War in the Desert - African campaign GB - 12/9/07 to 5/13/08

Looking good Scott!  Did you pre-shade that at all or do you just plan on post shading?

Cheers

Nice work so far Scott.

Regards,  Rick

espins1 wrote:

This little kit is far from perfect, but it sure was nice to have an easy build for a change!

I hear you there...mega-builds can get old after a while.

Looking good!

The assembly and basic painting are complete.  I layered coats of XF-60 Dark Yellow incrementally lightened with XF-55 Deck Tan to give it a sun bleached appearance.  Once all the paint has fully cured I'm going to seal it up with a coat of Future.  Then come the decals, another protective coat of Future and then the real fun begins.... paint chipping, dirt, grime, dust... muwahahahaaaaaa 

The tracks and muffler have been painted and are already undergoing their series of oil washes. 

This little kit is far from perfect, but it sure was nice to have an easy build for a change! 

Yeah, Tigerworks has a really nice cupola!  I'm looking forward to seeing one build and installed.  As for the position of the intake doors during combat, I don't think opening or closing the doors was something the crews worried about during combat.  The crews would open or close them (or some of them) depending on the conditions they encountered.  Most of the photos I've seen of the Mark IV show them open except for the ones in the desert or in the snow. 

Thanks for the heads up on my mistake.  I didn't know how they went, so I took a WAG.  I'll be fixing that mistake.  One question though.  What would be the position of the air intake doors during combat action? 

Thanks for the antenna lenght as well.  As for the PE, know you know wwhy I have not been posting regularly.  Next step is the turret.  I don't like the way the commaders coupla looks.  I ordered one from tigerworks.  It has the open visors that I want to model. 

Thanks for all the compliments.  It's been a blast working on this so far.

dupes wrote:

So Bufflehead, when are we starting our Tristar Pz.IV Ausf. D GB?

Sign me up dupes!!  Its sweet how popular the Pz IV series is after so much time!  I've got a C, D, J and am eagerly awaiting Dragon's new F1!! 

dupes wrote:

Dang. That's a lot of PE!

You're not kidding dupes!! 

Looking good moose!  The only problem I see is with the position of the air intake doors.  You've got them angled from the top and then down and out to the fenders.  Actually these are hinged on the bottom of the air intake louvers and fold up to seal the louvers (when necessary), but during normal operation they were opened and swung down to lay flat on the fenders.  There are actually half wing nuts on the fender to hold them down.  Heres a couple of photos of the real thing:'

On this side all the doors are closed, sealing the louvers from dust and whatnot:

On this side a couple doors are closed and a couple doors are open.  You'll notice that these doors are actually missing, but they would normally lay flat on the fenders.  You can see the hinges back in there. 

Should be an easy fix though.  Hope this helps.

BTW, the antenna should be 2 meters long or about 2.26 inches in 1/35

Looking good Moose.  The PE gives me a headache thinking about it .

Regards,  Rick

Nice template technique, espins1.  I will have to remember that when it comes time for paint on my mark IV f2.  I got some serious time on mine this last weekend.  I pretty much finished up the PE biuld on the lower hull.  Only have to install the mufflers.  That will come after the painting is done. 

Quick question, How long should I make the antenna?

Here are some pics of what I got done.  Also, I got the picture taking, looking alot better.

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I too have started my second build for this GB, the 1/48 Hasegawa Hurricane Mk IIb.  In British markings of course.  This will be the first Hurricane I've built and unlike the P-40K will not be OOB. 

I'm using Ultracast wheels, exhausts, seat w/armor back and wheel wells.  Plus I'll be cheating by using Eduard and Black magic masks for the canopy and camo.  Sue me.

PzKpfw II Ausf. F update

During the Superbowl yesterday I managed to spray the base coat on the tracks and I'll be doing a series of oil washes on them to give them the used look.  The tools are just about finished.  I just need to simulate the wood grain on the wooden handles with a pseudo oil wash technique using burnt umber. 

I'll be starting the build of my kit for the American badge within the next few days, Academy's 1/35 M3A1 Stuart in Tunisian service.   

ps1scw wrote:

I'm a fan of the template method.  Your build looks great.

I need to start working on my template-method skill. Looks much better than the way I do it (by hand with a small brush, on a caffiene-free day). Template method has a much cleaner demarkation between wheel and tire.

The Panzer II ausf. F is coming along, only the suspension (which I habitually do last) remaining. ICM has seen fit to include indy links, and they don't look too bad. I'll give 'em a try and see how they come out.

I expect to be able to get some pics posted some time this week.

Should make a nice Dio with the figures painted.  Keep up the good work.

