Norway WWII Group Build 2009

jay12472 wrote:

Yes the flag is missing the swastika, the flag was just printed on fine paper,there where no decals for it. Jason

If you have a steady hand maybe you could draw in the swastika yourself, just make sure you practice first.

*OT: On my short vacation to Wisconsin(near Steven's Point) I learned their were quite a few military surplus stores. Luckily I had time to stop in one,(sadly I didn't have time to stop at another one nearby.) Nevertheless, I did pick up some stuff......a German Pile Cap(less then $5.00) and a US 2qt. Canteen w/sling(less then $10.00.) I would have bought some used Austrian jackets(used, as in worn by somebody in the Austrian military) but I was rushed and didn't have time to look. Their were also some sweet Czech gas masks, german pioneer shovels, and US Alice packs w/frames.......wish I bought those goodies too, but I'm happy with what I got.*

mg thanks I agree with the rust. It didn't come out quite like I was hoping for but thats ok.

Yes the flag is missing the swastika, the flag was just printed on fine paper,there where no decals for it.

Jason

I like the weathering, subtle but it pays off in the end. One suggestion, maybe the rust should have been streaked down the sides a bit more, but other then that your destroyer is lookin' mighty fine.

By the way, is your Kriegsmarine flag missing the swastika?

Hey everyone here is the Tamiya 700th Z class destoryer. This is my 1st ever and am quite pleased with the way it turned out. The rust on the sides came out way to heavy in spots but we'll chalk that up to a learning experince. I'm not going to try rigging it, to scared

as always let me know what you think.
Jason

jay12472 wrote:

Mikael That is some nice work on the copper wire and tiny photo etched pieces! I tried to do a little weathering on my destoryer, touched up a couple spots, and  Just put a flat coat on and an=m letting it dry. Photos to come tommorow most likely Jason

Glad you like the added touch of the wiring. Lookin' forward to seeing pics of your ship.....when I get back from my short vacation.

Mikael That is some nice work on the copper wire and tiny photo etched pieces!

I tried to do a little weathering on my destoryer, touched up a couple spots, and  Just put a flat coat on and an=m letting it dry.

Photos to come tommorow most likely

Jason

Schnobs wrote:

Looks great Michael!  Nice touch with the copper wire for the signal lights.  I syour plastic pieces grey?  THat's why I though it was Mr. Surfacer !  Ahaw!!

Thanks for the comments! The plastic pieces are grey in random areas, because in those areas I either put putty(had to see if their were any imperfections) or was just putting down paint to test the color.

Believe it or not I"m already gettin' up another update. However, I won't be here on the forums or on my work-bench, Tuesday or Wednesday. Since I'm going up to my relatives summer house in Wisconsin for a short vacation. Maybe I'll take a detour to an armor muesum in Kenosha and the Oshkosh Aircraft muesum......if I have time.

Anyways, here my next update. All the tiny PE parts that make up the hinges/brackets for the front fenders are glued on(what a relief, every time I handled them I thought I was gonna lose the entire piece.) I also put in the scratch copper wiring to make the wiring for the two small signal lights on the fenders.

The front fenders have a perfect fit!! Seriously, the little PE hinge parts work to perfection, meaning that no glue is necessary to have the fenders stay in place! (Though I might glue them in place just to be safe.)

Thanks for looking!

Huxy- This was my first build with a full interior. Thus it was a learning process, so if it was a bit too dirty next time I'll know to adjust my techniques. Glad you like the tracks!

jay12472- Thanks for the comments!

Schnobs- The tracks were a bit of work, but I'm pleased it payed off in the end. No, I didn't apply Mr. Surfacer to the front glacis plate.....probably because I never used/nor have any experience using Mr. Surfacer. (Yeah, I know it's one of those things I gotta add to the modeling arsenal.) 

Michael this is specatular!  Your track links and runs look like the real thing.  Excellent work on their painting and weathering! 

Question:  Did you apply Mr. Surfacer to the front glacis to give it a cast look or texture?

I can't wait to see this finished!! 

