~ ! Clash in Tunisia ! ~ { Final Photos on page 37 }

Looking nice, the after part lok great, I can definately tell that this will be a great dio at the end.

I should make a motorcycle for my next project, but I really busy right now.

Keep up the good work.

The front fender was another challenge. This wasn't too tuff though, and actually suspends the fender over the wheel in a realistic way. What an improvement over the old Tamiya kit with the wheel & fender moulded as one without even any space between!
  The filler on the gastank was just to fix my goof ,  as an errant drop of glue gave me a soft spot I dented, and used the only putty on the bike, in that spot.

The assemetric fit of the rear fender bracket tube checks out against references. The clasps on the stowage box are shown towards the outside of the case on the instructions, but photos show them more towards the inside.   The control cables running from the handlebar are from the finest brass wire I have here, as they are not so visable in pictures, but are a needed detail. My stowage items(not glued in place here) include a helmet & gas mask canister from DML, and a nice resin MP40 from the spares box. More may be added later, not sure.
Parts from the kit left off include the rear-view mirror, which is nearly always missing in period photos, the number-plate,which was likely to be missing, and the P.E. padlocks for the storage case (good spares-box item)
  Here's the model after weathering ~OKAY, just kidding again.         
Here's the last shot of my BMW before it's off to the paint shop. Real primer applied with the airbrush for this thing, then quite alot of very fine sanding I'm sure as some xtra glue had to be used here & there to re-enforce those feeble attachment points. Nothing too fancy though, and lucky for me,  as I want to display a highly ravanged paintjob.....(not quite as bad as the example above        ~Thanks again for tuning in for another episode of ~"Clash in Tunisia"~                Indy

~Thank you Rob ~ The update has arrived !

 ~Ok, so the  Lion Roar BMW R75 is built..."POOF"....easy as that !  
.....Um, NO , not really. Actually......Any of you guys ever build an entire model with your tweezers? That's sort of what this was like. You can't fault the kit for trying to present a highly detailed miniature, but, it is in no way easy to get together. Besides the fiddle-fest of itty-bitty parts, plastic & P.E., you're best building habits must be strictly adheared to. Test fit EVERYTHING, as nearly none of the fit-pins fit into thier respective holes without mods. The styrene is very durable, which is good as there are some of the most minute attachment points ever seen on a 1:35 model, and it's easy to melt away importaint areas if one isn't careful gluing. The P.E. is nice quality stuff too, but attachment points are difficult to asertain at best from the instructions. Constant reference checks needed!   You will need references to decide how to fit the front shields for example. I fit all the largest parts 1st, including the seats and exhaust, which of course I drilled out. As I'm going to heavily weather this bike to show one that's in the field a long while, I put a drastic rough texture on the entire exhaust with some Tamiya Liquid Surface primer stippled with a wire brush. This will be sanded to something more in-scale after primer.   Around this time I started to notice I was getting a lot of vibration from my "model stand", like when you toss your knife in a plank and watch the handle wobble a while. So I made a simple brace from mitred popsicle stick and a few drops of gel C/A . Then it  was nice and solid.          I was so happy I had mounted the model like  so for the following steps, as in my hands the fiddly bits would be coming off faster than I could attach them! Next up was all the control linkages, and being of suitable scale-size, they are super small parts. One had the option of the styrene parts, but these are over-scale on the rods and lack definition on the gear handles, and shift rack. Only real  problem with the P.E. parts here is that they are flat of course, and those shifters are suposed to be ball-shaped. I made some ball-handles with drops of gel C/A like I did with the plug caps. These also need a little shaping after primer, so I can see them a little better. Here The front fork assembly is done. This is the way I chose to do it, leaving the headlight out for the time being. In fact, I didn't follow the instructed build-order very much at all after step 1, and think this kit kind of requires one to figure out how to accomplish each task, as alignment is tricky throughout, the parts are a bit too small to  easily grasp, and handling of the model will likely destroy previous steps work.   Here's everything but the headlight lens, which I want to show in place, but VERY grimy. This was one of several reference shots that was handy(even though some parts look unoriginal) You would likely need reference to build this kit entirely OOB.

