While taking a break from painting my figures for my Panther Dio, I decided that it was time to finally finish this thing. The kit is actually the Stuka Zu Fuss halftrack from Tamyia, but since my dio was for a time period near the end of the war I decided to just build it as a normal carrier. The tracks are AFV club “workable” tracks, which turn out to be highly finicky and well, I’d rather build Dragon tracks than those things again! They are hadly workable too! I created new width indicators with brass wire and CA glue for the balls on the tips. Painted with Model Master Enamels and Acrylics and weathered with Bragdon/Mig pigments. The stowage is from the Tamiya German weapons set.
addendum: I just noticed the fingerprint on the front of the vehicle, so that’s going to be taken care of!
The cammo net was made from fine gauze, dipped in watered down Raw Umber paint, mixed with some black, and drybrushed panzer Grey. Thanks for the comments!
Another nicely finished WWII vehicle James i remember in the beginning i built the old hanomag from Tamiya and used a gauze cammo net in much the same way and was very happy with the result just like yours i think it really gives it a nice “in the field” look again the paint job looks great and well weathered, just goes to show these older kits without all the bells and whistles can still be built up into great looking pieces.
Thanks for the comment Ron! It’s true, it’s not from the “golden age” of modelling, but I think Tamiya is still king of models! I think it’s funny that with all the bells and whistles that other companies offer, there’s still something wrong with it, and still options to get in AM parts to “accurize” the kit more. Some of the details on this kit were soft, and I don’t think the molding for this halftrack was as poor as some of the older ones, since this was made in 93 (Icould be wrong). I also have found that though people adore PE (myself included), sometimes it’s just not necessary. I have found that most of the time, the PE is no better, if not worse, than the kit part itself! I lost the towing shackle for the rear of the vehicle awhile ago, and got frustrated with this kit when I couldn’t find it, but the Panther I recently built really did spark my interest in WWII stuff again. I’ll get back into the modern stuff eventually, but it’s a nice break from that right now! I’m very close to getting the dio done, but I’m stuck on which figures to actually go with. So I’m flip flopping on which ones to actually use before I pin them in place!
Man, another German build? You might becoming addicted to German armor. LOL
I like the idea on the width indiicators, I should have done that for my Puma, but oh well, it’s lacking in other areas.
Also, wise idea on replacing the tracks, they were too taught and look much better. Since I have an AFV 251, should I go with the vinyls? Will they sag if glued down. Sorry to ramble off, but ya got me nervous.
Well done and keep that German armor assembly going.
Eric. I had no choice to do the width indicators that way, Tamiya’s fine parts are really brittle sometimes, and well they broke LOL, besides, why spend 10 bucks on something that I could make myself right? As for the tracks, I’d go with vinyls. The afv indies are horrible!!! You have to glue the rubber pads onto the tracks, but they also cover the joins for the tracks! To get enough glue on there to hold the pads means you have to compromise the workability of the tracks. Which in reality isn’t a huge issue since I’m not going to be playing army men with it LOL, but you do lose the ability to create a sag that is important, unless you use a jig! I know they’re expensive, but go with Fruils if ya can! Vinyls can be glued down to get the right sag anyway! Thanks for looking!
Charles! haven’t seen/talked to you in a long time buddy! How have ya been? Man you’re still alive, I remember trying to call you before I left to hang out, but never got a call back! Things are ok, got let go from my job before I could resign, so that kind of sucks… Things are tight, but who hasn’t gone through that before? I’ll be down on Long Island this comming week, shoot me a PM if you want to get together! Oh and thanks for the comments bro!
So, you finally made that move! I heard that you moved from the owner of Baseline. How are things going with you? I just sent you a PM so we’ll try to get together this coming week. I’ll be away this monday and tuesday, but free on Wed.
As for the tracks, I’d go with vinyls. The afv indies are horrible!!! You have to glue the rubber pads onto the tracks, but they also cover the joins for the tracks! To get enough glue on there to hold the pads means you have to compromise the workability of the tracks. Which in reality isn’t a huge issue since I’m not going to be playing army men with it LOL, but you do lose the ability to create a sag that is important, unless you use a jig! I know they’re expensive, but go with Fruils if ya can! Vinyls can be glued down to get the right sag anyway! Thanks for looking!