Building Micro Artwork's Saturn V Crawler

[RichO]

Hey Everybody, It's RichO

So I have recieved some positive feedback about posting my build of Mischa's crawler kit. I wasn't sure if you would be interested, Gene1772 has a posting at this moment of the same build. However I already acquiried a couple a nice really helpfull tips from him so maybe if anyone is building this kit you can get a different angle on things.

Photo #1 is the kit cover, this thing took almost three weeks to recieve!! I couldn't sleep for days waiting. Then it finally arived! After 200 bucks...hey its cheaper than therapy.

Photo #2 I have gone through the kit and accounted for all the sheets, like over 30 sheets of 11,289 individual parts that were so frikin small I need a magnifier headset to see 'em.

Photos #3 and #4 are the mass of parts that make up the basic chassis. This is about a week and a half of cutting, and some areas are very small. Once I have cut the parts free from the sheets, I rework all the parts with a new very sharp blade and remove ALL the little hang-ups in the corners and trim exactly to the lines.

Once I have all the parts trimed up tight I sand all the cut edges. Anything that i have cut leaves rough edges with little trailers and scraps. After sanding, the parts feel nice and clean and have a "tooth" for the glue.

Next I paint all my cut edges where colored. I use acrylic paints on my work. I like the thicker texture over thinner watercolor, acrylic dose not fade over time and it leaves a nice texture that compiments models of machinery.

I'll post again with more photos soon

[jagolden01]

Looking forward to more. Interesting to see how two differnt builders meet the challenge of this model.

[tankslapper]

Good luck with your build, Rich...This is definitely on my to do list. However, I'm not sure if I'm ready to tackle something this complex yet. Totally intimidating... Hope you don't have too many issue as you progress. With over 11,000 pcs, it must be one of the most complex paper models I've ever seen. Well worth price considering all the research and time it took to finally produce. I can't even imagine how complex the LUT model will be when it's finally ready!

[Kevin WS]

Good luck!

Sanding the parts is an interesting idea. What do you sand them with? And if sandpaper what grade?

[RichO]

Hey this is RichO,

Kevin WS, I don't really use sandpaper, I just go to the dollor store and buy a bundle of fingernail file emery boards, They are small enough to fit into the spaces and can be trimed to even smaller size. I really like the look of the parts after the sanding, nice clean edges.

On to more of the build.

Photo #1, shows how I had to tie the pieces together, at this point I have to keep adding more parts but can't glue 'em yet. This hold everything together untill I can glue.

Photo #2 and Photo #3, In these photos I have finished with the parts instalation for the Basic Chassis. All the top parts are tied with thread for support, and the bottom parts are held with blue painters tape. I find that the blue tape is not strong enough to lift off all the printed detail that Mischa added to this kit.

Photo #4 and Photo #5, These show the Basic Chassis as the glueing fase is happening. I used my regular paper glue for most of the parts. I then went back over the model and superglued all the major joints and intersections. I discovered that superglue is very runny. I would apply the glue to the top of a beam and it would run down the whole beam and stick to the table. Don't do that.

Photo's #6, #7, #8, show the Basic Chassis completed. All the corners have been glued tight, all the beams are square to the body, and all the joints and intersections are superglued for a quite rigid structure so far.

Now I will take some time to clean up any bent parts, glue globs, paper wrinkles... just a host of all the small stuff that I see befor I move to the next assembly.

I'll post again soon, Thanks

RichO, Crawler 114/499

[tankslapper]

Looks good so far, Rich... A great start. Keep those tips coming....I'm making notes

[RichO]

Hey Everbody,

So more of the Crawler build.

This kit is getting really complex now. I have just spent days cutting out beams for install. Nothing but beams for this chapter of the build.

Photo #1 shows the main chassis and the lower level support frame. The support frame was a simple exersize in cutting and cleaning.

Photo#2 Is the lower level frontal frame and the beams installed. This shows how the beams have to be constructed and the internal support structures.

Photo#3 Clips I used to hold things together and to do some allignment.

Photo #4 This build will force you to be extra organised. There are so many parts to the beams that I used cups to hold the parts. Each cup had all the parts for just one beam at a time.

Photo #5 Has the lower level support frame and some parts. The sanding and cleaning was done at the time. That is I cut out the support web and then sanded and cleaned each openning as I went along.

Photo #6 The beams glued and the lower level support frame. I handled the beam parts the same way as the support frame. As I needed a particular beam part, then I sanded and cleaned. So many parts I would be cleanning and sanding for a whole day, boreing.

Photo #7 Lower level all installed. Just a little painting and this chapter is colmplete. This was a time consuming chapter. A lot of parts and a lot of patience to finish.

So a week or two of work and the photos make it look like I just slaped it together. You guys know how it goes.

I'll post again soon. I have the upper level to do next and over 100 parts to finish the upper side. Of course all beam work, you'll see.

Everybody, keep building and watching, I'll post again with photos, and you guys that are building this kit, please feel free to ask questions. Thanks

RichO Crawler 114/499

[tankslapper]

Keep it up, Rich...Man, this thing looks complicated. Now I can see the need for the magnifier. Keeps you from going cross-eyed! Thanks for the update.

[RichO]

So I should post some more photos of my build.

The more I get into this build the slower thing seem to go. This chapter of the build was not so complicated, just took a bit of time.

Photo #1, Are all the parts for this stage. You can't see so well but there are over 100 part for the Chassis Frame Upper Level.

Photo #2, Are the parts all cut out, and the fuel tanks, with at the moment out of kilter microscopic ladders.

Photo #3, Are the ladder parts befor assembly. I have not looked to far forward on the parts sheets yet, I hope the parts don't get any smaller.

Photo #4, Is out of focus a bit, but you can get a good idea of the scale of the ladders.

Photos #5 and #6, are of the Chassis Frame Lower Level. One of the over all Chassis, all glued and painted, and the other is a detail shot.

I have a little more work to do on ths Chassis Frame lower level and then more photos, I hope today sometime later.

Thanks, RichO, crawler 114

[tankslapper]

Thanks for the update, Rich... Looks like you're making good progress.

Holy crap, some of those parts are small! How difficult were they to cut out and prep? And how much time do you spend wearing the magnifier headset at this point? Geez, the detail on this build is insane...

Please keep the updates coming....