Dragon 5cm PaK 38 auf Zugkraftwagen 1t *Finished*

Thanks Clemens, sader, and garzonh!

Unfortunately it did not garzonh. I am really hoping that Dragon or somebody will release a figure set that matches the ones on the box art.

Very nice!

I liked the dust in the wheels and the camo came out very nice.

I only think that some figures are missing to give it character, did the kit did no had the figures?

She's looking great! Well worth the wait, my friend!

Thanks for posting your work.  Exceptional!

'preciate it fellas!! Sorry for the long pause in between updates. You know how it goes!!

So after I got the camo finished, I moved on to an overall wash. I mixed up some white oil with just a touch of Paynes gray in a highly diluted solution and washed all of the top surfaces to hopefully tone down the whitewash scheme and blend it all in. This was after all the undersides got two heavy applications of a raw umber wash. Sorry for the lack of photos as I forgot to snap pics as I went.

The on to the tracks. Oohhhh the tracks. Talk about tiny!! Each link had 2 ejection pin marks that had to be sanded as weill as a small pip on the"guidehorn part". Needless to say, this took some time to clean up.

Now as anyone that has built a Dragon half-track knows, it is possible to make these tracks workable as they come with separate pads that if glued carefully hold the pins their slots. I decided to attempt it and it worked pretty well. I applied the glue to the pad first, let it sit for a second and then applied it to its place on a run of tracks. The kit instructions call for 42 links per side but I used 41. As par for the course, I usually find myself 1/2 a link short and this kit has no adjustment on the rear idler.

Even being successful at making them workable, I still decided to at least glue together the top run so that appropriate sag would show.

Talk about a test of patience!!!!

From there, I painted the collapsible cover. I think I got a pretty close approximation of the color. Added some buff dry-brushing with craft store paints.

And this is how she sits as of right now, the running gear is just sitting there and not glued....

I did encounter a very strange problem with my raw umber wash. I was using a mix that I had made up a long time ago using Winsor and Newton oils and Masterpiece spirits and ran out. I was able to apply this mix  and using my airbrush accelerate the drying to show that dirty dusty look. So after running out, I mixed up a new batch and for the life of me I could not achieve the same results. Sometimes it would never completely dry and other times even when it dried, it was a darker brown and not the dusty dirt color you can see in some of the pictures. Very frustrating and something I am going to have to solve. I love the dusty dirt look that a raw umber wash has after it dries.

That's coming along really nicely, love the paint job.

Eric, that camo scheme looks freakin' SOOO-PERB!! Honestly, that's a great job on that beast!

Nice work on the camo Eric! Lots of ways to tone down a ww finish from filters to washes to dry brushing, etc. depending on what effects/layering you're after.

Thanks! I used poster tac which is similar to silly putty rolled out into "snakes" and applied to the intended areas. You can spray straight down on top of them and give somewhat of a feathered edge or you can spray into the corner where they meet with the work surface for a more sharp edge.

love that camo job! how did you create the sharp edges? mine always turn out bad.

Thanks Clemens , that is one very sharp kitty!!

She's looking really nice, Eric!

I just finished a King Tiger with a whitawash camo:

http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/29/p/147648/1688499.aspx#1688499

I painted it with Gunze acrylics, sealed the paint with Alclad clear gloss and applied Vallejo Air white on top of it. Then I removed the white paint using Vallejo airbrush thinner.

I'm not sure if this helps you at all, but I thought I'll just share it with ya...

Looking back at the pics, that white is quite stark in them. It is much less bright and more faded in real life. Will try and get some better pics.

Thanks garzonh, BIll, and modeler#1!!

Caught some more bench time finally. Broke out the a/b and thinner and got to work. Primed everything up use Mr. Finishing Surfacer 1500 thinned 1:1 with Mr. Leveling Thinner. Love this stuff and the black version of it finally arrived today!!!

After primer, I sprayed the rubber surfaces on the road wheels, tires, and sprockets using Tamiya's NATO Gray.

Then on with Tamiya PG straight from the bottle for the base.

Added several drops of white to lighten it up and came back and hit the top areas only with the lightened pg.  I left the under surfaces in the darker pg. Broke out the handy circle template and hit all those road wheels as well.

Now, this is the first winter scheme I have ever attempted so I am a bit apprehensive about it. Not sure how its going to turn out. Looking at the paint diagram and box art, there is some hard edge whitewash on the hood armor and the gun shield/barrel. The rest just looks like a worn solid whitewash. I used poster tac for the hard edge. There was some overspray here and there, but no big deal. For the rest of the whitewash, I just varied how much paint I applied in those areas to give it a worn out and beginning to fade look. I think I kinda achieved that look.

And of course the road wheels to match...

