"The Hunters GB" (2/1/08 to 6/1/08)

Some excellent work here, guys!

Panzerjaeger - love the running gear weathering, the effort you've put in really shows. Upper run maybe a bit too saggy though? In real life, a track this saggy would throw on the first sharp corner.

DerOberst - excellent weathering, and it's good that the gear on the rear deck is now strapped down. Maybe some weathering powers to take the edge off the metallic shine on the tracks and running gear?

Cheers,

Chris.

 

Hi all,

Been busy with my sister in law's visit from Alaska over the last fortnight, but I did manage to get most of the upper hull fittings done on my Type 89 TD, as well as finally getting that Japanese Type 74 finished and into the display case, with the sole exception of its antennas.

Frangkly -- the Jagdtiger looks great! What's the story on the tracks? They surely make the kit vinyls I've worked with so far look tame.

Der Oberst -- what modesty! Your work is superb, man! If I can get an Italeri Jagdpanzer IV to look half as good I'll be delighted.

Cheers,

TB379

PS: Tigerman, can you refer me to a tutorial for posting pictures here? I can get photos up to a hosting directory, that's no problem, but I've never actually loaded pics into my posts before!

Check your PM's.

chris hall wrote:

Some excellent work here, guys! Panzerjaeger - love the running gear weathering, the effort you've put in really shows. Upper run maybe a bit too saggy though? In real life, a track this saggy would throw on the first sharp

Not so fast. I think I have a photo or two in a Panzer Vor! that would corroborate tracks at least as loose as these. Maybe the Pzkw IV running gear wasn't as prone to throwing tracks as a Sherman. 

chris hall wrote:

Some excellent work here, guys! DerOberst - excellent weathering, and it's good that the gear on the rear deck is now strapped down. Maybe some weathering powers to take the edge off the metallic shine on the tracks and running gear?

Thanks for the kind words.   Are you confusing my tracks with Dostacos tracks?  I am going to add some pigments to dirty up the tracks and such, but I don't think they have a 'metallic shine'.  

I was sort of waiting on what kind of base I was going to use for this as it will dictate what kind of stuff will get slathered on the drive wheels.

 

 

tigerman wrote:

Wow DerOberst, I've barely finished the lower hull on my Jagdpanzer IV and you finished. Granted every piece of mine is an ordeal to clean. I just need to work continuously on her. I really like the tow-cable and the faded camoflauge. You've made a case to put on the schurzen on my Jagd.

Thanks. 

I had an entire weekend alone.  Kids went with mom to Indy. You can really make progress if you are not leaving the chair other than to recycle the beer.

The tow cable is electrical ground wire from The Home Depot with some brass 'sprue' from some PE wrapped around to form the eyes.   I think it is slightly over scale, though, and might try something else next time.

The camo faded a bit more than I planned.  I need to remember that weathering will bring it down a lot.  I got it faded nicely pre-wash, and now it is really subtle.  

 

Thanks for the constructive criticism,

as for the track tension on the right side, I accidentally set the tensioner too loose.  

My Jagdpanzer IV AO is going to have skirts, so maybe it's no big deal......

Or should I leave a skirt or two off?

What do you guys think???????

PANZERJEAGER 

PANZERJEAGER wrote:

Thanks for the constructive criticism, as for the track tension on the right side, I accidentally set the tensioner too loose.   My Jagdpanzer IV AO is going to have skirts, so maybe it's no big deal...... Or should I leave a skirt or two off? What do you guys think??????? PANZERJEAGER

 I am no expert, but I like tracks that sag -- screams "I am really heavy", not just a little piece of rubber.  Perfect just the way they are!

Now.... what I don't like about your otherwise excellent tracks is the silver wear spots on the guide horns.  It looks too uniform to me, as though you hand painted the outer edge of each by hand.   It may look better with weathering and at scale, but in these close ups it looks fakey.

 

 

Oberst,

Thanks for the replies.

As for the guide horns, the horns on this version track have a hollow imprint in the center of them.  so when I dry-brushed them, they show up this way.  This is the way they are suposed to look.  

thanks for noticing though...

PANZERJEAGER 

WOW!! Everyone's doing a great job. I've got some work on the Hellcat done and I'll try to get some pics up, if nothing else just to break up all the german tank hunters here.

