Hi Guys,
HI--ANYONE WHO'S TRYING TO VIEW THIS POST, PLEASE BE PATIENT; ['VE APPARENTLY "EXCEEDED BANDWIDTH" FROM PHOTOBUCKET WHICH MUST RESET NOW LATER IN THE MONTH. DOESN'T REALLY MATTER, AS I WON'T BE UPDATING TIL I ET BACK NEXT WEEKEND. THANKS FOR AL THE VIEWS, COMMENTS AND YOUR INTEREST!!! BE BACK SOON!!
Well, I'm back in the saddle again with a build I've been working on for a while here---slow going, as I've been having a number of setbacks with it. Repainting, experimenting, and having to rebuild lost parts. I've finally got it to where I can show some progress.
First of all, the surface of the model is too smooth for a big steel beast...I had to fill in the joint between the first hull addition that you put on.
I used my Dremel to bump and grind in some texture to the hull.
Not sure if you can make it out here....
Next---I"m adding zimmerit from Tamiya putty. Just trying something different; usually I use Squadron's White Putty. There's really no difference at all, in my opinion, after using it. These are Tamiya's Zimm rakes,
Got some "Field-applied" *** going here. The three protoypes built were allegedly used in combat at the end of the war; I want to portray mine as being dressed for war, with some late-additions of zimm and a cool paint scheme.
Next, the bottom of the Trumpeter model has no detail. I used the bottom of the HobbyBoss "Hintern" model as a template for the mods,
This kit has, oddly, a turret interior---but no hull interior. I decided to build it anyway, as an exercise. This was where I did some experimenting--I used the hairspray method to do some weathering on the floor. I mixed my own primer color from Tamiya, and had a few go-arounds of stripping it all to get a "right" color and weathering mix. All the parts were reduced to sub-assemblies to facilitate the painting and assembly.
My experiments with the hairspray chipping. I reduced this somewhat since the photo.
I had to paint the shells before I could put them in the racks. I like the green shells as portrayed in front of the Panzermuseum in Germany. he others, I painted steel, as metal shortages saw these shells made of steel later in the war.
The turret top,.
Top & bottom
The lower turret basket, finally painted, weathered and put together. I plan to add some minor dirt to this as well, from the crew's boots.
The turret basket installed. The fit is tricky here; it was a chore to get this all lined up and every part connected and painted properly. I broke off all of the seat mounts at one point or another, and had to rebuild them all. Ugh!
Well, that's it or now---I have to work on the gun assembly next. I expect that to take a week or so with my schedule lately. 
Thanks for looking in, guys! Any comments and critiques are always welcomed and appreciated! 