251 Halftracks GB 1 October '08 - 8 June '09

Guys: A little WIP here...I've got several sub-assemblies going but each are moving forward well.  Here are the road and front wheels(bbrowniii: Now let's count, 1...34 wheels X 2 = 68 rims to mask with the circle template and paint...):

The racks and crates are painted and washed.  They will get some more TLC later:

The interor with some washes:

A little scratchbuild work on the width indicators and I added a wire to the front light (thanks R34_white for that one!):

I'm sanding and painting the rockets and should finish the interior within a day or two.  Then the top goes on, camo will be added, racks glued, etc...a lot to do in 3 weeks but I'm confident I'll make it on time!

dupes wrote:

Lewbud - glad you've started! I know you build fast, so expecting an on-time finish.

Have you seen my group build tally?  You're an optimistic sort,aren't you. Will do my best.

Bish wrote:

bbrowni i am not 100%, but those seats do look like the wooden ones. espins1 i will echo panzer guy. Paint the interior before fitting the other parts, especially those that are different colours. Oncew i had the interior painted and the top and bottom together, i just filled the inside with tissue.

Nope, they are not.  A complete brain-fart on my part.  I convinced myself early on that I could make them pass as wood, then painted them as such.  It was not until I saw the pics that I realized it didn't pass muster.  I put a coat of leather on them, so the wood effect is gone, but they do not match the back rests...  I think I'll probably have to live with it unless I want to pull 'em out and completely repaint them.

Espins, yeah, go with what Panzer and Bish are saying - paint the interior, mask it off, paint the exterior...

OK my update: I figured out my seat backs without having to do any scratchbuilding or major surgery (I realized the other boxes that they attach to are side specific, though the instructions don't clearly illustrate that).  I also spent some time last night doing some little fiddly stuff: I added slings to the three rifles I decided to put in, I wired the radio and drilled a hole in the side of the hole for the antenna wire...  Misc stuff like that is about where I stand at this point...  Hope to have some pics soon...

Bish wrote:

Looks like its a sprint finish here, but some great work goling on. Really looking forward to seeing your /8 pics dupes, thats deffinatly one conversion i want to do in the future. Can you just remind me, the /2, is that a kit or a conversion. If a kit, whch one and is it still available.

Bish - the /2 can be had in kit form, not sure if it's still available or not, but Cyber Hobby makes it. Number 6326 if I remember correctly. If you're just adding the mortar to do a true /2, it's not hard to find the additional sprues to do your own conversion of another DML 251 - their Mortar Team figure kit (6215) has the same sprue, and Tank Workshop makes a set of applicable ammo boxes.

As for the /8, not doing the true conversion with the whole interior replacing the benches with the welded cots and other assorted medical goodness, but am replicating a lot of the ambulance add-ons to the exterior, plus a funky ambulance paint scheme.

Russamys - sorry to hear you have to drop out at this late date. Maybe next time.

Well, was going to go to Warbirds over Addison, but it decided to rain so I started my kit instead.  Not much progress, got the chassis pe and road arm bumpers on.  Did some work in the pit.  Pics at http://public.fotki.com/lewbud/fine-scale-group-builds/251-group-build/

Looks like its a sprint finish here, but some great work goling on. Really looking forward to seeing your /8 pics dupes, thats deffinatly one conversion i want to do in the future. Can you just remind me, the /2, is that a kit or a conversion. If a kit, whch one and is it still available.

 bbrowni i am not 100%, but those seats do look like the wooden ones.

espins1 i will echo panzer guy. Paint the interior before fitting the other parts, especially those that are different colours. Oncew i had the interior painted and the top and bottom together, i just filled the inside with tissue.

Looking forward to seeing all the finished results in the next few weeks.

Unfortunately, I will not complete the group build by the deadline.  My company is shipping me off to temporarily manage one of our field sites for the next several weeks.  The economy continues to dictate that we lay off people, and those that are remaining get to pick up the pieces (which is infinately preferable to being unemployed).

