Alan Gepard 38(t) Flakpanzer Build Log

Modeling Subjects Armor
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Having been absent from the hobby for 20 years, I had to rediscover my LHS options. I had worked the hobby counter of a local place in the 80’s when it boasted a robust model/RC/Train business, but returning recently was depressing. Most of the hobby stuff was gone, and the place looked kinda sad and run down. The local HobbyTown was much better, even they reduced their inventory of plastic kits just a few weeks ago. I had found one other small shop – mostly models and RC – a few towns over, but then struck the jackpot in a little place in Milford, CT. They had almost no web presence and were off the beaten track, but I’ve never seen anything like it, even back in the day. Floor to ceiling kits covering every square inch of the place, with lots of resin, PE, barrel, track and detail sets, tons of paints, putties and tools (including Vallejo, which I hadn’t been able to find anywhere) and an owner who clearly was deep into the hobby himself. Having just bought two kits online, I had no need for another, but I couldn’t leave without something. “You know these kits are difficult,” the owner asked when I presented the cheapest kit I could find – an Alan 38(t) variant. “The moulding is pretty bad and the fit is awful”. I bought it anyway, figuring it would be little more than a base on which to recover my meager painting skills and maybe try some of the weathering techniques I’ve read about.

He was right: The plastic is very soft and thin, there is plenty of flash and injection pin holes to fill, the fit is terrible, and the there are – it turns out – lots of inaccuracies. No interior detail, either. On the other hand, what did I want for $25?

Building the body was step one, and – after much sanding and shaping, the result is much better than it should have been. There are still details to add, but I find I’m getting more careful as I go as this has the potential to be a decent – if flawed – effort.

HQ had an Eduard PE set for this kit, but the shop owner suggested that I’d probably be happier taking the money I’d spend on both it and aftermarket tracks and just buy the Dragon version of the kit, which is much better in both quality and detail. I decided he was right, and reverted back to the idea that this is really a painting exercise.

Next step was to prep and test fit the running gear, which won’t be glued up until after the painting.

All feedback and comments are welcome. I’m essentially afraid of my new airbrush, so the painting part should be interesting!

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Not so bad, going well, and you will be able to test/improve your painting and weathering skills.

I liked more the Titanic on the back…heheheh

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Forgot to say, yes, is very difficult to find good modeling stores, most of them are more fcoused to R/C. And if you think is hard over there, where I live the best store is around 100 miles, and still do not have a lot of things, paints, weathering kits, pigments, etc…

The only way is Internet buy S&H gets very expensive, sometimes, is more expensive the shipping than the actual item.

Good to know, you found a nice store.

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Thanks, garzohn. The Titanic was my hook back into the hobby - it’s covered here…

cs.finescale.com/…/156322.aspx

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It’s a good choice for a test bed…before Dragon came out with their far-superior offering, it was the only game in town and needed a lot of attention to bring it up to par…I built this one way back when (still have the finished kit on the shelf) and it was a bit of a bear. Looks like you’ve handled it well so far! [B]

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Welcome back to the hobby Brian! You’re a brave man for tackling that old Alan kit so early into your return! I don’t have one myself, but I’ve read all about it! Still its looking pretty good, a tribute to your skills and patience!

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Thanks, guys. That’s another thing that’s nice these days: Instant feedback from folks who’ve been there and done that!

Another 90 minutes in the basement tonight divided between some PE painting for the Titanic (I finally used the airbrush!) and some engine hatch details on the flakpanzer.

It always feels like I spend hours working with very little to show for it. Nice to fall back into the routine, though - a little music and something to focus the mind on. Very zen activity…

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Glad you found a model shop in the old “mold” so to speak.

Regardless of the inconvenience try to give that guy all of your business that you can,. He sounds like he’s in it for the love of the game as well as the business, an’ these guys are fewer than hens teeth in today s world.

I just had the LHS shut down in my community and my guy sounded a lot like yours- knowledgeable, helpful, and had stock to choose from, as well a lot of bench top modeling (spelled BS) to be had. But the current business climate here in southern California hasn’t turned enough to let him stay in business any longer; so he’ll go to selling on the old inter-web and will doubtless do just fine.

Now, however, I’m relegated to the chain stores and the internet- sigh- the times have changed

All that aside, the look of your work seems to show you’re not too far from making a silk purse out that model, so keep us posted.

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Hi Brian. Welcome back. This would be a good “mule” to test that AB on. If you goof it up, you can repaint it. This is kind of a tune-up kit for you anyways.

