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

Hey guys,

Terry: I've just seen your post buddy - I'm impressed by the smoke candles! Great stuff!

I noticed you mentioned the interior of my Marder and I agree, it's a shame (and something I'm regretting now) not to use the interior SO I might well be tempted to try and paint up the front drivers compartment. I'm honestly not fussed about the mid-engine as that will be buttoned up fully. I've only done one interior before and that was on my Dragon Panzer I Ausf A which turned out beautifully.

I'm a bit peed off with myself for not doing this anyway as it would have been a hell of a lot better and easier to paint with the parts outside the vehicle before I stuck them down - the photos would have looked better too with a dash of colour!

Here's my only other interior attempt on my Panzer I Ausf A (I think this has to rate as a personal favourite model of mine). I know the interior is pretty basic as it was a real rush job but the build itself turned out really well so I quite fancy another crack at an interior but I need to get the colours worked out - as usual Dragon aren't very helpful when it comes to painting!

Obviously the fighting compartment will be detailed as well as my limited detailing skills allow but I'm now thinking that some a splash of colour on the drivers interior up front will allow me to pose the vehicle with the hatch open. I honestly have no clue about colours for the interior though? My Panzer was painted in a home made off white as I had no proper Elfenbein & with a primer green floor, steel transmission & with a black chair but what about these VERY late war Marders? Obviously the painting will be kept pretty basic and the seating and transmission etc is pretty obvious but what about the interior walls and floor colour? There is also the section of bulkhead behind the driver seat to think about too? I need help!  

Any suggestions chaps?

ATVB

Ben

More WTF moments, but I think I overcame. I got the travel lock and notek light done, and not much more on the upper-half left except track hangers and tools. A much better day then I anticipated. 

tlivancso

 StuG IV Early Type Dragon Kit #9038 1/35 Imperial Series.

Thom - when I said "shout it out" I was referring to voting for what I'm building for this GB (I can see how you might have been confused!). The choices are as follows:

Bronco 35004 7.5cm PaK 40 Auf GW H38/39 - no aftermarket in stock
Tamiya 35285 Hetzer Mid - Fruil Hetzer Winterketten, JB Model Barrel, Bison Hungarian Markings
Tamiya 35203 Jagdpanther Late - Eduard Etch, old-style Fruils, MK Bosch Headlight, LR Cables
Trumpeter 00350 Sturer Emil - Lionmarc Resin Tracks (line on a RB Barrel, Voyager Etch)
Trumpeter 00348 Dicker Max - no aftermarket in stock

The current standings are somewhere near the top of this page. Voting ends Friday!

Thom, nice of you to join us. Look forward to the StuG

Terry, goo to see you building. Looks like you spent a little work  boring out the tool box. Good start.

i doubt I will get much done tonight, I'm very tired from an early day. I had to go to work and take a training class on a fork-lift. My coworkers and I laugh that we can add that to our next resumes. Actually, when you think of it, it really isn't funny, but we need to keep up our spirits.

Hi, Marc sorry to hear of the woes about theh Stug, any thing I hear about these tends to pop up my ears these days because I'm doing one for Dales Stug  GB.

Nate should be good to see a 1/35th builtt up against the 48th.

Ben great start, are you sure you don't want to try the interior? seems like an awful sheme not to......

Rob that interior is brilliant, thats the kind of start everybody needs for a thoroughlyyenjoyable build.

I got a start on the 48th at the weekend.

Hull plates

They glue up easily enough. Metal bits are included to give a sense of weight.

The smoke candle holder is just a simple piece of plastic so I done a bit to it.

Just some chopped rod.

I made a back to hide the lack of work and just made some simple chains to represent the real thing, mainly something to dry brush.

The tool box does not have the holes opened but 20 mins with a pinvise solved that.

Dry fit of parts so far.

some filling done under the fenders.

Thanks for looking,

Regards,

Terry.

 StuG IV Early Type Dragon Kit #9038 1/35 Imperial Series.

Hello dupes,

Yes I remember meeting you, I have been exchanging emails with Boyd and I am planning on going to Valleycon this year.

I heard you were coming down for it as well, be good to meet up with you again and chat a bit.

Cheers, Thom

1. Tigerman-  Jagdpanther
2. Panzerwaffe-  Sturer Emil
3. Bufflehead- ???
4. RMC_Birdunner- ???
5. Big Smitty- ???
6. Wing_nut-  Sturer Emil
7. Bobbaily-  Jagdpanther
8. TigerEp1- ???
9. Nachtflieger- Sturer Emil
10. Terry35- Sturer Emil
    
11. Hinsky- Dicker Max
    
12. Dupes- (tiebreaker)
13. bbrowniii- Jagdpanther
14. Wolfp - ???
    
15. ogrejohn - ???
16. JMart - Sturer Emil
17. tlivansco - ???