Once the weekends are mine again, I will finish my kit and post the results.  Best of luck to the rest of you!

espins1 wrote:

Hey guys, this is my first open topped vehicle build.  Do you recommend spraying the interior first, and then installing the painted seats and the rest of the painted interior parts?  I'm thinking that would be best as I can then just mask off the inside with cotton or whatever.  Anyone have any better methods they would recommend?

     Scott I would say yes, spray the interior and the inside of the upper hull before you attach things like seats back rest's, steering wheel and hand levers. Then add them after their painted. Things like gas mask canisters fire extinguishers and dash panels I go ahead and attach before I spray the interior then paint them afterwards.

Anybody know of a good dark yellow besides the Tamiya spray can.  I used it on my C model a couple of years ago with good results, but have had a couple of bad experiences with it since then.

Dupes-realize this is off topic a little, but I've put a few of my Hind shots on my fotki site.  Let me know when you're ready and I'll send you a CD.  If you, or any one else for that matter, want to have a looksee it's http://public.fotki.com/lewbud/helicopters/mi-24-hind/  Enjoy.  Will post pics of the 16D when I have something.

bbrowniii: The steering wheel and knob thing is why we do these GB thingies...we both learned something.  Bummer about the seats, but don't sweat it.  I have a similar gaf on my seats. I used a combo of PE and kit parts and it pushed the seat back too far forward on the PE end (near the front seats).  It's VERY obvious, BUT I think my savior is that someone posted a great picture of a real 251/1 and it had extra rocket crates in the troop compartment.  Lucky for me I happen to score a set of figs and four extra rocket crates made especially for my 251 last year so wah-la...add the extra crates, fix a problem!

panzerguy: Looking good!  That is one big friggin' cannon on that puppy!  Can you imagine the sound and vibration in the troop area?!...wow!  By the way, did you saw off your bowling trophy figure and steal the base for your model?  Actually I really like it, where'd you get that?

dupes: Tarps, CANNOT be toilet paper.  You'll just have a wet messy ball!  Use facial tissue, with no frilly pattern...preferably white.  I recommend using a VERY diluted mix of white glue and water and slighty moisten the tissue.  Form it to the shape you want and then let it dry overnight.  When you paint it, use a thinned mix and dab-it...let the paint seep to the edges versus painting right up to them because you'll get too much build-up if you don't.  Let it dry completely again...reapply.  After the second application of paint the absorbancy should be gone and you can finish it up like any canvas.  Good luck!

Marathon session is right! Looks like you're on the home stretch there Steve.

Boyd - you're getting there at a rapid pace as well...although at this point I'd probably caution against trying to scratchbuild some new benches? Maybe no one will notice. Heh.

Assembly is juuuust about finished on the /8 - just have to try to whip up a tarp to cover the interior. When you guys make your own homemade canvas, what do you use? Tissues? Toilet paper? I've been getting decent results with lens cleaning cloths, but want to give something new a shot. Ideas? 

Steve

 That/22 is lookin' sharp!  I forget what you said the scheme is going to be, so I'll look forward to your next round of pics.

Thanks for the insight on the steering wheel and the shift knobs.

Well, the ol' AFV kicked me in the teeth again.  Just when I though I had worked out most of the kinks, and all I had to do was assemble all the small details, WHAM, it smacked me.  The backs for the troop seat benches that cover the rifle racks... yeah, they're too long .  Only be about a millimeter, but hey, a millimeter is a millimeter, right...  I'm trying to decide if I will sculpt new ones or cut down the old...

     Did somebody cut the cheese?

    Boyd the actual color is Model Master's interior buff. And I've seen the steering wheels both ways. On the one I'm doing now, the /22, the wheel is all black. Another thing it would not be to far off having the shift knobs a little glossy. I do believe they were made of plastic maybe Bakelite and after a while they would have a shine to them.