 

Wow that tire looks awesome with the PE spokes, and in 1/35 scale thats some fragile stuff. I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the details that your putting into the bike.

Nice work Adam.

 

Rob

~ Edmund ~ Thanks Buddy, the kubel is good solid classic, eh?

~ Rob ~ Wait 'til you see the detail that goes onto this bike's block ! Oh man! Coming up on the update after this one...

 

~ Moving right along.........   With the build of the BMW motorbike Buildng of the well-designed, highly-detailed 7 part, spoked wheels with off-road tires, requires having some sort of clamps handy, perfect preparation of all 5 styrene & 2 pre-formed photo-etched pieces, some stryene glue & a few drops of C/A, plus some very steady hands!
Once sandwiched, glued, clamped & cured, they are fantasic as the spokes actually suspend the hubs and attach to the frame very much like the 1:1 model When you have the hubs in place, you can really begin to assemble the bike.
I started here, by placing one side of the frame with a dab of C/A My "engine stand" continued to be very useful during these steps as well, as there is plenty to have to line up all at once (it's just a length of Music-wire, glued into a small wood block, like for figure use)
The other side of the frame traps in the kickstand and the engine block in several places, as well as those rear-wheel hubs. Once I had it all together I wicked-in a little Tamiya extra-thin Cement to the several joint spots, and held everything there for a while as any clamps here would likely distort some parts. ~~Next up...I can really go to town, adding a plethora of teeny-tiny, itty-bitty, detail-freak-pleasing details including all the wiring, linkages,footpedals*&rests.ect,ect.... ~~~~manyneeded !......................

Looking very good Indy, nice details on the motor block of the motorcycle. Can't wait to see the painting of the Kubelwagon, it's off to a good start with that primer color.

 

Rob

Looking great Adam.  I really like that Kubelwagon!

 

~Ok Gentlemen ~ Here's where I really start to apply some paint layers while new builds still begin. I just don't want all the paint tasks waiting when I'm done building, in fact I'll try to do some of those requiring the wait time between, as I go.   My Kubelwagon got a chocolate brown Tamiya basecoat mixed from even parts of XF-10 Flat Brown & XF-9 Hull Red, darkened with some XF-1 flat Black(to taste)A darker shade gave a little color modulation to the lower areas & wheelwells..
  The seats got a similar treatment.     The whellhubs too, with little care as too overspray, as the primary wheel-colour seen will be that of DUST      
I also got started on the BMW     The DAK bike, no sidecar,  is what I want. Like this :  
References are alot more common to the sidecar bike. Either way, you almost never see the number plate or the rear-view mirror in place.       Of course, such pictures are also very useful.      

~  By far the best looking R75 example that I've seen, has got to be this one :    
Much later vintage, but very desirable.                            

Anyways, the Lionroar kit is a sweet little gem of a model kit, and as it's been well reviewed and blogged in the records of the MM site , I'll just hit on the particulars of my build.        ~The BMW form Lion Roar(my kit, from Luckymodels, China, had stickers saying "Great Wall Hobby" over the "Lion Roar"  Logo-anyone know the politics with that?)         ~~~~~~Building begins with the hoizontaly-opposed 2-cylinder 750cc engine.   I left off the delicate brake & starter pedals for the time being, and decided to add the sparkplug-heads & wires from 2 different gauges wire, although they are provided in photo-etch, these are really predominate features on the real cylinder heads.   
I met the small stub of .020 wire with a length of .013 wire and made the plug-cap with a drop of gel C/A and set it with accelerator. I primed with Tamiya's Fine White Primer, and airbrushed the whole block with Tamiya XF-16 Flat Aluminum, something I hadn't tried spraying before, but I thought it would  just give a nice light metal base colour.  

