I've been making some slow progress. The running gear is close to being done. Gee whiz, I built the good 'ol Tamiya M3 years ago and this kit is about a dozen times more complex, the suspension bogies are about twenty parts in and of themselvies! Not that I'm complaining or anything, I love this type of stuff. On the other hand the parts here are smaller than those of a typical tank and my eyes aren't what they used to be... 

One little point I am confused on here though, the instructions tell you to paint the underside steel, but as I understand US factories at the time just hosed everything down with multiple thick coats of olive drab. Well, plenty of time to do research before I paint the thing... 

Thanks G, more soon.

Thanks Rob, I've got a little done and typical good Dragon fit and detail. And when I saw that figure set I just loved the dobermans, a nice change of pace from just human figures.

I've given them nicknames: Satan, Killer, and Fluffy...

Gamera that looks like it will be a great kit to build though the tracks are different. Your right that is one cool figurer set.

Rob

That is some nice work there Bish- kudos! 

And good to hear you've got your replacement parts. 

Thanks guys.

Bruce, the rockets tubes and all fittings are completly replaced, either from the RM set or wire i had myself. The turet is mainly the kit with some improvments.

And just a word on Royal Model, they came through with the missing parts, they arrived today, so just in time. And to their credit, it was posted on the 2nd, and its not there fault it took 13 days.

So anotehr example of good customer service fom Europe.

Bish,

The launcher looks outstanding! Is this going to completely replace the launcher from the kit? That is some amazing PE work!

Oh wow Bish, nice PE work!!

Just a short update as its been over a week now. Firtsly, i still have not recieved those mssing parts from RM. I did e-mail them at the weekend but have had no reply. So i have turned to plan B. The Eduard set has the metal parts but does not include the wooden blocks that hold the rockets in place. So i used so resin to make the blocks and have used those. So i have now been able to get the inside primed and can start paiting, so some pic sof that at the weekend. But my main focus has been the launcher which was a long slow and tedious process.

But now its all done.

The two tubes on the types right as you look here, which will be bottom left once fitted, have had the locking clamps left off. These will have rockets loade so the clamps will be added later.

I gave this a coat of primer tonighg as i want to see how much clean up was neded, and its not looking as bad as i thought.

I also got the turret built and that was primed tonight as well. The white rod replaces the kit parts. Its the elevating rod but it was the wrong shape and set in the lowered position. I can trim this to correct length once i determne the angle.

And thats it. But hopfeully now i can get some good progress. No doubt the RM parts will turn up as soon as i close up the hull, sod's law.

I see you have the breaking strain of a kit-kat G . Looks nice and a nice set of figures. Not seen tracks like those before, will be interesting to see how they work.

And will be nice to se anotehr Dio, we could do with a few more of those.

My kit came in Saturday: 

And though I have two boxes of Marine figures these were so cool I had to buy them, I'm going with a small and I mean small dio here. I'm still working on the big one for your 1946 GB: 

I promised myself I won't start on this till I'd knocked out some other stuff but ended up doing a little work on the engine and running gear last night anyway... 

I thought they'd left out the tracks at first since I didn't see any rubber band ones or a packet of 'Magic Tracks'. Weirdly the treads are cast solid plastic pieces, at least they give you two choices of which to use.

No worries, theres plenty of time and the GB has only just got going.

Yes sir, I might be making some slow progress at first but I'm in. I'm still fussing around with the base and waiting for one figure for more progress on your 1946 GB so I can get a little work done here in the meantime.

Thnaks G, ye, they are a hell of a lot better. There a lot of detail both on the outsid of the tubes and the insid. The tricky bit was sanding out the inside witout damaging the detail at the ends.

O, nice, so is that an offical entry.

Looks neat Bish! I really love those resin and PE rocket tubes. Lots of work but they look about a zillion times better than the plastic ones that come with the kit.

BTW: I went ahead and ordered the Dragon 1/35th M3 75mm GMC (Gun Motor Carriage) and a set of US Marine Corps figures. Can't let you guys have all the fun!!!

After finishing of the lower portion of the inside, it was time to work on the top half. I started off with the vision slits. The AM set has you block these off with plastic card and then re-open them with provided templates to correct the shape.

Once all these were open again, the outer resin pieces were added.

And then onto the inside with plenty of PE.

So there is not much left to add to the inside, i can finish that and hopefully the missing parts will be here from RM soon.

