Painting Turrets

I am painting these on cardboard sheets.

I use this awl to poke a hole in the cardboard.

Like this arrow.

Then I can insert the tank pin into the hole.

And the turret can sit flat on the cardboard.

It makes it easier to paint when it does not move around.

Turret with tank hull.

This shows some of the paint build up on the nozzle.

I wipe it off every few sprays.

The build up will clog the nozzle if you don't wipe it off.
 

Mostly All Better

This Roco T54 tank looks pretty good.  Except for the massive mold flaw in the port side upper rear hull.

You can see it here.

So far I have not used this hull, but harvested the parts for other vehicles and the hull is in the parts bin.

So far I have used four cans of this paint.

I use a bit of paper towel to wipe the paint nozzle after about 5 sprays.  

It really helps the nozzle stay clean and not clog.

The X can is the short number version, which seems to be a little greener than the other.

I have been using the long number version for this project.

Mostly because I don't want two different paints on the same model.
 

Roco T54 Tank Problems and Fixes

Roco T54 has two holes in the upper hull.  The forward hole is for the T54, the rear hole is for the T44 turret.  Note the right side hull is blocked.  Many of these holes are very tight and often so tight that the turret pin will shear off when the turret is turned.  Look at the boxes on the upper left side of the hull.  On the left tank the space between the box and hull is full, on the right side hull the gap is open as it should be.

This hull has two boxes on the left side of the photo, there is no space between the box and the upper hull.

You can see how the space between the box and the upper hull seems to have been filled in with plastic.  The mold has worn out and now plastic is injected into that space.  A razor saw could fix this but it's not worth the trouble to do it for me.

Track on the left is a full track, the one on the right has been cast without enough pressure and so the mold has not been filled.  Indicated by the ragged edge of the track.

You can see it is pretty obvious.  It seem that about 4% of the T54 in my collection have this problem.  I have no way to fix this problem.

Roco T54 turrets often get the little wings spread apart over time and so the guns flop down.

I glue a bit of plastic on either side of the turret wings where the dimple is on this photo.

Nearly all of the guns have this flash on the turret end of the cannon.

Droopy barrel prior to being fixed.
 

Roco T54 Tracks and Lower Hulls

The inside of the Roco T54 tank has one road wheel that has detail on the inside.

It's very odd that they would do that because it can't really be seen once it is installed.

There are two different types of tracks, and one kind won't fit on the other unless it is trimmed.

This one has two tabs on the top of the lower side hull.  The other, picture two above, has only one.

I had to mix them on my tanks in order to field as many as I can.

Many of mine have the little wheels and many do not.

I am leaving them if they have them and not replacing them if they don't have the little wheels.

Here is a good view of the two tab lower hull.  Note the track won't fit because it has a bar on the top that won't allow the track to fit over the tab.