    Okay did a marathon session and got the /22 all buttoned up and have everything on except the mud flaps.

  Now it's on to the paint booth.   

SMJmodeler wrote:

bbrowniii wrote: Umm, the steering wheel center bars?  To be honest, I am not entirely sure.  Didn't see anything that indicated such, but also have not seen anything to indicate it is not the case... I'm pretty confident on this one...BUT, with your two tone interior it might be the ivory color.

SMJ,

You really piqued my curiousity about this.  I did a little research on-line.  I could not find too much, but I did find a color shot of a 250 and the steering wheel is all black.  At the same time, I noticed that on some builds (Panzerguys 251/10 Africa Korps for example ), he did paint 'em (ivory, no less).  On others (Wingnut's /17), he did not.

I'll just claim mine came from a different manufacturer who only deals in black...

I'll chock that one up to experrience and hope to remember it for the next 251 I build (I've got 3 or 4 more in the stash!!)

SMJmodeler wrote:

dupes wrote: Huh. Good for you! I guess that packing cheese into boxes, while very tasty, doesn't fulfill my "creative urges". OK, back to 251's!...Did you read I'm thinking of going three color camo!  I resigned to the fact that with the rocket racks and the delicate PE on those racks that the soft-edge camo' route would be wise versus any silly putty hard edge method.  Then I thought, what the heck, might as well add the dark green while I'm at it!

I will be excited to see that!  Got any IP pics?

dupes wrote:

SMJmodeler wrote: I'm getting some late GB excitement going!  You know the, "I hate that my job is interfering with my workbench time" feeling?! Hmmmm...I have that feeling all the time...don't you guys?

No, not me... not all the time....

Just when I'm awake....

dupes wrote:

Huh. Good for you! I guess that packing cheese into boxes, while very tasty, doesn't fulfill my "creative urges".

ACTUALLY, if I combined my job with yours it would be PERFECT!...I LOVE CHEESE!...I could have a pen drawing in one hand and a hunk of sharp cheddar in the other!  I'd probably "eat-up" my profits though...so to speak.

OK, back to 251's!...Did you read I'm thinking of going three color camo!  I resigned to the fact that with the rocket racks and the delicate PE on those racks that the soft-edge camo' route would be wise versus any silly putty hard edge method.  Then I thought, what the heck, might as well add the dark green while I'm at it!

Huh. Good for you! I guess that packing cheese into boxes, while very tasty, doesn't fulfill my "creative urges".

Maybe I should open a hobby store?

dupes wrote:

SMJmodeler wrote: I'm getting some late GB excitement going!  You know the, "I hate that my job is interfering with my workbench time" feeling?! Hmmmm...I have that feeling all the time...don't you guys?

dupes: Not always because I'm actually one of the fortunate few that has a job that requires creativity.  In fact, I get the same feeling designing, coloring and "assembling" my projects in mind as I do when modeling.  I've even been so lucky as to build a model of my designs now and then. 

SMJmodeler wrote:

I'm getting some late GB excitement going!  You know the, "I hate that my job is interfering with my workbench time" feeling?!

Hmmmm...I have that feeling all the time...don't you guys?

bbrowniii wrote:

The seperation is based on info I read that forward of the L-braces, the forward comparment (the partially enclosed part) was ivory, while the rear of the compartment (the open top part) is the hull color.

Gotcha!...it just looked strange...but now that I know that'll make yours unique!

bbrowniii wrote:

The seat cushions are a different color because I screwed up...  Originally, I thought the bench seats were wood, so I painted them as such.  Then I realized they are actually padded seats.  I went back yesterday to add some leather and will try to match them to the other seat pads.

I hate when that happens!

bbrowniii wrote:

Umm, the steering wheel center bars?  To be honest, I am not entirely sure.  Didn't see anything that indicated such, but also have not seen anything to indicate it is not the case...

