Bish

Well, as anyone who has built one of these 251 kits will know, there is a bit of a trick to getting the front wheels to sit right. But this is the worst i have seen. Unfortunatly i left it until this late stage, but luckly i can deal with the issue with the base.

But i was woundering if anyone has figured out why this problem occurs. If the main suspension is right and the front suspension is the correct height, which it looks to be, this should nto happen.

It happens because the suspension needs to also take into account the added height from the track pads. The Dragon 251 C kits have it worse than the D kits but it's possible to leave the front suspension workable by not gluing it all the way down as the instructions indicate you should do. That is usually enough to compensate for the height difference once the tracks are added depending. It was quite a shock the first time I built one of their kits as everything sat nice and pretty right up until I added the tracks and the front wheels suddenly levitated off the ground as a result. 

Well, as anyone who has built one of these 251 kits will know, there is a bit of a trick to getting the front wheels to sit right. But this is the worst i have seen. Unfortunatly i left it until this late stage, but luckly i can deal with the issue with the base.

But i was woundering if anyone has figured out why this problem occurs. If the main suspension is right and the front suspension is the correct height, which it looks to be, this should nto happen.

Karl, i was just going through your /17 build from a few years back, should have checke dthat sooner. But when you added the weight go get the front wheels sitting right, was the main suspension already set because i can't quite figure out how adding the weight is helping the front to sit low enough.

Thanks PJ.

the doog

Hey Bish, glad you're getting what you want on the finish with the dot filters. Funny---did you realize you're actually using a filter there too, albeit in a more concentrated form?

By the way, try sanding down a sitting figure's butt. Real people "sink" into a seat more than a figure ever appears to, and you can also lop off the boots and shorten the calves a bit--you won't really be able to tell once you put the figure in the model. Little modifications like that sometimes help me fit them in. 

 

Thanks Karl, and yes, i realised this is a filter, but i find this method much better than the pre made ones which i just don't like.

Thnaks for the suggestion on the figure. The butt was already flat, but reading this has made me realised the problem area was the figures lower back. I should really have sanded that as i wasn't taking into account that the figure and seat back are hard when in real life they have some give in them. I should have thought of that. But he is in place  now, but certainly somthing i should really think about in future.

Hey Bish, glad you're getting what you want on the finish with the dot filters. Funny---did you realize you're actually using a filter there too, albeit in a more concentrated form?

By the way, try sanding down a sitting figure's butt. Real people "sink" into a seat more than a figure ever appears to, and you can also lop off the boots and shorten the calves a bit--you won't really be able to tell once you put the figure in the model. Little modifications like that sometimes help me fit them in. 

Great details with the radios And the painting. Everything is looking great Bish.

wbill76

 

Bish

Bill, a quick question. I am useing a similar approach to what you did on the Neubau-Fahrzeug. I have applied a Raw Sienna wash and will do some dot filtering later. But i was woundering what you do about the wheels at this stage. Do you give them any treatment or just leave until the pigments. 

 

 

 

It depends Bish, sometimes the wheels will get a wash treatment to supplement the pigment weathering, sometimes I just leave them alone. For darker colored wheels like Panzer Gray, there's not much point in doing much to them since it will get lost under the pigment effects regardless. Lighter colored wheels often get a wash as an added 'layer' to their finish. HTH! 

 

Thanks Bill. I gave mine a light dry brush, but i was thinking along the same lines.

the doog

Hey Bish, I'm looking in on this for the first time and it looks like you've got it all under control. Great job so far. Good call on lightening the paint on the top--a little bit of "scale effect" really helps a paint job in my opinion. :)

As far as the filters go, you really have to understand  that filters are meant for VERY subtle shifts in the tone of a color. You won't get the same kind of tonal shift that you would get in, say, an airbrush lighter base color. However, if you were to modulate the color the way I usually paint mine and THEN use a filter, you would be able to effect a very slight color difference over the lighter shades, Filters tend to work better over lighter shades, in my experience. German gray takes a blue filter very nicely, but I don't know what exactly that AK Filter is based uponm color-wise.

I also believe that most 1/35 figures are a hair larger than true scale. I have a very hard time fitting them inside almost any given model.

 

Thnaks Karl. I do like the lightening effect, in the right situation. The AK gilter is a blue one, but not to my taiste. The dot filtering is really giving me the result i want, so thats working out nicely. But modulation is a deffinat no-go .

I am glad its not just me on the figures. I have noticed that not one single brand of figure will fit in a 251 with the feet going in the space between seats, and i figured it could not be like that on the real thing.

Bish

Bill, a quick question. I am useing a similar approach to what you did on the Neubau-Fahrzeug. I have applied a Raw Sienna wash and will do some dot filtering later. But i was woundering what you do about the wheels at this stage. Do you give them any treatment or just leave until the pigments. 

It depends Bish, sometimes the wheels will get a wash treatment to supplement the pigment weathering, sometimes I just leave them alone. For darker colored wheels like Panzer Gray, there's not much point in doing much to them since it will get lost under the pigment effects regardless. Lighter colored wheels often get a wash as an added 'layer' to their finish. HTH! 