Regards,  Rick

Looks like everyone getting there builds done, and they all look fantastic

My Hanomag just like every bulid will go in a diorama with my tiger 1 (if I can fix it that is).

came with 5 figures and great info about it, but no one comment it?

Good work guys.

Just taking a guess regarding the question about the 20mm cannon on the Pz.Kpfw. II....

I'm thinking it has a higher rate of fire then the usual main gun of a tank and therefore heats up quite a bit.  If it was painted it would just peel from the heat.

 Jack 

Thank you gentlemen, I appreciate the comments.  I'm glad I was able to give you a few ideas James, gives me a chance to pay back for all that I've learned here from all of you. 

Here is a question for our resident German armor experts.......

Does anyone know why the 20mm Cannon barrel on the Pz.Kpfw. II was not the same color as the rest of the tank?  From my reference pics, it looks a lot like black powder coated metal.  I'd be curious to know why, and what for etc.  Any info would be most appreciated 

Scott, looks very good so far and I really REALLY appreciate you take the time to explain what you are doing and taking so many pics... I just 'stole" 3 ideas/techniques from this post! Whether I can replicate the result, of course, is a different issue! :) Cheers! James

GO BIG BLUE NY GIANTS

Nice work Scott.  Looking good.

Regards,  Rick

bufflehead wrote:

espins1 wrote: Thanks guys, and I'm not worried if anyone does one of the newers kits.  I've had this thing in my stash for a long time and am glad I finally found the motiviation to crank it out.  I was drooling on the latest Dragon 1/35 PzKpfw. II Ausf. F yesterday at my LHS and man, I can't believe all the parts in that kit, especially considering it's only 5 inches long!!  Scott, I grabbed one at the IPMS Nats last year.  Its SWEEEEET!!  Much more accurate and detailed than either the Tamiya or Alan offering, but probably nowhere as easy!  Especially not with a full interior (sans engine).  Still sitting on the stash shelf though!

It looks really nice, too bad it doesn't come with an engine.  Regardless, I'm going to have to snag one of those...... 

I have some progress to report.  The rubber on the road wheels and return rollers has been sprayed (a mix of flat black, with a few drops of blue and light gray to replicate sun bleached rubber). 

I then used the "template" method to paint the centers of the road wheels and return rollers.  It's very easy and turns what would otherwise be a very tedious job of handpainting into a quick air brush session.  All the wheels were stuck to masking tape on strips of paper to help keep them secure so I wouldn't have to hold them.  As you can see from the pictures you'll need one hand to hold the template in place, and the other to work the air brush.  Just center the area to be sprayed in the right sized hole, give it a quick spray (lightly) from a couple different angles to make sure paint is getting everywhere in the center and voila!  Rinse and repeat for the rest of them.  I taped off the other holes to help prevent any overspray from going through another hole and getting where I don't want it.  The hole in the template was just slighly larger than the area to be sprayed, so just a thing lip of base coat gets on the rubber, but a quick oil wash of black artist oil mixed with turpenoid will take care of that.  Again, it's way easier and looks better than hand painting in my opinion.

So far this has been a very easy build, which is great considering the limited time I've had to work on it.  The pictures don't really show the correct color of the paint, but it's fairly close.  I used Tamiya XF-60 Dark Yellow lightened with about 30% deck tan.  I'll do another light misting on the upper areas of an even lighter mix of the base coat to help give it that sun faded look before I begin weathering and replicating paint chipping.  As we all know, the desert sun and relentless blowing sands were extremely hard on paint.

espins1 wrote:

Thanks guys, and I'm not worried if anyone does one of the newers kits.  I've had this thing in my stash for a long time and am glad I finally found the motiviation to crank it out.  I was drooling on the latest Dragon 1/35 PzKpfw. II Ausf. F yesterday at my LHS and man, I can't believe all the parts in that kit, especially considering it's only 5 inches long!!

Scott, I grabbed one at the IPMS Nats last year.  Its SWEEEEET!!  Much more accurate and detailed than either the Tamiya or Alan offering, but probably nowhere as easy!  Especially not with a full interior (sans engine).  Still sitting on the stash shelf though!

dupes: 

After key word searching "duece and a half" that photo came up from a used truck dealer in Reno, see the mtns. in the background?  I guess they were trying to show how versaile the old truck still is...great photo isn't it!?

Heh...that's the same thing I said when I opened my DML Pz.I - thought I might just "crank it out" as an extra fun build to the 222 - at least until I opened the box. Yikes! That's no 3 hour kit!

Haaaaahahahah...SMJ, I'm thinking that you got your truck stuck in that pic.