1,000 Roadwheels - 2009

bbrowniii Thanks, i am really happy with it and i am getting the knack of doing washers and all the other bits. But i owe it to the great guys on here, or i would still just be doing a bit of dry brushing and pastel, and when i put my 2 latest build next to the older ones its a world of difference. But, onward and upward, plenty more practice to come.

detailfreak wrote:

 

Wow!!  What can I say that hasn't already been said.  Love it!  Very unique.  Has Manny asked yet if he could marry it?

 Don

 

you want mud,you got it:first off i have to say thank you for your comments,one and all.ok,i use a disposable cup,such as the dosage cup from the nyquil bottle.this i fill roughly half full of water.to this i add a generous amount of white glue(a good tablespoon).now for the secret ingredient,in my house my wife keeps a twenty-five gal. tote of a mixture of garden soil and sphagum moss,sterile of course.this material i grind and crush between my thumb and index fingersfor awhile then remove any large pieces.when you are satisfied with the texture you can start adding this to your glue water mix,stirring to mix it up well.when you got a mix that looks like mud ,thats the stuff you start dabbing and poking into the areas you want mudied up.use acrylic paints to change the color of the mixture.remember mud isnt black in all areas of the country.anyone who ever did pt in  fort benning ga. can atest to that fact.and thats pretty much the recipe for my mud.now you ask how did i achieve the splattered all over look.get a gob of mud on your brush and flick or fling it,do this until nothing more leaves the brush and thats how you achieve the many different sized splatters.try this on a test subject till you get the feel of it.trust me guys its as easy as mud pies.

So your mud is actually...mud! Going to have to give this a try. Did a sand-based method a couple of days ago on a side-project KV-1, and it didn't "cut the mustard".

Bish wrote:

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.

Bish: Not necessarily thinner, but fewer coats...and less build-up...that's one way, but REALLY what does it is less dry brushing and with fewer lightened shades in a more concentrated area....I learned that on the Jagdpanzer.  Reducing the chips, scrathes and worn/exposed metal would make a big difference too.

Does that help? 

yes, thanks. The less chipping makes sense. I will try that on the Ostwind as i want a less used look, Thanks again.

JEEZLOUISE boys.  Nice stuff

Detailfreak -- astounding mud! I have no idea how anybody has the courage to splatter mud onto a dinished model, but when it works, it works bigtime! Great job, especially in how and where you put the mud. I can really believe this tank has been on the waterlogged backroads of France and the Low Countries, or wherever. You can be proud of this build!

Pordoi -- an excellent build with subtle variation of toning and careful decal work -- another great example of the skill coming out of this GB!

No progress on the IV/L70 I'm afraid, too many things crowding too close to find the time to devote to a complicated job. I'm thinking I'd like to offer up a second-striper -- something I know will be easier and do-able in restricted time, and that's Tamiya's old StuG IV (35087), possibly finished with zim (I've been aching to reproduce the StuG from an article that appeared in FSM eighteen years ago, and this looks like a great opportunity). She's a straightforward build, I foresee no difficulties, then I could come back to the Jagdpanzer later in the year as time permits.

Would this be a cool thing to do?

Cheers,

Mike/TB379

Mike - build as much as you like when you like. As long as your stuff gets done in '09, it earns a stripe! Would love to see that old Tamiya StuG built up right.

Dupes -- Thanks! Consider the project underway, I just built up the gun mount subassembly for the hell of it, and adzed black the cya joints on the barrel. I had a look for a turned barrel but I'm not seeing anything in my most recent catalog (Pz III -- as many as you like, StuG IV not so well populated). No matter, I don't have quite the aversion to plastic barrels that many do!

I'm thinking about a generic zim sheet from Cavalier, to cut out and shape the sections required. That should work pretty well, the stuff is so fragile you could work it with scissors.

I'll get some pics up shortly.

Okay, second potential stripe on the slipway, and I have a hankering to try to squeeze in Dragon's Hummel later in the year as well.

Cheers,

Mike

Alright, friendly reminder, only 8 3/4 months left to...wait, this isn't the 251 build. You guys have plenty of time! Build away!

Speaking of which, I'm going to be spending a bit of time in front of the TV for the next few days watching the masters...going to bring my portable modeling studio downstairs, try to crank out a wee beauty I picked up the other day - DML's 1/72 Jagdpanzer IV L/70 Command version. Wingy's little IV got me all excited, and this way I won't have the usual Dragon 14 sprues all over my coffee table.

Pics to come!

Hey Bish, I miss identified the reference photo I'm working from. It isn't the 217th it''s the 219th deployed in Hungary early in '45. Here are a couple pics of the fitted fenders and a few fiddley parts on the front. Just to let y'all know, I'm still diggin' at it...

 

 

 

Well which ever unit she is from, she's looking good. I really must add one of these to the stash.

MOBIOUS:that brummbar is coming along quite well.one question,did the 219th's brummbars not have zim.?also those p.e. fenders in my opinion look very good.what is the title of your ref.?last but not least heres some updated photos of the nashorn.this one i will say is 99%.i'm still planning on a dio. (going to enter downtown decos dio. contest).currently gathering fig. and ideas.theres a couple of little things yet to be added.some more stowage.jerry cans and the like.took the photos outside but thesun was on its way down so there were some nasty shadows being cast.going to go for some better shots sunday.thanks and any comments are welcome.

Man, Detailfreak, you are cranking out some killer stuff for this GB! That Nashorn looks great!

