together with out modification. The volute spring is made up of two separate pieces, a large bottom piece and a smaller top piece. I have no idea why Dragon cast them this way, they could have just made it one piece and solved a number of issues. The biggest issue is that for some reason, there is some extra material sticking up on the lower part preventing the top from sitting flush. It is fixed by filing down this material and lining up the two half's. Then you have the daunting task of getting rid of the part line. Out of the 12 I think I was able to clean up 1/2 of them....thankfully they are partially hidden.
In this picture you can see the part lines, as well as where the springs sit. Depending on the diameter of the spring, you may have to drill or file a bit of the material inside these parts. In my case I just used my dremmel and a sanding disc to open it up.
Once you have all the volute springs together and clean up. Put them onto the lever. They just slide on with a little pressure. put this aside for now.
Turning our attention to the next few parts, the rear tension arm and the housing. The rear tension arm is two large pieces and 4 smaller pieces. The little pieces are to mimic bolts as well as hold the roller in place. What is missing is the bolts on the top. I drill holes and use brass bolts to hold this in place. It also creates a more realistic look as well as allowing me to remove the roller if needed.
Again, clean any part lines at this point while its easy to get access.
The housing again is 2 parts. It is the correct shape and size but is lacking foundry numbers, casting material and a number of bolts. In total there are 16 bolts missing. Thankfully its only 2 different sizes. I use a 3-48 (x8) brass bolt and a #4 - 1/4 (x8). I will explain where they go later in the blog.
As you can see, I have used yellow milliputt to fill in the lower holes on the rear housing section. This is where the axles will go though and attach. You can do this or add epoxy or JB weld later to secure these bolts.
Roller arm goes towards the rear of the tank. This pic shows a left side housing.
Now, where do all this missing bolts go? Well there is 8 on each end section (#4's)...and 8 that hold the track tension slider on (#3's).
All holes need to be drilled out first. If you use the right drill bit the bolts will screw in and help hold the part on.
Front holes can be left open or bolts added. Period photos show both, either open or with bolts.
Another area missing bolts or detail is the lower suspension arms. There is a small bump where a nut should go, which works at 1/35 scale but not at 1/6th scale. This was fix by running a small brass slot screw into it. Now the top lever would rub on this plate so it would be metal color.
The upper lever is missing details as well. Cast material, foundry numbers and these bolts. Which was correct, with brass bolts.
At this point you can test fit the assembly. This is how it all fits together with springs in-place.
What it looks like from the underside, spacers used to hold front of arms apart. Wheel will hold rear arm section apart. I used plastic tube cut at 1" length for the spacer.
Once everything is test and fits properly, its time to prime and paint, especially the vloute springs, lever and lower arms. There are a lot of small nooks and crannies that is hard to get paint into if you try and paint fully assembled.
Here is what it looks like all green....but as you can see I forgot a few bolts and needed to add them after painting...
Now there are 3 more parts in the suspension system I have not touched on. The 1st is the track tension slider, the track tension roller and the wheels.
The slider is too thick to be accurate. Depending on your skill level, You can replace it with a fabricated brass or metal one, or you can do what I did and just file the stock one down to an acceptable level and call it a day.
Top (green) has been sanded down, bolts (just tops) added to the underside, primed and painted. The flat section will get dry brushed sliver or metal....
You can see the top one is much thinner...if you go this route don't go too thin, you still want it to support the track. Now this part would be painted green at the factory but once it started rolling, the paint would be scraped off showing metal underneath. I light dry brush of silver works well in this case, but only where the track would touch.
The next part is the tension roller. Not much to really say here other then glue together, clean the part line and prime and paint. The sides should be green/camo and the part that touches the track a metal or silver color as the paint would rub off by the tracks. If you added bolts to the tension arm, you can add this last during your build process. If you are gluing this in, paint it prior to and then tape and paint the rest.
Now the last part is the wheels. The stock wheels are ok, but like a lot of this model, soft in detail, missing bolt heads, zert fittings and are hollow on the back side. You could add all these parts and fill in the back, but it would take you a long time. I did this on my 1st build. Or you can go the route I am going and add East Coast Armoury's excellent inserts. If you go this route there is some work to make them fit. Make sure you sand enough casting material off that the insert fits so that there is a little lip from the stock Dragon wheel. Once glued in place, I used putty to fill the gap between the insert and the wheel. This can then be sanded down to a nice smooth transition. See pic 2. The wheel on the left is glue and putty, wheel on the right is completed, glued, putty, sanded and painted. The wheel itself is black in color and will be painted later.
Now if you have done everything sort of right your new "correct, articulating" suspension should work kind of like this..(you may have to play we the lever spacing to make it glide correctly).
http://www.eastcoastarmory.com/m4.htm
Parts used:
www.microfasteners.com
plastruct.com
http://www.eastcoastarmory.com/
Next Post....assembly of the trucks/boggies, and paint
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