Sdkfz 250/1 Neu Premium WIP *Finished 01-13*

Today was a great day for painting outside and I took full advantage of it. The interior was masked off with strips of masking tape to protect its details and a pre-shade/primer coat of Italian Dark Brown laid down as the first step.

This was followed by multiple thin passes of an 80/20 Dunkelgelb/Light Gray mix for the base coat.

Then the camo pattern was applied. I decided to go with something similar to the markings/pattern that's on the box art for the 3/Pz.Aufkl.Btl. 2.Pz.Div, France 1944 and laid down the red-brown pattern first (50-50 mix of Leather and Military Brown) and then the green (80-20 Russian Armor Green and Panzerschwarzgrau). I came back with the Dunkelgelb and cleaned up the over-spray and fine-tuned the pattern in different places. Once satisfied with that, I applied a heavily thinned mist coat from about 12" away of the Dunkelgelb to the overall vehicle to provide a touch of fading and tie everything in together as a foundation for later weathering.

I also worked on the road wheels and since this is something that comes up from time to time, decided to add a couple of photos on the process I use. It's pretty simple, I mount all of the wheels on toothpicks using a small ball of blue-tack poster putty and then spray the rubber portions Flat Black. Some of the black gets on the rim portions but that's not a problem and actually helps provide some pre-shading/color variation as well.

Once the tire portions are painted, then I use a plastic circle-template, the type found at most hobby stores like Michael's or HobbyLobby or in the hardware sections, it's basically just a sheet with different diameter of circles cut out and you choose the one you need and mask it off. In this case, I needed to use three different circles, one for the main wheels, one for the outer diameter of the half-track road wheels, and one for the inner diameter of the road wheels.

I mount the wheels on toothpicks for two reasons: 1) it allows them to be stuck into a Styrofoam block for drying and 2) provides an extra "handle" and reduces risks of handling the freshly painted surfaces. The wheels are fitted to the individual circle template, the paint sprayed, and then stuck into the block to dry. Once the outer rims are dry, the same thing is then done for the inner rims.

Next up now that everything's painted will be building the tracks, mounting the suspension arms, and installing all the running gear.

Some super nice progress Bill

wbill76 wrote:

This was followed by multiple thin passes of an 80/20 Dunkelgelb/Light Gray mix for the base coat.

Bill, is there a reason why you dont use 100% Dunkelgelb instead ?

---
Ben

Carves wrote:

Some super nice progress Bill  wbill76 wrote: This was followed by multiple thin passes of an 80/20 Dunkelgelb/Light Gray mix for the base coat. Bill, is there a reason why you dont use 100% Dunkelgelb instead ? --- Ben

Two reasons mostly, although they both influence each other. The first is that straight out of the bottle the MM Dunkelgelb (enamels) has a greenish tint to it and the Light Gray helps mute that somewhat.

The second is that the weathering process inevitably darkens the finish and having the lightened basecoat as the starting point means that the end result produces a closer tone to the original coat instead of being overly dark. The lightened color also works better in conjunction with the underlying primer coat of Italian Dark Brown, IMHO, as enamels tend to settle into each other as they cure just a bit.

While watching the playoff games for the NFL yesterday evening and today, I managed to complete the tracks for both sides. My method for these cap-block style of tracks is pretty simple, just hook two links together where one is hinged all the way down in an L-shape, then carefully apply a spot of glue and attach the pad. The instructions call for 38 links per side, so 19 sets is all you need. Once the pairs are constructed, then I join them into groups of 4...then 8, then link the runs together to get the 38. Each link needed to have the raised ejector marks trimmed off on either side of the guide horn but that's normal for DML "Magic" links.

Once the tracks were constructed, I installed the suspension arms that had been skipped way back in Step 1 and made sure they were all aligned and then installed the road wheels and idler, leaving the sprockets and main wheels dry-fit. There's a little pit of play in the suspension arms and doing things this way allowed me to insure that the vehicle would sit right with all the wheels contacting the ground when the tracks were installed vs. just sitting on the road wheels alone. The tracks were slid under each side and minor adjustments made where needed. The idlers were left positionable by not gluing them to the hull...the kit design allows for the idler to move somewhat back or forward for track tensioning, so while the idler was glued to its mount arm, the mount itself wasn't glued down just yet.

Once the wheels were all set up, I painted the tracks using Non-buffing Metalizer Gunmetal as the base, dry-brushed with Steel, then applied a thin Raw Umber wash to blend it all together. The rubber track pads were painted with enamel Gunmetal. I dry-brushed some Burnt Umber around the hull sides and the front fenders for some wear and then installed the tracks, sprockets, and front wheels.

I also detailed and added the pioneer tools to either side along with the muffler/exhaust and MG42. The driver's mirror was painted with some Silver and the tips of the width indicators given a touch of Light Gray to finish things off for the day.

Next up will be a coat of Future and the decals then on to the weathering.

Mansteins revenge wrote:

Sweet...after seeing yours, I got one of these the other day and there are a lot of molding improvements over their initial 250, particularly with the drive sprocket and front tire detail...

Definitely agree with you there, the quality of molding on the road wheels and sprockets is one of the areas that really got a boost in the "Premium" treatment.

Man Bill, another good one!

Always love following along when you get to the weathering stage...hope you don't mind!

dupes wrote:

Man Bill, another good one! Always love following along when you get to the weathering stage...hope you don't mind!

Thanks dupes! I don't mind you following along, that's kind of the point of the build log, eh?

Just tremendous, Bill, a flawless build!

