1,000 Roadwheels - 2009

Thanks a lot Eric- glad to hear you're back in the game

Looking forward to pictures of your J- I just got the tracks finished (YAY!!! ) and the skirts glued onto my StuG- pictures soon- base work for dio is next.

Last update for the day- got the rocks on the foam with Liquid Nails for Projects- I use the Gel Medium to seal the foam for a primer coat. I'm going to be using Sculptamold for the groundwork. That's the next thing on the list- I just have to build up the road to the track level.

Thanks for checkin it out.

Hey guy's I just started my build for this GB and I must say you guy's are turning out some great work. If you remember this is my first attempt at a 1/35 scale armour so I know I am in the right place for a few questions. I am building the Italiere G/F1/F2 and at first I thought this is a piece of cake this armour thing and I was flying along and got a lot done in my first session and thought I will have this done in a week. Then it all went crazy.

1. no parts numbers but there is a parts map

2. flash all over the place

3. there are no attachment pins or points anywhere

4. I havent a clue where to attach some of the parts

5. the stowage box on the rear of the turret does not fit unless I carve grooves to slot it in

6. I have no clue how the upper and lower hull attachas it does not mate hardly anywhere except the rear plate and the front barely touches the glacies plate?????. I put some plastic stock at the rear to at least make that area touch each other and shimmed along the lower hull

7. under the upper  hull I also placed some plastic stock so you cant see through from the turret to the road wheels, the fenders would cover that up from the outside but if you look from under you could see into the hull

These problems sucked up my mojo but I am determined to soldier on. I hope it starts to get better from here on. Please tell me these are not typical of armour models or is this just this Italiere kit. Oh yeah I forgot, a lot of the molding process was not complete in a lot of areas mostly the road wheels where the center of them have holes where the hubs should be and I may have to fill them in but the detail of the lug nuts are gone or missing on a lot of them.

Which brings me to my first question of my build. I see you guys do this all the time but never explain how you do it. You guys put all the road wheels on and prime and paint them and then how in the world do you paint the tire part of the wheels with them installed??. For now I have painted them on the sprue the hull yellow colour so I can do the tires later but how do you guys do that on the vehicle.

Sorry for being so long winded but I had to get all this off my chest to the guys who know this stuff best. Have I got a lemon of a kit on my hands

Steve

Hi Steve,

Short answer -- yes, with a because, long answer no, with a caveat... Italeri is Europe's answer to Hobbycraft, big on productuon volume, short on engineering insight. Some kits are better than others -- I have their M110 SP gun and it's been surprisingly good, certainly not the nightmare of their Pz IV, so it's probably the luck of the draw what engineering went into any particular kit.

I have no idea how the experts paint the roadwheels after they're mounted... I always paint mine off the vehicle. I spray the tires first, then use the template method to do the wheel faces. They're usually assembled and wash-detailed off the model, then dusted with pigments along with the lower hull to finish them off.

If the Italeri kit gets to you in the end, consider switching to an early Tamiya -- detail should be at least equal and the engineering is far superior, without breaking the bank.

Cheers,

Mike

sidure Welcome to the world of 1/35th armour. I have built one Italeri kit in the past, the ferdinad, and like your kit that had no locating holes and alot of other things that other kits have. I am also about to start the Italeri Ostwind for this GB so no don't will run into the smae problems again. My advice if you want kits that are not to complicated and won't put you off would be to go for the Tamiya ones.

As for the road wheels, i have no idea how they do it either. I have been building on and off for over 20 years and i do my road wheels on the sprue. I spray the main colour then brush paint the rubber. Likewise i part all my tools and the track before it goes on the kit, and i only attach them when the kit has been painted and the decals are on.

There are alot of highly skilled modellers on here, but if you try to follow them straight off, you could get out of your depth. I hope you don't get put off and look forward to seeing your progress.

 Hey psstoff, The StugIV dio is looking very good, Thanks for the tips too. Looking forward to seeing updates on the dio.

 Sidure, I've only built a couple of the Italeri kits, only one based on the PzIV chassis. The late JagdPz IV. IMO, they're pretty decent affordable kits. I wouldn't recommend them to someone new to armor though. I'm with everyone else on that, Tamiya manufactures excellent kits for all ranges of skill level. Usually a great fit with easy to follow instructions.  I'm NO expert, or anything, just built a few. You may consider checking reference photos online of the PzIV for tool locations and the turret basket. If I remember they were bolted on, basically hung from mounting brackets. It doesn't fit tight against the turret.

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 As for painting the roadwheels after installation, that's just habbit for me. I always brush paint them though. Start with an almost wash of dark grey to trim the tire/rim then just paint the rest of the tire a lighter shade of the trim color.

 HTH,

 Mo

Thanks Mobious, glad the tips helped out. Not sure it's the right way to do it, but it works for me. I'll try to update again as soon as it gets to it's next stage. 

Steve- I've never built any Italeri armor, but even Tamiya has some similar problems if you buy a kit that was designed in the 70's or 80's. I've never run into the issues you are having (#s 1-4) on even early Tamiya kits. But 6 and 7 are very common on early kits. Almost every M4 Sherman has no plastic under the hull and you can see through the hatches right out to the tracks. Most of these kit issues have been addressed and fixed in modern kits. So don't let an older Italeri kit suck too much of your mojo.

I'm sure some of these guys that have been doing this twice as long as me can help you out much better. And for the road wheels- I assemble them, clean them up- spray them black, then mask off the rubber and spray the wheel color. Then clean that up with grayish blue black. They're usually completed before instillation- however once on the tank- that's when I wash, drybrush and weather the steel center. Hope that helps.

