Panzerjager GB (March 1st - June 30th, 2011)

Thanks Eric for the kind words. As for a background colour I honestly wouldn't know what to suggest.

Maybe if both are allowed as a choice to members.

Terry.

Nachtflieger

Thom; looking forward to seeing your Stug.......if it comes out anywhere near as good as your sdkfz 222, you'll have a winner!

Terry; Looking real good, I really like the colors you've got going on your Marder.

Eric: I like you badge. My only suggestion would be to make it a tad smaller.

 After attending Valley Con yesterday, and meeting up with Thom, Boyd,Marc, Mia, Scratchmod, panzerguy, and Al LaFleche,I'm looking forward to getting back to my Marder sometime this week. I have the day off tomorrow, so I might just get a little paint on it. Great to see you guys again!

Nate

Yes, it would be resized. It's large for demonstrative purposes.

Thom; looking forward to seeing your Stug.......if it comes out anywhere near as good as your sdkfz 222, you'll have a winner!

Terry; Looking real good, I really like the colors you've got going on your Marder.

Eric: I like you badge. My only suggestion would be to make it a tad smaller.

 After attending Valley Con yesterday, and meeting up with Thom, Boyd,Marc, Mia, Scratchmod, panzerguy, and Al LaFleche,I'm looking forward to getting back to my Marder sometime this week. I have the day off tomorrow, so I might just get a little paint on it. Great to see you guys again!

Nate

Excellent progress Terry. Really whipping through that Marder.

What color do you suggest for the background? I was going for a poorman's German flag in colors.

Well it's been a while since I got a chance to drop by. Rob that is some progress going on there. Marc, love the Stug must admit that I would use theh exact same approaxch for tackling the lower hull, I find that the more I can break up an open space like that the better. Ben you are making great progress on that Marder, I have a normal one of these (Not Befels) and it is a beautiful kit, take your time mate because you have achieved a very clean build so far and as you hit theh sub assemblies it should all fall together.

Well heres my update,

The hull this is really three subs here just held together with gravity for painting,

The seats they are beautifully done and apart from the 76.2mm gun they are in my opinion one of the more attractive parts of this vehicle, tractor seats on a tank destroyer.

An idea of how small this kit is,

I was going to use theh giant penny but can't find it since Marc used it against his 1/16th Tiger I. Don't believe that peanut butter story it was a giant peanut butter jar.

Got the camo on the other night and got the tracks on last night, still a long way to go.

As for the badge, well Marc that looks cool, very sneaky of that stug, Eric like the hetzer, actually love it, but he background colour.....................

LOL.

Terry.

Marc: Great instructions on the oil wash technique, thanks for posting it and it looks really good.

Ben: Awesome work on the build thanks for sharing.

Well this weekend at Valleycon I picked up an AM Barrel and the Aber PE set for the StuG IV. So as soon as I can find the time this week I'll start my build.

I'll post pics as I move along.

Cheers, Thom

How true Marc, or have you noticed how few I've completed? LOL

Here's my poor effort for a badge.

tigerman

...the weather here sucks...

I would think if you used that excuse, you would never build anything there

Nice progress Ben on a busy build.

I did put some weld beads on the hook thing on the mantlet. Came out so so. I checked other modelers on other sites and most didn't even bother. I thought I'd give it a try. Might show up better after paint and weathering. 

Been lazy, the weather here sucks, so no paint today. I might try the tracks, but I keep putting them off.

Ben-great progress on the Marder.  I hope to build the one in my stash someday.....

Marc-thanks for posting the tutorial-I will be referring to it soon....I hope.

Boyd-sorry to read that you're not going to be building with us.  Hopefully things will clear up and you can join in here,  If not, maybe our paths will cross again sometime soon.  Looking forward to seeing your wingie thingie posted over in the aircraft forum though.

No updates on my end-out of town last weekend, no drive to work on the Jagdpanzer after work during the week and this weekend has slipped away.  Tomorrow evening is committed, so hopefully I can get motivated to finish up most of the small bits on Tuesday & Wednesday evenings.  Still further ahead of schedule compared to most GB's that I've been involved in before.

Hey guys,

Some good looking builds appearing - that StuG on the previous page really caught my attention, I'm going to have to try that oil paint weathering method on the lower hull on my next StuG (Tamiya StuG III Ausf B) which I'll be starting after this Marder.

