Hi there,

I've finally finished construction of my VAB and have just started to put paint on it. The kit is the heller 1/72 one, but as you can see i've replaced much of the upper hull. There is also an interior, but this is all masked off in the images.

Any comments are welcome,

Christopher

Who makes the p/e set with that you used?

Cheers,
TRIAD Tim

PE are from Extratech set, they also have new wheels.

Chris... excelent job. Wish to have your talenf for modeling in braille

Cheers
Jakub

I will order a set for my next build as I like the kit and for around
$5.00 USD it is a great starting point. her is a link to one I did
a while back. I hope it is not intruding on Chris' as his is much better.

http://public.fotki.com/midmichiganmodelmakers/contest_gallery/mid-michigan_model-3/4643.html



Cheers,
TRIAD Tim

.....
Excellent job there.
that old Heller kit sure needs that kind of work.
I once had one myself, lost track of it years ago.
You did an outstanding jod.
Keep up the good work.

Thanks for the kind words guys. Yes, the PE set is from Extratech, and is very useful. It replaces nearly all the surfact detail from the heller kit, which is why I decided just to do away with the kit's upper hull. All the locking mechanisms however are scratch built from wire and bits of brass (cut from the PE frames). THe cable on the side is made from some nylon thread I found (actually, I think it came from a kite). I will also be using Extratech's resin wheels which are also light years ahead of the kit ones.

This isn't the first time I've built this kit, my previous attemt wasn't quite as extensive and can be seen here http://www.track-link.net/gallery/3448. Yes Jakub, I must be mad, I didn't learn my lesson the first time

Thanks again,

Christopher

Hello.
Very well done.
Regards.
Patrice.

It's a very good work, Christopher ! Your VAB is beautiful ! Congrats and bravo !!!
Patrick

Chris

Were there shape problems with the upper hull, or was it just easier to use sheet styrene since you opened all the hatches/windows? Any pics of the interior [painted].

It looks great.

Pete

Thanks for the kind words. I'm not sure if there were any shape problems with the upper hull as I didn't actually compare it to and measured references (oops). But yes, I jus figured that since I wanted to open up all the hatches, and all the surface detail was to be replaced, I might as well rebuild it. One area that was oversimplified on the kit was the part between the driver's hatch and the engine deck. This is represented as just a rectangle on the kit. A word of warning to anyone who wants to try this, the sides of the lower hull are not parallel. I discovered this a bit to late which is why there is filler all over the place.

Here are some pictures of the interior:







Christopher

Fantastic job, I like very much all those fine details. Well done.

That's a lot of work. Nice to see so much white plastic and brass together on a small scale subject done so cleanly. Hope it turns out the way you want it to, thanks for sharing.

Hi Christophe,

you did an excellent work to get a good looking VAB from the Heller kit ! The PE adds a lot to the realism of it.
Your camo looks very good too. I just have one point : the inner face of the hatches has no rubber "pad". These ones are located in a recess in the roof around the holes.

Congrats and keep posting pictures as you go on.


Olivier
http://olivier.carneau.free.fr/gb_version/index.htm