PANZERJEAGER wrote:

Thanks for the constructive criticism, as for the track tension on the right side, I accidentally set the tensioner too loose.   My Jagdpanzer IV AO is going to have skirts, so maybe it's no big deal...... Or should I leave a skirt or two off? What do you guys think??????? PANZERJEAGER

I'd leave one or two Schurtzen plates off, where the tracks aren't too sagged, just to show it's there.

Cheers,

Chris.

Good to see some stuff getting done.

I haven't started yet.I'm still slowly finishing up a M60A1 for a buddy of mine.

 

My health has kept me busy with appointments and not feeling like building, but I'll get going on my entry pretty soon.

Hope you get well soon Andy and it's nothing serious. Always look forward to your work.

Hers's what I'll be building for this build. Have most of the main construction done , still have to finish the interior with the gun  breach that is supplied with the kit, then the hull halves can be glued and then the paint will fly. Everyone's builds are looking great!!!!!

Glad to see I'm not the only one who likes the older DML kits...got a pretty decent collection going right now.

Will have some progress pics on my little Italian monster shortly, I've been forcing myself to do some figure work (they ain't pretty) and it's slowed the build waaaaaaaaay down. Should have the construction done tonight, hopefully hit her with the pre-shade and base coat of paint.

WOW!

I haven't been able to participate for a while due to that killer cold/flu bug that knocked me out for 3 weeks and then going to Denver for training.  I finally am able to check things out in this GB and.....WOW!!  As usual for one of Eric's GB's there's some great stuff going on here!!

Chris:  Your Nashorn is looking fantastic, especially the interior!  I can't wait to see the completed build!!

digger:  Thanks for the Marder photos!  I'll be honest...I hate painting roadwheels!!  I'm glad to see you got through them and on to more fun parts of the build!

PANZERJAEGER:  Now that is some mighty fine work PJ!  The paint and weathering is superb!  I can imagine what the top hull will look like!!  Maybe I should just quit on mine now!!    How did you apply the zim?

panzerguy: Man that Marder III is looking pretty sweet!!  What a fantastic kit!  Hard to believe its Tamiya...I almost thought it was Tristar!  Gotta see it with a paint job!!

DerOberst: Oooh, thats a real nice looking Jagdpanzer!!  Great job!  I hope mine looks as good!  I really like the scrapes on the the schurzen!  You made that old Tamiya kit look dang good!  The only thing I might do is give the tow cable a light wash of raw umber to tone down the bright silver, but otherwise I wouldn't change anything!

dostacos: Now that is a great camo job on that little Hetzer!  Weather her up and send her into the field!  

panzer88: That Jagdtiger is such a beast!  Can't believe it has soo many track hangers on the sides!  That would drive me crazy trying to line them all up!  Good work!

Before I got knocked out by that nasty bug I was progressing pretty well with my Italeri Jagdpanzer IV.  I'll post some photos as soon as I get time.  Unfortunately I took a look at the other GBs I'm in and decided that I'll have to put this one aside for now...gotta finish a couple other builds first!  I'll get back to it as soon as I can!

 

Dostacos, I forgot to mention that the camo came out well. Weathering will really make that kit fly.

DerOberst and Dostacos: Great jobs on the kits and camo

I'm enjoying looking at everyones in progress pics, and I will be starting my Jagdtiger very soon

tigerman wrote:

Dostacos, I forgot to mention that the camo came out well. Weathering will really make that kit fly.

thanks, I will be following a certain modeler's tutorial {doog}having used his silly putty trick I will be trying the next step

Hey, guys, thanks for all the comments and praise.

One thing no one noticed: no antenna.

What is the accepted method for antennas now?  Stretched sprue?  Wire? 

DerOberst wrote:

Hey, guys, thanks for all the comments and praise. One thing no one noticed: no antenna. What is the accepted method for antennas now?  Stretched sprue?  Wire?

at that size stretched sprue might be a little large, how about using a HAIR....ok, really small wire

Zim complete, now onto the tools and joining the hull.

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PANZERJEAGER 

I notice that the early version has two cone covers as opposed to the single on my later version.

Making some progress, but no reason to get out the camera. File, file, putty, putty. Repeat over and over.

One reviewer acted like this kit lacked pieces. LOL I beg to differ, especially if I add the 64 PE bolts to the PE schurzen if I choose to do them.

DerOberst wrote:

One thing no one noticed: no antenna. What is the accepted method for antennas now?  Stretched sprue?  Wire?