Mg great work on the pazer I don't envy you with those small indy links

Jason

The interior is way to dirt, even the engineroom... ALL walls of the interior would never go yellow - especially in Norway where they had all the time they wanted to clean and do maintanance...

That's my only critisism.

The rest is simply put EPIC!!!!!  I can't believe how it's turning out!!!  ESPECIALLY the tracks! Even better thanany of mine! (Especially my first try at indys)...

As for the monster beneath your feets, I'm glad I don't have one anymore!

The black for the rubber is JUST what I'm looking for..  There aren't by any chance someone who could ship a jar to a beloved host?

Mikael... You asked me about what article I'm getting published, it's about how to paint wood....

Looking forward for more pictures, FROM ALL OFF YOU!

-Huxy

Build progress has still been moving along, steadily but a bit slower. Nevertheless, I got quite a bit of work done.

The tracks are finished(took a week of work,) but their finally done!! I assembled them in two pieces, the bottom run and the top run that goes along the drive sproket and back wheel. After assembly, I painted them a base coat of Tamiya Acrylic XF-52 Flat Earth. Then I put on a burnt umber wash(let that dry for a day), then a Testor's Rust wash, then a Floquil Weathered Black wash, and then another burnt umber wash. With the washes done after almost a week, I did a drybrushing of a very blackened shade of steel on the teeth and other areas. Over that I did some sporadic drybrushing of a lighter shade of darkended steel.

With the tracks done, I could finally get the fenders installed and then the upper hull. Overall the fit was pretty nice, except for the seam in front. I had to throw on some putty there since the fit wasn't quite right.

As for the rear engine hull, the interior has been drybrushed and weathered.(same washes as interior in fighting compartment)

Finally, the jack box I replaced with a real wood. With the iron powder wash soaked in, I then applied a burnt umber wash. Now I just have to thorw on the PE straps, and I'm done with this piece.

Thanks for looking!

jay12472 wrote:

Mg that PE would make me stop trying to do these things. regular Pe has that effect to. But it does look goood. I did a little more on the ship got it ready for the flat coat to try and weather it. The condor is almost done I just have 3 clear pieces to paint, but they are all differnet colors so I might just wait to I do another German plane. Jason

Thanks, lookin' forward to seeing pics of your builds!

Mg that PE would make me stop trying to do these things. regular Pe has that effect to.

But it does look goood. I did a little more on the ship got it ready for the flat coat to try and weather it. The condor is almost done I just have 3 clear pieces to paint, but they are all differnet colors so I might just wait to I do another German plane.

Jason

Got quite a bit of work done last night and today, but no tracks yet. Plan to start them later tonight.

I decided to add the front mud fenders to the panzer(felt it made it a bit different, since most modelers opt to leave them off.) To add the fenders meant using the kit supplied PE parts, inorder to make special hinges. If you don't use the PE their is no styrene option, so in a way it's do or die. Luckily I only lost one super tiny PE part to the carpet monster, but it was easy to duplicate with a piece of very tiny paper. The pics show what I had to work with, and the next pic shows the finished product. I can't believe I didn't lose more pieces...that carpet monster was an ever looming threat!

As for the rear engine hood, I decided to use the PE screens(bad idea.) It was alot or work to get them into place, then their was aton of putty work to get rid of the gaps afterwards. Plus you can barely see through the screens, so I'll admit I would have been better off leaving the orginal part as is.

Finally I decided to scratch the jack box. The kit supplied part was ok(on the right side in the pic), but overall a piece thats super easy to replace(since the PE straps go on seperately, their not pre-attached). So I did some comparisons and luckily a regular popsicle stick is the perfect width, just need to trim to length. So after cutting the wood, I started the weathering(one of my personal tricks, an iron powder wash.) Once it's dried, most of that black powder will be wiped off, in preparation for other washes.

Thanks for looking!

jay12472- Thanks so much for the kind comments! Glad you like it, should have another update up tommorrow of the PE work.

Schnobs- Glad I convinced you to start using Floquil Weathered Black......once you go weathered black you don't go back.

Looks Fantastic Michael! I just called the LHS and I am on my way to pick up some Floquil Weathered Black.  I have tried Tamiya Nata Black, Flat Black but this is the exactly the color I want for my road wheels going forward.

