Blitzkrieg in the West (France 1940) Sept. 18 2011 - March 1 2012

Well i finally got time to get some replies posted, I  check in every day on my iPhone to see progress and its great.

Modeler 2 the little Renault R35 is beautiful looking at your kit beside the print you seem to have captured the look brilliantly.

Well done.

Carl I just can't say very much about your work with out repeating myself, excellent work on that old Pz. I between your save with the chassis and the paint work you have applied you truly are in my opinion one of the best at making the oldies into beauties.

Marc delighted to have you along and especially with a Char B............. I await your progress updates.

Castelnuovo the Protze looks cool. Can almost imagine it going over a ditch with the doorknocker in tow.

Rob the Somua, well its been a journey and well worth it, that scheme and all your extra work really make her stand out. Beautiful work.

WBill, Bill I hope you are enjoying your time here, not the usual pressures. I see your updates and think difficulf kit especially from the part count point of view but if it's anything like Cyber Hobbies Mk. IV ausf B then the overall quality should be excellent, I know you will apply your usual mastery to this one.

Terry

Hey tread... thanks for keeping a step ahead of me.  Now I can see what I still need to do

How did you do, or what did you use, for the casting numbers?  There are some PE that came in the set I have but no human could possibly work with anything that small.  I've tried and lost most of them.

Cool stuff Gents.

WBill , great work my friend .

Bob , i will admit i would have been one of those skeptics about the tracks being directional . This is why i came back to FSM , good bunch of guys with a lot of knowledge .

Treadplate , kinda funny when you think of a tank with "tamper proof " screw heads , How long would it take an enemy to remove those bolts and break into the inside of the tank ? Especially while the tank is rolling across a battle field ...........................

Beautiful detailing on your build Tread . Glad you caught that extra rivet on the front , i was about to point that one out ............................

treadwell

 

 

 

 

Hey Treadplate you dont use decals ? You must have a steady hand to be able to hand paint the marking dude . Bring your model over tonight andi'll show you how to apply decals ..........................

 

Shell... I'll be right over.....toss me the keys to the '67..we'll make a beer run and pick up some micro set !

don't worry ..I've never been caught in a high speed chase....hope you got a set of 'Haulin' @ $ $' mud flaps

yer pal 

lead foot tread

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Treadplate , no mud flaps on the El Camino man , it aint no pickup ! Never been caught ? You did that ona motor cycle as i recall ...................... Got plenty of beer already lead a$$ .

Progress to report, I've been working on the details for the interior. After careful thought and test fits, I've decided to display both turret side hatches open along with the commander's cupola hatches so that meant I needed to "fill" some of the blank spaces visible around the turret ring. I could have just blanked off the areas with sheet styrene but after digging around in the spares bin, I found some suitable parts that will fill in the space and give a semblance of the various bins/containers that were present in those areas even if not 100% accurate...they aren't highly visible once everything is in place but fill the bill nicely. In reality the sponsons and floor area were occupied by MG ammo and main gun ammo bins and other holders but given how little will actually be visible, I didn't go that far in the recreation.

The turret bottom itself also received some additional details...after looking at photos in Spielberger's Pz IV and Variants, I decided to re-work the commander's jump seat and opened up the molded-solid mount frames to look more accurate. I added a grab rail that runs vertically next to the commander's seat and up into the cupola using left-over PE parts from an old fret and some styrene rod. A small bracket was added to the bottom of the cupola to accept the top of the rail when it comes time to install it. Spares bin contributed a small box to serve as the flare pistol ammo holder and I added the missing headrest for the gunner courtesy of spare parts from the Wirbelwind kit I completed a little while back. Spare PE also provided a bracket for the commander's gas mask container, actual container to be added later after painting also from spares bin.

Then it was on to Steps 18 and 19 which deal with the turret top. The turret interior received some additional detail not present in the kit. I added a headrest pad for the commander from the spares bin along with a flare pistol and holster. The kit doesn't include the pistol port levers but that was corrected using parts E38 which I didn't use earlier on the hull crew hatches. Visible ejector parts were puttied and sanded down in preparation for painting. I also installed the turret side view ports with the clear parts...this is a little tricky as the ports themselves fit loose in their openings, so it made sense to secure them first and then add the interior details after.

The turret exterior details were added next. The turret side hatches include excellent molded pin detail but that makes the hinges too wide to fit into the actual hinges...so those had to be removed to get the hatches in place. I used poster blue-tack putty to mask the clear glass portion of the view ports and the hinges were glued in place in the open position. Kit-supplied pre-formed steel grab handles were installed with CA gel along with the PE rain gutter edges. The commander's bore-sight indicator was added as a single PE piece after removing the molded-on base even though the kit, bizarrely, calls for you to snip off the PE base and use only the PE needle along with the molded on mount.

