FINISHED PICS!--Page 10--DML HORNISSE

Can't wait to see this one, Doog! 

Make it great! You da man!

-Huxy 

Nice, I have eyed the premium kit, I don't know what has gotten into me, but TDs, SPs are on my mental need to build list. 

Looking forward to seeing your magic unfold.

Doog: I'm pretty sure this kit (and the Hummel kits) has the vague directions about mounting the internal gun travel lock.  DML provides a huge template in order for you to correctly emplace the gun travel lock.  Bad thing is that lots of guys assume that this template was meant to be glued in.  This mistake has happened on SEVERAL articles that were published by some of the best AFV magazines.  I no longer have any Nashorn kits but the templates are the big rectangles with notches at top and bottom that are fitted to the lower side fighting compartment walls.  DON'T GLUE THEM IN!!!!

HTH

There is some pretty good info on DML's Nashorn's here. Also kit # 6166

http://www.perthmilitarymodelling.com/reviews/vehicles/dragon/dr6165.htm

Mike

T26E4 wrote:

Doog: I'm pretty sure this kit (and the Hummel kits) has the vague directions about mounting the internal gun travel lock.  DML provides a huge template in order for you to correctly emplace the gun travel lock.  Bad thing is that lots of guys assume that this template was meant to be glued in....... DON'T GLUE THEM IN!!!!

Uh....!!

Well, in case anyone here thinks that I really DO know what I'm doing...? 

Yup, I did glue them in Roy! AAAARRRRGH!!!

Here's the parts, for anyone wondering, or building either a Hummel. Nashorn, or Hornisse!

And here's what they look like when you have to pry them out like a total amateur! ...

As you can see, I have totallly ruined the interior sides! So I'll have to make some replacement templates to cover the sides out of .010 plastic card.

It took me about 13 tries (not kidding! ) to align the 5 parts of the resin Verlinden gun. I used the first three parts from Verlinden--breech, main tube, and long collar, and then I used the kit's barrel because the Verlinden gun actually scaled out to about 3-4 real mm's short (got my "Rivet Counter" merit badge for that one ). Lastly I used a Tank Workshop Panther gun muzzle cover--it was the perfect size--on the end. Man---I thought I'd never get the damned thing straight! 

And here's where I am so far--the gun is about 70% finished, and I will of course build the sides off of the tank, to be attached after painting. And I still have to assemble the PE ammo stowage.

You can see the VErlinden PE exhaust boxes, and the fenders too. The exhaust has been textures with liquid glue--the weird color is because I used an old paint brush to do it which had paint dried in the base of it.

That's where I am so far...just brappin along into 2009....

It looks great so far!!

Why is the muzzle made of wood?  It atleast looks wood... :P

And did you glue the template on on the Hummel you did a while ago as well??  

HAPPY NEWYEAR!  

-Huxy 

Huxy, it's not wood--it's wrapped in canvas, to protect against dust and Russian bees.

I did glue in that stupid set of templates to both of my Hummels! I can't believe that DML hasn't corrected that in the directions! a LOT of work went into those models, but there's no way to get them out now without ruining the interior! 

I glued them in position on my Nashorn:

I think it looks better that way.

Cheers,

Chris. 

Looking good Doog. I built this same kit minus the details for the hunters GB. It was a fun build.

Erik

tigerman wrote:

You should've entered this in the 1000 roadwheel GB. Kicks off tomorrow. Oh well, this should be a treat to watch.

Thanks for looking in and commenting, guys!

Looks good Karl and very interesting. I hope those bees were not camo'd as T34!!

Jeff

T26E4 wrote:

Sorry I couldn't avert the glued template thing Doog.  Nice work w/the barrel.  I did the same thing when I built VP's 8.8cm Pak 43/41 (before the AFV Club one was available) several years ago.

Thanks for looking in and commenting, guys!

Doog, You know that the template mistake was really a good thing and serves to prove to           the mass amount of us duffers that the builders that we admire are human after all.

They can make mistakes just like us mire mortals. The next time I pull a bonehead i'll think back on this and smile. I Thank You Sir for the inspiration you provide with these step by step builds.

PS: I just checked my DML Nashorn kit(6314) and the direction showing those have bright blue instructions telling you the two parts are "For positioning L4 only".                                                                                                   

DML instructions plain suck.  I've lost track of the amount of pieces I have glued in place when they weren't supposed to be.

Looking good though, gotta love those Panzer IV variants!

PS: I'm glad you don't do GBs, you'd put the rest of us to shame!!!! 

   Doog as always a great start of what I know will be an exceptional finish. Between you and Bill I'm sold on those Migs.   

