{"id":5468,"date":"2018-11-05T06:40:09","date_gmt":"2018-11-05T14:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ricklawler-propaganda.com\/propaganda\/?page_id=5468"},"modified":"2018-11-05T06:40:17","modified_gmt":"2018-11-05T14:40:17","slug":"pulling-power-holt-75-tractor","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/ricklawler-propaganda.com\/propaganda\/modeling-projects\/pulling-power-holt-75-tractor\/","title":{"rendered":"Pulling Power -Holt 75 Tractor"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I recently took a bit of a break from my usual modeling subjects, those being armor, armored cars and other types of earthly vehicles and instead dabbled in the world of those winged things, specifically a couple of WW1 aircraft.  <\/span>It was a nice and needed change of pace.  <\/span>One of the takeaways from that experience was the process of working on the many subassemblies, each as a separate little jewel of a model – from construction through painting and even weathering – and then moving onto the next element until finally it\u2019s brought all together.<\/span><\/p>\n

This now brings me to this current project, Roden\u2019s release of the Holt 75 tractor.  <\/span>As with so many early 20th-century war machines, the Holt 75 began it\u2019s career in civilian service as an agricultural tractor but came into its\u2019 own while being utilized during the construction of the Los Angeles aqueduct system beginning in 1909.  <\/span>With the outbreak of WW1 there was a need for heavy prime movers to haul around the Queens of the Battlefield, the heavy artillery pieces.  <\/span>Durable, able to maneuver over uneven terrain and readily available, the British War Department placed orders for the tractor, of which some 2000 saw service with the British, French and American forces \"\"<\/a>during the course of the war.<\/span><\/p>\n

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What better way to continue my WW1 initiative than to delve into this utilitarian, albeit ungainly looking beast.  <\/span>Fresh off my recent aircraft endeavors I decided upon the outset that I would try and build this project in stages; finding component groups or subassemblies, and constructing and painting as I went along.  <\/span>You will see this approach unfold throughout the process.  <\/span>In all candor what I had hoped was that this new release from Roden would not have many of the difficulties of construction as has plagued some of their earlier releases, but unfortunately, that was not to be the case. The reality was that I ended up doing quite a bit of sanding and re-detailing of parts in order to make it all look presentable\u2026of course, there was much more that could have been done for those of you looking for a competition-worthy project.  <\/span>In the end I the kit built into a nice representation of the tractor\u2026now, wouldn\u2019t it be nice to have a few Allied artillery pieces to go along with it!!<\/span><\/p>\n

Construction of the model begins with the running gear, specifically the top rollers and brackets. The parts at this stage displayed somewhat heavier seam lines than most newer release kits, but nothing that a bit of sanding wasn\u2019t able to fix.  <\/span>The left and right sides of the return rollers and their assemblies begin to come together.  <\/span>As you can see I am following my \u201cpaint as I go\u201d plan, which especially at this stage works great as I\u2019m easily able to paint the rollers separately from the brackets.  <\/span>The rollers were painted using AMMO Steel with a light wash of Ammo Rust Effects highly diluted and then almost all removed for only a hint of color.The component parts laid out for the front wheel\/roller.  <\/span>It\u2019s at about this point in the construction that I\u2019m beginning to question the clarity of the instructions and fit of the parts.  <\/span>But, as they say – bugger on.<\/span><\/p>\n