Red Storm on the Reich GB - Sept. 8, 2008 - May 9, 2009

I'm back to report some progress on my Panther A.  A different Panther for the Big Cats GB was occupying my time for the last month or so, but that cat is done. 

Yesterday was a productive day for me, the majority of this was done yesterday.  It's a premium kit, and I'm going to use as much of the PE as possible.  The rear plate has been sitting completed for some time, but I decided to break the camera out finally.  Anyways....

I love these MGs that DML makes, I always feel it is a shame to cover it up inside to be never seen again.  Interiors DML so I can keep the hatches open!!!!

I was very annoyed with myself not taking a picture of the breech before gluing since it was one of the nicest ones I had ever seen....

 Hey Glamdring,  DML's Panther does build up pretty nice. I haven't built there newest offering yet but it looks great. Looking forward to seeing the hull assembled and more fiddly bits installed.

 Mobious

My Fruils for the ISU152 are weathered and washed so they are complete. They look great. The next step is to work on the tools and paint the markings becasue the decals are old and thick. I'll try to get some pics later today.

Erik

Well over the past few days Idecided to break the marder out and start building. I've made it through the first twelve steps (about halfway through the building process). Those steps were focused on some of the interior, suspension and parts of the front hull and engine deck.

 The driver's seat and hull machinegun:

Wheels/sprockets:

Ammo boxes/tubes and main gun ammo:

Interior:

Overall view:

Thanks again espins1 for letting me join late!

Shoot fellas, lots of good work going on! Got something small of my own to update:

Still need to do a bit of detail painting, then a flat coat, and on to weathering.

Mobius- I agree it has been going together prett well thusfar.  I haven't had any issues thusfar.   I did testfit the upper hull to the lower hull and experience some fit problems.  I'll cross that bridge when I have to though. 

Geist- Looking forward to the ISU.  I've had a fascination with the 122 and 152 as of late and finally managed to win the -152 off of Ebay.

Modelfreak- Love the Marder!  Glad you  could join up and show it off.

Dupes- As usual, amazing work.  I can't wait to see your finished product.

Looking good Marc.

Great start Modelfreaks.

Afternoon All.

First can I say a big thanks to Scott for letting me take part in Red Storm GB, after looking through the builds that have been done so far I realise I have a long way to go.

It was touch and go whether I was going to finish the SdKfz 7/2 as the whole build was turning into a chore and I wasn't enjoying it, if I'm honest. I tried a couple of new things on this build, firstly using Vallejo spray primer and secondly doing a winter wash. The results are ok but a little dissapointing, more practice is needed I think.I decided against adding the Flak Crew figures, going to use them at a later date.

Thanks again and look forward to seeing more top class work

Mark

Looking good Brandon and welcome aboard! 

Glamdring, that's some nice PE work on the Panther fanny! 

Mark - nice work on the flak piece "Achtung!  Jabo!" 

Dupes - looking forward to seeing the final stages of your JagdTiger! 

Thanks scott, tigerman, and glamdring. This is probably the quickest progress of made on a model recently.

Dupes-love the Jagdtiger. it's lookin great... especially the camo!

mmc- awesome SdKfz 7/2. Very nice weathering.

Alright, here is my ISU152. Painting and markings are done. I'm going to let the red star decals set overnight and then its on to weathering. I'n not entirely sure what I'm going to do yet. I think that I may give it a dusting and some signs of use in the city so that means no mud.

All the markings were hand painted except for the stars. The stripes are intentionally messy since I've seen some bad Soviet painting. The stars are from a Dragon T34 decal sheet that I'm not planning on using. I'm getting better at free handing, but if you think my paint writing is bad you should see my hand writing .   

Erik

Thanks for the comment Tigerman. The fruil tracks are hard to set in one place. Everytime I move it I'm constantly resetting the tracks to their proper posisition. They shouldn't be that saggy once I stop moving it.

These are some pics I used as inspiration for the painting and the tracks. 

 Thanks for looking,

Erik

The ISU-152 looks great Geist. The hand painted markings look very realistic.

Alright, I was able to accomplish some small steps on my Marder. Im getting close to the point where I'll start painting the interior.

Small parts attatched to the side and top armor of fighting compartment:

AP rounds are now painted green (tip in the armor forum):

Completed gun:

Filled injection holes on walls of fighting compartment:

Ammunition rack in main compartment (Although it should be flipped):

Thanks for looking

Thanks for the kind words Scott and Modelfreaks was really nervous about this build.

Geist: Your ISU-152 is amazing, havent built any Soviet armour yet, might have to go shopping

Modelfreaks: Looking forward to seeing your Marder, one of my favourites.

Dupes: Fantastic Jagdtiger, love the camo.

Mark

 Hey guys, very nice work going on.

 mmc, nicely done SdKfz 7/2.

 Geist really like the painted slogans. Looks the Part! Looking forward to seeing weathering begin on su 152.

 dupes, the Jagdtiger is looking good. Ready for the weathering.

 Modelfreak, there is alot of detail going in the Marder. Looking good.

 Looking forward to updates all!

 Mobious

Geist wrote:

Thanks for the comment Tigerman. The fruil tracks are hard to set in one place. Everytime I move it I'm constantly resetting the tracks to their proper posisition. They shouldn't be that saggy once I stop moving it.   These are some pics I used as inspiration for the painting and the tracks.     Thanks for looking,   Erik

Based on your reference photos, it looks like there was a fair amount of sag in the tracks.  That's a really nice build.  The hand-painted markings give it a nice look. 

Geist wrote:

Alright, here is my ISU152. Painting and markings are done. I'm going to let the red star decals set overnight and then its on to weathering. I'n not entirely sure what I'm going to do yet. I think that I may give it a dusting and some signs of use in the city so that means no mud.   All the markings were hand painted except for the stars. The stripes are intentionally messy since I've seen some bad Soviet painting. The stars are from a Dragon T34 decal sheet that I'm not planning on using. I'm getting better at free handing, but if you think my paint writing is bad you should see my hand writing .      Erik

Now that is looking great! Though the tracks are very saggy! I often wonder how the Soviets actually advanced with tracks like that, surely they threw them every other kilometer?

Cheers

Mike

Mike I was wondering the same thing, there seems to be a lot of photos of Russian armour showing lots of sag in the tracks. Is there a reason for the excessive sag?

Mark

Guys: I finally have a chance to post some WIP pic's.  Here's the evolution of my T34/85...

Added 01/15/09:

Added 01/21/09:

Thanks everyone for the great comments.

SMJmodeler: Like I said in the armor forum, I am just lovin' that weathering. Can't wait for another post

 SMJ, the progression pics are cool as is the weathering. Nicely done

 Mobious

Steve

All I can say is WOW.  Great chronology sequence.  Can't wait to see more.

Geist............that's some impressive beast,I have got to build one of them.

SMJ..............You just had to show up my T-34/85 with your excellent work,real nice finish you achieved on it.

Well, after a hard few months I have completed my ISU 152. I just finished weathering and other finishing touches. I have taken pics as well. But here is the catch, I drained my camera's battery taking pics. So you guys get a rain check on the fininshed pictures. I'll post them as soon as the battery is charged. Check back in a hour or so. 

EDIT: Here it is.

Erik