DML Grille H Smart Kit WIP *COMPLETE Pics p.9* 05-03-09

Undoubtedly one of your best yet Bill!

The finish is superb, and the weathering sublime!

Very nice.

Looks great Bill! Congrats!

Bill - A work of art. I agree with Karl...a new Bill high.

Reading your WIP is like eating Special K. It has everything you need daily but there is not fat. Outstanding!!

Rounds Complete!!

Another master piece Bill. The camo scheme is what I really like the most, WOW.

What's up next on the bench?

Rob

Yeah BABY.  That is gonna be tough to beat.  So you should quit modelling now...

NOT!

Amazing work Bill I like the mud on the wheels it looks realy good

Would the Testors Lusterless Flat lacquer that you used work with Tamyia acrilics?? I've not had very much sucses with flat coats and am trying to find something that works well.

stick man wrote:

Amazing work Bill I like the mud on the wheels it looks realy good Would the Testors Lusterless Flat lacquer that you used work with Tamyia acrilics?? I've not had very much sucses with flat coats and am trying to find something that works well.

Anthony, Edmund, MM96, thanks for the comments!

Karl, I had a lot of fun with this one...and letting it sit for a week from last weekend to this really helped give me clarity on the "final" look it needed to bring it all together. Thanks for the kind words as always!

Mike, considering this one is an OOB build, I like the "Special K" designation! Thanks for following along.

Rob, appreciate the kind words and next up will be a Pz III M I think using the older DML Imperial series kit and some goodies.

Marc (dupes), I've had my morning Cheerios and am starting the photo process now...so check back in this afternoon and should have some final pics up for you.

Marc (WN), can't quit yet, still too many wingy-thingy builders out there who haven't been converted yet. Thanks for the comments!

stick man wrote:

Amazing work Bill I like the mud on the wheels it looks realy good Would the Testors Lusterless Flat lacquer that you used work with Tamyia acrilics?? I've not had very much sucses with flat coats and am trying to find something that works well.

Orion, thanks for the comments on the wheels. The Testors lacquer will work on any surface, whether acrylics or enamels, and I use the spray can version because it's simple and easy and achieves a dead flat finish every time. I've tried spraying flat coats through the airbrush and while that does give more control, it involves a lot more clean-up effort vs. the spray can. Just make sure you thoroughly shake the can (30-60 seconds) to make sure it's mixed well before spraying and use quick passes to avoid heavy coats and it works great. HTH.

After a short stint in the photo booth, this one is now done. Build #95 is in the bag!

Thanks Bill, you're an inspiration to us all.

You have my permission to build what ever you like next,you've earned it.

Tony the Mutt 

Michael, thanks for the comments and glad you liked it!

plumline wrote:

What does the words smart kit on the box mean.

"Smart Kit" is a DML designation for their newer line of kits. DML typically has 4 kinds of kits with their current releases..."regular" kits, "Super" kits, "Premium" kits, and "Smart" kits. It can get complicated and not always black-and-white in the distinctions but generally "regular" kits don't have any kind of label or special designation and may or may not include things like PE, clear parts, etc. "Super" kits were a concept, mostly with the early Pz IV vehicles, where DML provided all kinds of extras in the box and the parts count went over 1000 parts consistently for a very detailed, but complex, build. Realizing that not everyone wants 1000 parts in a kit, DML then adopted the "Smart" kit approach, keeping the detail by using slide molding extensively but reducing the parts count and generally keeping the PE to a minimum (although that varies from kit to kit). The idea behind the "Smart" kit approach is to provide maximum detail possible but without opting for a large parts count necessarily. The "Premium" kit designation applies to older kits in the 6000 series that have been partially retooled or upgraded with newer parts while still retaining older parts/sprues to bring them up to a more modern standard and allow DML to resell them and get more money out of an existing kit w/ upgrades vs. having to create a totally retooled kit. HTH.

Great looking, Grille...Wow, #95 !!!  You need to pick a really special build for the century mark...

By the way, how does your count work---when did you start counting?  I ask because I don't remember when I built my first model and couldn't remember all of them, although I could probably tell you pretty close the number since I last got into the hobby "seriously"....  

       As always Bill a beautiful finish to an outstanding wip.

   Now if we could just get you to put your pieces of art on a base. (And maybe a fig or two )  

Bill: Thanks for the info on the tank, I'll go look it up!  Hey, I like your dirt/mud technique...pigment/water/rub remove...seems so simple, yet very effective!  I think I'll try that soon, maybe my 251!

Bill - awesome finish on this one. Up there with my personal favorites of your builds...not Tiger Initial favorite, but in the top 5.

I'm with Manny here - when did you start counting builds? When you got "back" into modeling a few years ago? Got a list of your 95 builds somewhere?

Mansteins revenge wrote:

Great looking, Grille...Wow, #95 !!!  You need to pick a really special build for the century mark... By the way, how does your count work---when did you start counting?  I ask because I don't remember when I built my first model and couldn't remember all of them, although I could probably tell you pretty close the number since I last got into the hobby "seriously"....

