Painting the sponsons

[Adrian Harris]

What have people done when painting the sponsons ?

Did you prime the drums and guns separately, or construct it all and paint it once complete ?

I suppose I'm only really worried about the top coat gumming up the guns and drums.

Adrian.

[Adrian Harris]

On a related note.

If I attached the female sponson tops using the M4 screws at the back, it sits about 1mm too high, with a gap at the back and the front armour plate holes don't line up. If I get the fronts to line up, the back is also flush with the mounting frame.

Chris, do you remember if you had to open up the 4mm mounting holes on Liesel ?

Adrian.

[Chris Hall]

Adrian -

I painted the guns, drums, and push rods for the 'wiggly gun pack' separately from the main sponson plates (which I also painted separately after adding things like the periscopes), and then assembled it. Then it just needed a blow-over for the rivet heads. There are so many moving parts that it would doubtless gum up if you painted it all at the end. I also found there were numerous fiddly adjustments to make before everything moved freely - even some of the blank rivets along the top edge needed cutting down or they would jam the drums !

I can't recall any gaps on Liesel, and I certainly didn't need to drill out any mounting holes. It probably took a few goes (and perhaps a bit of pressure) to get everything aligned ...... perhaps I was just lucky.

All the best,

Chris