Scale-Master

The set:

The #29 is done. These are 1/43rd scale.

The #48 is done.

For the parts that should be Caterpillar Yellow I used Tamiya Camel Yellow. I figure once I'd matted out and dirtied up the parts a bit it should work fine.

The #29 is almost done, just a handful of small parts to add.

The #48 is almost done, just a handful of small parts to add.

I scratched the blade with a wire brush before painting. Then I added some wear to the surfaces.

The cab fits well and some of the hydraulic hoses for the ripper have been installed.

The kit comes with clear and slightly tinted "armored" windows.

The cab is about ready to be installed to the tractor. I made a custom decal as a tribute to honor a friend.

I thought I had the track tension issue rectified when I was dry fitting it all, but when I went to do the final install they had more slack than I wanted. I cut each of the running gear sets in two and removed the section that represented the tensioner piston, and then I machined new aluminum pistons and added them to both sides. It "rolls" pretty well. There is bit of play in each link and that adds up, so the slack on top can still be fine-tuned by bunching up the tracks on the ground or pulling them apart. This is the loose "setting".

The interior was fun. It doesn't look like much will be visible after the model is done though.

The ripper was the next subassembly, it is a working feature.

I guess it's time to start building from the beginning of the instructions.

Both bodies have been clear coated and will cure for a while.

I figured I should build the running gear next due to the similar process of cleaning up quite a few of the same pieces. And I thought it would nice to see how the tracks fit too.

Actually, with the right mindset, it's enjoyable. After doing CAD work that requires a lot of concentration all day, this was kind of relaxing.

Another pleasant surprise, the decals for the McQueen car were good too, although a few of them split partly due to them being such delicate pinstripes. I'm sure age was a contributing factor as well. One of them was missing some ink so I cut a sliver of blue decal material and made a little patch.

This is a Meng 1/35th scale kit. I started with the tracks even though they are one of the last steps in the instructions. I wanted to make them fully articulated. Each link is three pieces. There's some clean-up time since it needs 86 links for both tracks. Then the assembly process is slow because you have to cement two pieces together per link and let them dry fully. Then add three more pieces and only cement one of them in place and let that dry. Then after you have a handful of those links they get connected (carefully) and the treads start growing. I found Tamiya Thin Cement used sparingly worked very well. This is several hours work spread over several evenings and I'm not even near the halfway point yet. A few days of the same process yielded a full set of tracks.

The kit decals and the shape of the body are not exactly spot-on compared to the photos of the real car, but then it is a Starter kit… I used what was provided and tried to make them fit as well as possible. All of the decals worked quite well. Let's hope the #48 car's decals are as user friendly.

While I was prepared for the decals to be less than user friendly, I was pleasantly surprised how well the first one worked. I used a lot of decal solvent and it held together and stretched very well. It's also even more opaque than I expected.

Interior/engine/chassis for them. Not a lot of detail. But not a lot can be seen either.

The wheels are done. Metal rims and center nuts, resin spokes. I used LP-40 Metallic Black followed by clear flat.

The last few brass parts were added before priming and painting the bodies. TS-26 Pure White for the 48 car and for the 29 car I used an enamel blue I mixed for the Sunoco Camaro that I didn't care for at the time as a starting point, but I tinted it with TS-72 Clear Blue to look more like the Porsche photos I have.

The roll bars are bent from wire provided in the kits. I could not get solder to work with them so I used CA to hold the two pieces of each one together.