…to quote Monty Python. First post back here in quite some time as things here at home have really kept me busy. Been trying to finish an 1,000 sq.ft. part of our new house and between it and the little ones, I have been pretty tied up.
First off, looks like I have missed yet another deadline in one of Tigerman’s group builds[BH]. Perhaps one day I will commit to group build and actually meet the finish date!![:-^] There were some mighty fine builds there and here in the forums too! Took quite some time to get caught up with all the new posts. I must admit, I am quite jealous over all the tropical vacations I am seeing everyone take lately!![4:-)]
I did actually get some build time in this weekend and it has been the first time I have touched a kit in what seems like forever. Did some painting on the roadwheels, sprockets and idlers. I never thought I would do a scheme with multicolored roadwheels but as it turns out, I kind of like it on this kit. Also got the dry’s put on and kept it pretty simple. Mk’s for this puppy are ordered and will hopefully be here this coming week. Going to do a bit of weathering while I wait. Here are some shots, hope you enjoy them. Comments welcome…
Pics came out quite a bit more yellow than the vehicle actually is due to a halogen light that I used. Next set of pics will be better!!!
That looks sweet…the camo suggest a late war vehicle and your markings indicate a “Wiking” vehicle…cool…get some tracks on her, add a little more weathering, and she’ll be a real beauty…
Thanks everyone!! It is the old Tamiya kit spruced up a bit with an Eduard PE set and an Eduard Alum barrel. The barrel was for the Dragon kit and had to be shortened quite a bit in order to match the correct scale length on this kit. I plan on leaving the side skirts off as I want to show off the MK tracks on it.
Thanks for the warm welcome back everyone!! It is good to have time to hang out on the forums again albeit not as much as before. Got a bit of weathering done and I think its going in the right direction. Done a bit of a wash and some drybrushing. Also tried to do some fading inside each camo color with some pastels. I kinda like how it turned out, looks like its been in the sun a bit. I think I am bout done for now till the MK’s come in. Called GM today and they said 2 months maybe. I asked if it really took that long and the lady said usually no but they couldnt guarantee anything sooner. While I was there I added another kit to the stash in the way of Dragons Late War Panther G Smart Kit. Looks like a good one. Anyways, here are the pics hope you enjoy them…
You can get a perfrectly good set of Academy plastic indy-link tracks for around $8.00 from just about anywhere! I guarantee you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference!
Well, tracks came last week. I decided that after a week of letting GM try to find them to cancel the order and snatch a set from RZM Imports. Was here a couple of days later as they were in stock. Been a busy week but I finally got started on them this weekend. One run was completed only to find out that the older Tamiya kits drive sprocket had to be modified before being assembled in order to fit the track. Apparently the older Tamiya Pz IV kit sprockets were about 2mm too wide. Luckily I have the Tamiya Pz IV H laying around and it had the late model hollow sprockets so I used them and they fit like a glove. One thing that Im stumped on though is, were the return rollers steel on this beast? The kit parts look like they may be but I am not sure on this one as there is no indication in the kit destructions. Hopefully some progress pics will be up soon.
Two little things you might want to look at. The hatch edges on the hull have the camo pattern running into them. It’s likely the hatches would have been closed when the paint was applied, so the base color would remain. Also, don’t forget to paint the inside of the exhaust pipe.
Like I said, they’re small things on an excellent build.
