I would leave the gun and shield off to make painting easier and attach after painting and detailing. Here is a link to the Dragon kit showing the radio set up:

www.1999.co.jp/.../4

Bob -- Verlinden makes a radio set for German vehicles, I've seen them used on this kit in a review or two. For mine, I'm planning on moulding and casting the radios from Alan's Bison II, which are the right scale and type. Re painting, my gut tells me to paint in subassemblies -- if there was any way to mount not only the shield but the gun as a whole after painting, that would ease things enormously. In the real thing the carriage and gun would be painted before final assembly, so following that order makes sense.

Cheers, Mike/TB379

I've just about finished assembling the gun shield, so far this kit is falling together.  But I did have a question.  Should I attach the shield before painting, or leave it off?  I've seen some builds on here where people leave the kit in various sub-assemblies for painting, and I know I'll have to do the same with this kit since the driver's compartment is almost completely covered when fully assembled.  What are the general guidelines for which sub-assemblies to leave?  And one final question, this kit has the radio rack, but no radio.  Does anyone have a decent picture of a radio I can look at to scrounge for something similar in my spares, or a reference to scratchbuild one?

Bob, I built that Tamiya kit when it first came out and is a sweet model.

I have been assembling the link track for my Hetzer which is a little cumbersome but I'm making some progress and will post some pictures soon.

Thanks for the tips guys, I'll see what works best for me

Bob, I have the same kit so will be most interested in watching her go together! The motorisation holes I usually back with styrene sheet, then lay in some more sheet as a laminate to occupy most of the volume of the hole, then flush it off with filler. This saves using a lot of filler in the hole, which then tends to "crater" when sanded.

M/TB379

Nice start Bob.

I am working on the old motorized Tamiya su-85. I have just left the holes, but then I will be fitting mine to a base so they can't be seen anyway. If you want to fill them, maybe you could add some bits of sheet styrene over the holes and the inside and once that dry fill the holes with filler.

Looking good! I normally fill those holes with plastic sheet cut to shape and sanded flush.

I've started my Marder II, and so far so good.  Just a little bit of flash here and there, and all the fits are good.  Here's the box shot:

I've got the gun assembled, I still have to put the shield together and attach it:

This is one of the older Tamiya kits that was designed to be motorized, does anyone have any advice on how to fill up those holes in the lower hull?

SchattenSpartan

I can't say anything about those Bandai kits, but the sprues look nice!

Bob: I don't see any reason why you shouldn't be able to build your Marder with us! The more the merrier!

SS, so far I'm very happy with the kit.  Bandai seems to be a fine brand so far!

Eagle90

Thanks guys! Having done mostly aircraft and sci-fi, I'll have plenty of questions.

Nice, another Marder. Looking forward to seeing that Bob.

I can't say anything about those Bandai kits, but the sprues look nice!

Bob: I don't see any reason why you shouldn't be able to build your Marder with us! The more the merrier!

Gamera

That looks pretty cool Eagle- I've heard a lot of good word about those old Bandai kits.

Hey Gamera!  Looks like you heard correctly!  So far this is a nice little kit.  No issues so far.  Really clean sprues and all the fits so far are good.

Eagle90

plasticjunkie

Welcome Eagle. I love the old Bandai kits. I have a 1/24 Jagdpanther with interior that I built back in the mid 1970's and I'm redoing it to make it more accurate. I also have a huge 1/24 Bandai George to tackle.

Thanks PJ.  1/24!  Awesome!  This is a 1/48.  Another one I got in an estate sale that was just sitting around.  Thought I would do it for this GB after I started getting into the armor stuff!  It looks to be a great kit so far.  Loads better then the Nitto!

Eagle90

That looks pretty cool Eagle- I've heard a lot of good word about those old Bandai kits.

Hi guys.  I was wondering if I could join with Tamiya's 1/35 Marder II.  I need some practice with armor before I take on my Dragon Tiger II in the Armour in the West GB.  I'd like to get a couple kits under my belt before tackling that.

Welcome Eagle. I love the old Bandai kits. I have a 1/24 Jagdpanther with interior that I built back in the mid 1970's and I'm redoing it to make it more accurate. I also have a huge 1/24 Bandai George to tackle.

Hey everyone!  Have not forgotten about this GB!  Finally getting ahead of the game with GB's and started the Nashorn last night.  Well, I say started, I did a couple of the wheels, but I have committed to the start! 

After the let down with the Nitto kits I did for the Rommel/Monty GB, I was a little leery about doing this Bandai kit.  But so far (what little I have done), it seems to be a pretty good kit.  If anyone has experience with these kits and has any advice, I'd appreciate it.

Just an initial open box (with the 2 wheels finished) pic. 

Eagle90

She just emailed me back and I have access again. She was very apologetic and super nice.

I have not had any problems with PB, but I will watch out for it. Doesn't sound good. I wonder if you would get a response if you had a paid account.

Nice work there PJ. You have got a good effect with that.

Yeah, I've noticed somewhat spotty access to PhotoBucket for sometime now. So far it hasn't been bad enough to drive me away- yet.

Nice work there on the Hetzer, I've tried that technique but always end up wiping too much away so that it wasn't any real point of putting it on!

I dumped Photobucket and switched to ImageShackfor picture hosting.

Got the Hetzer dotted up with oils

Now to drag a brush with a little thinner to blend the oil paints

Most of the color is removed

More is removed leaving just a hint of the oils producing light streaks and  subtle color changes in the paint.

The skirts get the same treatment

Most oft the paint is removed

Still lots of more fun stuff to come!

Interesting Bish. It will send me the link to the password recovery page but it stops there after clicking the reset tab, like it's frozen. I'm certain I'm using the correct password so it shouldn't be doing that anyway. There's nothing of value there just a bunch of plastic model pictures but it's frustrating trying to contact someone. I contacted the BBB in Colorado and they only have one phone number for them listed as the site owner's cell which is not taking messages. I've been using it for years without a problem till now.

Did some follow up on BBB complaints filed by consumers and most say the same thing that there is no human contact with this site so looks like I will be looking at another hosting location.

Looks like I'm not the only one having trouble with Photobucket ATM... I can log in, but it won't let me upload pictures...

Was going to post some pictures of the weathering steps but I can't get into my Photobucket account. I know I had the correct password but it's not taking it. When I go to the password recovery page, the link is sent to me but once I type a new password and click on the reset tab nothing happens. I have been trying to get a phone number to speak to someone but its freaking impossible!

Looking very nice there PJ.

Thanks gents. As silentbob said, the pencil technique  makes it a lot easier to map out the patterns. I used a Prismacolor pencil which doesn't show up under the paint.

I plan on using the dot oil paint method for streaking, rain marks etc and oil washes as filters to tie in the effects. The running gear, lower hull and sides and track will get some light caking of MMP earth pigments. I'm debating if to make a small base for it ...

The camo looks great!  I started using the "pencil" technique awhile ago.  Makes it much easier to see where the colors are supposed to go.

That camo really looks great, PJ! I'm very interested in seeing the weathering techniques you are going to use!