DML #6540 Flakpanzer IV Wirbelwind COMPLETE Pics p.17

Eric,

Don't want to confuse the issue, Brenda's a brindle boxer that was added to the family about 4 months ago and was responsible for one of the other prolonged gaps away from the bench this year as she had to be trained/house-broken, etc. in order to be a good canine citizen!  

wbill76

Eric,

Don't want to confuse the issue, Brenda's a brindle boxer that was added to the family about 4 months ago and was responsible for one of the other prolonged gaps away from the bench this year as she had to be trained/house-broken, etc. in order to be a good canine citizen!  

Whoops.

Hi Bill....  I've been observing for a while, off and on. Felt it only proper to throw in a comment as well - - The build is looking great! Loads of excellent detail work all round. It is always a pleasure to view some grade A work...  you are certainly doing it justice.......  a feast for the eyes....

Mostly, thanks for sharing!!

Bill

Post more pics...

Bill,

Thanks for the kind words and support, much appreciated!

Manny and DM, please don't toss me to the wolves in Siberia just yet! Will try to get some paint work done tomorrow and post more pics of progress to satisfy the mob.

G, you got a spare taser stun gun I can use? 

Sounds interesting. For me, my first was Tamiya's 1/48 British Crusader tank. I think i'll be keeping an eye on this one.

Bill,

Ther Wierbel Wind is loking great, as usual. Lover the Boxers, we have a brindel also.

We also added a red doberman to our family, she's 4mths old so I know what you are going through, lol

From the heat of Texas

Stephen

That's neat Stephen, pretty markings on your boxer and also nice to see you didn't crop the ears! Brenda's becoming quite the bench/work area buddy as she curls up on the floor and sleeps whenever I'm working (or building since my home office is in same room as my workbench!).

Hi, Bill just dropping in to make sure your still alive, just kiddin' ,I suppose everybody gets spells where getting to the bench is difficult or by the time you get there you are justt to tired to concentrate. Anyhow looking forward to seeing you get back.

P.s. I hate decorating the house, I honestly do.

Regards,

Terry.

Thanks Terry, always a pleasure to have you stop by! My wife's summer vacation (she teaches elementary public school) is over after this next week so things should be returning to "normal" in most departments soon!

More progress to report, this time in the painting department.

I used Testors Model Master enamel Italian Dark Brown as a primer coat and sprayed it through the airbrush. It provides a nice shade base for the Dunkelgelb coat that will come next and also allows for a last minute check of all the previous zim/putty work to make sure there aren't any areas needing touch-up. The turret is dry-fit only and remains removable. The zimmed surfaces dramatically increase the total surface area and more paint than normal is necessary to cover the entire model as a result.

Next I applied a custom mix of 50/50 Testors MM enamel Light Gray/Panzer Dunkelgelb via airbrush over the primer coat. This was done using multiple passes of the thinned combination to slowly build up the necessary finish over the primer coat and provide a solid foundation for the camo pattern to come.

That's all I had time for this weekend, hopefully next weekend will see the camo pattern added and work start on the details.

Looking good Bill, suppose one had to keep the public happy.

Terry.

It was G's threat of a taser that did it!

Bill - hey....at least it was something....keep it moving ahead. Looking good

Rounds Complete!!

  That 50/50 mix is fast becoming my favorite Bill.

A taser (electricity) is a good motivator.  Like the Gene Hackman said to Denzel Washingotn...

'You just stick a cattle prod up their [rear] and you can get a horse to deal cards. Simple matter of voltage."

So whatever it took Bill... looks good

wing_nut

A taser (electricity) is a good motivator.  Like the Gene Hackman said to Denzel Washingotn...

'You just stick a cattle prod up their [rear] and you can get a horse to deal cards. Simple matter of voltage."

So whatever it took Bill... looks good

WOW....Now we are into AC/DC modeling. Amp it up take on a whole new meaning!

Rounds Complete!!

looking nice Bill. I forgot which camo you're going with? Giraffe? Squiggly?