Hey Bish, I'm looking in on this for the first time and it looks like you've got it all under control. Great job so far. Good call on lightening the paint on the top--a little bit of "scale effect" really helps a paint job in my opinion. :)

As far as the filters go, you really have to understand  that filters are meant for VERY subtle shifts in the tone of a color. You won't get the same kind of tonal shift that you would get in, say, an airbrush lighter base color. However, if you were to modulate the color the way I usually paint mine and THEN use a filter, you would be able to effect a very slight color difference over the lighter shades, Filters tend to work better over lighter shades, in my experience. German gray takes a blue filter very nicely, but I don't know what exactly that AK Filter is based uponm color-wise.

I also believe that most 1/35 figures are a hair larger than true scale. I have a very hard time fitting them inside almost any given model.

Thanks G. I am sure glad we have managed to getthing a bit smaller, i don't know how i would have coped with radio's like that.

Hobbyist, indeed, thats some impresive work. Even more so seeing this must be your first since the 70's. You have certainly done well with all the changes since then, very impressive.

Looks good Bish, that's one heck of a suite of radios/wireless. Ahhh, the good ol' days of the vacuum tube! I guess one point would be on the cold Russian steppe those suckers would throw off enough heat old Fritz wouldn't even need a coat. 

Hobbyist: Very nice work there too! 

Marcus McBean

It would really be cool if there was an Enigma machine along with it like in the picture with Genral Guderian during the invasion of France in 1940.

 

Agreed, i did look for one to go with this, but there don't seem to be any on the market, which i find surpriseing, and i was not up to scratch building one. I think it would have been a nice addition.

It would really be cool if there was an Enigma machine along with it like in the picture with Genral Guderian during the invasion of France in 1940.

The Hobbyist

Yeah, this is a great kit---too bad there isn't more info w the kit on the different radio configurations...this is how I wired mine:

If you're careful you can keep the rear doors workable...

 

 

 

 

 

Hobbyist - 

Very nice looking build! By chance do you have a wider shot of the dio? It looks very interesting, and would like to see full view if possible. Real interested in how you did the paint job.

Ye, i know what you mean. The only really good wireing diagram i can find is on the /3 II. Nice job on wiring yours, most of mine is hidden by the figure anyway, so i am not to worried about it.

I was thinking about leving the doors working, but am going to glue them now, one open one shut.

Thanks for the comments guys, much appreciated. I have made a strat on the weathering tonight, so its coming on.

Bill, a quick question. I am useing a similar approach to what you did on the Neubau-Fahrzeug. I have applied a Raw Sienna wash and will do some dot filtering later. But i was woundering what you do about the wheels at this stage. Do you give them any treatment or just leave until the pigments.

Looking good Bish. That telescope antenna is neat and fragile looking. Good start to the gray as well. 

Bish the extior paint work looks great and so dose the radios.

Robert

Bish - 

Outstanding job thus far friend. Great looking paint and detail. Patiently waiting for the dio process...lol. Again Bish, wonderful job buddy.

Been plodding along slowly but surley. I finished up painting the radios and got them fitted into the rack. After that it was a best guess at wireing them up. I added a strap for the radio on the right as Dragon shows one on the instructions but does not include it as a part.

The raios were then fitted along with the completed radio operator. He was a really tight squeeze and still is not sitting properly, but i managed to cover that up. I have yet to find any figures that fit insid a 251 properly, eitehr all 251 kits are to small or 35th figures are all to big. Or, the 251 was a tighter squeeze then it looks.

Then it was finally time to get the outside painted. I don't go for modulation myself as i prefer to be closer to a realistic finish than an artistic one. But i do lighten the colour vedry slightly higher up the vehicle. I am useign vallejo modl air for this. I don't like it as much as i do enamels, but i figured i might as well use it up.

And this was followed by the decals. I had a bit of an isue here. I had the Dragon decals when i started the build but seem to have misplaced them. Fortunatly, the AFV 251/3 Ausf C has ,markings for what seems to be the same vehicle, except it has a Div Commanbd pennant decal for the front, so i used those. For the close, i simply added a spot of future where the decals were going rather than coat the whole thing. After thye decals i gave it a dry brush with some grey oil.

And the figures are now all reay for painting.

And thats all for now. Next up with be some weathering and getting the figures painted, and hopefully i'll get the tracks done.

Thanks Bob.

PJ, thanks, much appreciated.

Gamera

She's lookin' good Bish. I know what you mean, once I get going I hate reaching for the camera and documenting what I'm doing. Though having cell phones with camera really does help more than the old days when I had to go find the blasted camera everytime.  

 

Gla i am not the only one. I don't have an issue digging out the camera, it stays on a shelf at the bench. Its just the hassle of clearing the bench and setting up the clear back ground. Just being lazy.

Modelrob

Bish the Halftrack is coming along beautifully and you are right about them being a little finicky if the lower sides are not aligned properly.  How do you like working with the celluclay? Always looking to try new things, I normally use a combination of plaster that comes in sheets then top that off with a plaster slurry to smooth everything out.

 

 

Robert

 

Thank you. I have been useing celluclay for years and really like it. I used to paint it afer it had dried, but thats a real pain, so now i mix in the paint. One thing to watch for is not to add to much water as it shrinks. I always make a bit more than i need so i can add some more. I will get some pics when i mix and apply it and do a little tut on useing it.

She's lookin' good Bish. I know what you mean, once I get going I hate reaching for the camera and documenting what I'm doing. Though having cell phones with camera really does help more than the old days when I had to go find the blasted camera everytime.  

Following along Bish. Exceptional work as usual.