Both work, mon Colonel.  I prefer 0.025mm gauge stainless steel surgical wire, because it's stronger and more resistant to damage:

You couldn't mount even a decal Stars and Stripes on a piece of scale-accurate HSS.

Cheers,

Chris.

 

Panzerjeager, did you actually paint and weather the ENTIRE bottom half of your build before attaching the top? Doesn't that make it difficult to "blend" the whole unit? Not that I'm saying that what you have so far doesn't look good - far from it! Really digging the mud you've got crammed into the tracks on the starboard side. Very convincing. How'd you make it?

Anyhoo, got a mini-update for youse guys, had hoped to get the basecoat on last night, but only made it to the preshading before I had to pack it in. This monster has a lot of interleaved road wheels, so I need to paint the hull and suspension first before assembling it all. Thank god for the template method...soooooo many road wheels! On a tank the size of a small armored car!

 

Hey dupes,

Looks like your build is progressing well!

Are you going to use the rubber band tracks?

"Tanks" for the ataboy.  

 As for the upper hull, it will be painted and weathered seperate from the lower hull.

After I join the two, I will finalize with some final weathering.

 Onto the tracks,

The tracks were painted with Floquil Rail Brown and sprayed with a wash of Mars Brown artist oils and Mineral Spirits.  Next I sprinkled on a mixture of Iron Oxide and Raw Umber Dry Pigment and Diamatatius Earth.  Then I sealed the tracks with a couple of coats of Dull Coat.   After this was dry I scrubed the tracks with a wire brush to expose the grousers and dry brushed them with silver artist oil.

Thanks again for the intrest!!!

PANZERJEAGER 

Well for all of you out there I have been working on my marderII.The last two days just on the clamps for the tools but as it would have itit is not working well. So for tose who feel my fustration......I cut the p.e. for its spur.All three parts are cut and ready to go.So with tweesers in hand and p.e. ready then.I have one piece then other to only have it shoot out of the tweesers.So that is one but wait oh no there is one that broke.Well one down and 11 to go.As I steady my hands and was setting it in,oh no what was that.Another handle shot into the air and where it landed I do not know were.Two down and one to go before I scrap said p.e. and go.Well thrid times the charm and sucess but was short lived.As I was clamping it down it came apart and it handle was gone.So with nerves of steel I went and looked for it.Sucess again not only did I find it but also the other one that was lost.So here I go again oh but wait the handle broke,oh no.Then the other handle that I found went shooting throught the air.......................Now I am using the molded in handled tools that they supplied so that people like me can use if the p.e. gones home somewhere over that rainbow.............A model should not be STRESSFULL.....Just the wife....Digger

I thumbed my way through my Panzer Vor!s and other Concord picture books last night. Most of the PzJg IVs had tracks that were as tight as a fish's tight bits.  The ones that were saggy were blown up. Inconclusive evidence to support saggy track runs. However, Pzkw IIIs consistently appeared with saggy track runs.

On the plus side (personally) I found several pictures of Pzjg Is, some colour drawings and some clear b/w photos. The text suggests that 27 were landed in Tripoli in 1941, and some made it through to Tunisia in 1943. 3 were captured at El Alamein, one with 5 kill rings (Cruiser tanks, maybe?).

I found one colour scheme I really liked, but it would mean that I'd have to respray it Panzer Grey, and then mottle on some dark yellow ... so it's not going to happen.

DerOberst wrote:

Hey, guys, thanks for all the comments and praise. One thing no one noticed: no antenna. What is the accepted method for antennas now?  Stretched sprue?  Wire?

What the.....???  I thought this was Tamiya's 1/35 scale Jagdpanzer....did I miss something?  That's TINY!!

dupes wrote:

Panzerjeager, did you actually paint and weather the ENTIRE bottom half of your build before attaching the top? Doesn't that make it difficult to "blend" the whole unit? Not that I'm saying that what you have so far doesn't look good - far from it! Really digging the mud you've got crammed into the tracks on the starboard side. Very convincing. How'd you make it? Anyhoo, got a mini-update for youse guys, had hoped to get the basecoat on last night, but only made it to the preshading before I had to pack it in. This monster has a lot of interleaved road wheels, so I need to paint the hull and suspension first before assembling it all. Thank god for the template method...soooooo many road wheels! On a tank the size of a small armored car!

Looking good dupes!!  I've got this one in the stash, but it will be some time before I can get to it.  I'm curious...will it have a monotone or camo paint scheme?