Achtraden! 8x8 Group Build '09-'10

Hi FF -- welcome aboard, i'll add you to the roster. Italeri or Dragon? OOB?

Cheers, Mike/TB379

hello everyone, if it is not too too late, i would love to join this build, i just started on an Sd. Kfz. 234/3 and thought it would be cool to build alongside you all

Thanks Andy, I appreciate it! Today, I applied a pin wash of burnt umber, and sealed the kit with a clear flat coat from Testors. The pin wash shows up much clearer in real life! Next, I plan on weathering the wheels with MiG pigments. It's definately getting closer to the finish line.

An interesting side-note, (at least to me!), is how BIG this beast really was! I had it next to my Brummbar in the display case, and it was comparable in size. It's MUCH taller than my Jagdpanzer IV. The next time I take up-dated pics, I'll try and remember to do a comparison pic.

Enjoy the pics,and comments are welcome.

Merry Christmas everybody!

Nate

Nate, this is GREAT especially the camo!  Sorry for being late... I have been away on vacation in Canada since last weekend with no internet access. AARRGHH!!!  Your Puma is making our 8X8 GB even look exciting! 

Merry Christmas... happy holidays to y'all as I won't be checking the forums until 27th or 28th!  Joining my first GB is one of my highlights since I returned to my model hobby.   

Hi Guys,

A quick update before I have to start wrapping gifts! I applied MiG's filter for tri-tonal color schemes, sprayed a light coat of Future floor wax, and applied the decals. After I took these two pics, I applied Solvaset to the decals, so they shouldn't silver as it looks in the second pic. Next up will be a pin wash after I let it dry for a while.

Nate

Bob, and Mike: Thanks a lot for the feedback, I appreciate it.

I still have a lot of detail work left to do on this, and one of the items on my list will be to paint the tools. I got in the habit of assembling as much of the kit as I can before painting, and then going back and brush painting the tools. It seems to work well for me. I have this week off, so I hope to get a lot more done on it. Looking forward to seeing yours Mike!

Nate

Nate......................FREAKING SWEET!

Bob

Nate -- stunning! I love the restrained spraywork, it's an entirely different approach to mine in which the camo colors are stated with very bold definition. Yours already had a blended, faded/dusty 'feel', before the weathering process begins, and it's extremely effective. This beast stands on her tires and looks solid, powerful and aggressive.

It's been a bit quiet round the eight-wheelers clubhouse this last week or so -- I've been doing the wash and drybrush phase on three models more or less production-line fashion, and my StuG IV for 1000 Roadwheels and BTR-70 for No More Excuses have been getting the attention. But I reckon I'm ready to start external fittings on the Puma, and get the decals on. Then it's some dust, get the wheels detailed and fitted, get the radio mast up, a little detail painting here and there, and I can grab my own badge!

One day I must get up the nerve to spray camo over tools as well -- there are plenty of cases in which it's historically accurate, and it sure cuts down on work!

Cheers, Mike/TB379

Thanks Boyd!

Nate

Nicely done, Nate.  Really like how it has come together...

Hi Guys,

Well, after a LOOOOOONG break, I'm back to work on my Dragon Puma. Today I managed to finish the camo. Next up; filters, and washes, pigments, decals, detail painting...........

I wasn't following an exact camo pattern, but I based it on the box art. Let me know what you think.

Nate

Andy -- I don't think you've overdone it at all! I think it looks remarkably realistic, with a used feel that's exactly right! Well done, this is top stuff!

Cheers, Mike/TB379

Looking sweet Andy, looks like your almost there.

Bob

The interior of 234/1 is finally done.  I am afraid I may have gone too far but I figure with the open turret it would haven't been that clean inside unless they cover it with tarp.  I used sponge with Italian brown to paint chips and scratches.  Then applied thinned burnt umber nearly every where.  I found it unsual that Kit showed only one gas mask canister in place but 234/1 had a crew of 4 so I added couple more.  I plan to add water canteens and rifles while I am working on the figures from Verlinden.

I haven't applied Future to the glass panels on the dashboard yet but will do in few minutes...

Tonight I am going to glue the hull together so I can start working on the exterior this week.  So good bye interior... hopefully we can see some afterward.

Andy, that looks awsome, I agree with Nate....It looks real.

Bob

Mike: Great camo! Really looking good.

Andy: Nice job on the interior. That last shot looks real!

Nate

Mike- Great job on the camo.  Looks GREAT!   I like how you did the weathering on the back and I look forward to see more pictures.

Guys- It has been a VERY busy week.  But I managed to resume my work last night finally... painting and working on the interior details.  I can't figure out what this is for... DML really sucks in painting instructions.  Wish it tells us what those are so we can learn more about those vehicles. 

There's no window on other side outside then why is it made in clear?  Is it a part of radio or something?  Maybe it is an early stage of flat screen plasma TV?

Applied decals to the dashboard last night too.  At first I wasn't sure if it was necessary but realized that I can see inside if I take out the turret so I went for it.  Nice decals! 

I hope I can finish the interior details and do some weathering before I can glue the top and bottom parts of the vehicle together tonight!  First I have to take my little boys out shopping for Christmas gifts for their mother/my wife. 

