Tamyia Hetzer (mid) 1:35 WIP

Very well done Richard. I like the base and the fence is pretty cool too.

Richard thats one beautiful job buddy You said you don't do figures well but I do beg to differ with that statement. And the dio is defiantly top notch, and the tank well I can only aspirer to build them half as well as you do sir. Yup this is another one that will be going in my album right now.

really nice job there Richard. I must say i do like you figures, especially the faces. thats thye thing i find really lets my work down and i have to work on. You have done a great job. The only thing i would pick up is the little bit of snow at the back,  on the exhaust where it comes out the hull and next to the spare tracks.  But thats very minor.

Great to see your going to do more dio's, we could do with more dio builders around here.

mission accomplished

it's great!

the one crew with mg remind me wolverine!

I was even impressed by the probably recoil of the mg , till i fired with one in military one year service.

My shoulder was more impressed by an old garand but the mg tracer was a good show

what's the next Kermit?

Well ladies and getlemen.... I am calling my project done

I did adress the little issues that Hinksy pointed out (thanks!):

And like i said i added a figure in the background to make the area more "active":

And i couldn't help using the panzerfaust that was in the set that came with the figures:

At first i used some fake snow that i picked up last xmass but it turned out to look rather coarse. So i used a tweezer to pick out the worst big chunks. I then turned my attention to using something called "paverpol pigment". Appearantly some kind of pigments to color clay but very usable as dust/ snow

Took me the better part of a month to complete all this and i must say i am quite pleased how it turned out. Lastly i want to thank each and every one of you for looking at my work and the comments/ advice i received. This will certainly not be my last foray into armor/ dio building

Richard

i know railroads stuffs have lots of supplies that can be used for dioramas , i did a great provision of it to use in dioramas, terrain grains, various grass types and lots of people in N, HO and 1/144 scale (1/72 boxes are for planes)

some i used for sci-fi dioramas

these are in n scale (1/160), i prefere to buy unpainted that cost very low respect the painted versions and comes in large number and lots of poses  (cheaper way always!). And are all in hard plastic!!! not as common 1/72 soldiers in soft plastic.

For tracks basically i use same steps, but i wash and paint with enamels .

This is my last tank in the stash but actually is non on workbench. (even here i scratched something )

Waiying for final pictures

Bsyamato,

I can't really remember what brand it was but the grass/ pebble surface you see was a box of " forest ground" meant for railroad hobbyists. Found it a while ago at the local hobby shop. Those railroad dudes and dudettes use lots of interesting stuff ya know...

The vinyl tracks like tamyia or trumpeter makes them usually require little cleanup. My usual attack is to coat them liberally with flat black, then drybrush with humbrol gunmetal 53; afterwards a rust wash using watercolors. Lastly i like to coat them with earth color chalks, depending on how weathered i want them to look. I found that the ladies use really convenient boxes of little chalks to use for their artful greeting card making....

Thank you all for your comments. This Hetzer (although quite pricey at around 50 euro's) just begs for a good dio.

Richard

and come great Kermit! need to steal some idea from there really like the grass/stones mixing

Problems about vinyl traks are the paint and seams to remove, it's hard for me to get it good painted, firstly i  resolve with a humbrol black 33 layer then i paint the metal paint with drybrush.

Last tank in my stash is an old Esci Jagdphanter 1/72 reboxed from italeri, fortunately have hard plastic tracks but lots of subject i like have vinyl tracks .

Like what I'm seeing   The Hetzer looks good should be right at home on your base.  Figures are very well done and the ground work is very conveincing!

Your Hetzer looks real good.  I can't believe I still don't have a Hetzer in my 40+ kits stash!  

Love this shot... looks pretty realistic!

Bsyamato, Vetteman,

Awww.... You guys are making me blush... Always nice to hear someone likes your work! Usually i do use the vinyl tracks if they are in the box. You can get a slight sag in them if you put in some work. But for this build i thought i could get away with it since this tank is pretty light and the tracks pretty narrow. Not alot of sag in it i guessed...

Been working on the diorama some more:

Added one figure in winter dress:

Also added some scratch built fences out of some scrap wood:

I do have some fake snow in my stash and wanted to add some sparingly to make it look like it's cold but no blizzard conditions lol so i can explain the tank not having whitewash and the tank commander not wearing anything winterised. Should work out fine.