Damm....you are either getting too fast or this old man is slowing down.....almost missed this.

As far as the a good modeler can make things look good. A great modeler can figure things out. Especially when an is involved. No one is perfect. Every build has any number of imperfections or not quite right that may not show but the builder knows what is there and has done a great job fixing it or hiding it. With you being the king of finishing, this type of work/repair makes your royality!!

Nice recovery Karl. Now.....either the kit only has 10 parts or you have been working on it day & night. Grest initial progress.

Rounds Complete!!

Hi again, guys!

Thanks to Pvt Mutt, Glamdring, panzerguy and Mike for comments! Interesting that the new kits have the "amended" directions! 

Well, I've been working away, and I'm finally finished up the building and will soon be on to the painting stage. Here's what I've got so far...

Here's the Verlinden ammo racks PE assemblies. The ones on the left are the individual pieces; the 2nd-from-left row of 4 "letterboxes" there are three assemblies each. On the right is the finished rack. They were a bit of a PITA to assemble--in order to get those shell trays to fit, I had to remove approximately 1mm from each of the aforementioned "letterbox" "ears" coming up off of them, otherwise they wouldn't fit! Lots of filing done against a small sharpening stine was in order as well, in order to fit certain parts...

Man, the side panels are just chock-full of knockout marks to be filled!

I'm going to say a bit about my method of using sub-assemblies to do open-top kits like this. On eof the daunting teasks to doing a kit like this is to be able to adequately paint all the interior details. I like to break the painting down like this--the sides are test-fitted to the sides. The rear panel there willl be glued to the hull. The sides panels and little front panels are glued to each other carefully, and held in place until they set--here, the panels are drying hard in place, so that they will fit perfectly after they are totally painted and weathered inside--only at that point willl the exterior be painted!

They come right off...

Here's the parts as I willbreak them down to paint them; the main hull, sides, gun assembly, rear doors, ammo racks, and radio. SOme small details will also be added later like MG's and crew fititings...

As you can see, it would be impractical to paint them in situ; you can see here where the radio would be ("R"). And here's one fix to be careful of--don't glue the hull lifting hooks against the rear bulkhead as they show--they should be in this position, NOT as indicated by the red position!

The other side. The scissors periscope mount there was scratched from plastic strip--the Verlinden set gives you a piece of PE, but it's way under-scale. 

Here's also the correct position of the travel lock. It should angle backward at an angle, to connect to the rear of the gun breech travel there...I have attached it at the bottom as per those damned guides, which I saved after I pried them out and used them to pencil in the positions of the mount bases. That traversing wheel also locks into the bottom of it there.

Hey, does anybody know what's supposed to go here? It looks like a bunch of locating tabs, but there's no call out for it in the direction?

Well, I'll be going on to the painting next.I'll be using a slightly darker DY shade inside, to simulate the lack of fading inside--artistic license, interpretation, call it what you want.

A question to anyone who might know--who knows what the proper colors would be for the shells of this tank? There are two different shells--anyone have any dea of the colors used to paint them? The directions say just black tiops, but ref photos show white tips on the AP shells; anyone know what the HE shells looked like?

Thanks for looking in guys! Comments and info welcomed!!!

Just one thing from me...

Mein gott!!   

To re-iterate what everyone else has said:  A  M  A  Z  I  N  G!!!

So that's is how those fiddley bits in the newer kit are supposed to look like all folded up.  Great visual guide for fitting, partially glueing, then painting an open top critter.  As they say 1 picture and 1,000 words!

Can't wait to see the painted finished work of art!

Copper? 

Better not bring that to Detroit, I work for the phone company and we always have trouble reports about stolen copper cable!

Very nice work on the shell racks Karl, given how much space they occupy in the interior they are really going to be a centerpiece! Your method of breaking down the interior of an open-topped vehicle is very similar to the way I've approached that same aspect on other builds. Looking forward to seeing this one painted but can't help you out on that mystery mounting point...looks like a box of some sort, maybe a med kit?

Thanks, Huxy, and TOW gunner! Make sure you seek out some of wbill76's builds as well, if you're new to the site here--he has some great tutorials as well in full picture WIP's!

Thanks too, for commenting, psc1w--I'm not getting your reference to copper--do you mean the shells?

Thanks too, Bill-- yeah, I think I'll find a box of some sort to stick there--I might also check the directions for the "Nashorn"--perhaps it's a remnant of the shared hulls for the late version? 

Tony--Thanks, buddy! How'd that oil wash turn out? By the way, that's just Squadron White putty, sanded in the pin marks...