Last couple days for the voting until the official decision is made on Friday - shout it out, fellas!

Hey Thom! We've met a few times before at AMPS East (and maybe Valleycon, too?). I'm the one always hanging around with Boyd.

Speaking of Valleycon, you going this year?

tigerman,

I'd like to join in on this GB as well.

StuG IV Early Type Dragon Kit #9038 1/35 Imperial Series.

More to follow.

Cheers, Thom

tigerman

Well i spent a good hour/half at the bench and had my first WTF moment. There were 3 small parts on the engine deck near the large hatch. Directions were not specific as to had they went on. There was also a piece that went before the mantlet that had 4 pin marks. The boxart didn't show them, so I filled them in. Next I went to a couple of sites and modelers left the marks and others filled them. Some even had the piece turned the other way. So i chose for asthetics to leave them filled.

The rear deck appears finished with grills installed. I left the tools and MG off for now. There are tons of fiddly little parts. Phew. I will try to post a pic or two in a couple of days, hopefully after the entire top is finished.

Brother I fell your pain.  I have been WTFing over the fenders on this Stug for 2 days now.  And I though DML instructions were confusing at times.  These Cyber Hobby are worse.   Part numbers that don't exist, part numbers that don't match up with the part they show.  2 totally different set of fenders nowhere say it's an either/or choice.  I finally noticed a very slight difference in the camo profile where i could see different fender for different vehicles.  Now with that knowledge I will probably be able to piece together a set of fenders.

Just like they take sprues form different kit to make a vehicles, they must also take some steps from the related DML sheets as well.  So if they happen to be confusing... read that F'd up...then there is a high concentration of "confusing"  diagrams.

The good news is that when I go to pull out my hair, there is so much already gone the damage is minimal.

[ Please insert a smiley that show someone running off into the night terrified and screaming]

Well i spent a good hour/half at the bench and had my first WTF moment. There were 3 small parts on the engine deck near the large hatch. Directions were not specific as to had they went on. There was also a piece that went before the mantlet that had 4 pin marks. The boxart didn't show them, so I filled them in. Next I went to a couple of sites and modelers left the marks and others filled them. Some even had the piece turned the other way. So i chose for asthetics to leave them filled.

The rear deck appears finished with grills installed. I left the tools and MG off for now. There are tons of fiddly little parts. Phew. I will try to post a pic or two in a couple of days, hopefully after the entire top is finished.

I knew they did barrels (I have a couple of Firefly ones, if I remember correctly), but not much past that.

http://www.lionmarc.com/LionMarc%20Products.html

It appears that the Sturer tracks aren't even listed on their website? Odd.

I know that Lionmarc are noted for their PE, but I was unaware that they make tracks too.

Interestingly enough, no travel lock. Pretty amazing considering the size of that gun...almost as long as the rest of the vehicle! Must have bounced around like mad when they were moving at top speed cross-country.

Man, those Lionmarc tracks are pretty hot. Hope they click together as well as they claim!

dupes

Cracked into the Sturer Emil after rooting it out of the closet (just in case)...this thing is BIG. Waaaay bigger than I thought! The barrel is enormous - glad I found an AM replacement, or I'd blow through an entire sanding stick trying to get rid of that seam.

Getting fired up!

Unless, of course, the Jagdpanther wins out. Then I'll get fired up for that!

Well that Emil has the 128mm. Big cannon. It's going to be heavy. Is there a travel lock? I had to glue my gun in place so it can't elevate, otherwise it will sag. I probably could have used the travel lock, but elected not to.

wing_nut

Eric, Nate... thanks amigos.

I really made it hard on myself too.  The bogie's come with little pins so the road wheels line up perfect.  You cut them off if you want to use the torsion bar suspension.  The Dragon sheet was not too clear about the best way to do it and they ended up way too loose.  It was only after I cut all the bars and got the wheels glued up that I figured out to get them workable and tight too.  Oh well... next time.

Marc-First off, nice work.  Secondly, my Jagdpanzer had the same locating pins and needless to say, I had no idea what they were.....I was thinking.....why would Dragon have that much waste on the boggie's.....and now I know.....ditto on the next time.

Cracked into the Sturer Emil after rooting it out of the closet (just in case)...this thing is BIG. Waaaay bigger than I thought! The barrel is enormous - glad I found an AM replacement, or I'd blow through an entire sanding stick trying to get rid of that seam.

