38H German Artillery observation vehicle,Trumpeter Kit finnished.......

 Bodge, that's one very interesting looking vehicle. Don't recall overseeing one of these.

 I'm looking forward to seeing what you do paint and weather wise.  

An interesting project for sure Andy! Looking forward to seeing where you take this one. I was just reading in one of the PanzerTracts the other day about how the French-based beutepanzer vehicles were kept in the West on a regular basis even though the conversions had been done in late '41-'42 for the most part because of spare parts issues and the need to stay close to the French factories that could produce them. While some vehicles like the Lorraine-based Marder I actually did get shipped out to the Russian and even N. Africa fronts because of urgent needs, the H38 family tended to stay close to home in France. Some of the gun-tank types were also used as anti-partisan vehicles in places like Yugoslavia and Italy as well.

The irony of course is that the H38 family of vehicles saw more service in German hands than they did in French!   

This will be an interesting build to follow. What do you use to rework the weld seams? I  have just started back into building armour models and in good "Angus Creighton" tradition am looking for a pyrogravure tool (without much succes I must admit).

Julian

Hi , to the previous question on weld beads i used the pyrograph method. Bill i think you are right on that one because most of the pictures of this kind of tank ive seen are all in France.

Today i have laid on some colour and pre shaded then laid on some more premixed colour and then painted the green camo. The last few pictures look very light but its only a case of the artificial light and the base coat is the same one as seen in the pics before the camo went on.I dont know if im gonna leave this two tone or add the dark brown? I do know that most tanks in the later part of the war in France were tri coloured though.

Hummv on tracks is what I see. That's a very good looking kit Bodge. I'm going to be lookin in on this little jewel.

Tony the Mutt

Andy that looks great, did you stay up all last night working on it?

Terry.

cheers guys and yer i did work late last night but im also doin quite a lot tonight.

I have given it three filters with medium brown then i glossed the sections for the decals, laid them on then  then it recieved a matt coat of clear and i have started to do the base coat on the tracks and fillin some detail painting eg the tools and handles. Thats as far as i can go tonight as the paint needs to harden up a bit for the oil dot method tommorow.

This is how the interior is comin on ,It was a bit plain and ive had to scratch a lot of detail so far but i will do a more indepth report on this part later.

Holy cow!  Another one already... you are truly a MACHINE for fixing up new models every day or so!!!  Looking good especially the camo as I believe I haven't seen this before.  Was it during the early or late war?  I don't think I have seen this vehicle before EITHER!!!

Wow bodge, your really pumping out some beauties my friend. An interesting vehicle with an interesting camo scheme, well done.

Rob

Thanks everyone, i have based this on late war camo in France. Today i have done the oil dot method and blended with turpentine.

Then i added the lighter negative chips with a lighter colour of the original colour with white being added.

Then i added the darker chips inside the lighter ones just leaving a tiny amount of the light chip as an outside edge to represent the chipped paint.

I then blackened the tools and the gun and started to add some light rust streaking around some joints and fittings. After this i added some metal wearing with a lead pensil but try not to get carried away with any of the above techniques as little is sometimes more in effect.I then added some streaking down the sides and leaded up the MG. This is now ready for me to do the tracks and silver the wheels where they meet the tracks and the weathering with pigment powders which will really bring this dude to life.

OH MY that is looking great Bodge

Tony the Mutt

Yes Bill ive been busy on this one and itscome together in no time, One evening to build and two to paint so far and all ive got left to do is finnish the tracks and then do any minor details but they can go on and on , still its a quik one for my standards to be sure. I have done some weathering tonight and ive been at it since 6pm and its now ten to twelve, that,ll do tonight.

That weathering, oil dot method REALLY looks great, Bodge.

Nice work.

Bill 

Bodge wrote:

This kit is from Trumpeter and it set me back £12.00 sterling, its quite hard to get hold of and there is about 4 variants they do, i have got another one with a large gun converted onto which i intend on doing shortly.Let me know if you have trouble finding it as i think i know where one is if you get stuck. Andy.

Thanks for the thought Andy!  I found it in the U.S. on a used\new model site and it is in a sealed factory box for $14.00 US dollars.

I will be watching your build log.  Keep up the great job and stay on task!!

 Andy one day to build and another to paint! Not only am I impressed but in awe also. I wish I could build that fast and get as great results.  

Ive just about done this one , ive added an old figure just for sence of scale and not as part of the build.Oh well i enjoyed that.

Andy you make weathered and beaten look beautiful!  What a great job!  It is amazing how small and tough this AFV looks.

With shipping I picked up this kit for $21.00 total and it should be here by Friday.  What a great diorama vehicle.

Quick and fun, can't argue with that! Nice work on this one Andy, the addition of the figure really does show the tiny size of the vehicle. Only recommendation I would make would be to add some bare-metal wear on the surface of the idler from contact with the tracks. It also looks like you added the wear to the steel road wheels on the right hand side but not the left?

Bodge wrote:

You dont miss much do you Bill, i hadnt finnished painting that side up when i took these photo,s but its done now hense why most of the shots are from the side that was completely done,still its done now and thanks guys for lookin in.

Bill's attention to detail is super scarey isn't it Andy?