I think that badge looks pretty darn good too

Anyway, onto my Marder:

I was up early to work my morning shift from home covering the emergency phone. At 2pm the relatives came over so by a couple of hours later I was able to sit down and get stuck into some building!

Basically, I'm where I said I hoped to be at the end of today when I updated my WIP yesterday. All of the sub assemblies are complete and primed; the sub assemblies being:

• The main tub (upper and lower)
• The PaK 40
• The cast barrel 'hood' complete with the two stupidly fiddly periscopes!
• the fighting compartment walls with radio detailing in place too
• The tailgate assembly with the exhaust fitted and PE step and tow hitch

So, next weekend (Friday actually as I have that day off) I can go over the whole structure with the AB and lay down the coat of pre shade black panel lines and the first basecoat of Dunky. I'm not too worried about the first coat of DY as I'll be concentrating on the fighting compartment - mainly the radio detailing and working outward. When I'm happy with the radio I'll glue that compartment wall on and then finish up the compartment detailing and move onto the rest of the vehicle. The gun and hood will be the last things to be dropped on. I can then get the running gear on, the spare track links and start the cammo pattern. 

There are lot's of little pieces that will go on following completion of assembly and painting, namely the MG42 on the bar that spans the fighting compartment, gas mask holders, the grouser box and other tools and finally the several antennae as I'm pretty good at snapping them if I fit them before the weathering is complete!

All of the sub-assemblies: 

Cast hood with periscopes in place: 

Tailgate - not quite completed as I'm undecided on whether to have the gate up or down so it's been left off for the time being. Also missing at present is the PE mesh cover for the muffler. I'll need to drill out that tailpipe too and fit the blue convoy light into the holder on the left after painting the basecoat:  

Final radio install - a very tricky install not helped by my lack of experience and some diagram errors - note the periscope has now been fitted here: 

Thanks for looking guys - she's coming along okay (fingers x'd)!

Any hints or tips on effective painting of the radio fascias? I know the colours to use but the detail is too small to paint effectively so I'm thinking drybrush highlights with some black on the larger dials and spots of reds and white in 'appropriate' looking places!

I'm also still totally stumped on the wiring of this radio if anyone has suggestions? 

WIP update on Friday chaps,

Have a good week guys,

ATVB

Ben

I too like the badge

Ben, looking real good. I believe German radios were painted field gray, with black knobs.

Sorry to see you leave Boyd, but I know what you mean about too many wips! What plane are you going to build?

I like the new badge guys.

Nate

That looks more official Marc. I like it and will try to submit mine for a vote.

Boyd, sorry to see you go. I too can relate with too much on the plate. My problem is just finishing the GB. I intend to this time, assuming there is no problems with the tracks.

Sorry to see you go Boyd.  Wait... did you say wingie thingies?  Don't rightly know if'n I ever seen ya build no aireoplane.

wing_nut

Ben, you just reminded me I never put the radio in my Marder.  Gotta get that in before the show.

Eric, here it is with the date.  BTW, that's one of my Peanut Butter Panzers, the very 1st one..

Damn!!  That is a ridiculously cool badge!!! Makin' me rethink my withdrawal.... but nope, gotta do it...

Hey guys,

Really great work being done in here! You guys really set the bar pretty high.

Marc, I like the weathering technique - I see you've expanded from doing it on the wheels to the entire lower hull. It is really effective and seems to offer some good control. I'm going to give it a shot.

Having said all that, I am going to graciously withdraw from this GB. I had sworn off GBs last year so I could focus on some other unfinished projects cluttering up the bench, but got talked into a couple. Now, after a frustrating week of trying to finish up my Marder III H for the "Marder Madness" build, I just want to be done with armor for a bit. I've got some winged things that are screaming my name.

So, I apologize for jumping in with both feet only to bail out, but seeing as how we are a month into the GB and I have yet to start, and knowing my build rate, I doubt I would have finished in time anyways.

Keep up the good work, guys!

Ben, you just reminded me I never put the radio in my Marder.  Gotta get that in before the show.

Eric, here it is with the date.  BTW, that's one of my Peanut Butter Panzers, the very 1st one..

Hey guys,

I hope you are all well

There's some good builds popping up now and it's nice to see some colour appearing too!

