Achtraden! 8x8 Group Build '09-'10

Guys, made a great process today as the gun turret and wheels are done and I am loving the PE parts.  I need to paint the indoor first... the only biggest drawback for choosing this kit 234/1 is that I have to do more detail painting inside.

Now I need your HELP!  Still without a referrence book and google was not much of help.  Which color should I paint for the interior?  Dunkelgelb (dark yellow) or Panzer Buff (off white)... I know for sure it will be Dunkelgelb inside the gun turret... no question about it. 

I hope I can airbrush the indoor section tonight.  Will post pictures tonight.

Hi Andy -- I have no specific information but my best guess is the interior of the hull would be Panzer Beige over red oxide primer. Interior wear on corners and edges would show through to red. I think Model Master make Panzer Beige in their enamel range. I mixed it for my open-hatch StuG IV, in Tamiya acrylics, gloss white X-2 and flat buff XF-57, mixed 1:1, and it looked pretty close to the shade inside the restored StuG III photographed for the Sqad/Sig Walkaround volume.

Great progress, can't wait for pics!

Cheers, Mike/TB379

Thanks guys!  I was planning to use Model Master Panzer Interior Buff.  Yes, it is kinda of off white with little touch of tan.  I am not sure how much interior we can see as it will be only visible thru the gun turret and opened door/windows.  So I will just go ahead with the paint interior buff then apply little red/beige using a sponsage to reflect chips and wear. 

Looks like I need to make another quick trip to the local hobby shop tomorrow just for the red/beige paint.   P-L-E-A-S-E don't tell me wife...

Hey again, guess what I have been doing for last two hours?  Surfing for more information to confirm the correct interior color for the 234 series.  I found it very interesting that there was limited information because very few 234 survived the war.  Folks in the forums are saying it was done with only red oxide primer and the factory didn't apply another coat of paint for the 234 series.  It happened for a short time before they decided to paint beige or buff again at end.  I can't imagine how red it is inside if you drove one! 

If you can look at the photo carefully... you can see the red interior.

This book I ordered weeks ago... Amazon screwed it up BIG time with the back orders so I had to order one from evilBay.  My order should arrive this week... I'd be more than happy to scan pictures if you need more details.

Here's the pictures of my latest process on 234/1.  I am really loving this Dragon kit...

Gas cans are pretty good.  But not too sure about the huge gaps in the tires... should i fill 'em up with putty or Zap-a-Gap glue?  Doesn't look right to me.

No question the gun turret is the BEST part of this kit... so much details!

Only one MAJOR problem so far... couldn't find the metal gun barrell I already bought as it was recommended by one of you guys earlier.   For now I am using one that came with the kit until I find it hopefully. 

For now I will stop and wait for that referrence book to arrive by mail before I can paint the interior... red oxide or else?

Hi DP -- stupendous detail! yep, the gap in the tires is an interesting point. The fit of the Italeri tires was closer than that but still left a gap, I pressed the parts close together and dressed the joints by adzing the superglue. I would be interested to know if the gap was actually supposed to be there... The way Dragon's tires are set up, it sure looks like it!

Fabulous work, I'm looking forward to seeing this one move along.

Cheers, Mike/TB379

Nice work DP, love the looks of t so far.  The primer issue I think is something that will always strike up debate, personally I would tend to think that they used what was on hand\available.  I almost always go with MM 2104 panzer interior buff. I would think that what ever light you had available in inside the vehicle you would want a lighter shade interior color to cast\reflect some light on what you were doing inside, I would think a darker color would absorb whatever light you have and would make it more difficult to see inside. Up top to in the turret I would think the darker primer would suffice to keep light reflection to a minimum. I have also seen pictures of white interiors.  So like I said the primer issue will spark lots of debate.

Anyway thats my 2 cents and by no means am I an expert in this field, go with what you like the best and enjoy the build, thats what counts.

Bob

Progress report: I got the olivegrun disruptive scheme sprayed yesterday on my Testor/Italeri Puma. I used Tamiya XF-58 and freehanded it, and was very happy with the result. This is some of the tightest spraying I've done, with virtually no overspray problem. I used the small tip and needle on my Paasche VL, thinned the paint 1:1 and sprayed at 30lpm flow rate, which is about double my usual running pressure for the larger tip.

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I got a nice clean demask on the turret ring, and the tires are done through a template, they still need their edges cleaned up.

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And here, with the tires press-fitted. She's looking pretty good. I might adjust the camo pattern a tad where the hull and turret meet so the junction is less abrupt.

Oil filter weathering comes next, there's plenty of dirt and rust to apply, and the external tools to paint.

Cheers, Mike/TB379

Looking great Mike, camo really came out excellent my friend.

Bob

Thanks Bob and Andy -- I was hoping to get to the oil wash today but it's not going to happen. Ah well, an extra 24 hours curing time for the acrylics never hurts before I start scrubbing at them with enamel thinners! It's been a fun build so far, and I think she'll look the part in the display case.

I should think I'll get to at least one of the Trumpeter contemporary 8x8s as well, this build still has miles to go!

Cheers, Mike/TB379

Lots of great work going on here guys!

Andy: Your 234 looks great! Love the details in the turret.

Mike: Nice camo on your Puma! That is going to look GREAT when complete!

I haven't been posting much because I've been fighting the flu for the last 2 weeks. I'm feeling a WHOLE lot better, and I hope to do a little bit of painting on my Puma soon. Keep up the great work guys!

Nate

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

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

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

Andy, go wth the Panzer interior buff.

Bob

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

Looking good guys!

Nate

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

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

Bob

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

TB

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. 

Mike: Great camo! Really looking good.

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

Nate