Great camo scheme! Looking awesome!

Hi Bill

your work and commitment to detail on this build is beyond reproach ---much of the work looks to be very delicate and I appreciate the lengths you must go to for your results.

top shelf dude---------tread

wbill76 wrote:

dupes wrote: Man Bill, another good one! Always love following along when you get to the weathering stage...hope you don't mind! Thanks dupes! I don't mind you following along, that's kind of the point of the build log, eh?

Just checking...I spend so much time looking at the logs you have on your own page (great stuff!) that I figured I had better ask at some point.

That Tiger Initial still wins as my favorite.

Thanks tread, appreciate the comments!

Dupes,

It's good to hear that the build logs are serving a useful purpose. It's one of the main reasons I enjoy doing them so much. If it helps others get more enjoyment out of their own builds, all the better IMHO.

zokissima wrote:

Always love seeing your work. This one came up pretty quickly.

Thanks zoran, appreciate the comments. This kit builds up surprisingly fast, even with the interior details. I started it at the end of November and, even with a couple weeks of interruption due to holidays and such, it's still come together relatively quick. All things being equal, I'll likely finish it up this weekend.

Thanks Ron!

Specter,

The kit includes the PE for the grenade holders as part of the "Premium" upgrade package.

Its a month since i've been gone and you already almost finish another model, and what a coincedence you doing a half track too, i got tamiya hanomag this winter and arounf the same progress.

A great build you got there, keep up the good work, but why are you gonna clear coat is with futur, won't that just make it shiny, since when are tanks shiny, anf the last time i use a coat of futur on a model, it dried and the LVT got all white.

T-rex,

The purpose of the Future is to provide a sealing coat for the base coat since I paint with enamels and need an acrylic barrier between the base coat and the weathering to avoid stripping the paint. It also has the added benefit of helping decals adhere/settle without silvering and allows washes and other weathering to flow more easily and be adjusted. Once the weathering is applied, then a coat of Dullcoat lacquer is applied to remove the shine so everything has a flat appearance. It's a method I've been using now for a long time with good success.

It sounds like you might have gotten something mixed into your Future when you sprayed it? If it's straight from the bottle, it will dry clear unless you put on very very heavy layers of it.

Thanks wbill, i heard from another forum that if futur is setting in a workplace too cold it clouds, that was most likely the problem then since my garage wasn't heated, and it was getting really cold in there!

Another problem with my hanomag that i have is everytime i paint the wheels black they turn out white or cloud, i don't know why it does this maybe too thinne or is it something else?

T-rex,

I always apply my Future indoors since it's acrylic and non-toxic (use the kitchen table in fact), so it's possible I guess if it got cold it could do what you describe.

As far as your black paint turning white or cloudy on the roadwheels, what are you using for paint and thinner?

Started off today by laying down a coat of Future by airbrush, let that set for an hour or so, then applied the decal markings. The markings for my choice of vehicle were simple and no license plates required, just a pair of balkenkreuze and the vehicle numbers. These were given a dose of Solvaset to get them to snug down tight and then another coat of Future to seal them from the weathering process.

Then the weathering was applied in the form of an overall wash of Raw Umber followed by dot filters of Raw Sienna and lightened Dunkelgelb to add some variation.

The final step was a pin wash of Burnt Umber to all the raised detail and the suspension and then everything was sealed with a coat of Testor's Lusterless Flat in the rattle-can.

Next up will be some pigment treatment.

Sweet!

What a cute little war-buggy! Looking very nice, Bill, Are you putting a figure in it as well? Seems like it could use one?

Your weathering is so subtle, Bill; very stylish and personal to your "signature look"--are you gonna do any chipping around the edges" T'would seem likely that in a vehicle with such heavy pedestrian traffic you would see some wear and chips?

It's really a great build. It must be quite something to pick up and look around the super-detailed interior! 

Thanks MR!

Doog,

The heavy wear is on the interior, not much chance for wear on the exterior due to the vehicle occupants, they would've entered and exited via the rear door in the fighting compartment as a matter of course. While the popular image is of panzergrenadiers leaping over the sides into battle, their real purpose was to allow the troops to keep up with the panzer divisions as grenadiers and going over the side would've been done only in an extreme emergency as opposed to out the hatch. Also, since I've marked this one as belonging to an Aufklarungsbattaliaon, it wouldn't have been used as an infantry carrier but for forward reconnaisance, so small crew mostly interested in staying insdie the vehicle for the most part. 

As far as a figure goes, I don't usually include them since they go in the display case as stand-alone builds when done. This one could easily benefit from a guy standing up in the compartment ala the box-art though, I'm sure any number of readily available figures could be modified to do the trick if you were so inclined.

This one actually got finished today...an update later on a bit I promise.

Work continued today with the weathering of the suspension and running gear but first up I dry-brushed some lightened Dunkelgelb to the hull surfaces to add some additional variation to the previous day's weathering, particularly to the markings. Once that was done, I mixed up a batch of Mig pigments using Dark Mud, African Earth, and Europe Dust in a prescription bottle cap mixed with tap water and applied this wet with a round brush. The pigment/water mixture was allowed to air-dry, which took about an hour or so, and looked like this.

This was then given some attention using various stiff-bristled brushes to remove the excess pigment and get everything looking the way I wanted it to. For the hull sides and main wheel tire sides, I used a moistened q-tip to further remove the pigment and blend it in to the finish.

The tracks were then dry-brushed lightly with Steel to bring out their details a bit more.

A couple of touch-ups here and there and it was off to the photo-booth for the completed photos.