Also the area behind the fence is kind of barren so i am going to add something there too... Stay tuned

Richard

Richard I am lovin watching this come together man. Makes me more and more afraid to try a tank build my ownself. This ones gonna be over the top for sure.

great work on the tank friend!!

as i see i'm not the only that use "das" to setup diorama base

I see that vinyl tracks are easier to put instead of normal molded tracks (or not?) ,but for some reason i prefered the non vinyl tracks by my great experience about armor kits (5 builted in 20 years... ) .

I'll follow to see the complete diorama

Hinksy, Babill, Phil,

Thank you for your patience gentlemen. I was at a complete loss for awhile there but appearantly i made a beginners mistake by completely missing a part in the instruction sheet. I feel like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar...

But i will change my evil ways now and add the part ASAP.

Right now i have been working on the base by adding some lumps of clay to make the ground more bumpy and adding track marks, covering it with color, grass, pebbles and some bushes and also started paintwork on some extra figures. Might add em, might not.... It's just fun to do

Pictures will tell alot more than my endless yacking so i will post some very soon

Again thank you for your help with my boo boo. I love this forum...*sniff*

Richard

Hi Richard,

Here's my Hetzer with said Convoy light - I think I painted it with either Vallejo Periscope Lens Blue or plain old Tamiya Sky Blue:

Hope this helps! How's the dio base coming on btw. I've got all my stuff (base, scenics etc all ready to go but I need to wait on my figure before I put it all into place - I can't see it being any more than an afternoon job. It's going to be pretty basic.

Kind regards,

Ben  

Hi Richard,

Re the convoy light location it's exactly as Phil_H said in his last post above buddy.

You see the vertical little stem that stands proud of the rear of the vehicle just behing the exhaust outlet? The light blue convoy light should be on top of there.

It's about the size of a hand-held glowstick that you see at nightclubs/raves and is mounted at the top of that stem horizontally. I'll see if I can find a photo of mine - I'm surprised you can't see it in the build guide?

Honestly, it's nothing major and not a huge mistake whatsoever - I suppose they could easily have been lost in action etc? Knocked off or pinged with a bullet? They do add a tiny little splash of colour imo though.

ATVB

Ben

Hi Richard

I haven't checked in for a while,,, and wow, have you made some progress. It is looking great. I like the proposed scene too. I'll be watching for your further posts......

and,, thanks for sharing

Richard,

I answered your question in the other section of the forum, but the convoy light is the cylindrical part D66 which is mounted on the "T-shaped"  part of D36 behind the exhaust pipe outlet in your pic.

Hey Richard,

I like where you are going with this one matey

The field base idea works well with the large area that you have to work with.

I'm thinking churned up grass, a nicly painted stove with blackened, scorched grass around it, a pylon maybe and perhaps even a radio operative? Perhaps even a second piece of armour

Looking forward to more - so far, so very good!

ATVB

Ben

Gentlemen,

Working on the "boo boos" that Hinksy mentioned i am trying to figure out where the formation light should be located exactly. My best guess is this:

If so, what part of this should be light blue? A picture if anyone has it, of a model would be very helpful...

Richard

Woops,...

I was yacking so much i forgot to put in the pictures Sorry bout the double post.

Richard

Hinksy,

Thanks for the compliment. Just trying to have a good time with a good kit for a change. Usually i try to get the most out of budget priced models but i kinda treated myself to a good one after being in a severe modelling block phase. It's working...

Ibuild,

Thanks my friend. It's an honour to hear one is an inspiration to a fellow modeler (probably about how NOT to do it...)

Klik,

I knew it! Looks very agressive in panzer grey. Is that a brush painted finish? Very nice work!

Well,...

The plaster should be fully dry by now so i grabbed it and tried to make some sort of rough composition with the stuff i am planning to use. Without grass, paint and all the eye cany ofcourse but it should give one a general idea of what is in my head:

Tank destroyer at a field "base" with the commander taking a little breather outside while looking at a rifleman with his dog, warming up near the stove.