 
      The desert sand might wear yout paintjob ragged, but exposed aluminum like these heads would just get polished to a dull sheen. Anyway it's a rare oppertunity to model an engine that will actually be seen .   ~Back soon guys.............Thanks for following along ! ~~~~~~~~~~~Indy  

 

Primer is applied and left to cure (a long while) as building models will continue, but  I will be doing painting tasks in the background, so things don't get to backed-up, have lots of time to dry, and don't get damaged or mucked-up during placement tasks when I decide on positions when I get to the groundwork. That's the real reason I'm not doing this in a normal manner of build,paint,finish & start the next build~~~ I want all the the elements build and just primered, before I knock myself out with final paint.  The primer I used for this was  the Ultra-Fine Floquil Light Grey Figure Primer.(a 3oz spraycan similar to Tamiya & Testors)     It goes on really light & misty and hid nothing, while the many materials used were  well unified.  The basecoat for the wheels was  Tamiya TS-6 Matt Black, and for the Jerrycans TS-4 German Grey
~So this will go under glass(literaly) for the time being ~ back with some new elements! `Indy

 So to get off the figures for a bit, the last few tasks we're done, namely putting the Dunklgelb on these 2  fellas, so you can see how well (or not) it's going to paint-up   Brenman looks pretty smooth
This guy not bad....
Amazingly, I never saw that mould-line on the left-center of his shorts, or the back of his neck, with the professional grey primer that was on him~~in fact I didn't see it when applying the dark yellow or photo'ing him either. It was only when I went to copy the images to post here that I saw the easy-to-sand-off-blunder, but I thought it more usefull to show the pictures as-is, and then fix it with some 600grit paper, then to just show this looking perfect,{This illustrates one of the prime advantages of doing a really thorough build blog here! } I modelled the hobnails with some tiny bits of styrene softened in xtra thin Tamiya glue, and made them a little overscale(the bits we're pretty small!) I thought I'd see what to do better with this colour on there, and did a little careful sanding since.{   These details will be slightly obscured by paint also, as I don't see any reason his bootsole would be clean!}   AND THATS IT FOR BUILDING FIGURES FOR THIS DIO ! I have ideas for 1-3 more, but I already have 7 Germans & 6 Brits (11 is the most I've modelled together before) I think these will do the job. I will see after placement of all the elements happens.   So~!~~~~~In the interests of keeping going, Paint coats are going onto things AS building continues.(hopefully this blog still appears well-built and not a jumble!)

~Indy

"Looking good" huh? Um...er....ah.... thanks Herr Mangstchien, but ah, your looking good....nice new Avatar there  Buddy!

~As for the tip on the gloves, it is a good suggestion. Im not sure I want people to even consider if he is cold or protected his delicate skin though. The climate is quite harsh in the region in question(not unlike the weather here, an hour from L.A. , on the edge of the Mojave Desert) You could be shivering in your greatcoat all morning, and a few hours later your blood is boiling in the ceaseless HEAT. (mind you I live at the beach{and it's sweet}, but 30 miles inland  people  actually live in The Valley(the SanFernando-God-Forsaken-Valley) and there people endure triple-digit temperatures OFTEN)~                ~    Hence : I have some of my figures in shorts, some in long trousers,,,,but adding gloves and/or coats could add confusion to the scene, even if it might be accuratish, since dramatic weather shifts strike different people diffferently. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Looking good, Indy...I love the Alpine heads, and you always get a spare for other projects so it is too cool, but I agree that some have the "thousand yard stare" look about 'em...still love em though.  The loadrer could be portrayed as wearing gloves if you think his hands are too bulky...something not too uncommon in Africa, as many types of German gloves were made for hand protection and not just warmth...I usually paint the thin "deer-skin" variety a mouse-grey color...

