Oh, boy, you are finally diving in to this bad boy! I will definately be following along.

Thanks for looking in guys. Bruce, i have had to restrain myself for the last month or so, kept looking at the kit and wanting to start it.

I got the lower hull together last night and am really enjoying this already.

Bish,

This is another piece of armor with which I'm not familiar. Up until recently, I've taken no interest in armor at all and was never in the armed forces so my knowledge on the subject of the dark side is pretty much nil.

Now, after having attempted one kit in armor, I'm enthusiastically ebracing the thick steel model world. I've just got an enormous amount to learn.

I noticed that Amusing Hobby also has a Leichter Löwe version of the tank. Do you have it in your stash as well?

I'll be following your thread with great appreciation for all the knowledge that I can glean from your posts.

Thanks for looking in Mike. As far as i know this is the first 35th kit of this vehicle, same goes for most of the AM range. I did see the other Lowse kit, but no, don't have that one. I do have the bar, jagdpanther II and NEUBAUFAHRZEUG and currently eyeing up the Flak E-100 and a couple of otehrs.

I hope i can pass on a few ideas and tips and glad to have you following along.

Very cool Bish! Love the fact that you can go crazy with camo schemes with these 'what-if' vehicles. I had decent luck with using a green marker to put the octopus camo on my E-100 (which I still need to take photos of and post here...)

Will be following along

Cheers guys, hope to have the first up date in a couple of days, its building up quite nicely.

G, i have not done an octopus scheme yet, saving that for my E-75 most likely. This one will be a green base with hard edge red/brown in a splinter type pattern. Thats one of the things i like about the papers panzers as well.

Look forward to seeing that E-100.

Nice to see Amusing Hobby get another fan. Also, Bish, Welcome to the dark side.

Here's a suprise for you....

I'm doing a series of Alternate timeline builds. This is my partially finished Lowe with Mr Modelbau 105mm metal barrel on the kit mantel.

I will be adding Friul tracks and the thing is painted in Afrika Korps camo with a slight twist. Dry transfers sets from Archer replace the kit decals and look more painted on lifelike than decals.

Painting the wheels can be a right pain as they are steel rimmed. My process is to:

1 Prime

2.paint the rims with stainless steel from Xtreme Metal range.

3. Coat rims with AK shine enhancer as a protection

4. Mask with 3mm tape - the shine enhancer protects the Xtreme paint which doesn't like masking tape

5. Paint the rest of the wheels

6. Remove masking..... perfect wheels!

Now for the details on the real vehicle!

This design was never build and only existed in drawings and blueprints although a scale wooden model was thought to have been built. It was designed as an alternative to the Tiger II in the competition for the tank design. It would have had the same engine and many components and the 105 breech and ammunition (case) was to be redesigned to fit in the turret and reduce recoil without lessening the MV and penitration tables of the shell. The shell case would be shorter and fatter with the breech redesigned to accomodate this.

I do love Amusing Hobby kits as they go together really well and the moulding detail is up there with the best.

This Lowe is the second in my series and is a Alternenate trmeline build "544 Heavy Tank Batallion, Afrika Corps October 1943 (Operation "Desert Moon")

James

Bish, you know as well as anyone that I'm a novice when it comes to the armour side of the house, and to prove it, I must say I have not seen this tank before.  What a cool subject!  Can't wait to see her finished.....you making one of your world famous bases for it?

Thanks James, though i have been over in the dark sid for a very long time. Most of my builds are aircraft but armour is my favorite largley because of the dio options and its somthing close to my heart from personal experiance.

I have the MR 105 barrel as well, on your suggestion, but i have opted for the resin mantlet. Adding a few other extras as well, mostly from my Panther spares box. I did think about getting some Fruils but decided to try the kit tracks.

I like the look of yours, i had not thoguht about a Trop scheme for a paper panzer, i'm thinking a Jagdpanther II would look good in that.

Eagle90

Bish, you know as well as anyone that I'm a novice when it comes to the armour side of the house, and to prove it, I must say I have not seen this tank before.  What a cool subject!  Can't wait to see her finished.....you making one of your world famous bases for it?

 

 

Cheers Bobby. As James mentions above this was a design on paper only, not as well known as the Maus or E series. To the best of my knowledge Amusing Hobby are the only company to produce one in 35th, along with a few of the other kits they have released.

Hi Bish.

Here's my Jagdpanther II.

