Kampfer Part6: Standstill

I am sorry to report that my Kampfer project is on hold indefinitely. A series of events has forced me to stop working on the kit for the time being, but hope to return to it as soon as possible. First and foremost, I continue to find that I am missing major parts of the kit. The kit has been kicked around for the last eight years, so I am not surprised to be missing a part here and there. The problem is that the missing part is one that is crucial to the completion of the project and I would not have started the build if I had know it was missing. I guess that I must have counted the same part twice, but I realized the mistake too far into the build. I have a plan to duplicate the missing part in resin but I have to wait until I can buy more supplies.
In addition to the part shortage, I am totally getting burned out on the kit. This was supposed to be a simple mental health project, but my vision keeps evolving and the build seems to gain complexity at every step. This is compounded by the fact that I just got a new job and am looking at an upcoming vacation. All in all, the Kampfer project seems more like a chore at this point than a relaxing hobby. All I have to say is that I want to complete the model and am determined to see my vision come alive.

Road Blocks

A couple of weeks ago, I went to my local hobby store to pick up some thinner and primer for painting my most recent project. To my suprise, I found the shelves empty. I then went to my second choice hobby store to find the same situation. Apparently Tamiya stopped shipping primer and thinner for the time being and everyone is unsure of when more will come in. To add to things, Japan was hit with that one-two punch the other day and now the outlook is super uncertain. So, I am off to find an alternative source for my supplies and I might not meet my deadline for the build. Big Boo to that:p

Kampfer Part5: More Engine and Head

My vision for this build is a stripped down Kampfer, so when it came to the head, I wanted to take off the back cowle so that the head had a meaner look. This missing peice means that I have to make sure that the guts of the head still looks good. Long ago, I had put an LED in the head, but over the years the parts went missing. So, I cut down the eye area and added some detail parts to construct a new eye assembly. Also, I had to add some details to the jowls to fill in some of the gaps.






I also added more detail to the engine parts by adding more pipes and mechanical pieces. I used part of a Zaku engine and more of the Tamiya detail to fill in more details. I was trying to find the ballance between too much detail and not enough. I think I acheived my goal and I am happy with the results so far.




Here are a couple of close-up veiws of the engine. I had a stoke of luck by adding a little gusset to the end of the main pipe. This gusset allows the cone to fit snuggly, also it make the cone removeable.

Kampfer Part4: Main Engine

The engine is pretty much at the heart of my conversion. Previously, was thinking about using the lower part of a Zaku leg to house the engine, but I ultimately decided against it. Instead, I have decided to see what I can do with some parts that I had laying around. I am a notorious hoarder and at the same time I never want to parts because I am afraid I will find a better use for them. I am trying to break myself of the fear, so I dipped into a Tamyiya set that I have had laying around.

First, I had to prep the body for some of the parts that I wanted to use. I cut off the two side engine mounts with my hobby saw. The areas that I cut are highlight in red in the pictures below. After the rough cuts were made, I smoothed them out with a file and sandpaper.








After the main body was prepped, I started adding bits to see if I could make the Kampfer look how I imagined. Overall, I think that I am on to something and will fill in more detail as I go on. For now here are some pics of what I came up with.






All the engine parts are from the Tamiya kit bellow except for the main nozzle that I made back in part2 of this build. This kit has a lot of little engine parts like hoses and filters and what not that I plan to use to make the engine compartment look as "realistic" as possible.



Here are some wide shots of the Kampfer with two of the fuel tanks installed so that I could see how the composition was coming along. I really like how its coming along and look forward to hammering out the details.




The main engine

Kampfer Part3: Feet Etc.

It doesn't feel like I am getting anywhere with this kit. This week I spent most of my time patching up various parts of the Kampfer's body. I decided that I wanted to change the feet in order to loose the two claws in the front. Unfortunately this isn't as simple as I thought because of the way the top and bottom of the foot fit together, so I had to take a chance with some new techniques that I have never tried before.

I used Aves Apoxie to fill in the big gaps on the upper portion of the Kampfer's foot. I didn't want to have to so any sculpting myself, so I tried to use plastic card where ever possible so that I had something to go off of. I was afraid that the putty would eventually break out, so I used some plastic card to back it up and give it some support. I guess that the trick is to make sure this card backing does not interfere with the lower half of the foot. This also takes allowing for the plastic card used to back up the lower portion.



Again, I used plastic card for the lower portion of the foot. I had to shape this backing so that it would fit in the upper half. After I was sure that the foundation was well fitted, I used more plastic card to make up a sort of step design on the bottom of the foot. I used .5mm card so that the top of the steps was even with the bottom of the foot. Ultimately this card will help when adding the Apoxie so that the foot looks complete.





After the plastic card was installed, it was time for the Apoxie. Before I could start filling the gaps though it was important to shape the top part of the foot further so that it had a sleeker look. The Kampfer has ridges near where the toes poke out. You can see these ridges in the first two pictures of this post. I simply used a knife to smooth out the ridges and finished the job with a file and sandpaper.

After prepairing the foot, I added the Apoxie to the model. I didn't want to do too much sanding, so I went easy on the Apoxie. I used the surounding plastic to float the Apoxie even with the rest of the model. After the Apoxie dried, I hit it with a file and sandpaper in order to blend the putty with the plastic. It is often hard to see if you are on the right track when sanding any putty because of all the color variations and what not, so I like to prime a piece to see where what areas need more work.



As you can see, the imperfections are easy to see after the primer was added.




Here are some pics of the shoulders. I hit them with primer too because I am totally out of my depth when it comes to shaping these larger curved surfaces. The primer really helped on these and I see that I have a lot more work to do to make these look good.