OK~~Here's "Follow-up-Shot-guy"...still needing some careful clean-up, but in the interest of keeping this thread updated..... also the round is just set in place(glue needed to seat it to his palm correctly), BUT I think I've got some good balance  with this one.... Another Alpine Head ! { Where the H.E.Double-Hockysticks is Manny?? He'd dig this the most !} That makes 3 of 4 crewmen with them. I like his chisled, gaunt look. The hands (need a little "skinnyness" carved into them)are from a top-notch Warriors "Waffen SS Gebirsjager" figure that I happened to have bought 2 of ( I guess for parts) cause it was so cheap. A hair dryer's heat  softened the right hand to get the grip on the warhead. The rest of him is all DML  
One area still to slean-up, that bootsole.The breadbag got straps scartched from some .020 styrene rod.   Heres those 2 gunners together in a near-relation shot. Both got some Dark Yellow "primer'. These we're the 2 most "unfindable" figures I needed. Having them close to ready-for-paint brings me very near done building my figures, but there's a few more tasks to do..............."I shall return !"

Axel Smith wrote:

Dude... Awesome Work Indy! and hope this suffices... VERY FUNNY

LOL ~ Yes, very much so.....Thank you for that~!

Dude... Awesome Work Indy! and hope this suffices... VERY FUNNY

Citadelgrad87 wrote:

From the sublime to the ridiculous.  The single most bizarre post I have seen in just over one year on this forum.  Indy, this provides a window to your soul. I knew there was a reason I like you.  Bill

~  Bill ~ A simple  ,"VERY FUNNY" would sufice, but I consider that a great compliment , thanks.

~  Sir Edmund ~ pick yourself up, dust yourself off, & laugh some more, plenty more to come

~ Andy ~ I'm not sure you really get this (theres NO kissing involved)    To break it down....Haven't you ever been around a buddy who was way too drunk and won't shut up, and keeps saying how great a friend you are...and he loves you ...and the whole time you wish he'd shut up, cause you're nowhere as drunk as him, and he stinks, but he's your buddy, and you don't really wanna kill his buzz or make him mad but you wanna tell him to  shut up? NO? Never? Really?

~ Indy

 

Wait a minute!  I thought German men do kiss on lips???  Maybe it was the Russians...

LMFAO!!!  HAHHAHAHAHAHAHA!

 

From the sublime to the ridiculous.  The single most bizarre post I have seen in just over one year on this forum.  Indy, this provides a window to your soul.

I knew there was a reason I like you. 

Bill

 

Mic wrote:

Diggin' this figure work. I especially like the way the Apline head makes him look so dutiful, oblivious to what we know is creeping up behind him. Never been a big fan of the Apline heads, but I can now see how this one works really well with the body, and within the context. The only thing that I can think to say is that, as a refined smoker, the ciggie looks to me to be a little large for scale. But, at the same time, it also makes me want one of those big, fat, harsh French cigs (Gitanes). So, I can be satisfied with the notion that the targeter also appreciates good French cigarettes, and has horded a few cartons for himself Watching for more updates. Mach Schau! Steve

~ Thanks for the detailed post Steve.  Looks "dutiful' , eh?   Good.    Listen what Chris Meddings at the MM site said about him :      "  Love the idea of a laconic german gunlayer having a smoke while he works "up a bit, left a bit, down a bit. Ya, that'll do" LOL       ~Found that funny even if I had to look up "laconic" {curt, short with words to point of rudeness}          ~So Alpine heads' not your fav.? I don't hear that much. I've noticed nearly all of them have a whistful stare, with the look of more going on in thier head than right in front of them..... Anyways, this one is the other(you always get 2 right?) head that came with this guy :

My only worry is he's just too similar, as he's nearly the same,  but I did this purposely to get some kind of tie-in between figures, because I'm using so many very different ones

I'm betting I can get enough varriation in painting, but at least the noses are very different, even if the eyes and ears are exactly the same.

Targeter :" I love you Man ! "       Commander:" Get off me !"           Targeter:"Oh come on...let me be in the Dio!"              Commander:"Do you promise to lay off zee shnnapps???" Targeter:"I think it's all gone"         Crewman :"INCOMING!!!!

