The Ostfront GBII - 2011/12

Completed builds (in order of finishing)

Kermit's ICM Pz.V "Panther" Ausf.D - 1:35 using revell enamels and acrylics:

Noah T's Airfix Henschell HS129B3 - 1:72:

Doogsatx's Dragon T34/85 - 1:35:

Richard,

Reporting for duty Sir. I will be building Italeri's Carro Armato L6/40 in service with the Regia Esercito LXVll Battaglione Bersaglieri in Russia 1942.

I'm sure I will find round 2 as inspiring and motivating as round 1 so I will probably add another kit in the future. Love the look of the KV so maybe one of those.

Will post sprue and box pics early in the week as we are going to try to get one last weekend in before the boat has to come out.

Jeff

Bouttime,

An italian one! And on the russian front as well! Highly unusual subject but equally interesting to watch taking shape. Looking very much forward to this one Jeff!

Richard

I was thinking of a KV-2 but as Doogs as one in the works I thought to go with something different. Picked the Italian as I have a special interest in the Italian Campaign but so far too inexperienced here to host a GB for that front.

I'm in.  At midnight (no joke) I started an 1/72 Airfix Hs 129 b-3 (with the 7.5mm cannon). Worked on it until about 3am or so. I was wondering what scheme to use and this GB solved that question for me. I don't think I should chance the old Airfix decals. Here are my WIP pics so far:

and for scale refrence

Noah,

You are in! And a quick start as well. Love the looks of this plane! Have fun my friend and hope to see more soon.

Seems like the odd/ unusual subjects are getting attention. Love it

Richard

Wholly crap Noah! My money is on you for the first completed.

Reposting from Ostfront I...

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Here's my next build for Ostfront - Dragon's Tiger I Late Production 3-in-1.

I'm planning to build this one up in the markings of s.Pz.Abt.505 in 1944. The color scheme is dunky with dark green striping and a yellow barrel band. The kit includes markings for tank 334, but I may opt for some Archer transfers for #312, which can be seen here. Is it just me, or is the barrel just primer?

This kit is dense! Lots of sprues, excellent detail, and so far, excellent fit. Very reminiscent of the Panzer III and IV, not the Cyber-Hobby M4A4 Orange Box I'm also working on (NOT a fan of that kit).

There's been some discussion elsewhere on the forums lately about tracks...well this one comes packing some DS tracks, which I think are just fine since the Tiger has so many wheels there's not really a chance for sag. But...the detail on these DS tracks has to be the best I've ever seen on rubber bands.

Here's where it's at so far - completed step 1! Richard, you'll note that it has the same weird suspension getup as the Panther. New to me, since I'm by no means a German armor expert.

Okay...now on to the fun stuff! Aftermarket!

First, a metal barrel. I believe this is an RB barrel. I think. 

Next, Cavalier zimmerit. I know Dragon's making a zimmed version of this kit now, but this isn't it. I considered the Eduard PE zimm, but I saw it on a Tiger at the show last weekend, and it was awful. The Cavalier set includes not just the ultrathin resin zimm for the hull, but replacement mantlet and hatches.

Have to say, I'm looking very forward to this one! 

bouttime

I was thinking of a KV-2 but as Doogs as one in the works I thought to go with something different. Picked the Italian as I have a special interest in the Italian Campaign but so far too inexperienced here to host a GB for that front.

Seriously, don't let my KV-2 hold anybody else off!

1 - I probably won't get to painting until AT LEAST Thanksgiving.

2 - I'm doing it Germanified, and there are 1) lots of Russian options and 2) lots of other German schemes (tri-color, dunky/green, dunky/red-brown) to play with.

Hope I don't offend any purists. My HS129 will be in the greys with all the eastern front markings that I'm pretty sure the HS129's didnt carry. Just didnt want to do it in the greens..... Might as well take this thing for a walk since I'm hodgepodging the decals.

Noah,

Don't really mind a bit of artistic license Nobody will accuse me of being a nitpicking host! Just have fun with what youre doin

My own Panther received markings for a tank that never existed in the scheme i painted it in. The Panther D was used at Kursk, it has correct two tone camo on it and the unit markings are correct, just the number is wrong.... Who cares.

Richard

Richard - YAY!!  I was hoping for another go at this GB!  Gotta luv this theatre of operations...so much stuff to model! 