Thanks, Bob -- I'm profiling edges with dark rust right now, in oils, and will be into drybrushing today.

TB

Mike, thats a beauty.  I like the camo, sweet so far bro.

Bob

Hi all,

Progress report on my Italeri Puma: I corrected the disruptiuve scheme a few days ago but didn't get the pictures up at the time. Here they are:

And from the rear:

As you can see, the camo now looks more like the vehicle was sprayed all of a piece, with an assumed blending of the pattern when the turret is in the full forward rotational position.

Next I went on to the first round of oil wash weathering, basically the dirt coat and the primary rust streaking. I used burnt umber oil paint suspended in enamel thinner, and used Chris Mrosko's technique of brushing a coat of pure thinner over the whole surface first. After I took these photos I decided the rust was over the top and toned some of it back, simply wiping it away with a brush loaded with thinner.

There's another round of oil wash to go, then drubrushing can begin. Note the turret portside lifting lug parted company, I'll reattach it when the handling is done.

More soon,

Cheers, Mike/TB379

Looking good guys!

Nate

And here we are:

As you can see, all I've done is to remove the locating pins on the ball joints, and pose the stub-axles at an angle. I had to envisage the angles at which each wheel would be set, to give a smooth curve. The fit of the stub-axles to the ball joints was tight enough not to need glue, but I applied a spot of superglue to the joint between the stub-axles and the suspension arms, to keep them where I wanted them.

Progress on the suspension and interior fittings continues slowly. The etched set offers replacemets for some of the interior fittings that I've assembled, but so far I haven't used them. Either they wouldn't be visible on the completed model (brake and clutch pedal treads) or they ae no improvement on the kit parts (steering wheel detail). This will change soon, though.

Cheers,

Chris.

Thanks for that, Mike. Panzer interior cream it is, then.

 As to the '3 and '4, I'd have thought that, with cans of paint, spray guns paint brushes and broomsticks being available at unit level (in theory at least, who can tell what was actually the case in late '44 and early '45), repainting the fighting compartment in a suitable colour (such as Dunkelgelb or Panzergrau) would have been a high priority.

I'll post a piccy of the posed steering presently.

Cheers,

Chris.

Hi Chris --

I think Panzer Beige, Buff and Cream are all terms for the same thing, and the probability is that the Puma would have been painted this way. She was the /2 of the series, and only 100 or so were built. By the time the /3 with the 75mm short gun was coming along the red primer seems to have been left bare as a time saving measure, though one can only imagine what the crews would have thought of a shade close to a primary color being exposed by the open fighting compartment (wide open, without even the open-top turret of the /1), given the fact they used to field apply camouflage colors to the inside of hatches which would show up brightly. Maybe it was only an issue for aerial spotting.

I look forward to seeing the posed steering! This is an excellent modification and would lend itself very well to dioramas.

Progress  report --I have that tiny bit of corrective spraying done on my Testor/Italeri Puma. It's not as freeform creative as the original but now the hull and turret look like they were camouflaged as a single unit. When it's fully cured I'll be free to get to the oil wash stage, and from there it should be more or less downhill to the finish.

Cheers, Mike/TB379

Hi guys,

some great work going on here.

I started my Dragon 1/35 '234/2 a couple of days ago, and have been making slow progress - finishing off a review build for SMMI at the same time. So far, I've just assembled the lower hull and the suspension.

The one significant alteration so far has been to remove the locating pins that connect the ball joints on parts B4 to their corresponding sockets on parts D18. This, together with modifying the locating pins on parts D15, D23, D24, will enable th steering linkages and sub-axles to be set at an angle, and thus the road whels to be set as if turning a corner. The fit of these parts is very, very, good, and I've needed to use hardly any glue.

I've also been following the discusion on interior colours for the Puma. I'm not going to use red primer, even if it's historically accurate - I want all that interior detail to be visible, after all. My default option for German armoured vehicles, where they have enough interior detail to show off, is Xtracolor Panzer Interior Cream. Would this be historically plausible for a Puma, and if not, can anyone suggest a match for Panzer Interior Buff in the Humbrol, Tamiya, Xtracolor or White Ensign ranges? Or is this just another name for Interior Cream?

Cheers,

Chris.

Nate- Hope you are feeling much better by now. I had the bug a month ago and it took me forever to recover completely.

Guys- Thanks for your inputs!  I agree with you and I painted the interior using panzer buff few nights ago.  I primed it with Italian brown first.  I hope to do some detail painting and washing tonight.

Andy, go wth the Panzer interior buff.

Bob

Thanks for the kind words Bob. Yeah, it hasn't been a very fun couple of weeks, let me tell you!

I managed to paint the tires on my Puma, but that's as far as I got. Next will be a coat of Dark yellow, but I don't know when I'll feel up to it.......don't want to rush it now!

Nate

Nate hope you are feeling better bro.  Two weeks with the flu, man that hit you hard.  Glad to see you are gettng well.

Bob

I have a tiny bit of corrective camo work to do on the Puma, then I can get into the main oil wash and rusting process, I'm hoping to get to that right after lunch.

Frank -- PM inbound.

Cheers, Mike/TB379