I’ve started on this while i’m waitin’ for some items to come through for my Kleine Panzerbefehlswagen!
For this i’ll be usin’ Eduard’s new PE set and an AM barrel.
I’ve assembled the side and rear plates to the tub chassis, and everythin’ fits together very well, as it should. On the edges of these side plates, holes need to be made in advance to accommodate the ammo cache on the rear, so some dry-fittin’ is in order, respectively.
The brackets for the fender struts are left on, ‘cos the plastic parts are real nice and thin and are equal to the PE parts.
The glacis part needed the right hole sanded and filled in for the german version, but I also did the same for the left to cater for a small PE support part. This fittin’ supports a horn, which is made redundant on the german version, but which should still be there. Also the machine gun mount has been assembled in place, for which holes needed to be made to accommodate 'em.
The wheels supports are now in place!
The lower hull front plate, and side plate panels ends needed some attention, 'cos they have some pretty noticeable sink marks that will be viewable once the model is built. So some liquid putty was in order!
I added some weld seams around the tow rope bolts with the liquid putty, also.
nice choice eddie a very interesting vehicle, im looking forward to seeing you put your painting skills to good use on this one will you be goin with the box art?
Been wanting to see one of these get built up since it’s in my stash as well, look forward to seeing what you do with it! Only thing to warn you about is the fender mount brackets in styrene…on my KV-1, they didn’t fit flush against the hull like they were supposed to if installed into the fender tab slots. I think it’s a common problem with the KV-1/KV-2 family, but not sure if they fixed that with this one.
The kit comes with a nice colour sheet showin’ the three-tone camo’, and this is what i’ll be followin’!
Bill, I hope those fender struts fit OK, ‘cos they’re nice and thin, and equal to the PE I have, thats why I decided to go with the plastic parts. I guess i’ll do some dry-fittin’ before I commit, cheers for the heads up!
I’ve assembled the PE mesh covers, and in total each one consists of five layers. In the first image, three layers have already been assembled. The rest of the images speak for themselves, really.
I almost feel glorious in achievin’ the completion of these ‘mothers’!
This is a small update. I filled and sanded the edges of the mesh covers with liquid putty, 'cos you could see the many layers!
Also, some etched pieces were added to the rear. The trough piece was ‘dinked’ up a little, and I like the look of the braces too. They sure are a hundred times better than the plastic parts. It goes without sayin’ really!
I’ve had a shot at applyin’ the PE on the driver’s hatch! The moulded on details were pretty good, but the PE was better! I may leave this hatch open on the build, and add a figure!
A few more of the exterior details have been fitted now! The front wheels really were a tight fit, so i’ve fitted ‘em now, instead of wrestlin’ with 'em on a painted and finished body. The layers of paint would add to the problem, also.
I always prefer to paint my roadwheels off the body, but I guess this one’ll be an exception. For this pair at least!
Coming along nicely Fingers, are you planning on using the vinyl or the link-and-length for the tracks? If you go the link-and-length, take care with the number suggested by the instructions as they are not quite right in the upper vs. lower counts required to join it all up and sit properly on the return rollers. Looking sharp with the added PE.
I am jus’ in the process of sortin’ and cleanin’ these track parts up, and they are pretty atrocious for the amount of ejector pin marks and knock out points. They do go together pretty tightly though, allowin’ for keepin’ ‘em in place when dry-fittin’, not like ‘Magic Tracks’!
I’m gonna’ order a set of WWII Productions KV track links for this.
If I stick with the Trumpeter track links, it means i’ll have to pre-paint and pre-weather all of the lower hull before I fit these tracks. Then once fitted, the whole of the lower hull and tracks will have to be masked off while I AB the upper hull.
With the fenders fitted and my sprockets rotatin’ freely, and a set of WWII Prod. KV’s waitin’ in the wings, it’ll be so much more easier in the paint department, as well as threadin’ and fittin’ these around the sprockets and runnin’ gear! After everythin’ is painted and weathered, fit the tracks last, thats how I like to do things!
I always like to play around with the undercarriage, without anythin’ interferin’ or gettin’ in the way of my progress!! Know what I mean?! [:D]
Jus’ look at me sandin’ out ejector pin marks and applyin’ these PE strips, which’ll never be seen on the underside of these fenders! And to top all this the fenders are gonna’ be textured as well!
Oh doctor doctor!!
By the way, the plastic in this kit is so soft, and these fenders are a little kinked but will come out OK, once fitted. Any slight ‘kink’ that may remain will give 'em an abused look, which is cool!
