FINISHED! Page 7-the doog's BEST? Sdkfz 251/17 Ausf. D w/2cm Schwebelafette

I'm doing this kit for the 251 halftarck GB. Was almost finished before i left for the desert. I didn't have a problem with the running gear, but i did have when it came to fitting the hull sides and rear. Not sure if it was just me, but i found they didn't fit correctly. I ended up removing the little bits that stick out of each side of the rear hull plate. Other than that i have had no issues so far. All i have left to do when i get hoime is the third colour, i am doing the one from 16th Pz DIv, then weather and add the tracks and wheels.

As for the tracks, it doesn't matter, Infact, most 251's had rubber pads. They only tried for a short while with ure metal tarcks but was not succesful. Also,  there are are two different syles, soemtiems called early and late. But again, both were used at same time, especially later in the war. And both those tracks in the kit have rubber pads.

OK.....maybe we have multiple aliens on theis kit....it would appear the person who packed the tracks also cam from planet STUPIDITER!!!

Well 4 hours down the crapper but you have fixed a mess. That's what real modeling is about!!

Rounds Complete!! 

Karl,

Even though it took quite a bit of time, looks like you were able to salvage it in the end!

Nice save Doog. I'm finishing up a 251 Ausf. D Falke and like Bish said attaching the hull sides and rear plate can be tricky. Test fit and test fit again. I was actually able to get all the hull pieces attached and glued together without any filler or surgery. A trick that I used to avoid the dreaded wheel float was to assemble and leave the front wheel assembly off until I attached and finished the tracks, then I was able to atach the front wheel assembly and adjust the height of them to make sure the wheels touched. And as mentioned before watch the track lengths, in some of my previous DML halftracks I had to adjust the rear idler wheel (either the tracks were too short or too long) by cutting it off and moving to compensate for the length of the tracks. I've been wanting this kit for awhile so I'll be watching with great interest. Beautiful Nashorn by the way. 

Awesome work---you are becoming more prolific than Biffa !!!  I did mine a few years ago and it was a beast to build...pre-SMART kit years:

What scheme 'ya gonna do....???

Thanks, guy--good info there, Bish--hope you're home safely soon. I want to see what you do with this kit!

panzer88, thanks for that info tooo; luckily, I think I'm cool with the track length; I just got them linked up and they're pretty dead-on. I'm letting 'em dry as I check my posts here.

Manny--beautiful job on that one! I like the careful finish! I'm not sure what I'm going to do for a finish yet; I'm thinking possibly of a tiny brushed-on "dapple" scheme? I've never done one of them before.

I may be wrong on this, but did you add the rear wheels a little low on your /17 there? I think that the last wheel should not be on an even plane with the rest, but elevated by about 3mm or so?

  Nice save Doog.  Hopefully, the remainder of the build will be uneventful.  But the advice from the 251 Group Build for these Dragon kits was dry fit, dry fit, dry fit.  It was good advice for me when it came to mating the upper and lower hulls.

the doog wrote:

I permanently glued the first 6 inner wheels on--they'll be easy to paint attached. Then, I added a tiny drop of glue to the attachment points of the other wheels, and glued them on. I will later twist them off, after I assemble the tracks around them completely. I willl then add them after the tracks and wheels are painted, same as I do tank tracks.

I'm curious.  Why use glue instead of temporarily mounting the wheels with a small dab of blue tack, for example?

 Don

the doog wrote:

Manny--beautiful job on that one! I like the careful finish! I'm not sure what I'm going to do for a finish yet; I'm thinking possibly of a tiny brushed-on "dapple" scheme? I've never done one of them before. I may be wrong on this, but did you add the read wheels a little but low on your /17 there? I think that the last wheel should not be on an even plane with the rest, but elevated by about 3mm or so?

As far as the roadwheel, I had never heard of the first one being higher, so I went back and checked several ref pics and plates of 251's and 250's sitting on level ground and they looked to be all on the horizontal plane to me...but I'm no expert on the sdkfz 250 either...???

MR,

Doog's talking about the rearmost wheel (I think) which is the idler. This should be elevated slightly in relation to the actual road wheels contacting the ground and the way DML calls for the installation of its mount virtually insures this should be the case.

Mansteins revenge wrote:

As far as the roadwheel, I had never heard of the first one being higher, so I went back and checked several ref pics and plates of 251's and 250's sitting on level ground and they looked to be all on the horizontal plane to me...but I'm no expert on the sdkfz 250 either...???

What Bill said--the last roadwheel--I got nervous, because on my build, the rearmost wheel definitely sits higher, and I was nervous about having to do more corrective surgery again! But Bill is correct--I triple-checked the directions, and the way you mount that idler mounting, it definitely rides higher. Now I'm curious as to how you managed to have your kit's wheels lower? This kit I have is NOT a "Smart Kit", by the way, so I don't think any retooling would have been done yet?

In any case, it's something to look out for in future 251 builds.

pordoi wrote:

I'm curious.  Why use glue instead of temporarily mounting the wheels with a small dab of blue tack, for example?  Don

the doog wrote:

Mansteins revenge wrote:   As far as the roadwheel, I had never heard of the first one being higher, so I went back and checked several ref pics and plates of 251's and 250's sitting on level ground and they looked to be all on the horizontal plane to me...but I'm no expert on the sdkfz 250 either...??? Sorry Manny--I just looked at my horrible typing there, and it's no wonder I confused you! What Bill said--the last roadwheel--I got nervous, because on my build, the rearmost wheel definitely sits higher, and I was nervous about having to do more corrective surgery again! But Bill is correct--I triple-checked the directions, and the way you mount that idler mounting, it definitely rides higher. Now I'm curious as to how you managed to have your kit's wheels lower? This kit I have is NOT a "Smart Kit", by the way, so I don't think any retooling would have been done yet? In any case, it's something to look out for in future 251 builds.

