Norway WWII Group Build 2009

Thats great to hear. Look foward to seeing hte panzer

Jason

jay12472 wrote:

Thats great to hear. Look foward to seeing hte panzer Jason

And I'm lookin' forward to starting work on it! It will be my first German build in more then a year. Plus it looks like it will go smoothly together, thus my build time should be pretty quick(but it does come with a full interior so that will probably tack on some time.) Nevertheless I can't wait!!

Seriously, I can't wait either!

Be sure to get the correct markings too  

Huxy wrote:

Seriously, I can't wait either!   Be sure to get the correct markings too

No worries, I got them in the box.

With my Lend-Lease entry done, I can finally start on my 1/35 Tristar Panzer I Ausf. A!!!

I believe I posted these two pics awhile back of what I'll be working with, but nevertheless here they are again. No, that's not an exageration, their really are that many sprues for this miniscule tank.

I put the tansmission together, the lower hull had some parts added, the engine wall was put together, and the floor plate(of which I better scribed the panel lines.) I had some problems with the fit of one or two parts, but I don't think it was the kit since I had problems understanding the part placement from the instuctions.

The transmission in my opinion was a tad bit over engineered in my opinion. It's 13 parts, and if you leave the 'trans' hatch open you'll only see a bit, and if you leave the 'trans' hatch closed(like I plan to do) you'll barely see it through other hatches. Now don't get me wrong the piece had beautiful detail, but unless you're gonna have the transmission displayed outside the armor, it's sort-of a waste.

Lookin' ahead I'm not too sure of the interior color, the instructions say gray, but I believe it was a white of sorts(that's what I'm going with). I guess I'm doubting the instructions since they did spell some words wrong like "early". Tristar spelled it "eearly", I mean come on just get a dang english dictionary or use Wikipedia. Seriously, how hard could it be to spell correctly? Anyways, lookin' forward to gettin' the transmission painted up soon and getting past these problems. Thanks for looking.

mg great start. Its to bad that you won't see the tranny looks very nice.  As far as the interior color goes I know that MM makes one called panzer interior, which is an off whiteish color

Jason

jay12472 wrote:

mg great start. Its to bad that you won't see the tranny looks very nice.  As far as the interior color goes I know that MM makes one called panzer interior, which is an off whiteish color Jason

Thanks for lookin' in, jay12472! I'll look and see if my LHS carries that specific color. If not, I'll probably just take some white and green and make my own dirty white color.

Hey guys got some work done on both the Condor and the destroyers, Although I managed to loose a part from one of the destroyers.( The forward gun) but here are the picks of the other one.

jay12472- Looks like your progressing nicely, what scale is that?

As for my update, I've been building up the interior slowly. But I've gotten the basic tub shape of the hull put together, along with some other odd's and end's. However the Tristar intructions are incorrect again in places and this time it's not the spelling, it's misnumbered parts. The intructions mis-number the two side hull parts, but the solution is simply just switch the parts to opposite sides. But that wasn't the only problem, the rear axle didn't completley connect with the hull, so I had to throw in some putty there. Then the middle axle(the part the is attached to the hull) wouldn't fit under the floor plate so I had to trim some of the piece. Overall, I must say I'm suprised and disapointed by all these faults Tristar has in this kit.

As for the hull sides, the fit isn't the greatest. Not what was I expecting from Tristar, the fit should have been better. But a little putty fills up the gaps perfectly.

I haven't put the transmission in permanently yet, and thankfully I didn't. Nor did I try putting the front axles in positon untill the hull sides were installed. The front axle had a terrible fit(no way on my kit to get the axle perfectly straight like the instructions say. I had to use some glue, and while that was setting, completely move the pieces(that were actually supposed to fit in to each other) untill I got the axle at least connected to the hull. That meant I actually had to purposely mis-align parts(strange I know.) Thankfully it will be pretty much impossible to see since I'm leaving the 'trans' hatch closed.

mg Thanky you ,I amhaveing fun withit. It is 700th scale.

That seems like a lot of mistakes on tristars part. Is that common with thier kits, cause I have only heard good things about them?

Jason

jay12472 wrote:

mg Thanky you ,I amhaveing fun withit. It is 700th scale. That seems like a lot of mistakes on tristars part. Is that common with thier kits, cause I have only heard good things about them? Jason

This is my first Tristar kit so I don't know if this is usual(or simply a bad mold.} I've also never heard of problems w/Tristar kits(only heard good things like you.) But I guess I shouldn't complain, since compared to my last build from Zvezda(which was hellish), this build is flying together.

Finally got the interior somewhat put together. It's painted with a base coat of solid white(yeah, I know that's not correct, but the washes I have planned will heavily modify the color.)

The drivers chair is in place, added more texture through the tissue method. The transmission is also in place and is starting to get weathered. It's painted a mix of steel and black, then drybrushed steel, and then splattered with some ModelMaster Graphite Metalic.......I now have to get some washes on.

Here's some other random parts I started work on, such as the frontal armor and the engine. I felt the engine went together nicely, but was way too overengineered. I mean whats the point of bolt/rivet detail on the point of where you glue it to the base, that just doesn't make sense.

Then I also went on ahead to the suspension coil, and decided to scratch it. The kit-supplied part to the left, I felt was ok(but let's face it, doesn't look real.) So I took some copper wire and rolled it around a tooth pick to make a simple spring. Then cut some thicker wire for the internal part inside suspension coils. I then took some styrene and cut/sanded to form the end plate for the coil. This will simply all go together at a later step.

Thanks for looking.

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....! 

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.

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!

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

Jason

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!

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.

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.

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.

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

jason

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!!!

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.

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!

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

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!