1,000 Roadwheels - 2009

Again nice builds everybody- Smj that is some serious paint work that you did, that must have taken forever to achieve that result. I'm in agreement with only slighlty weathering the running gear and not hide all your hard work.                                    Bish- Again nice Kugel, very well done. A solid build to be proud of.

I've got a couple update pics of my next Panzer IV entry. This one is slow going because of fit problems and fixing parts that either broke or aren't totally there. Here she is.

Bish - your Kugelblitz came out awesome! Dig your build very much...add a stripe to your badge, sir!

Panzer88 - I don't remember what your sources were for this guy - what base kit are you using? Going to be very cool.

Bish.... Your Kugelblkitz is GREAT!! nice weathering I like how faded the camo is.

Panzer88.... Nice work so far that will looks realy cool with paint on!

Bish wrote:

Some awsome work here guys   All comments welcome as always.

 Hey Bish, I like what you're doing with the weathering, Only one thing and I'm not sure if it is the photo or not. It looks like a lot of burnt sienna pastels on the transmisssion deck. Streaked rust from the spare tracks, IMO, would look great. Overall, I like the dust and your "pin rush". A very nice build. Two Thumbs Up and a Bow! 

 Project Brummbear has taken been brambling along slowly. After mounting the main gun I noticed the roof line was missing. It wouldn't have been an issue if I'd zimmed it. On the reference pics I have, the roof plates can be seen from the side profile of the late production vehicle I'm trying to build, and the old Dragon 6026 doesn't have any roof lines at all. So I preformed a roofectomy and now have a massively cool drop top Brummbear. I have the 2 main plates "bolted" and fitted, but not fixed yet. Had to order some .010" sheet styrene to build the plate that joins the 2 top plates together. Should have that sometime this week and will be able to finish adding the rest of the roof detail. So "Bear" with me.

 Mo

panzer88 wrote:

Again nice builds everybody- Smj that is some serious paint work that you did, that must have taken forever to achieve that result. I'm in agreement with only slighlty weathering the running gear and not hide all your hard work.                                    Bish- Again nice Kugel, very well done. A solid build to be proud of. I've got a couple update pics of my next Panzer IV entry. This one is slow going because of fit problems and fixing parts that either broke or aren't totally there. Here she is.

Here's my KugelBlitz in all her glory.

detailfreak wrote:

PANZER 88:very interesting subject youve gotten yourself into. looking forward to seeing more.BISH:that kugelblitz turned out great.i'm going to have to add one to my collection.great work to everyone here.later i hope to post some pics of two builds i think i can call complete:the nashorn and the ausf.G.

Thanks. Its one of Dragons older kits but it has been re-released this year.

 Hey TD, Nice job on the camo, very interesting pattern.  Nice and subtle weathering.

 Bish, a very nice job on the older Dragon kit. I'm working on the old Dragon Sturmpanzer IV kit.  I think SMJ has built the oldest with the Tamiya PzJgr IV/L70 and done a really nice job of it. I just hope mine turns out half as nice as everybodies post so far.

 Hey Bish, I've built several of the older Dragon offerings, and enjoyed each one. They do build up nicely although the instructions can be somewhat confusing at times. Even the old indy track links IMO are a better go than the old Tamiya RB's. Anyway, I had to put primer on to get a good look at the roof line and seam on Ol' Stumpy.

Everyones builds are looking great.

 Well, here is the first pic of my second build. It pretty much sums up where I am now. The hull is only dry fitted and the figures haven't been cleaned up yet. I've been too busy with the MK tracks. 

 The gun barrel is Jordio Rubio. It's made for the Tristar D but fits fine on the Tamiya.

Mobious wrote:

Hey Bish, I've built several of the older Dragon offerings, and enjoyed each one. They do build up nicely although the instructions can be somewhat confusing at times. Even the old indy track links IMO are a better go than the old Tamiya RB's. Anyway, I had to put primer on to get a good look at the roof line and seam on Ol' Stumpy.

Well, good instructions would just take all the fun out of it. That is looking very nice, i must add one of those, was thinking of the new Dragon kit. What paint scheme are you going for.

Holy crap, that thing is muddy!! The mud looks realistic too. That is hard to pull off right, especially that magnitude of mud.

Erik

Great mud! I only just figured out a way to make good mud but yours is way better!

Good work!

 Hey detailfreak, An interesting idea for a dio. A Bergepanzer IV maybe? Nice job muddin' the PzIV, convincing and realistic.  

 Hey Bish, Ol' Stumpy will be gettin a silly putty late war hard edged camo pattern. I hope to represent one of the last vehicles recieved by Stu.Pz.Abt.217 while being deployed in the defence of Aachen, Germany late in 1944.

