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Rank: Advanced Member Groups: Member
Joined: 6/30/2003 Posts: 4,918 Location: Melbourne, Australia
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Rank: Advanced Member Groups: Member
Joined: 5/12/2006 Posts: 2,261 Location: NY
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Looking good Rowan! Very nice job. I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out! Greg
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Rank: Advanced Member Groups: Member
Joined: 6/30/2003 Posts: 4,918 Location: Melbourne, Australia
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Thanks Greg, so am I! I still can't really see it finished in my own mind yet but I think it'll scrub up alright once complete. Rowan. 1:25th scale CAT 375L excavator
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Rank: Advanced Member Groups: Member
Joined: 4/3/2003 Posts: 2,070 Location: Rockford,IL.
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Very nice Rowan. You are doing a great job and taking your time. I look forward to seeing the finished machine. Ken
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Rank: Advanced Member Groups: Member
Joined: 12/30/2008 Posts: 3,439 Location: Good ol' Indiana
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Nice project! Will the stick get a little longer? Sewer boom would look great with that model.
-Ethan Collection 8/2/2016For more of the Diorama and my collection: On Facebook or On YouTube
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Rank: Advanced Member Groups: Member
Joined: 6/27/2013 Posts: 937 Location: Quebec, Canada,
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That looks very promising despite your modesty. And looks like you got some refreshments to keep you going... S.
___________________________________________________ Playing with toys since 1970, now building them.
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Rank: Advanced Member Groups: Member
Joined: 3/10/2010 Posts: 1,100 Location: PA
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I love looking through this. Very enjoyable. Thanks
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Rank: Advanced Member Groups: Member
Joined: 1/22/2013 Posts: 203
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Great work Rowan! It's great to watch the progress being made. Looking forward to seeing the finished product.
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Rank: Advanced Member Groups: Member
Joined: 6/30/2003 Posts: 4,918 Location: Melbourne, Australia
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Thanks for the comments guys. Still a long way to go but there has been a bit of progress. The build of the rear engine cover was pretty rough. Time to bog it up. Shaved down pretty nicely. Test fit. The cover is actually quite off center. I measured it up and found the right spot. Time to build the vent on the side of the cover. Beading wire, perfect. Vent finished and glued on. Far from perfect but about I'm happy with it. Into the high tech paint booth. The quick dry primer worked a treat. This was actually a little more complex than it appears but I wanted to remove the Deere logos from the plastic inner of the cab. The problem with nail polish remover on transparent plastics is that it leaves ghost stains so i trialed it first on a small corner that would be covered by the metal cab. I used a small q-tip with non-acetone nail polish remover to rub and remove the decal and once removed, swiftly used another q-tip with water to clean the area. Following that, I actually left a small pool of water on the area to ensure no further ghosting. After an hour, I dried the area and it cleaned up perfectly. Back to the paint booth. The goal was to do 2 light coats. After 2, I'll need to do an even lighter third coat and probably some small brush touch ups in the harder to reach places as the paint goes on pretty heavy and another coat will start to hide details. Once sprayed, it's onto the oven (a meat tray on warm pavers, on a hot, sunny, Australian afternoon). Unfortunately the primer and 2 coats of paint haven't done as good of a job as I had hoped of covering up the putty and I might look into re-sanding down the engine cover and re-painting. On the plus side, the sling was a good way of moving the pieces from the spray booth to the oven. Time for a mock build up. And some pictures with it's big brother. And that's where it sits at the moment. There's still lots to do but next on the list is to black line the cab. Black paint in the exhaust port, build the exhaust, finish up the decal images to send to print and then work on customising the undercarriage to fit the ISM tracks. Until next time, cheers. Rowan. 1:25th scale CAT 375L excavator
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Rank: Advanced Member Groups: Member
Joined: 9/12/2012 Posts: 484 Location: San Diego, California
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Really awesome project so far. Hands down my favorite generation of Hitachi. You did some really good parts sourcing and scratch building.