Your interior is also well done Sir!!!

 Mg that is amazing!!!!!!!  It looks like one that should be in the mags. I'm not worthy

jason

Sorry about the lack of updates, but I wanted to get some things finished(instead of showing partially painted roadwheels.)

I painted the lower hull a base color of ModelMaster acrylic Dark Gray, The I laid down a grime wash, over that a burnt umber/burnt sienna wash, and the a final burnt umber wash. The same went for the roadwheels and so on. No real problems putting together the roadwheels(Floquil Weathered Black), however the attacthement points on the return rollers did have to be trimmed down so the wheel could actually fit.

I also got started on the tracks, I finally got around to cutting/cleaning them off the sprues. Ugh, it took almost 4 hours over two days.....but at least it's done.

Finally the upper hull, I painted the interior a flat white. For weathering I did come darkened steel drybrushing, a yellow ochre/burnt umber wash, and another burnt umber wash. Though it won't go on untill the tracks are done, since the fenders are staying off for now to make track assembly a bit easier.

Thanks for looking.

bufflehead wrote:

Michael, your Pz I is looking real nice!!  Great job on the interior and on the scratchbuilt suspension parts!!  I'm supposed to build a DML Pz I Ausf A for this GB, but I haven't started it yet.  If I hurry I might be able to get started on it soon.  It would be cool to have two of these little panzers finished for the GB at roughly the same time!  Keep up the good work!

Thanks for the comments, bufflehead!! Lookin' forward to seeing your Pz. 1 Ausf. A. You're right it would be cool to compare the same vehicle that's from different companies. So get started on yours soon.

Schnobs wrote:

Looks awesome Michael.    I like the approach you took on the interior weathering!

Great to hear the interior came out good, since it was my first time using the yellow ochre for a wash. So I was a tad worried about the color during applicataion.

jay12472 wrote:

mg That looks great the springs look much better. I just got back from vacation and will get going again soon. Jason

Thanks for the comments. Hope you had a great vacation!

mg That looks great the springs look much better. I just got back from vacation and will get going again soon.

Jason

Already gettin' up another update believe it or not. Progress has been perfectly smooth the past few days. Got the first series of washes on a few days ago(lettin' them soak in) and I've coated them with Future to prepare for the next wash. I've also finished the engine and started to move onto the roadwheels. Once that's done, it's indy-link time!!

I did the blackened steel drybrushing over the entire interior. After coating with Future, I moved onto to the first wash, a yellow ochre and burnt umber mix. After that dryed I applied another coat of Future to prepare for the burnt umber wash(which I plan on doing later today.)The engine did fit in nicely, however it was way too snug. Basically no room to really make adjustments if you put in the engine with the rear plate slighty off(thus I slighly cracked it.)

I also did the interior work on the fenders, basically repeating the process I did for the rest of the interior.

Then their's the roadwheels, man their's alot of parts here. The rims are seperate, thus making the part count triple(however making painting a bit easier IMO.) To get all the parts prepared for painting I started up a little assembly line.

Finally I went and attached the scratch suspension coils. No real problems, other then cutting down the length of the inside support wire. Simply used abit of super glue for the coil to attach to the styrene and that's it.

Thanks for looking!

Huxy wrote:

That build looks AWESOME so far! I personally would leave the transmission out... Use it for something else instead, as you will not be able to see it. Seems like a lot of problems indeed..   But you'll get there! Those springs looks like a VERY great step ahead for sure.   And the tips was published in the "readers tips"? Weird you didn't get any money for it.. I myself have sold an article which is yet to be published. But I got the contract signed and I have recieved the money.  That will be a 1 page feauture, not just a small little "tip"     Sorry for a late reply, I've been waaayyy to busy....!

Thanks for the comments, Huxy! As for the money FSM owes me I'm not worried, they'll pay me one way or another.

By the way what did you sell FSM an article about?....if you don't mind me asking. I just started writing up an article on one of my past WIP builds(so I already have some writings), but I'm still a distance from it being even remotely finished.