I'm pretty confident on this one...BUT, with your two tone interior it might be the ivory color.

bbrowniii wrote:

And finally, yeah, I'll knock that shine down a little - I actually only noticed it when I took the pic, but I'm gonna shoot a little dulcoat in there once I get the washes to my liking...

Check!

OH...I forgot to mention, I did a little "what's it gonna' look like," no glue assembly...I put the top on, the racks, the crates..etc...and WOW!...this baby is gonna' be SWEET!!!  In fact, I'm considering going with three-color camo' instead of two!  I'm getting some late GB excitement going!  You know the, "I hate that my job is interfering with my workbench time" feeling?!

SMJmodeler wrote:

bbrowniii: I guess were all so busy building we don't have time to reply...but we still love ya' man!  I hear ya' on the scattered/disorganized thing!  I've got half built assemblies all over the place, the 251 sure is a challenge, huh? Your dirty wash looks good...but what gives with the gray/dark yellow separation... A few other things: Why are the seat cushions different colors?  Aren't the steering wheel center bars supposed to be dark yellow?  You might want to knock down the shine on the gear shift handles.

Hey SMJ,

Yeah, these 251s are a bit of work...

The seperation is based on info I read that forward of the L-braces, the forward comparment (the partially enclosed part) was ivory, while the rear of the compartment (the open top part) is the hull color.

The seat cushions are a different color because I screwed up...  Originally, I thought the bench seats were wood, so I painted them as such.  Then I realized they are actually padded seats.  I went back yesterday to add some leather and will try to match them to the other seat pads.

Umm, the steering wheel center bars?  To be honest, I am not entirely sure.  Didn't see anything that indicated such, but also have not seen anything to indicate it is not the case...

And finally, yeah, I'll knock that shine down a little - I actually only noticed it when I took the pic, but I'm gonna shoot a little dulcoat in there once I get the washes to my liking...

bbrowniii: I guess were all so busy building we don't have time to reply...but we still love ya' man!  I hear ya' on the scattered/disorganized thing!  I've got half built assemblies all over the place, the 251 sure is a challenge, huh?

Your dirty wash looks good...but what gives with the gray/dark yellow separation... A few other things: Why are the seat cushions different colors?  Aren't the steering wheel center bars supposed to be dark yellow?  You might want to knock down the shine on the gear shift handles. 

I've added the washes to my interior and I'm about to start the drybrushing...I have some of the same things to address as you...seat color, gear knobs...etc...I'll try to post a picture soon.

Good Luck...and YES, we're under a month now!

HEY!  I'm startin' to get a complex over here!!  It's been three days since I posted my WIP and no comments.... 

I think I'll just curl up in a ball and cry...

"Nobody likes me, everybody hates me, I think I'll just go eat worms..."

So where the heck is everyone?  Workin' hard to make the deadline so you don't have to face dupes' wrath?

Hey guys!

SMJ, nice work on those crates.  Pretty intricate bugger, those...

I haven't posted any updates lately because I got really disorganized in this build.  I had little bits and pieces scattered all over my bench and any time down there would be very indirected: I'd paint one gun barrel, then I'd paint a vision block, then I'd paint a shovel, then a wooden handle...  it was just... disorganized and there was little progress to show.

Today I had a pretty good session down at the bench and got most of the interior done.  Only a few other bits and pieces to put in and some finish painting to do.  I still have to add a coat of dark brown to the seats to complete what (I hope) will be a convincing leather look.  I also have to finish painting the ammo crates. 

As for the driver's compartment - my details are all hand painted, so some of them are not great, but as well as they can be seen I am not too concerned...  I have applied a dirty wash to the floor area and will go back and drybrush some more smudges and scuffs tonight.

Hope to button it up tomorrow...

I also found out I am going to have the dreaded front wheel gap due to putting the front suspension on before the tracks... I'll have to put this sucker on a base to cover up my gaffe since it is too late to tear that whole thing apart.  Don't tell anyone, OK?

So, any suggestions?

Do we really have less than a month??!!