So last night i made a start on the launcher. My hope was that i could finish that and the tracks today. I have had the whole day to myself with the Mrs at work and all the kids away. So i have had about 7 hours at the bench today. But, things did not go quite to plan.

The 10 resin launch tubes are each in 2 parts.Each part of hollow at its open end, but 2/3's of each once is soid resin. So, they all had to be drilled and filed out, and of course being resin they are rather brittle and i had to get them very thin. So after a few hours and with a large pile of resin dust on the bench, they were ready to go together. I put all 10 of the lower sections and 2 of the top sections into the PE frames.

These were then fited together and the other 8 tubes fitted.

A couple of the tubes are a little kinked so will need to be straightened up. And then there is a lot more PE detail and wiring to add.

And i did manage to get one track finished. This were not as fiddly as i was expecting given the size, certainly not as bad as their 251 tracks.

Just got the other one to do. But no rush as the tracks won't go on until at the end.

Thanks Bruce.

Bish,

Nice start on the Panzerwerfer! This will be very fun to watch, with all the AM goodies!

Thanks guys.

Steve, theres a lot to learn about German armour, even after all these years, there are still surprises.

G, i am not a fan of those rubber tires, so the resin wheels were a big plus from this set. The road wheels also seem to better match the one si have seen in pics than the kit ones.

Looks good Bish! I built that kit a few years ago and had no issues with it. Only problem is I think I said somewhere on the forum one of the 'rubber' tires cracked in half on me a year or so later, there's a millimeter split in it now. Of course if you're replacing it with the resin part in the Royal Models aftermarket kit that's no problem for you. 

Looking good Bish, can't wait to see the next update.

Rob

Right, time for me to get going. I have had this kit in the stash longer than just about any other. I think a couple of AMT Star Wars kits might have been there longer. So, after sitting there 20 years, its about time this one got built.

I originally got an Eduard PE set for this. But then i found a set from Royal Model which has PE and plenty of resin.

I am still keeping the Eduard set to hand, it has already come in handy.

As wel as the RM set, i have a set of fruil tracks.

And some RM figures.

I started working on both the interiour lower half and the chassis. First, the inside. This is how it looks before i start removing bits. You can see a sink mark which runs along the sides and rear of the floor.

This corresponds with the raised parts to mount the hull to the chassis.

From what i can see of Modelrod's build of the tamiya boxing of this kit, this has been rectified, either by Italeri later on or by Tamiya. RM does make PE floor plating and give the number of the set to use on this. Had i been doing this with the doors open and un-obstructed, i would have used that. But the floor will be covered with rockets waiting to be loaded and the figures will be blocking the hatch's, so i will not worry about that.

I stared by removing the mouldings on the right and adding the AM parts. This way i could use the mouldings on the left as a guide.

I then repeated for the left and added the parts at the front, including a couple of resin bits.

When i opened the RM resin parts at the weekend i found a couple of parts missing. These are the top of the securing brackets that hold the rockets in place. I have contacted RM and they are sending me the parts, great service from them. So apart from those and the frame for the radio, the lower part is done. I have taken a radio from the spares box as neither kit or AM set includes one.

And then the chassis. I am leaving the roadwheels and bogies of for painting, so this went together quickly.

I won't be bothering with the engine which comes with the kit. I do have a litle filling to do, includeing this sink mark on the radiator.

So, next up will be the internal upper half and hopefully the missing parts will be here soon so i can get some paint on.

modelcrazy

So Bish, I believe I will start on the bike, kublewagon and 88 prior to the 250, that way I won't be boring everyone with unrelated builds before to getting to the Grief. That is unless you would be interested in all these other items.

 

Sounds awesome to me.

modelcrazy

There are an amazing number of parts to it, even in 1/72.

 

In have done a couple of their 72nd vehcile kits lately, the Warrior and FAMO, and they were very nice.

In fact, I may even throw a suprize knocked out M3 in there, if I have the room. I'll have to see.

There are an amazing number of parts to it, even in 1/72.

I was thinking it was 35th. I once did a 35th dio with an 88, building and figures, that was big enough.

Thanks Bish, can do. And gawd yes 1/72! I'm outa room!

And i just had to check becaus ei thoguht thats a lot of work and a big base. I forgot your 250 is 72nd. I am looking forward to seeing this.