Getting fired up!

Unless, of course, the Jagdpanther wins out. Then I'll get fired up for that!

Hey guys,

Some very nice work appearing! That Panzer interior is simply STUNNING! Top marks!

I was asked in a previous post:

"Ben - These panzer I and variants are small thats for sure.  Have built a couple of the older PZ I dragon kits but not with an interior.  Care is the word with these!

Nice work on your Marder.  Did you ever decide for sure if you were going to leave the hatchs open too see the interior?"

The interior won't be visible apart from the front transmission area which will be painted so it can be left visible via the hatch at the front - the rest I assembled purely for practice and I might find that having the interior present will come in handy during assembly.

ATVB

Ben

Eric, Nate... thanks amigos.

I really made it hard on myself too.  The bogie's come with little pins so the road wheels line up perfect.  You cut them off if you want to use the torsion bar suspension.  The Dragon sheet was not too clear about the best way to do it and they ended up way too loose.  It was only after I cut all the bars and got the wheels glued up that I figured out to get them workable and tight too.  Oh well... next time.

Quite a bit of progress Marc! I like the welds, and the chipped road wheels. This is gonna look good!

Nate

That looks quite convincing Marc.

Awesome paint on the interior.

I have joined the ranks of those who have started.  All the road gear is done.  Added some welds using 3 different method figuring maybe 3 different guys... 3 different welds. hopefully the MT's tonight.

PANZERWAFFE

Also have the hull interior painted and weathered it's just waiting for the interior to drop into it.  Thats it for now.....More to come.

Ummm, WOW!!

Nachtflieger

Rob, beautiful interior! Love the paintwork.

Nate

Rob-I can't really add any more than that.....with an interior that nice, I can't wait to see the exterior.

Rob, beautiful interior! Love the paintwork.

Nate

Wow Rob, that interior is looking sweet.

Because of my wife's birthday, I got little done today. I broke a grab handle on the hatch. Syupid attachment points were HUGE. Lots of filing and sanding. It looks like there is supposed to be 4 handles on the two hatches, but the directions only call for 2. I might cheat and just putty the holes for the others. i only saw 3 handles too. Maybe it's late and I'm losing my mind. There are a lot of small parts on this guy. I doubt I'll get much done tomorrow, perhaps Tuesday. Cheers and good night.

Whoah - paint already!

That interior looks great...how much will you be able to see when the whole deal is finished?

Tigerman - Sturer parts ordered a few days ago "just in case". Heheheh.

Sorry guys for that double post of mine

Tigerman - Get your wife a Panzerjager for her birthday and yall can build togther  Back to reality, this kit is packed full of stuff most being the interior and the gun.  The interior must have two sprues of parts and the gun has three.  Very intricate looking gun. should be fun.

Bob - Thanks. Nice work so far.  It can be a pain but your smart to get all of those wheels out of the way.  Thats my least favorite part of a build but it has to be done.

Nate - Thanks. And you, great work so far.  The track looks great!  I would leave it as is, dont think you should remove any links.  Have seen a lot of pictures that the vehicle has a lot of sag.  I think it is perfect.

Terry - That thing is going to be tiny.  Finished a 1/35 one for the marder madness and thought it was on the small side.  Will be fun to watch this one ome togther.

Ben - These panzer I and variants are small thats for sure.  Have built a couple of the older PZ I dragon kits but not with an interior.  Care is the word with these!

Nice work on your Marder.  Did you ever decide for sure if you were going to leave the hatchs open too see the interior?

Had problems with this build last night no fault of the kit, it was all me.  All parts fit great and I would dry fit and get comfortable with the parts but when I went to glue everything just went to   The worst part and this I do find some fault in the kit,  there is a bar at the rear of the tank and the parts that hold it into place did not have the holes drilled all the way threw.  It would be an easy fix if one would drill the holes BEFORE gluing the pieces that hold it in place on.  Well I glued them on then descovered what I had done about 30 minutes after glueing so spent a lot of time prying the parts off and cleaning them up then redoing .  Luckly everything went well.  This is the bar I'm talking about.

Today things went much better, just a bad day yesterday I guess, in order to get the rear plate on had to build the engine cover so that I could ensure evrything was lined up correctly.

Few other small parts were put on and then went to painting the interior.  Think it still needs to be a little more worn.

Also have the hull interior painted and weathered it's just waiting for the interior to drop into it.  Thats it for now.....More to come.

The post it is a good idea. How about an index card? A little thicker so paint can't seep thru.