Sign me up with these:

Tamiya's old 1:35 GAZ-67B!  I've been wanting to do a small SIMPLE kit and this one fills the bill!  I'll start this one first and don't plan on adding any PE.  However, I may add some scratchbuilt details if necessary, but my goals is not to superdetail the little guy!

MiniArt's T-70M!  Another smail kit that I've itching to build.  I may get a set of PE for this, mostly for the engine screens, but I might just scratchbuild those. 

As usual I've got other GB commitments so I probably won't get to these until late winter!

Kermit count me in buddy, not sure what I will build yet but I will build something. Those KV tanks really interest me at the moment.

Ernest - those look fun! I'd love to see the field car!

To answer a few questions from the other thread...

Richard - DS tracks stand for "Dragon Styrene" - they're Dragon's rubber band tracks. Very impressed with the quality. Regarding the barrel, so a bit more research has revealed that the primer is a very dark gray. Still need to research a bit more, but I'm intrigued!

Andy (if you're following) - this is #4 of my tank building extravaganza. Tasca M4A3(76)W, Trumpy KV-2, Cyber-Hobby M4A4, now this. 

Doogs you're not holding me off I just like to see and build different subjects. Was also thinking of a BT-7 or JSU-152. There are many possibilities.

Doogs,

While doing some reading in my pdf collection i came across two pictures that might interest you. Apologies for the horrible quality as my usual screen capture software doesn't work with adobe reader. I had to take a picture of my screen...:

Pic one shows a color plate of tank 300 of the same unit as 312. Same dark grey barrel:

And also i found a different picture of 312 that you might have not seen yet:

Hope it helps a bit

Richard

Thanks Richard! I think it's safe to say that it's definitely a primer gray barrel. 

I've actually seen some builds indicating that 312 was dunky and red-brown, not dunky and dark green. 

For some reason I'm having trouble running a pic down of the one I saw, but I think I like the dark green better. More research required!

Also...I spent most of the night finishing up the M4A4 (ugh...talk about a kit that didn't behave), but I played with the Tiger's ton-o-wheels too.

And here's a VERY preliminary test-fit of the DS tracks. They're floating right now, but I think they'll look great once they get glued down on top of the wheels. 

The kit went together faster then my plans for it. Having to tape with the wings an fins on definatly made this harder. And probably even more when I start to splinter. Here are the pics of the theater markings going on. I taped everything off that I could think of, The testor yellow that I had was dreid out. I tried an ancient can of Humbrol (still good 20 yrs later!... but now wont seal back wah wah!) I hated the bright results so dropped in a little MM insignia red. I like the results. This is going well and a lot of fun.

Noah - man you are flying! Digging the gelb you mixed up, too! I always seemed to have problems with yellows looking too pale, especially Insignia Yellow, so now I've switched to deep yellow for all allied stuff.

Bench Update - As my son would say, "well, poop!"

I cut out a few pieces of the Cavalier zimm for the Tiger and started flipping a few steps ahead to plan. Realized there's some interior painting that needs to happen along the way, which isn't a possibility with by crippled bench. So, back in the box.

Is it sad that I'm ridiculously proud of cramming the partially built tank, all the sprues, the resin zimm and the aftermarket barrel all back in the box?

Instead of the Tiger, I'm pulling out a recent acquisition. Dragon's T-34/85.

Been hunting for one forever, and finally scored last week at the Austin show. Aftermarket includes an aluminum barrel courtesy of wing_nut and Friul tracks I've had sitting in my AM stash for about a year. I originally bought them before I knew jack about T-34s. Thought they were all the same, then realized I needed T-34/76 tracks for my T-34/76. 

Got through Step 1 tonight...so far so good. Couldn't resist doing a quick test fit. The barrel is a bit loose in the mantlet, but glue will fix that when the time comes.

I have a feeling this is going to be a fast build, and I'm already eying what to do next. Brummbar, perhaps?

Guys- Reporting to duty! 

You know I will not start my build til late next year but I wanted to watch all of your WIPs of course! 

Doogs- Four!  Maybe five now with that 34/85?  Man, I won't let it happen to me... I have mild ADHD so if I start another build it will be too difficult for me to go back and finish. LOL  Tiger looking good...

Noah- Good process on your 129!

Omg... Somebody put a straight jacket on Doogs! He is having severe armoritis and it might be contagious!! Looking great there!

