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

I can't wait to see that bugger weathered dupes. Sounds like it's been a bit of a pain, which I'm sorry to hear. I think you've nailed it though!

Dale 

Wow, this is the "better" available kit? Huh. I mean, it isn't horrible, but it's not exactly top shelf either. Need to seal up the decals, then it's time to weather this little b*****d.

My attempt at figures (bad Italeri figures, I might add) has not gone swimmingly (can you say bad department store mannequins?). This may result in a CLOSED hull rather than throwing those big hatches open. Heh.

Yeah, I think I read somewhere that the Italeri kit was better than the Tamiya one.  Now that I'm thinking about it, I also think the builder "improved" the kit with a Model Victoria resin & PE upgrade set.....

Years ago, my friend built both the Tamiya and Italeri kits. He seemed to think the Italeri kit was better detailed. I'm sure the Tamiya was easier to put together. That was a long, long time ago.

dupes wrote:

you should probably just leave it in your stash. It's by far the weakest Italeri kit I've ever done...real soft on detail, bad engineering with respect to the contact points of the sprues, fit is...uhhh..."iffy".

I have a Tamiya Semovente. Is that any better? 

Sorry I haven't been around guys, Senior year and everything that comes with it, lol.  I haven't purchased the kit yet, but probably will do that hopefully soon.  I won't be around much either because lacrosse is starting up and that pretty much takes precident over everything except God and family, so I'll pop in and out, but I WILL be building, lol, once I get my kit.

Oh yeah, SWEET looking builds guys!

bufflehead wrote:

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?

Heh...hate to tell you Buffle, but you should probably just leave it in your stash. It's by far the weakest Italeri kit I've ever done...real soft on detail, bad engineering with respect to the contact points of the sprues, fit is...uhhh..."iffy". I have the Zvezda version of this same TD in my stash, I probably should have stuck with that one and continued the theme!

I'll be doing the monotone desert scheme, have a couple of chipping techniques I wanted to test on this guy.

Wait until you see a pic of this next to the ISU-152 - hard to believe they were manufactured for the same purpose! 

Thanks bufflehead,

I started using P.E. Zimm. about a year ago on a Jadgtiger.  I had all kinds of problems with it "poping" at first.  

Now I wash the plastic rough it up with scotchbright and re-wash, then I use 15 minute epoxy to glue it down.

So far, (knock on wood) no more problems...

Try it!, you might like it.

PANZERJEAGER 

PANZERJEAGER wrote:

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

Wow, its looking really good PJ!!  I'm not usually a fan of PE zim, but it looks excellent so far!  Any problems attaching the PE zim panels?

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?

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!!

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.

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

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 

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!

 

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.

 

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.

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

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PANZERJEAGER 

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

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? 

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

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

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

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!

 

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.

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!!!!!

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

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.

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.

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.