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Rank: Advanced Member Groups: Member
Joined: 6/30/2003 Posts: 4,918 Location: Melbourne, Australia
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Thanks Dex, I also love the -5 machines. They have a lot of character about them. I started doing some work on the undercarriage yesterday. The first step was to compare the Doosan track pads and linkages against the ISM pads. While the ISM tracks are slightly narrower, they are far more detailed and a lot closer to the original Hitachi tracks. The track linkages were far wider on the Doosan tracks to allow the drive sprocket and the idlers to roll freely. The ISM linkage chanel was far narrower so I was going to have to shave down the Doosan UC parts. Here you can clearly see that the rollers fir nicely into the Doosan's linkages but would struggle with the ISM pads. In an effort to preserve the outer image of the rollers, I decided to shave down the internal edging first to see if it was enough to allow for free rolling of the tracks. RHS shaved down, LHS still original. Success, the ISM tracks fit perfectly and roll freely. Unfortunately under tension, it flattens out the overall elliptical shape of the tracks rather than having them fall nicely over the rollers. By adding an additional pad, it made the circuit too loose. Ideally I would like the ISM tracks to fall the same way the Doosan tracks had done previously (as pictured). Anyway, something else to work on. Time for another mock up. Far too 'flat' at the moment. But not for long... Ultimately, this is the look I'm going for. The pads are perfect, I just nee to work on the fall and appearance. Anyway, moving forward, I've got to work on the fall of the tracks and I think that by adding a little height to the central idlers, I can have the tracks slightly lifted along the central line, giving it the correct appearance. I also purchased some gloss black paint so I hope to shoot the UC in the next few days and also add the detail lining to the cab. Thanks for looking, Rowan. 1:25th scale CAT 375L excavator
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Rank: Advanced Member Groups: Member
Joined: 10/4/2005 Posts: 983 Location: england
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Looks great,so far.Love those tracks!Cannot wait to see it fully finished. Well done.What about that 375?is that finished?Do you have any other customizing ideas?
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Rank: Advanced Member Groups: Member
Joined: 6/30/2003 Posts: 4,918 Location: Melbourne, Australia
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Thanks for the compliment. The 375 only need a good dust and decals! I'll be ordering them at the same time as the ones for this Hitachi. Next on the list will most likely be a Komatsu PC1000SE-1 Rowan. 1:25th scale CAT 375L excavator
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Rank: Advanced Member Groups: Member
Joined: 6/30/2003 Posts: 4,918 Location: Melbourne, Australia
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Some more updates from yesterday and today. Firstly, excuse the screaming bright colour. It would appear that I forgot to turn the 'colour pop' setting off from my outing yesterday. I spent hours trying to figure out the best way to 'prop up' the raised central idlers and in the end I went with modelling putty. This way I could file it down and modify it to suit. Thankfully, it went on with no issues and although it currently looks a little sloppy, the fall of the tracks on the UC has improved greatly, I'm really happy with how the sit now. I hit the underneath of the UC with some black paint as well but have yet to do the sides and top. Masking of the first 'black detail' part of the cab. There was some bleeding through the mask of black that I will try to take care of with some Hitachi grey and a hand held paint brush. Starting to look more and more Hitachi like every day now. I've got another Doosan DX700 sitting new in a box packed away that I almost pulled out today for a comparison shot but I've decided to wait until it's complete to really see the difference. Again, excuse the screaming off color, the camera was on the wrong setting. Anyway, that's all for a few days. Thanks again for reading. Rowan. 1:25th scale CAT 375L excavator
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Rank: Advanced Member Groups: Member
Joined: 3/10/2010 Posts: 1,100 Location: PA
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Looks great so far. The paint job looks nice
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Rank: Advanced Member Groups: Member
Joined: 8/27/2014 Posts: 184 Location: Perth, Australia
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Looks great Rowan!
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Rank: Advanced Member Groups: Member
Joined: 6/18/2003 Posts: 2,135 Location: Charlotte, North Carolina
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You not only did a great job, but explained your steps along the way. Fantastic post and what great passion for the hobby. CAW
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Rank: Advanced Member Groups: Member
Joined: 6/30/2003 Posts: 4,918 Location: Melbourne, Australia
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Thanks for the replies guys, I'm glad you're enjoying following the build. I remembered to change the camera setting back to normal this time too. Small update today. I finished the black coats of the undercarriage which looks a lot cleaner in all black! I'm really happy with the fit and finish of the whole piece as it rolls perfectly and looks like it came straight from the factory. I added some more of the black detail to the cab however once again I'm suffering from a fair bit of bleeding through the mask. I think i'll return to my local tool shop to see if I can find something a bit better as this painters blue label masking tape isn't doing a good enough job. I've also temporarily replaced the pop rivet heads to hold in place the hydraulics. I've still got lots of detail parts to return to the model and touch ups but it continues to get closer. Rowan. 1:25th scale CAT 375L excavator
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Rank: Advanced Member Groups: Member
Joined: 8/27/2002 Posts: 4,827 Location: New Jersey
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RowanH,
Are you using the factory edge of your tape or are you cutting a new edge? Are you using a burnishing tool on the edge of the tape or just your finger?
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Rank: Advanced Member Groups: Member
Joined: 9/12/2012 Posts: 484 Location: San Diego, California
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Rowan, try to burnish the edge of the tape with the something like a toothpick or something similar to ensure the adhesive is fully secure. Also I recommend the blue masking tape, it holds a good edge without leaving adhesive, or worse, pulling up fresh paint.
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