Some of the mods that Rick has made. All are done from "scratch":
The vane sight turned out cool, added the lock down fixture on the muzzle brake too. Oh, and the lifting plate for the gun mantlet. Nothing major, just little odds and ends that can be added fairly easy. Also did just a little welding on the machine gun ring. Those rings were attached to the commanders vision ports with some major ugly welds, now you have some too. ;-)
Also did a little weld work along the seams on the armor covers for the rear hatch on the turret. The hatch handle has also been replaced with a new scratch built wire handle. Also added additional weld work to the turret vent, there were actually two or three layers of welds there, hides the joint at the turret roof as well.
I drilled out the hinge points on the spare tracks hanging on the turret. One of those things that keeps me up at night
, so I started drilling them out. I'll need eight of your spare track pins. A little slow, all the work needs to be done by hand, but it'll look 1000% better.
I'm in the process of adding the tank commanders "open sights" to the top of the turret and the hold down bolts that secure the armor chunk to the lower rear side of the turret.
oh, did I also forget to mention that the poorly shaped (and incomplete) cold starting crank guide on the bottom of the right hand muffler guard has been removed! Yup.
Another long time Tamiya error. The incomplete portion has been cut away, the two flanges reshaped and the holes for the removable pin (that would hold the cranking guide in place) have been drilled out.
On my break times
I started whittling away on your turret, you now have actual handles on all your turret hatches, no more of those molded in toy like things! Formed out of heavy copper wire, fit perfect!
And that pesky loader's hatch that didn't open, well it did, but not in a proper fashion. Well now that loader's hatch has pivot points and holes drilled for future pins to be pressed in after paint is complete. You now have a functional loader's hatch.
Also did some work on the base of the turret lifting hooks. The kit hooks don't fit real good so I did some bondo work around the bases, looks like they came from the factory now. Also spent some extra time with the Dremal tool, looks like the turret is made from real German armor plate now. Need to finish up one more glue coat, then I promise some pictures.
BTW, your tail pipes have been drilled out and the proper single wire guards have been installed. I hate the way Tamiya finishes of the tail pipes, makes 'em look like they have a big baffle stuck in 'em.
P.S. I'm also currently scratch building a stop light for the tail end and Tanya is heading down to the jewelry mart tomorrow to look for some form of glass bead to use as a travel for the back.