 Hey detailfreak, the Nashorn looks great. The first 2 photo's are blurry though. i like the Star antenna. Very nice.

 The vehicle I'm trying to build is a late production version produced after the order to stop application of zimm. was issued to all factories in mid Sept. of '44. The 217th recieved vehicles after this date but I have no pics of them. The only pics I have are of a vehicle from the 219th and it is built on an refurbished early PzIV H chassis and looks to be sporting a hard edged late war camo scheme. According to the website Sturmpanzer.com, the photo's I have show the unit stationed in Hungary early 1945.

MOBIOUS:when i was researching brummbars,i think i actually searched images for sdkfz. 166.from there i hooked up to a site that had histories of the 216th,217th,218th,and the 219th.as well as several photos of each units vehicles.if i recall correctly the 219th seemed to be the most photographed.DUPES:banged away at the AUSF.E this morning and this afternoon.nothing fancy here,but i am considering a munition schlepper or bergepanzer transformation.seems the late e would be a good candidate for this.

Woah, Mobi -- Superb Grizz! I'm really looking forward to seeing this beast gets some boots and an overcoat (tracks and a paintjob...)

Okay, WIP shots. You know, say what you like about these old Tamiyas, these babies just about build themselves.

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And:

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Not bad for about two sessions of work. The gun and upper hull are just balanced in place. There'll be real progress when the zim gets here, at the moment there are lots of fittings which will be affected by the zim and I need to work around them. I'll do her with the external armor barer frames and hang just a couple of plates on her, possibly sanded thin.

I'm thinking of a marathon spraying session on the roadwheels for both this one and the Jagdpanzer -- they're all the same colors, it's just production-line work really. I'll see if I can throw in some of the Trakz damaged rubber as well.

Cheers,

Mike/TB379

Thunderbolt - when I got back into modeling and started building armor, this was one of the first kits I put together...assembled like a dream. My initial stabs at weathering were a different story, however. Heh.

Nice job Detailfreak I like the faded decals.

TB.... your build is comeing along nicely.

 Hey Thunderbolt, I like the old Tamiya kits. They do go together pretty well. I think I've built every Tamiya PzIV variant they offered when I was a kid back in the eighties, except the StugIV, so I'll be watching your build closely. It looks great so far.

Mobious- Your Brummbar is looking great!!!!!!

Hi guys, thanks for the support on the new/old kit, she's certainly a friendly one to build and feels good going together. I made up the drives and idlers today, and ordered up the generic standard pattern zimmerit sheet from Cavalier. Hopefully it'll be here in a few days.

Question: what do folks prefer with regard to painting the roadwheels? Do you paint both sides of the wheel dark yellow, then assemble them, or assemble the wheel first, spray the whole thing tire black, then spray the outer face into dark yellow and rely on the fact it's very hard to see anything behind the outer face of the outer rank of wheels in any case? I've done both in the past (my StuG III and Tiger were both done with fully painted wheel rear faces) but the PzKfz IV has such small wheels, packed so close, that the lazy way of doing it seems attractive...

Cheers,

Mike/TB379

panzer88: PM Inbound!!!

Wow. Some amazing work gents.

Thunderbolt - my personal method for roadwheels is spray black, then use a circle template to paint the dark yellow (or whatever color), then assemble. Only takes 20-30 minutes with the airbrush, and you get coverage on all faces of the wheels in case anyone goes poking around in there...

 Hey panzer88, thanks for the comments, it really helps motivate. I nearly had a critical meltdown, literally. I knocked loose a lower shurtzen bracket, which found it's way into the time/space vortex and has not returned yet. I set about scratching one out of brass sheet. When I glued it into place I broke the solder joint holding the rear mudflap on the opposite side. I grabbed the iron and resoldered the joint, but a little of the solder ended up on the track link just below the joint. Like a 5yr old with a gallon of paint and a paint brush, I decided to remove the solder by applying just a little heat to the link. Whoa!!! Man those Fruils melt fast. I ended up replacing the 3 damaged links and reinstalling the tracks, Backwards. I reversed the track and thought I'd had enough for one evening. Here is where Ol' Stump is currently at...

 

 

 

 still have a few fiddly bits and a couple of shurtzen to hang, but Eyez Thinx Eyez Seaz The Litez...

That thing looks awesome Mobious.Which kit is this exactly?I gotta add this one to the stash.

dupes wrote:

Thunderbolt - my personal method for roadwheels is spray black, then use a circle template to paint the dark yellow (or whatever color), then assemble. Only takes 20-30 minutes with the airbrush, and you get coverage on all faces of the wheels in case anyone goes poking around in there...

Hi Dupes -- yep, that's probably what I'll be doing, but a bone in my head was trying to be lazy! Have you noticed that Panzer IV roadwheels seem to be about 11.5mm across the rim? I have a template with half-mil sizes, but they run out at 10... GRRR. Lots of hand touch-ups after the fact.

The zim should be here shortly, I can try my hand at it trimmed freeform from a generic sheet. I'm also looking at grey and silver pencils as a new trick to try, grey to profile the edges of the tires, silver for bare metal.

I added half a dozen parts last night, tonight I'll do the cupola. I'm just idling, waiting for the zim as it affects the fit of so many other parts.

Cheers,

Mike

I guess I lucked out when I picked up my circle template - it's a big one, and has tons of circles that have fit everything BUT Panther roadwheels. Not sure why, Panthers must be funkily-sized or something.