Dragon Pz 38(t): interior visible?

Bill did the Tristar not too long ago and did a cut away.

http://www.bpmodels.net/Model/Album/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=42

The physical layout of the 38(t) makes it very difficult to show off much of the interior without resorting to a cut-away approach IMHO which is what I decided to do on my Tristar build. This is particulary true on the engine compartment as the way the engine hatches are configured you can't see much there unless you just don't fit the hatches at all or do them as cut-aways.  

Thankee very much: just the info I'm looking for - and echoed on Armorama. (One guy suggested I make a wreck diorama.) Frankly I don't think my skills are up to the kind of surgery you did so well. (That's a great kit.) Aside from that, people have been telling me that I over-weather. Perhaps true. (I don't apologize for the history however.) Anyway, I had pegged this kit with its Panzergrau color and all of those rivets to do a Tony Greenland style tank. I've got his old master-class book and it's very good. (I think he was a pioneer in using pigments and color modulation.) But he states that he models tanks and not the mud they fought in. He even admits that many find his prize winners "too pretty." (I agree with that completely.) But they're terrific kits in their own way - and there would have been times when tanks would have looked tidy. And Greenland's right - weathering can hide errors. (The Pz 38t has Magic Tracks, so you never know - might need some mud anyway.) So I think I'll simplify the interior and do my best to get a really nice finish with lots of oils and drybrushing - that would be a first. Hope I can pull it off - it's a really sweet tank.

Eric

Sounds like a plan Eric! The 38(t) family of tanks/vehicles is diverse and one of my favorites. The surgery on the cut-aways was an exercise in patience since Tristar molded the panels very thin to begin with but was worth it. Whatever you decide to display on the interior will do the trick on the DML kit I'm sure.

It is odd that in the big shoe boxes like the Tiger or Panther you get a highly detailed invisible MG and a rudimentary main gun and then...ZIP!
Where as in the smaller kits where the hatches are so small that hardly anything can be shown you get the full cado...
Looking forward to your posts on this subject, the T38 family is one of my absolute favourites!

As always
Boarder

It is a neat tank: very clean look to it. And it's got rivets, lots of them. If I can't dry brush those, I gotta consider model railroads. Very important vehicle too when you get down to it: certainly a move up from the PZII and came in mighty handy. I don't see any desert markings - hard to believe Rommel didn't get any. Maybe that's the point - if it was still considered useful at June 1941 it would have gone to Russia. But I'll look it over real close: right now my thinking is not to blow time on the interior if it isn't visible. (I'm still not sure about the engine.) In the real world we all model for ourselves and practically speaking I could, say, paint only the port side of an airplane. The person that would know is me. And I suppose the hard core would add any detail whether visual or not. I suffer from project fatigue at some point and don't have that in me. I'd guess this kit has an interior because Dragon did a Marder and Dragon has found it cheaper to simply add unnecessary sprues than cut them down. I do have the Tamiya Marder III which I've heard is a very good kit - obviously we do an interior there.

Eric