This was only a test build so there's no decals on, but I did add Friuls Panther II tracks which fit perfectly and a coat of Xtreme Metal smoke on makes them look like the magnesium steel that tracks were made out of. The reason for the test build was to test some paints from an OEM paint manufacturer in Germany. Base coat is Genuine RAL 6003 and last shade variant of RAL7028.

Turns out to be a really nice build.

Time for my first update. This kit is going together very quick, i had to stop myself to take some pics before i finsished it. The lower hull has some nice detail but certainly is not over engineered. I had to insert the bolts which hold the fixed end of the torsion bars and add the bump stops. The axle arms are moulded with the torsion bars attached.

The other end of the torsion bars are squared off and fit nicley into a square hole, much simpler than Dragons way of doing it and the axle arms have a nice spring.

I then worked on the upper hull before attaching it. I added a ball mount MG, replacing the kits letter box style one. I left the radio operators hatch off as i plan on having it open with a crewman sitting there.

I've since filled in the holes and in the process of adding PE tool brackets. I am also scratchbuilding stowage boxes as the kit does not come with anything.

The turret is complete and ready for painting. I added the MR barrel and mantlet. I have also fitted a close in defence weapon from the spares box and well as a cupola MG mount. The kit comes with a ring but no mount.

Thats all for now, the way this is going, i should have it ready for priming by the end of the week.

That looks sharp Bish, I've never built any of Amusing's kits but she looks like a winner!

James: Nice work there on yours too! Love the splinter camo.

Did you have to purchase the barrel and PE parts seperate? or was that part of the kit?

Looking really good, itll be nice to see some paint on it!

Rambo

That's a mean looking gun Bish, great work so far.

 

Its a whopper all right. At 105mm thats going to give some one a real bad day.

Gamera

That looks sharp Bish, I've never built any of Amusing's kits but she looks like a winner!

 

James: Nice work there on yours too! Love the splinter camo.

 

I am finding it a nice easy build with enough detail. It feels very much like the Trumpeter E-100 but more up to date than the Trump. I am liking it.

TankerEasy

Did you have to purchase the barrel and PE parts seperate? or was that part of the kit?

 

Looking really good, itll be nice to see some paint on it!

 

Thanks Tanker. The barrel and mantlet are an after market set, this one coming from a company in Germany. The PE parts you can see in the pics came with the kit, there is also some screens for the engine deck i have still to add. I will also be adding some PE from the spares box. The lighter grey parts you can see in the pics are also from the spares box. One advantage of Dragon kits is youi get plenty of spares.

Bish,

Fantastic progress on your lion! Looks like it's just falling together. I've not heard one bad thing about Amusing Hobby kits, and I'm glad this one is going well for you. Are the PE fenders in the kit? or are they AM? They look great!

Cheers Bruce. I have only heard good things as well, hence me diving in an buying several even before building one.

The fenders come with the kit and you also get a plastic option.

This kit is really going together very well, i am already at the painting stage. But before i got to that, a few bit to finish off on the hull. I filled in all the attachment hoes and added various PE brackets for tools and tow cables. I used some styrene rod for track hangers.

I also scratch built some stowage bins which will be attached after the first colour is added.

And then timke for some primer and paint. I am useing MRP for the first time on an armour kit, i wanted to try it out before i decide to swicth completly from enamels.

At the last minute, i decided to add some Panther stowage bins to the rear.

Next up will be to add the side stowage bins and mask up before the red/brown. I am already put the tracks together, but no pics yet.

All in all, this has been a really nice build, goes together really well and nicley detailed without overly so. I would deffinetly recomend AM kits, as long as you like what if subjects.

Cheers Clint. Going to be a winter scene. No action scene, tank advancing down a mubby track with troops marching down on either side. Want to try out a winter white wash and some snow on the ground.

Bish,

Your lion is looking fantastic! And I love those storage bins! Outstang job!

Rambo

I just used krycell ice and snow on my last build it looks beautiful didn't photograph as well as it looks in person but still the best that I have used I would suggest using hairspray to fix it in the test I did that worked the best.

 

I have used it onceon an aircraft dio, so looking forwardto trying it on this. I did use hairspray that time but now have their own adhesive so going to see how that works. Also, i just want to have a light covering as you might get with the first snows. So i am going to try putting the powder down first and then fix it. I also have their own white wash paint to try out.

Cheers Bruce. They look better now they aresprayed up and attached. Got the masking done last night so will get the second colour on tonight.