Nice work Doog!! I'm building one of these now and this tread is realy giveing me inspiraiton to work more on it!!

Nice job!!

Hey Manny--it's still a kick-***-looking kit! If it wasn;t for this thread and the advice I got while buiding it, I would've missed that track float issue until it was too late, too.

stick man--thanks for looking in! 

Well, just a quick update--I've finally got all the building done for me to paint the interior. Here's where I am so far--I still have to build the outer details. I can do that while the interior is drying.

I have to say that this build is definitely the most challenging kit I've ever worked on--that little "schwebelafette" is a BEAR to build. Tons of tiny parts and a very intricate assembly! 

I'll be painting the interior this afternoon, and should have some pics later...

Oh, MAN, I like to see your paint pics.  I feel like a kid on Christmas eve, well, not really, I can look but not touch, but still--looking forward to see this one get Dooged.

Bill  

Nice work on the gun and interior Karl, looking forward to seeing it painted.

Hey doods!

Thanks, guys, for looking in yet again! Here's an update!

All paints called out are Tamiya acrylics. I started painting by first undecoating with a dark brown mixture, followed by straight Dark Yellow. I then added some Black to it, and added some shading.

I then added about 20% Dark Yellow to 80% White, and added highlights. This flash picture shows the rich contrast.

I added a wash of MIG premxed filter "Gray", and then some pin washes of "Dark Wash", followed by some chipping in layers. I used some Primer Red from 502 Abteilung on some bigger chips, and mixed a black/brown steel mixture to chip inside that. I did some drybrushing in light tan, and then in the steel mixture.

Here's the little bugger that almost did me in--the scwebelafette! I don't know if it's just me, but this little snot was one of the most complex things I've ever built! Sheesh! Here it is, NAKED! (I hope this pic doesn't get deleted! LOL!)...Tamiya instructions has a weird painting recommendation--only the barrel is gunmetal, but I didnt like the way it looked---didn't seem realistic, and looking at the second picture below, not accurate--so I painted it the way I think it looks?

Here's how it looks with the skirt on. If you notice something here; see the gunner's seat? The way it attaches in the kit parts, it sits directly under the skirt when you apply it. I noticed this after putting the skirt on. Compare it to the top picture.

So I cut the post that the seat sits on, and moved it closer to the inside, so that the gunner would conceivably sit inside the skirt--where he would, normally.

So anyway, here's the pieces--notice that I painted this interior in subassemblies as well, like the Hornisse. The floor is actually separate as well; it's just put in place for the photo...

The dash---gotta love those decals!

And the interior so far....the leather seat backs were first painted "Nutmeg" craft store paint, and then finished with oils. The floor was weathered with MIG washes and oils--there will also be some pigments added, but I didn't want them to get in the glue when I glue the pieces together...I added a strapped-in water jerry can there in the space between the magazine storage and the side bins.

And the side. floor, and dash glued in, and the gun, stood in place, temporarily....

Now I'll add some pigments to the floor, build the rest of the outside details, and then it's on to the exterior painting! 

Thanks for looking in, guys! Comments welcomed!

Your painting and weathering skills are amazing! Top notch work as usual, Doog! 

Doog,

Great work.  I really like your attention to detail.  A case in point; the stains on the floor.  You should really think about a more detailed description for the paragraph like this one:

the doog wrote:

I added a wash of MIG premxed filter "Gray", and then some pin washes of "Dark Wash", followed by some chipping in layers. I used some Primer Red from 502 Abteilung on some bigger chips, and mixed a black/brown steel mixture to chip inside that. I did some drybrushing in light tan, and then in the steel mixture.

I'm sure that I'm not the only one that would like to see a play-by-play of this process.  Also the gun looks great!  Good call on painting by intuition.  Sometimes its easy to think the instructions are "correct"  (yeah, right ).  Maybe scwebelafette  translates to:  it's a to assemble. 

Not to say that there are not challenges ahead.  Assembling all of those sub-assenblies can be a real joy.....

 Don

fell asleep and missed another one! You're cranking them out Karl!

I don't even know what to comment on so I'll go ahead and point out the fact that Hans spilled one too many cokes in the back seat- he should tell Franz to ease up on the throttle when they go over the war torn countryside

And that's one awkward looking girl, maybe she should just keep that skirt on... I wonder if Manny wants to marry her too?

All kidding aside this is definitly a very unique piece... as far as I can tell anyway- I've never seen one! I'd ask you about what you're going to do with figures or base posibilites but seeing as how I kinda skipped ahead to get to the good stuff I'm sure when I wake up tomorrow I'll have a few minutes before the Super Bowl to read up on the thread and find out for myself. I really like the lived in look as usual- maps tucked in, guns oiled up and ready to be deployed- looks great! You got enough room to keep all of em? 

pordoi wrote:

the doog wrote: I added a wash of MIG premxed filter "Gray", and then some pin washes of "Dark Wash", followed by some chipping in layers. I used some Primer Red from 502 Abteilung on some bigger chips, and mixed a black/brown steel mixture to chip inside that. I did some drybrushing in light tan, and then in the steel mixture.     I'm sure that I'm not the only one that would like to see a play-by-play of this process.  Also the gun looks great!  Good call on painting by intuition.  Sometimes its easy to think the instructions are "correct"  (yeah, right ).  Maybe scwebelafette  translates to:  it's a to assemble.  ..  Don

Thanks everyone else who's looked in and commented!Your comments are always appreciated! 

Enjoy the Superbowl, y'all!

WOW Doog the intirior looks incredable!!!! I can't wait to see the extirior!!!!