In fact, seeing you work magic with all that aftermarket stuff made me cross the line... I just ordered myself a RB model barrel for my own upcoming Early tiger plus an Eduard PE set... I figured since this particular Italeri kit is not liked everywhere it needs some added goodies to get it up to standards I just hope i dont make a huge mess of things since the only PE experience i have is some cockpit stuff on the I16 fighter i built last year.

Looking forward to starting it but first the Panther.... posting a WIP soon as the indy tracks are built and hanging to dry

Richard

Richard - LOL! I'm actually going through a severe case of wingy-thing withdrawal right now. I've actually considered busting kits open to start work on subassemblies! But there's so much painting that has to happen as aircraft are getting built up that it doesn't really make sense.

So...probably until Thanksgiving (we move on the 29th...but then we have to unpack...and sadly I don't think the bench can take priority)...armor it is.

I'm also hacked to set the Tiger aside. As far as I got, it was a brilliant kit. And the resin PE looked a whole heap of fun!

Evening Gents,

Here are shots of the box art and sprues for my Carro Armato L6/40.

I have got a start and will post more pics in a couple of days. So far it has been a battle of wills with this one. After I've been away from the bench for a while I become Roger Ramjet. Between that and the terrible fill / ejection marks I have changed my mind and will be doing this one closed up vs leaving the hatches open. There is not a ton of interior detail but there is some. Oh well.

Now I remember why I like Tamiya kits so much - the fit is incredible on all that I have done.

Thinking ahead I'm wondering if a Stug 111 Ausf G. Finnish would qualify for my second build?

Almost forgot.................GO TIGERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

bouttime - More of a Rangers fan myself (heck...son's named Nolan...), but I'm sure they'll get my hopes up just to crush them at the last minute again..

I've always wanted to tackle a Carro Armato...I'll be following your build closely! I can swear someone other than Italeri made one, but when I looked, no dice. Too bad...I'm just not an Italeri fan. Nothing against the kits themselves, really...just the prices they ask for what they provide seem a bit out of line.

On my end, I spent most of the night packing away more of the bench, but I did spend a bit of time on the T-34. Got the wheels all cut out and the hubs glued in place, but I didn't have it in me to sand them down tonight. So instead I focused on joining the upper and lower hulls. Fit was good, but not perfect, and I had a bit of a gap out back. Thankfully I decided to pack my Evergreen supply in the top of one of the boxes, so I used a strip to fill the gap. Perfect!

I also took the chance to weld in some of the pieces (machine gun blister, engine hatch and so forth) from the inside. Here's how it's coming:

That T-34 is coming along nicely Doogs.

This Italeri Carro Armato kit was the same price as the Tamiya Panzer 111 Ausf. N I completed in round one and I must say the Italeri is very disappointing in comparison. Also realized last night that I'm missing the clear sprue with the lenses.

Bouttime,

Sadly have to agree that Italeri likes to consider itself top notch given the average price of their kits but usually doesn't quite cut it. Some of their stuff is rather nice though... Really liked their 243/2 Puma... I just hope my tiger won't be a real bad fit... The barrel and PE should make some stuff look more crisp though....i hope.

But before the AM parts arrive and before i start on it i still have ICM's Panther D to take care of...

Been really busy washing, drybrushing, filtering and streaking my model... Think i am mostly gonna leave it like this save for some powdering/ chalks:

As you see i made the big mistake of gluing on the mudguards, fenders and wheels before i realised it wasn't vinyl tracks i was going to use.... Took em off as carefully as i could and i expect i can make everything look in order again after the tracks are fixed.

Engine deck has been dirtied up more than the rest:

And lastly there is one boo boo i need to remove... I left on a nasty mold seam on the exhausts:

As said these tracks are individual links... Took me the better part of a working week's evenings to assemble, paint and drybrush. They are ready for dirt and mud:

Hope you guys like her with markings and all Lovely kit but those hatches need a skilful modeler to make it look great.. and i am not one of them LOL

Richard

Great looking Panther Richard. I'm currently in the finishing stages of a Dragon Panther G Smart Kit.

I messed up the so called magic tracks but friul came to the rescue. Now those tracks I like. Have done an overall wash and still needs something more so I will selectively wash around rivets etc and still thinking of trying my first dot filter.

hi guys created a badge hope you like it.