I also received some etch ammo cases. The main parts build up pretty quickly but the hinges and straps and other stuff is quite fiddly!! This is as far as I got with them after attempting to build one set of working hinges. Where those hinges are now is anybodies guess.....

Am going to try removing or burnishing some of the whitewash down along some of the edges tomorrow where the crew would have slid on and off the vehicle. So thoughts? Any tips on this winter paintwork are more than welcomed! Thanks for taking a look!!

the engine and interior looks great!

Very nice! Looking forward to seeing it with paint on.

Very nice Jester.

It looks ready for painting.

Good assembly and startup.

Finally got all the little bits and bobs attached. Getting ready to head to the booth for some primer I believe! As with most Dragon kits, there is a lot of genius in design and molding and there are still many doh's along the way. The kit supplied the Notek light but no bracket for the fender. Was easy enough to scratch out of some scrap PE framework.

I was going to add the jerry cans to the sides as seen in the pics above but changed my mind. I had to sand them down significantly to get them to fit between the mounting brackets and its still a tight squeeze without the rib that goes around the outside of them. May find someplace inside to store one or two.

Everything pinned, glued and ready for primer. Will be using Mr. Surfacer Finishing 1500 in grey for the primer. I have the black on order as well. It lays down and spays very nicely!

A little surprised that Dragon re-popped the older Pak 38 molds for this one, but you're whipping it into shape!

Looking great so far, Eric! I have one of those kits in my stash so I'll follow this one with great interest...

I agree Karl, those fenders are classic. I can picture the guys from ZZ Top behind the wheel!!

It does look kinda funky doesnt it MECH??

Not much to report tonight. Began work on the PaK and let me say it literally slowed to a crawl. After doing some research, the PaK itself is something like a 10 year old kit. The molding and plastic very much reminded me of some of the older Imperial Series kits by Dragon. Detail was kinda soft and assembly was quite a pain.

Got the carriage mount built and sat in the back of the track. Was curious as to how it was going to sit so I can figure out how I am going to cover those stupid holes in the floor plate.

The main cradle for the gun had several ejector pin marks and some sink marks as well. I hit them with some Mr. Dissolved Putty and they were gone. You can see them before hand below.

And finally, the major assemblies all dry fit together for the gun and sitting on the track. That was ruff!!!

Still lots of seam work to do on the gun. The muzzle brake was a split two piece affair so it is also requiring some attention. In the end I think it will turn out pretty ok, I do think that if they release this gun with many more kits it would be a good idea to go ahead and do a new mold of it. 

Aiming to get the rest of the small bits on the gun and track and at least hit it with some primer this weekend if all goes well. We shall see!!

Shifting that transmission must have been a real buggar!

The front of his thing would've looked great on a radical mod by one of these "car shows" that do "street rods". What a mean looking front chassis! Put that on the front of a limousine-chassis, with a hot tub in the back....man......ATTITUDE!

Looking good, keep it up!

It is coming along nicely and square.

Good work!

As a bonus, I think I found the reference picture that Dragon used for the box art. Very cool pic (for discussion purposes only of course)

A wee bit more progress tonight on the track. It was time to start working on the hood/grill area and man it was a challenge. I personally think this was due to the engineering of the kit for this area to be opened if desired. 

The red line indicates where I glued a spreader bar. If you dont, then the whole front end will begin to fold in on the sides at the seam indicated by the green line.

Still some clean up to do but not bad. Most of all the front end is covered by some sheet steel armor as seen here

On from here to the fenders. They are a little finicky with some not so positive attachment points but once they are in position and glued, they are there. The front fenders are just absolutely gorgeous!!! Also, all the vents on the front end are actually molded open!!!

The middle bin in the pics above is just sitting on the fenders. It will need some sanding and coercing to get completely sat down but shouldnt be a problem. 

A few more small details to add to the body and it will be ready for paint. Going to add those and then start working on the PaK next. There aren't very many parts to it so it should build up pretty fast. Till next time!!

Fascinating to watch this coming along. Might have to spend more time here in armor, looks like great fun.

Hope you keep posting as this build continues, Eric. Thanks for the great progress pics so far!

Thanks!! I believe it is like Bill said and leftover instructions from another version of this halftrack. I just assumed it was for mounting the PaK and didnt even bother. So lets say for example this vehicle was modified for the PaK and the prior equipment would have been removed. What do you think they would have done with the holes? Maybe a rounded bolt? Left open? I dont think they would have put a regular bolt there as to trip up the crew. Hell, in real life there might not have even been anything bolted down in these positions.

I am kinda leaning towards just leaving them and weathering them. Damn Dragon instructions...

I suspect those holes are a relic from the Flak version of the Sdkfz 10 build that got carried over. Got to love Dragon's instructions in that regard. Very nice work on one of my favorite subjects, definitely puts the old Italeri kit to shame.