I've been pretty busy this afternoon and have:

• Completed and glued the left hand wall of the fighting compartment to the vehicle and have added the seating and various little doo dahs.
• Finished all the radio assembly to go inside the right hand wall. I haven't mounted this wall yet as I'm going to need it left off to permit full access to the radios and batteries to allow detailed painting and the adding of the radio wiring.
• I've primed the build now.

Tomorrow we have family visiting in the afternoon and I'm working in the morning from 7am - 2pm so time is at a premium! I at least want to be able to get the rear tailgate fully assembled and primed. This will be going on after the interior detailing is complete.

Next week I want to lay down the full basecoat of DY on all the parts including the gun and the fighting compartment interior and start the painting of the radios. I'll then give it a real 'lived in' look - after that I'll move onto the gun detailing and I'll start the roadwheels and fit the tailgate and Friuls. After that the 'Giraffe Spot' scheme can begin followed by weathering etc.

I've got all the tools and clamps to make up yet of course along with two gas mask holders and three periscopes too. There's also the MG42 to assemble, the big antennae ,the spare track runs to assemble and fit - I'm using Friul links for the spare links and the spare shell casings and storage boxes.

I've just bought some Gunze Mr Metal Colour buffable paints which look VERY good. I've bought some 'Stainless' for the breech and recoil slide where the wear would occur and 'Dark Iron' & 'Brass' for shell casings. The Dark Iron is almost a perfect Parkerised grey colour.

I reckon another month should see her about complete

Her she is so far - I hope you like her! Any suggestions for the best radio fascia colours by the way? Everything I've seen looks either dark grey or gun metal? Is that right?

Fighting compartment left wall showing ammo tubes and the gun breech: 

Front view and in the background (and out of focus) the radio set-up: 

A detailed view of the inner of the right compartment wall showing the radio set up and in the foreground there is the cast hood that will drop over the gun barrel: 

WIP update tomorrow guys!

ATVB

Ben

I like that StuG in ambush Marc. More creative then the one I threw together at work. i might suggest placing the date somewhere in there.  

I thought I emailed mine home, but I must have screwed up. I will try again Monday.

Very interesting weathering technique Marc. I may try that out on a future build.

Nate

Thanks guys.  Hope it's of some use to someone.

Eric, a 1st idea

Loving the dirty work, Marc!

I like the final effect, with washes...getting it applied...then slowly taking it away. I use the same technique.

Keep the posts coming!

Great Tute Marc. Very effective. Yes, you will probably finish first. We need a badge designer too, otherwise you won't get a well deserved badge for completion.

If someone has extra time, feel free to submit badge ideas for group voting.

Marc, loved the step by step WIP you posted... how creative!  Thank you for doing this so you can help an amateur like me.  Your StuG is looking great!

Eric, Nate... thanks boys

Eric, unless someones else gets a real burst of action I may well be 1st done too.  Gotta out the pedal down if this is going to be ready for MosquitoCon just 1 week form tomorrow.

I wanted to start the off weathering with getting the lower hull darker than the upper portions. I used the artist oil method that i used on the PBP Tiger. Not an original idea but I've not seen it on a tank and it's the 1st time for me using it on a large area. 

In these series pf pics below, #1 covers the area with a layer of raw umber oil.  #2 the paint being removed with a clean dry  1" flat bristle brush. Clean the brush as you go by brushing in a paper towel.  In # 3 more paint removed with a fresh 1" brush and still more in  #4, this time with a 1/2' brush to get into small spaces better.  #5 I used a q-tip to get out enough to brighten the yellow a bit.  #6 is a final blend with 1 more clean brush.  A pin wash will pick out individual details later.

Depending on what look you want, at any point you can stop brushing and take a paper towel barely damp with solvent and lightly wipe the surface of the high stuff like a dry brushing.  In the earlier steps with a lot of paint still there there will be brush marks.  Let it dry a bit and go back to blend with a clean brush.

Looooking good Marc!

Nate

Nice Marc. You're first with the paint. Just blowing through this build. I wish I had elves or something to paint mine, but oh well.

Been extra lazy the past 4 days, so I'm crawling right now.

Thanks Thom.  It is more apparent in the felsh...er... plastic

Marc,

That is looking good I can just make out the pre-shade color .

Cheers,

Thom