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Steve - I do plan to funnel all my business through the store in support of him. I’m going to pay more, but the extra is worth the ability to browse, get advice and get plugged in to the local modelling scene.

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Brian, that kit might be a dog, but you’re doing a great job with it. The build looks very solid and clean. Like Eric and Bill said, it will be a great project to get your skills honed and ready for more complex builds.

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A little more progress: I’ve been working to complete the hull details in preparation for painting. The painting details are very besic in the kit, so I’ve been searching for pics of other builds online. Most of them vary significantly from each other and the instructions, so - short of doing the detailed reseach - I guess it comes down to what appeals to me. I’ve been hesitant to assemble the upper plating around the gun, having read that it fits very poorly, but this turned out to be overblown. The hardest part about it was the lower hinges, which kept flying off my tweezers somehow leading to more time spent searching the floor than working on the model. And speaking of that: Why can’t the manufacturer add in a couple of extras for these tiny, tiny parts? Now I’ve got to scratch build one that seems to have vaporized on hitting the floor. Also spent some time building the gun after carving away portions of the base so that it would fit - how could they have gotten the size of this part so wrong? Anyway, still fairly pleased with the results so far and looking forward to starting the painting process soon…

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it’s coming along nicely. i see TITANIC and a SHERMAN on the bench too

for the airbrush might i recommend starting out using the specific thinner for your paint. doesn’t cost that much and it is one less variable to adjust. as for varied patterns my rule of thumb is base dark yellow and then i think about when and where and how would i paint the camo if it was my vehicle.

i put a towel across my lap to catch dropped parts and i move the glue, the 2 parts and the tweezers as close as possible so there is minimum travel distance.

check out theGROUP BUILDS forum and consider joining the DUCK HUNTERS group build. lots of FLAK (being built that is) over there and this fits right in.

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The hard work is paying off Brian! I’m no expert, but it looks like a pretty nice Gepard FlakPanzer to me!!

Sherman…[Y]

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Brian, HQ Hobbies is in my opinion the BEST! Randy is passionate about the hobby and extreemly knowledgeable. He won’t steer you wrong just for a sale. I bragged about this place a few years ago. I became best friends with him and he is a great teacher of old school as well as up and comming ways to detail models. I think I bought 90% of my stash from him. This is why I support my local hobby shop! Your model is comming out great!!

Chaz

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Thanks, Chaz - somehow I missed this post. Yes - Randy has been an excellent source of knowledge as I’ve reinterred the hobby. I’ve been buying everything through him.

I’ll post a a few more photos of the progress today - I’ve been distracted by Titanic #3.

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More progress on the panzer - final sanding and puttying followed by coat of Tamiya spray-can primer. Made the mistake of doing this in the basement and nearly passed out from the fumes. Lesson learned: Find a less pungent primer, as working outside in the winter is a non-starter. Any suggestions?

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Looks like you’re making the most of it? These old Alan its are tough to work with—the plastic is SO soft–but they build up fine with a little TLC.

I would only ask that if you keep your build log here in the main Armor forums instead of going into a Group Build. We lose too many good, informative builds here in the main forum into the “black hole” of Group Builds. If you decide to go there, please promise that you’ll also update this build log here too?

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Hi doog - no intention of going to a group build with any of my projects right now. Not even quite sure how they work or why you think I would? All I’m looking to do here is share my progress and get a little encouragement to keep going - I have a propensity to start projects and not finish them, and posting them keeps me moving.

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Thanks, Brian. I appreciate that. :slight_smile:

Group Builds are like a clubhouse where a bunch of people decide to build a certain genre, or type of model or vehicle. Everybody posts in the same post topic, in the Group Build section. While it can be a way to consolidate a lot of information about one specific type of vehicle into one single thread, it can also get very tedious to wade through the various back-n-forth banter between members—sometime pages of it before you see anything actually progressing. A lot of guys love them, but I’ve always been more disdainful of them because of the large amount of builds and traffic that they siphon away from the main forums here.

Think of it as a “back room” where a bunch of guys are modeling away from the main group when you go to the “Modelling night” at the local hobby shop. Sure, you can go in and look around at what they’re doing there, but unless you’re part of it, it’s almost like you’re walking in on the conversation and activity. And to clarify, I"m not making any judgment about joining one of them, only saying that I wish that all those active builds were being done HERE, in the “main room”.