Next up will be painting all the various turret/hull interior spaces before assembling the turret.

Tread, looking might fine there with the added details. Up to your usual standard of detailing!

Bob, one thing I've learned for sure is that when it comes to German armor in the field, it's virtually impossible to say "never" or "always" about much of anything. Definitely take the pic with you to back up what you're portraying at a show and you shouldn't have any problems. Some of the most enjoyable projects I've worked on have been recreating a specific vehicle from a photo...soldiers in the field are a resourceful bunch and can come up with quite a bit of "non-standard" variations if you go looking for them.

Shell...;

Thanks for posting that museum pic!  I was just about to pop in and say something sassy like "whoa, there, Pards!" in the discussion of those tracks. I think it a cool topic and evidently somewhat warm for some !

The museum pic does indeed show tracks mounted "backward" - and some probably want to jump up and say something like "well, those clowns don't know anything".  Actually, the panzer IA and B and derivatives have been frequently "captured" wearing their shoes "backwards", and also just like the first (box) pic in this discussion - one running each way. Many of these are field pics from Poland and France...

What's really, really cool is that there is at least one pic around of one of those very early "ohne aufbau" training vehicles where crew trainees are apparently servicing or inspecting the brakes - and the tracks are mis-matched.  There is even one showing crew assembling tracks onto a vehicle - backwards!  There is at least one pic out of a "kleiner" similarly dressed... so one could suppose "Herr Oberst" either didn't know or didn't care...  I think it pretty delish indeed, given as many appear to think that A) tracks "need" to face the "right" way to actually function, B) that there were strict regulations to this effect, and C) that those oh-so-orderly Germans actually followed all of these regs and orders... What better place to fall off than in a training school!  

PS: On some German WWII vehicles, the direction of track MAY be more critical, as the links were dry-pinned and the pin was kept in place by a pin-knocker plate that would tap loose pins back in place as the track passed. So the PIN needed to be inserted from the correct side - but this may not actually be a link issue. This may have been adaptively addressed, as in the case of a StuG III G which had "winterketten" mounted with all links actually being "right-side" (so the lefthand track was mounted backwards so that the link duckbill extensions could stick out...), by mounting the pins in from the "correct side for the knocker" even when the links were reversed.  It is apparently true that very few III/IV or Panther (which had definite handed links) show up with wrong-way tracks.

See the Concord pubs series on (WWII German) Armor in Action - I found over 15 pics scattered among a few volumes showing odd or a-typical track arrangements on PZ 1. The Stug mentioned above is I believe that beast pulled very intact out of some marsh in Russia several years back - many pics of this vehicle have been around many threads and sites.

Just to "try" our larger "community" response in the show contest world, I am currently building a Kleiner" with counter-mounted tracks. I'm middlin' sure that there will be those who will shout "wrong!" and probably I'll take a in some shows! I'll be sure and provide a pic for those who are less sure of things and might want to actually know!

Cheers!

Bob

Hi guys  :  )

While these pictures look very similar to my last  set,  I have added subtle details often overlooked or only applicable to certain series of  B1 bis. Char francais .com is a treasure trove of information and I have the book 'PANZER IV vs Char B1 BIS' by Steve Zaloga...most of what I have found construction-wise comes from these 2 sources.

in picture #1 we see all the rivets have been added, a side view of the headlight cover operating handle,and the drivers hatch has been drilled and pinned.. also a good left side view of the cast drivers' hood. Speaking of rivets, another thing I want to clear up is the fact that the B1 is not completely riveted together . all the super structure is constructed of nuts and bolts..all the 'rivets 'you see on the outside are actually bolts with a special tamperproof head.

pic #2 shows 4 large slotted screws that hold components on the interior of the turret. Also visible on the bottom rear of the turret is the left side part of the hinge mechanism for the rear hatch.

Pic #3 shows a small inspection hatch found only on B1 bis 201 through 270

pic #4 shows the side door with a much larger opening latch than on the Tamiya version. It measures 4.2mm in 1/35 and all doors up to B1 bis # 315 should be of this large type. The door has primer on it and is not meant to represent a cast piece.

Pic #5 shows right side of rear hatch hinge

P # 6 shows a nice top view of the 4 mud scrapers, headlight cover handle,the twist in the pigtail hook and the 2 counter sunk drivers visor adjustment screws

Pic# 7 and 8 I threw in because I like them !

I still have the tool holding rack to build.... the Tamiya version aint even close 

and little tiny gussets that fit on the rear rail...

tread

p.s. as I was posting and reading I just learned this rivet must be removed ...it was only present on the very last series of B1 bis built

thanks again ,tread

Hey Treadplate you dont use decals ? You must have a steady hand to be able to hand paint the marking dude . Bring your model over tonight andi'll show you how to apply decals ..........................