Richard

wbill76

Off to a good start! Videogames are notoriously sloppy/lazy when it comes to depicting WW2 gear accurately and will recycle/re-use their coding models rather than come up with newer/better/accurate ones if they don't have to. Hetzer production ran from roughly April '44 to the end of the war so you wouldn't have ever seen one on Panzer Gray...although I agree they would look awfully menacing in that darker color for sure.

Yes, it does:

(best pic I had...)

You have done a nice job on your Hetzer, Richard! I am building Tamiya's 1/48 and currently masking it for the "ambush" camo.

Nice to see and read your techniques and how they turned out. Will follow suit.

kermit

Hinksy,

Thank you for pointing out three, might i add obvious, flaws in my build. Each and everyone is a very valid point and i will act accordingly!

Kinda forgot to weather the tow cable... Painted it with humbrol gunmetal, the "clamps" in olive green and that was pretty much it. I will weather it a bit because it does look rather shiny now that you are mentioning it.

The blue light is something that doesn't show up on the colored painting suggestions or the instructions. I just checked. So ignorant about german armor as i am i wasn't aware of this. Easily solved though

And the tracks..... I was kind of stupid in gluing the entire suspension on so i can't roll the yucky spots on the tracks to a less visible place. But i will take it off and reattach it more carefully this time. I guess behind the sideskirts would be a more obvious place to have the joints end up.

The base does look quite big but i occupy an entire attic as mancave so i have ample space to put my models. I have some scenery stuff, modeling snow and extra figures as well as sandbags to fiddle around with. Just poured some plaster of paris into the frame this morning and will let that harden out for a day or two/ three before i really start some ground work.

More to follow!

Richard

Good stuff Rich!

I was only messing re the tracks - Shame you can't roll them on round but I wouldn't worry. They look like they are about to come apart but I doubt it! You could add some more CA and clamp them up while it dries?

Definately get the blue convoy light fitted though - they look great and add a dash of real colour to the build.

I wish I could get some big bases on the go but space is at such a premium big dioramas ets will have to wait until I get my own place. I'm happy enough with an occasional small base, scenery and a figure.

The dog is great btw!

Keep us posted - top notch work my friend!

ATVB

Ben  

Theres deffinatly no harm in it. You have deffinatly done a good job on it.

Umm.... Artistic freedom...?

I just thought it would look cool so i added the spots. . I am not that much of a sucker for 100% historic accuracy you know....

Richard

To be honest i don't think i have ever had to use filler for any armour kit i ahve built, not that i can think of. And deffinatly not on a tamiya one.

On the PMMS review for this it shows a pic of the camo scheme. For the vehicle you did, it just has the 3 colour scheme without the spots. Were they an option or did you just decide to add them. I only ask because when i get this kit, i will be building the same vehicle as you due to its unit.

Hinksy,

Thank you for pointing out three, might i add obvious, flaws in my build. Each and everyone is a very valid point and i will act accordingly!

Kinda forgot to weather the tow cable... Painted it with humbrol gunmetal, the "clamps" in olive green and that was pretty much it. I will weather it a bit because it does look rather shiny now that you are mentioning it.

The blue light is something that doesn't show up on the colored painting suggestions or the instructions. I just checked. So ignorant about german armor as i am i wasn't aware of this. Easily solved though

And the tracks..... I was kind of stupid in gluing the entire suspension on so i can't roll the yucky spots on the tracks to a less visible place. But i will take it off and reattach it more carefully this time. I guess behind the sideskirts would be a more obvious place to have the joints end up.

The base does look quite big but i occupy an entire attic as mancave so i have ample space to put my models. I have some scenery stuff, modeling snow and extra figures as well as sandbags to fiddle around with. Just poured some plaster of paris into the frame this morning and will let that harden out for a day or two/ three before i really start some ground work.

Maj, Mike, Bufflehead, Bish,

Thank you guys for your comments! This kit certainly wasn't hard to build. Fit was excellent without any putty needed and the camo was a nice challenge for me as a first timer. Sadly the kit doesn't come with any PE. Just the option of vinyl tracks or link and length ones i believe theyre called.

In the mean time i can show you something for Otto to look at, his head turned like that suggests he is looking at something of interest. I give you.......Sascha the german sheperd:

More to follow!

Richard