Thanks guys for the comments and motivation (both real and implied! ).

Eric, I'm going with a three-tone "puzzle piece" type pattern for this one. Hard to describe but you'll see what I mean when I get it done.

Picking up from last week's efforts, the latest round focused on applying the camo scheme. I used MM enamel Khaki for the olivegrun portions and laid that down first freehand via airbrush. My goal was to stay roughly 1/3 coverage with each of the colors while still disrupting the vehicle's outlines effectively. This was followed by a 50/50 mix of MM enamel Military Brown/Leather for the rotbraun portions also applied freehand.

Once the pattern was down, I fine-tuned things in different places using the hull mix applied earlier, removing over spray and balancing out the pattern in a couple spots until I had it the way I wanted it. Final step was to thin down the hull mix to a wash consistency and then applied a mist coat from about 12" distance to tie the whole scheme together and form a foundation for later weathering steps.

I also got the road wheels painted. They were primered with the Italian Dark Brown used on the vehicle and the rubber portions were airbrushed with enamel MM Gunmetal. I used a QuickWheels mask for the outer hubs and a draftsman's circle template for the inner hubs since the QW mask only has openings for the outer hubs. I've use the QW masks before but wasn't 100% happy with this particular one, I think I could've gotten a little better result if I'd just used the circle template as the QW mask allowed a little bit of bleed through to happen. Nothing major though and once painted the road wheel halves were glued together and mounted on the vehicle.

Now my attention will turn to working on all the remaining hull details and getting the turret interior done.

Great work. 

Looking real good Bill .......

Nice looking camo pattern and excellent choice in colors.  Do believe will borrow some of those colors for my builds.

Very nice camo job!

Bill - Nice camo work....I am sure with the heat painting was somewhat of a chore. Always love your German camo

Rounds Complete!!

Eye-catching camo Bill. I like that jigsaw pattern of yours.

Steve, John, Eric, thanks for the comments, it certainly felt good to get the pattern down and out of the way. Took about 3 hours in total.

Rob, feel free to borrow at will. I tend to mix my own colors more these days for things and if the combo works for you, go for it!

Mike, it used to be that the heat would be a major deterrent but ever since I had the paint studio area built as an addition last year I've been able to paint free of weather worries. No way I could've stood the heat in the garage on Sunday and was very grateful for being able to paint in a 77 degree refrigerated AC-controlled environment! Thanks for the comments as always my friend.

More progress over the weekend, this time in the details department. All of the fender gear and tools were painted up and then installed into their respective places. For the metal portions, I used MM Metalizer Gunmetal with a light dry-brushing of MM enamel Steel to show metal wear/use. For the wood areas, I used a base coat of my 50-50 hull color overlaid with a light wash of Leather followed with a dusting of Burnt Umber pastels for some variety. The wire cutters had their Bakelite handles painted with MM Italian Dark Brown and their rubber end caps with MM enamel Gunmetal. Tool clamps were painted to match the camo pattern where appropriate and I also installed the spare road wheels into their bin.

I also spent some time on the Flakvierling guns, painting them with a base coat of MM Metalizer Gunmetal and dry-brushing with MM enamel Steel to create their look. The guns and recoil cylinders were installed to the gun base and I also detailed the various knobs and buttons on the gun mount. The gunner's seat was painted with MM enamel Leather then randomly dry-brushed with the 50-50 hull color and enamel Gunmetal to create some variation. To blend the colors in together, I applied some Burnt Umber pastels as well to finish it out.

The turret interior also received some detail attention, the ready ammo racks were painted and installed and the loaders' seats were also detailed.

Still more work to be done on the hull front and rear details but getting closer to the weathering stage, will be there before you know it!

Oh man I really dig the camo... it really works!  Good to have you back on the program... Sunday evenings.  Hope you are going to get some rain from that brewing tropical storm...

Oh man I really dig the camo... it really works!  Good to have you back on the program... Sunday evenings.  Hope you are going to get some rain from that brewing tropical storm...