Caterpillar D7 U. S. Seabees

I got this kit for a bargain and actually wanted it for another project but with our Corsair group build I had the idea to combine both into a little vignette. The kit has fine details and quite a well designed parts layout - save for the tracks. 

tracks, drive wheel and idler wheel are cast together which is fine at first glance. 

on closer inspection you realise that the casting seam runs through the midst of the tracks with just that bit of an offset that requires you to sand all of the track. Quite a time consuming task and pretty annoying. I did a deep cut between all (visible) links to improve looks a bit further and deepend the groove between the links as I considered them to be rather shallow. The prominent bolts on each of the caterpillar track links are not depicted in the model - and would have been lost to sanding anyway. 

After more than three hours on the tracks alone I was finally done and could proceed to the painting stage. 

Base coat for the tracks was Alclad II Gunmetal 

As I had cleaned up most of the parts already shortly after receiving the kit, not so much work was needed before the first coat of color could be applied. I went for Mr. Hobby Colors Olive Drap H78 for the lower parts and H52 as main color, which I lighted further with H85 for highlights. 

Subassemblies 

The drivers compartment was further detailed with photoetch from the kit 

Where I found the photoetch parts too flat I replaced them with 0.3mm brass tube. Hand grips at the photoetch parts were beefed up with Elmer glue (wood glue). My secret weapon (ups, not secret anymore) for the knobs at control sticks in scale 1:72 are lead granules which I bought by the kilogram (bought for tight spots in planes nose sections to prevent tailsitting). They are stuck to the sticks with Elmer glue too.  

The chunks at the side of the tank were supposed to be grab handles. I removed them and put grab handles instead. 

Lights were drilled open and will receive a glass cover. 

silicone pipes were added to the actuators as hydraulic hoses. 

The engine received some further detailing. The instructions of the extremly detailed Miniart 1:35 D7 were very helpful in doing that.  

Diesel injection lines, oil hoses, dipstick and coolant lines were added at the right side. 

A myriade of stuff to bring it to life. 

and this is the final result 

 

not too shabby for a scale 1:72 engine I dare say. 😉 

Change of plan - change of color (see below).
After the color conversion of the converted conversion I landed at H-61 IJN Grey. Well, to put a japanese color on an american vehicle felt slightly inappropriate and looking at the rather neutral grey it looked inappropriate too. So I added a drop of blue to americanise it until I was happy with it. For the lower parts I darkened it with H301 and for the lights I significantly lightened it with white. 

The engine compartment was masked and left olive drab under the idea that the vehicle was repainted. 

Engine fixed in place. 

Now taking a deep breath before tackling the last big construction step with fashioning of the last tubes and replacing the broken ones. 

Pipe No 1 was tricky to fashion and even more so to wind it into place. As I don't get it out anymore, I'm afraid I will have to color it on the spot. 

Done. All missing hoses build. The challenges of the ones at the front of the drivers areas right side were overcome with the help of Albion Alloys slide-to-fit brass tubes. 0.3mm pins were inserted into predrilled holes and the 0.5mm tube could be slid onto it. Like this I achieved the required stability. 

Going for paint after a coat of Mr. Metal Primer (in the tweezers you see the support struts between engine block and cooler casing) 

Main chores done. The tracks were washed wet-on-wet with four shades of rust color and the protruding parts then drybrushed steel. Base color of the seat applied too - together with the expected collateral damage. 

Uups. I forgot to airbrush the bozer blade. But not too late for that yet. 

Construction is almost completed. 

Three hoses from the actuators are yet to be attached. But I had no patience for that anymore.  

Some motivational shots.  

The seat was pimped with some oils. 

 

 

 

Next steps: washings and weathering 

I used 0.4mm silicon pipes for the short streches of hoses between the actuators and the straight lines in front of the drivers area, but they gave me a hard time to fix them in place as they didn't accept the superglue as fast as I wanted. Three out of four I finally managed to force into submission. The most stubborn one was cut off at the end and replaced by lead wire. 

The "cockpit" consists of three instruments- half hidden behind the horizontal pipes. I have the ol decal set of individual instruments and punched out three with a diameter of 1.0mm 

The other decals I put for plain artistic purposes as they do not represent an actual vehicle, didn't perform to my liking and left me with prominent carrier film and silvering. I hope to ameliorate that with a coat of varnish. 

Next: pin wash. With an abundance of pins and nooks and crannies this took some time. I like to custom mix black, dark grey and dark brown in approximately even parts to do the job. 

This step already brought this little bugger to life. Fantasy decals from a fantastic generic placard set add some more charm to the engine - me thinks 🙂 

 

 

Now I am exited to add wear and dirt to it. So far I am quite happy with it and I really celebrate my decision to go for the Navy Blue color. 

That's the figure that should go with it 

 

I added some scratches,... 

...oil stains,... 

...did some oil paint rendering... 

...and think that I am done now... 

...save the pigments.