     Gefreiter Pordoi reporting for duty, Sir!!!  This is my second PzIV and has been almost a stealth build for me; started about the time that wbill76 began his WIP in the Armor forum of the PzIV ausf F2 that was just highlighted in the last issue of FineScale Modeler.  As you can tell, he works much faster than I.  As a bit of background, wbill76 and I both based our builds on a set of Bison decals of PzIV tanks in the DAK service.  My choice was to represent a tank sporting the earlier camo scheme of RAL8000 (Grunbraun) base with an overspray of RAL7008 (Khakibraun) camo, using enamel paints from White Ensign.  Things went fine until the time came to add the decals and to make a long story short, I was unhappy with the Bison decals (just couldn't get them to set down properly and I'm still not sure if it was my screw up of a bad batch of decals) but I ended up using the DML kit supplied decals.  Nonetheless, it makes an interesting contrast between the camo scheme used here and that used by Bill in his build (see Bill's WIP thread in the Armor Forum).  Please feel free to criticize; I don't consider this one of my better builds and I would appreciate an honest appraisal.  That said, here's some pics:

It is a neat camo scheme, the RAL8000/7008 combination.  RAL8000 certainly has a greenish hue to it and RAL7008 is a nice complement.  The effect I tried to accomplish was a subtle difference between the two colors, since many of the photos of DAK tanks that I've seen don't show stark contrasts in their color schemes. 

I used the interior transmission and brake assembly that was supplied by the Trumpeter Bruckenleger for this build, as shown in the photos above.  A pretty nice fit.  One question that I have is whether the hatches over the brake assemblies were able to swivel all the way down to horizontal or whether these hatches had stops.  I would appreciate input and/or photos showing how these hatches operated. 

 Thanks for reading.

 Don

TD4438: Nice build, you have a great hand and nice technique for doing the exposed metal drybrush.  I get the feeling that it's real metal!  Although I like the camo' scheme, for some reason it feels "painted", IMO.  I'm not sure how to explain it, the paint appears thick or maybe it just needs a wash to tone it down some, see what you think...Great work overall!

Bish: Thanks for the compliment on my Jagdpanzer!  I don't know what techniques you said you employed from my tutorial but she came out very nice!  The tools, exhaust and spare tracks are exceptional!  The dusting effect really gives this baby some realism too.  The 4th picture on p.42 is gold...make sure that one is the one dupes uses for the finished builds gallery.  My only comment would be to add a bit of rust/pastels to the tracks, they are a bit too silver, IMO.

Panzer88: Yes, their was some serious paint work going on my Jagd...Next build will be quicker though now that I have an idea of how to do it.  Your build looks like a Panther turret on a Panzer...I had no idea that tank existed...cool!

Geist: Cool figure poses, I'll be watching to see how you pull that off!

detailfreak: UN-FRICKIN' BELIEVABLE!!!  That is truly a masterpiece in my book.  I noticed you added the extra mud on the back fenders...nicely executed!  I can't say enough about this one...gutsy, bold, unique...I just love it....

pordoi: Another great one!  I'm noticing that your work, as a whole, rivals some of the finest builders here on the forum.  Your detail work is excellent and adds real life to your builds, great job!  I especially like the woodwork and the open hatch on the turret at the numbers...that had to be tough to do.  My only suggestion would be to add a medium thick black/brown wash to that engine, it's a bit too pristine, IMO...

SMJmodeler Thanks, coming from you that means alot. I did get a couple of comments on the armour page about the scheme being obliterated by the dusting and washers. But from experiance i know that dust can make any camo scheme dissapear. To be honest i am not a big fan of rust on the working tracks, but they deffinatly need some pastels. I am rather pleased with how the exhaust and tools turned out, i seem to have that down to a tee, now just more practice of the other stuff and i will be tehre.

 One question for you. If i want to get a less worn finish, is it simply a case of useing thinner washers and maybe takeing the wash off sooner.

Detailfreak - EXCELLENT build. Definitely one of your better efforts, IMHO. One thing that helps out a TON is the poster paper you picked up as a backdrop for your photos - it really allows you to pick out details that you might miss in front of a cluttered background. Willing to let me know what your "mud" recipe is? Well earned stripe!

Pordoi - SWEET. Probably the coolest part for me is the wooden crate on the back deck (as well as the mount) - is that scratchbuilt? Looks spectacular! I guess from a "criticism" standpoint I'd say put some damage on the walls of the chassis (underneath the fenders/tracks) where sand and rocks would be kicked up? Other than that I'm going with .

Bish and TD4438:

Wow!  I just realized you both were doing the same vehicle.  Great job on both...  Bish, I think you were right on with your weathering - your cammo did get 'swallowed' up a bit, but it makes it look all the more realistic.

Detailfreak - ummm, HOLY COW that is muddy!  Great work!  I wish I could pull mud off even remotely similar to that.

Pordoi - I'm with dupes, that wooden crate and mount on the back deck really catch the eye...  Great work!