~Others have said the cig looks perfect to scale. To the unaided eye it call barely be seen as it is!  I quit smoking Marlbutts a couple years ago, but I smoke these small cigars from Holland, I guess they are about the size I portayed. Any way you slice it, this is probablly this man's very last cigarette............................

               Mach Schau     =  "Do Show"           you got it~~~~~~~~~~~

Diggin' this figure work. I especially like the way the Apline head makes him look so dutiful, oblivious to what we know is creeping up behind him. Never been a big fan of the Apline heads, but I can now see how this one works really well with the body, and within the context.

The only thing that I can think to say is that, as a refined smoker, the ciggie looks to me to be a little large for scale. But, at the same time, it also makes me want one of those big, fat, harsh French cigs (Gitanes). So, I can be satisfied with the notion that the targeter also appreciates good French cigarettes, and has horded a few cartons for himself

Watching for more updates. Mach Schau!

Steve

 

Of course, copper wire for the cigarette, why didn't I thought of that, I aalways use syrene rod. Nice conversions indy, I can tell its gonna be a really action pack dio.

~~~~~~~~~~I got some more work done to these two   Bipod, sling  (looped over left arm), more detail sanding......
Both of them got thier 'clown-shoes' shaved down.  Pity to lose all that detail but it WAS very over-scale. I did a fair amount of other sanding here and there on both of them...amazing when you really take your time how much you can find needs done !   Still have the bootsoles to work.   ~~~I was also quite busy with my targeter :
Sculpted that missing area of his tunic and pressed in some equipment while at it, Not the most difficult sculpting task, but still not as easy as you think it will be beforehand.   Here some thin slabs of Milliput(fine white) are layed in his lap, ect.
It's pressed & kneaded near flat to meet the belt. Breadbag is a 'painted spare'(DML)the straps of it softened to flush-up to the belt, pressed into putty
Cigarette was added from some .013 brass wire, a drop of thin CA  to the back, then snipped. This let me make sure I had a square-cut to it's front end, and just the right length. You can see the tunic between the legs here too. Not really going to be seen later.

 WARNING :Smoking brass WILL kill you.      More shaping was done after the Milliput cured, with micro-files, dimond-needle-bits in the Dremel, and sandpaper. When somewhat happy with it,  it was surfaced with Tamiya Liquid Putty, thinned with laquer thinner. I thought it might be more interesting to show it here on the gun before I primer, as I will primer in a very close color for this DAK Daddy.    Loads more to do...off to work now!

~ Andy ~ No trouble at all. My pleasure. Today I'm working on sculpting the finer points of the guncrew & some work to the big Warriors Tommies. I'll be back as soon as I've got something. thanks for staying tuned !

AHHHH!  Pictures can easily play tricks on old eyes like mine.  What the heck... I am not that old as I am only 39 years old.  Now the neck looks better... guess he didn't visit that tribe to have his neck extended after all!  Thanks for taking your time... always enjoy following your work.

~       As for the neck thing...I've figured out much of it is from a slight "fisheye" perspective I get with my cheap digi camara when I get in really close. I get better detail - but it costs me proportion, to demo the effect...here's the original shot    ( note the odd perspective :you see both under the hat brim & the tops of the boot in one shot   This picture taken from farther-out and cropped/zoomed in post, softer detail, better proportion, neck looks fine     This guy too. If anything, I'd expect to hear the heads too big for the tiny DML body, but any less neck and the head will definately look too big!  

All that said, I saw how stocky this particular figure was, and the long slender neck was indeed out of place, so I re-mounted it.   Looks correct now for his chunky little body  I would"nt call the DML figures "fine".    They have proportion problems by themselves, despite thier widespread-use and I don't really like this figure  better now...... but it works.  

This one is entirely unaltered, but the fixed perspective shows it was OK Anyway he has the look of a "skinny-boy" somewhat, and I like having some variety within the group.