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Shell... I'll be right over.....toss me the keys to the '67..we'll make a beer run and pick up some micro set !

don't worry ..I've never been caught in a high speed chase....hope you got a set of 'Haulin' @ $ $' mud flaps

yer pal 

lead foot tread

Here it is ..................

BABill and WBill you got it guys .  I saw a pic of a Pz.. 1 on display that had both the tracks reversed on both sides ....... ???

Thanks BABill and WBill for the comments . WBill the offset due to the clips etc............i forget how tight it must of been inside the turret .

treadwell

Hiya Shell :  ) 

hey dude your Pz I has an absolutely beautiful finish to it. it looks just perfect !

the decals look great and as just mentioned 'look like paint' and they do ... you're gonna have to let me in on the secret 'cause all the models I have done so far I have hand painted ( 1/16 scale) and my 1/35 russian were hand painted also.... so never had no use no how for no decals...it will be a first for me on this one...to complex to hand paint.

can't wait to see your build all together !

tread

 

Hey Treadplate you dont use decals ? You must have a steady hand to be able to hand paint the marking dude . Bring your model over tonight andi'll show you how to apply decals ..........................

Treadplate dont need no stinking decals !!!!!!

Hiya Shell :  ) 

hey dude your Pz I has an absolutely beautiful finish to it. it looks just perfect !

the decals look great and as just mentioned 'look like paint' and they do ... you're gonna have to let me in on the secret 'cause all the models I have done so far I have hand painted ( 1/16 scale) and my 1/35 russian were hand painted also.... so never had no use no how for no decals...it will be a first for me on this one...to complex to hand paint.

can't wait to see your build all together !

tread

Rob  What can I say?   love the paint work ! .... I showed it to my wife and she said it looked looked a giant melting ice cream cone...I can't wait to see it with sprinkles... I mean weathering  

I love it man !

tread

hi Castlenuovo : )

your Krupp came out mighty fine !  the solid gray is not boring at all! nice job man!....

tread

Heya Marc  : )

nice on the B1.... glad she is on the forum... you'll be done before me!... tracks look great

tread

Castel, congrats on finishing the Protze!

Rob, nice work on the Somua details, really makes it come alive. Love the idea of a test bed...I keep my old models for similar use and also as source of potential parts...never know when something might come in handy!

Carl, beautiful looking turret and markings! The offset of the MGs was due to the fact that they were clip fed MGs and there needed to be room for the spent shell bag in the twin mount. That plus the fact the commander had to do double duty as the loader meant space had to be available to accomodate things, only way to do that was with an offset mount. As far as the construction error...the box top builder didn't install both tracks running in the same direction! The left hand track is running backwards. Definitely recommend giving Mig pigments a try...they are ground very fine and have more versatility than chalks IMHO.

Carl,,    your pz I is looking real nice. Glad the decals worked out. Nice shading too.          And yes,  I've seen the construction error...   maybe the crew just wanted to drive in circles...  ha!

wBill,,     great dissection of the build. Always a pleasure to follow.

Hey Eric thanks .

malone duke

Naw man. Its just under 3 actual mm. I caught it along time ago in a time book. But I guess dragon caught it too cause its set correctly in my kit. And you got me stumped on the pic. This is the earliest tank I've done so I aint got much ref. The only thing I come up with is no smoke rack or the view port on the turret. A novice answer at best.

Ok , that wont be much in 1/35th . Nope, that aint the mistake .

Holy moly there is some great work going on. I feel more like a visitor then participator anymore. 

Carl, love the drybrushing, pops the details.

Rob, that Somua is the bomb

Wing-nut, you're rolling along at your break-kneck pace. Cool tracks.

Castelnuovo, congrats on finishing your Krupp and 37mm. Figures too boot! Nicely done in an understated finish.

malone duke

Hey shellback. Super nice finish. I hope mine turns out that good. But... Are your barrels glued in? The right hand barrel should be offset by a few mm. The left jets out a little further. And honestly those decals look painted on.

Duke , i glued the barrels in with white glue ( must of had an idea this would happen ) so they will be easy to remove . I suppose your talking about a few scale MM's . Must be due to the guns firing and recoiling separately ............? I'll fix it tomorrow ................

I was looking at the pictures on the back of the box cover for this kit and noticed something. I've had this kit box for a long time and looked at the photo's many times but never noticed this mistake in the kit construction b4 . Can you find it ?

I finished the turret today .The decal "13"for the turret in the kit broke up so I used the the number 19 off of my spare decal sheet for the Italeri M4 "Al Capone " . Just a few tools left to finish up .

Rob , Somoa is looking great , turning out to be a brute . That camo looks sharp on the Priest . I've never tried the Mig pigments yet , just used chalks so far .

Sad to hear about your bad rubber experience ............snap -pop?????