Thanks for the replies guys its very helpfull and encouriging. I will keep my head high and keep going to the end. I guess it is an old kit as it looks and feels like an old one with all the flash etc. I have painted the wheels on the sprue and will clean them up and paint the tires. Thanks again for the helpfull words. I have a few photos that I will post later

Steve

For roadwheels, it's the kit that determines what method I use in painting them... I've tried seceral methods, but the easiest for me is this: On the Panzer IV-series chasis, I paint the wheels the hull color, then remove them from the sprue when dry & CURED.  Then I use a black Sharpie pen to do the rubber portion (don't worry about the glossy look of a Sharpie.  That'll go away when you shoot the completed model in clear flat)...  I use the Ultra-fine point to get the area near the rim, and the big one for the "contact area" of the tire.

Since rubber tires aren't black though (look at the tires on your car), some work is needed after they get to the weathering phase.  After they get shot with clear flat. they then get a pastel brushing of dark grey/brown pastel powder, or whatever color my groundwork is (that's what "ties" the roadwheels to the base color), and while I'm at it, the tracks get the same treatment.  Keep in mind that that's only if the model is going to be "dry"... If I'm using a "muddy" base, the wheels are covered in my mud-mixture... 

Also keep in mind that if the vehicle was painted in the field, the hard edge between colors usually isn't there between the rubber and steel... Crews seldom bothered to mask the rubber when painting the wheels and overspray was pretty evident..

Hey guys here is some progress on my build and show some of my problems. The first one shows where i filled in the open areas and the shims so at least the upper and lower hulls will touch each other at the rear.

Next one does not show it much but you can see at least the rear is touching now

and finally the molding problems with this kit. A lot of the wheels look like this one but not as bad. There are other parts that had simular problems.

Thanks for looking and progress is continuing slowly but surely

Steve

Hi Steve,

You're making good progress, redressing the problems of the kit. The wheels are terrible, that's called an "undershoot," and is usually grounds for rejecting the parts at the factory. May I suggest some AMs by Trakz, "Panzer IV Wheels (Damaged)" which are perfect resin castings for the inner and outer wheels rows, with realistically distressed rubber rims. Catalog code is TX 0119. I bought some from Squadron for a pretty low price.

Cheers,

Mike

Mike, thanks for that info on the wheels. I was just thinking of the same thing. Think there are spares but will have to fill and sand to save some of them. I will try fixing them first and then go the AM route if I have to. Just dont want to throw good money into a terrible kit right now

Steve

Hey look it's Dupes, here for his monthly summer pop-in. Ugh! Luckily the end is in sight...once August is over, tourist season mostly is too, and I'll be back 100%.

Bish wrote:

dupes not sure if i am going to be able to do my second build for this GB. Just found out this morning that i am off to your side of the pond on Wed to work with the US Navy. Supposed to be back by Oct, but even then that only leaves me 3 months, and the way things have been going not sure if that will be enough. But once i get back i will see what i can do.

Bish - where are you going to be over here in the states? No biggie if you can or can't finish your second build - although we would sure like to see it.

Psstoff - great figs! I've been gearing up to do some myself here in the semi-near future...hope I can get mine to come out as well as yours.

Detailfreak - sweet tarp!

Sidure - glad to see you over here. I've actually talked one of my local modeller friends to join the GB, and he's doing the same Italeri kit as you - hopefully the two of you can negotiate that beast together! 

That's it for now fellas...see you soon. Keep up the good builds!!!

EDIT - BTW, check out the mycyclinglog link below to see how I've been spending the past couple weeks of free time now that the weather has finally smartened up a bit around here.

Hey guys. Its been awhile. I've finally made myself go back to my Pz IV D and MK tracks. The tracks were being a pain before but I think I've sorted them out and made some good progress. I've also finished painting the tank and I've started working on tools. My LHS had a Tamiya sprue of updated Pz IV tools so I bought it and replaced the kit's old tools. I'll get some pics up tonight.

Here are the pics. I haven't done any weathering.

The next hurdle is the MK tracks. I've only finished about half of one side. 

Erik

SMJ, I have a Dragon crew set to fill up the open hatches. Weathering will be done once i finish up the tracks. I've got to have something to look forward to to get me through those MK tracks. The rubber on the roadwheels is PolyS grimy black. It looks very good in person.

Erik

Geist wrote:

SMJ, I have a Dragon crew set to fill up the open hatches. Weathering will be done once i finish up the tracks. I've got to have something to look forward to to get me through those MK tracks. The rubber on the roadwheels is PolyS grimy black. It looks very good in person.

Geist: Sounds like you've got it covered...just watchin' your back my friend!  I'll look forward to the next set of pictures!

dupes wrote:

great figs! I've been gearing up to do some myself here in the semi-near future...hope I can get mine to come out as well as yours.

Thanks a lot dupes- I look forward to seeing yours! I'm sure they'll look great

dupes i had a slight error in the info i had. I'm not working with the US Navy but with the RAF. But we are at a US Navy base, NAF El centro in Sourthern caifornia. Got here on Thurs after a stop over in Minneapolis and just getting setteled in.

I ave a couple of aircraft GB's to finish off when i get back then it will be onto the Ostwind. I now what dio i am doing and its not to complicaed so hopefully i can get it done before he end of the year.

 Hey psstoff, That is looking great. I like the roadway, especially the mud. Very nice work. Be looking for the updates around Thanksgiving. Best of luck @ school.

 Detailfreak, You've got a PzIV workshop there! I like the idea of something to look at thru the hatch.