Thanks MR! I'm not sure exactly what I'm going to do for #100...the builds lately are taking longer than they used to...this one took 7 weeks (started it on 3/19) so getting to #100 is still a little way off...should get there this year though (I hope!). I started my count based on when I started building armor models in 2002...I have photos of all my builds and went off the timestamp on those photos to establish the "very first" ones. I had a very long break in between building as a kid/teenager and returning to the hobby and when I returned I returned to what I knew...aircraft...and built a half dozen or so before switching over to armor.

Steve (panzerguy), thanks for the comments and also for keeping the subtle reminder of figs/bases always there in the background.

SMJmodeler wrote:

Bill: Thanks for the info on the tank, I'll go look it up!  Hey, I like your dirt/mud technique...pigment/water/rub remove...seems so simple, yet very effective!  I think I'll try that soon, maybe my 251!

Steve, glad the info helped! Not too many photos out there of this little guy even though there were around 200 or so built. I have a few in the references, let me know by PM if you don't have any luck on your own. As for the pigment technique...like many things I discovered that one by accident when I had trouble removing a too thick application one time and found out it created a really nice effect in the process!

dupes wrote:

Bill - awesome finish on this one. Up there with my personal favorites of your builds...not Tiger Initial favorite, but in the top 5. I'm with Manny here - when did you start counting builds? When you got "back" into modeling a few years ago? Got a list of your 95 builds somewhere?

Marc, tough to top the Tiger...that one was such a unique project for sure! Glad this one cracked the Top 5 for you though. I'll post the list of the 95 in a separate response so it doesn't clutter up this particular post. Stay tuned.

Jim, thanks for the comments...and welcome to the forum and the hobby! You're absolutely right about the DML instructions...it's the one area where they continue to seem to not care too much about reader-friendliness or even basic accuracy in the diagrams and parts numbering at times...definitely something to be endured and overcome!

Marc, I hope this works out ok...it displayed correctly when I previewed it...but let's see. The gaps in 2002/2003 are when I was still building AC mixed in with the armor but I didn't keep the AC kits listed in the completion tracking since, well, this is supposed to be about armor builds. Some of the dates in 2004 are misleading as well as obviously I didn't complete them all in November...I lost some photos in an HD incident and was able to restore them but they all got the same load date when I did that. They were all done in 2004 though.

Wow, Bill, that's realy REALLY a good looking SP.  Your stuff appears flawless in the photos, I'm sure there is stuff you notice that others don't, but really, from a technical standpoint, it looks perfect to me.

To be honest, I was not in love with the camo early on, but I held my tongue, and boy I am glad I did, it's just stunning.

Thanks for sharing,

Bill

PS I am laboring away on those Princess Modelkastens!     

DaGreatQueeg wrote:

Very impressive build Bill, excellent pics and mini tute on the pigment application too!  I can never get pics of that stage myself - once I start I'm always in too much of a hurry to get it finished as its sort of like rounding the corner and seeing the chequered flag waving ........

Thanks Brent! Have to agree it's tough to remember to take pics once I get into the finishing and weathering stages...especially if I'm trying out something new because there's often some trial and error involved and I'm too busy trying and erring to take pics when it does finally work!

The weathering around the bolts is perfect, really makes them pop out and compliment your quirky, but cool camo. I think it's the unusual camo that sets this guy off for me. Got to get one.

What a list. built a few of them myself. I've probably missed some, but I did enjoy that Bison kitbash.

Bill - that list is NUTS!

I really wish I had done something like this since my second modeling stage began...wonder if I could reconstruct a list. Hmmm. Interesting to me to see the different phases you went through - the "Early Tamiya" Bill, the "Found DML" Bill, the "Experimenting With Crappy Russian-Made Kits" Bill.

I'm assuming that none of your builds prior to the DML Elefant exist in build-log form? Only pics in  your gallery? If that's the case, then I have tons of questions for you about several of your builds from the early days. Have many of those same kits patiently awaiting their place in the build queue, would love to get some input from you on them.

I can't believe how many of these I've missed since late '06 when I joined the forum...looks like I'm headed to the coffee shop to poach some broadband to DL some build logs.

Impressive...most impressive!

Thanks Eric! The Grille H was always one of those vehicles that I've had a soft spot for...can't really point to anything in particular, it just looks very effective and "solid" I guess. Thanks for following along and glad to hear there's some common ground in the build list. The Bison I kit bash exercise was timed perfectly...about 2-3 months after I finished it, DML announced their all-new tooled kit of the same vehicle!

Marc, you're right in that there were "patterns" that emerged over time...when I first started out, I was building vehciles that I saw in the game "World War Two Online" and, at the time, Tamiya was the only one making those...and the LHS had them readily available and they were cheap...but didn't take long before I moved off of them to other manufacturers. The "Experimenting with Crappy Russian-made Kits" made me smile! I even dabbled a little in the Allied realm before committing fully to the German sphere of influence.

You're right about the builds before the Elefant not existing in build-log form. That was the first one I kept as a full blown log...before that I would post WIPs that were mostly photos with minimal text here on FSM but didn't keep my own site records other than photos. Happy to answer questions if I can about those earlier builds but it's been a while...I kept the instructions from all my built kits so can at least refer to that to try to jog the memory!