  This one's head is still loose, but I planed -off the base of the neck very slightly
 I'm greatful for your imput guys, and to have some other sets of eyes on all this at this stage.   Thanks again.............

LOL ~ Andy~ LOL  You think that neck looks long on the chap pictured in your post? I'm look'in at it in person it looks dead-on. I am getting some flak at about some of the Hornet Brit heads on the DML bodies though, especially ones left loose for painting. Mostly it's just a perspective issue, I'll explain in my next post, after I shoot a few demo-shots.

Indy, always looking great!  So much work on your diomara but it will be a beauty when it is completed.  My only concern is the figure with a long neck... he looked abnormal to me but maybe it is time to have my eyes examined.  Unless you wanted to tell us a story abot his recent trip to a place in Africa where he had his neck extended by a local tribe that adds gold rings around the ladies necks!

~ Mac, interesting. I'm sure you have lots more you can add to the conversations,do not be shy and post some pictures of your models in the appropriate forums so the guys can enjoy them and tear them to pieces as they decide to at a whim.....hehe ~ Really nothing to fear ~~~~

    ~At this point, I'm developing a few custom figures by way of parts barrowed here & there,and sculpting the needed connecting areas. I need  a man at the gunsight, but having him bent down to sight seemed to totaly hide him from view, and maybe even suggest I was trying to hide him, so I'm building a pose where he is watching for the rounds impact over the gunshield, while casually puffing a ciggy, to show him very unaware of the incoming attack of foot-soldiers. It took some doing to get this position, and it's obvious it isn't done yet. The next steps involve some epoxy-putty to the area below the belt, to re-form the bottom of the tunic entirely,as well as replacing some of the top part of the torso's features, and maybe a change of boots too. The lower is from a Dragon tankriders set, the legs changed by heat-bend from an even position. The torso & arms from a nice (but boring) Platoon figure, except the whole upper-right arm which I formed from Milliput. The head is Alpine. Probablly will get some boots from Warriors, both to bulk him out a little, and because the ones he's got are a bit puny(DML)and of a type seen more in the ETO.  
 I'm working on another figure at the gun.This guy is the one holding the follow-up round as is always seen  in any in-action shot. I'm trying to model a fieldgun in a loaded & ready-to-fire condition, but maybe not an up-close, fast-fire scene. Given that. the breech is closed, The barrel elevated slightly, and  the follow-up-round-guy has taken a knee,and is waiting for word from the targeter. A commander & another crewman(at the front of the blog) stand nearby, both watching down-range. This figure is also from the DML tankrider set, hands removed and sleeves drilled out(still to decide on some new hands for him) the head is Warriors(a bit of wash on it so you can see his sour expression. Same cummy boots, naturally.      ~I took my que for these from some actual action photos, but still adapted what I wanted  with artistic licence, as a full-crew won't be seen, Im saying in my story(at this point ,at the end of the campaign) some crewmembers have been killed-off and some replaced by varrious personel. Convienient, I know, but  I usually like to take the route of mixing up the uniforms as much as possible for intrest, contrast & variety.  Here's a few of those Pak 40 crew  shots from history :   This one from Tunisia. See how "hidden' the targeter is in there? Full crew lines-up for fast-reloads--my figure's pose is close to man at front. I'm sure they we're trained to take that knee, and wait behind the relative safety of the gunshield.   These fellows in France. Sherman-hunting in Normandy, no doubt.
I found this dug-out set-up interesting, as Im sure there's no way to get comforable manning one of these, but my gun-position is supposed to be a hasty one, so I couldn't use this set-up. I'd say that gunner on the right better watch his hand, eh?   ~Ok, I be back when I get these conversions looking like something.  Thanks to ya, if your still there Mateys ~~~~~~~~~~~ ~ Indy

My grandfather is a Polish accordionist, so it's nice to have at least one subject that I can prattle on about when it arises