Hi Richard, I also have the Karl with the rail trucks, haven't started it, it's sitting in the back of the wardrobe, winking at me every time I open the door. I only bought it because it was in our local charity shop for half the original price - I just couldn't leave it there! I am looking forward to it, I just keep getting diverted on to smaller things that I think will only take two or three weeks and end up taking months.

Looking forward to it so much that I managed to get hold of Schiffer Military History vol.39 "German Heavy Mortars" (just the the thing to be seen reading on the train. . .). There is a picture of a shell in its sling being loaded from the Panzer IV munitionschlepper, can't tell the colour, but it looks to be some medium shade like grey or brown (just oxidised metal maybe??), and very flat, like there's not much light reflecting off the top of it. Near the base, if you divide the cylindrical part before the taper into 10, say about 1/10th up, there is a narrow band about a 1/10 thick, then another about a 1/10 from the top, which is much shinier, probably metallic, so I'm imagining you could even mask off the two bands with masking tape before giving it a thin spray, and leave the alu parts exposed.

There is also an interesting photo of one of the early ones, like yours, being prepared for firing in Russia in 1941, with a grey scheme, again like yours, but the whole thing has been well caked in very light coloured dried mud - all of the side of the hull, the gun assembly and the front and rear; with the gun raised at 60 degrees you can see where they didn't muddy it up underneath on the belly of the barrel. An idea that could add some interest in a diorama.

Not sure about the position of your wheels being for firing or driving, they are actually the wheels for the original version - 8 road wheels on external suspension arms, while the one in the rail truck kit has the later 11 road wheels. The 8 wheel version - I don't have any photos of that one being fired, just transported.

Another nice diorama idea is suggested by one of the photos, which is taken from the inside of the barrel as someone sticks his head and arms right in to inspect the barrel, something which was apparently done before after every shot, to check for damage to the rifling. So you could have the barrel down, and someone climbing in.

Hope you're enjopying it still!

hey up richard the build's more or less complete, i've primed, and painted the first coat, just starting the figures, i'd post pictures but my pc at home has died, so i'm limited to posting on my work's internet cafe, hence the unusual hours i post (i work nights ) and due to security restrictions we aren't allowed to download or upload stuff but i'm hoping santa brings a new part or two for my pc will post pics then but again keep up the good work i'm watching this build with interest.

Richard,

If you haven't glued the tracks together don't!!! I modelled mine in the transport position and it was impossible to get the tracks over the return rollers from the side. They had to be fed in like the real thing. Best to weather them etc before putting them on. I WAS going to use the metal links I got from Friulmodel, but changed my mind when I thought about how heavy they would make the SPG when it is on the railway carriages.

Anyone need a set of Friulmodel tracks for this version?? :-)

Warren

Tamiya weathering pens are, IMO, rather bad. If you want a dusty look, get some chalk pastels, grind them up, mix them with water and apply them to your model. Then you can wipe them off as much as you like, and it will leave dust in the deep spots where the dust would collect.

That's how I do dust, other people will have their methods, but I personally don't much like Tamiya's weathering pens.

Hope I'm some help,
Scott

Actually the postage would not be too bad as they are not THAT heavy. They have all been drilled and cleaned up as well.. :-)

Richard, he was talking about the cost of sending the track links to UK from Australia. . . Warren, I'll have a look at how much they're going to cost me here!

Richard, this is a quite big web site devoted to Karl:
http://geraet040.web.infoseek.co.jp/karl_top-e.html

Some of it is Japanese, but there are photos and much of it is in English. It includeds the pic of the muddy Karl, but it's quite small . . . I'll see if I can find bigger.

Here is a muddy one, a bit bigger: http://www.hpwt.de/2Weltkrieg/Karle.htm

This is also a good site on the subject:
http://www.perthmilitarymodelling.com/reviews/subject/karl.htm

Hey Richard,

I use a paint stripping gell called Woodfinishers Pride. It's a water cleanup stripper that doesn't smell too bad either. I got it from the hardware store for 13 dollars, it's been quite a few years ago since it comes in a 32 oz bottle. All I do is brush it on, scub a little with an old tooth brush and rinse it off. You don't want to soak the plastic though, over time it will soften it. Hope that helps.

Jonathan

I apply them with a brush, and if I want a lot of thick dust, less water, or if I want a thin layer, a lot more water compared to pastel.

Scott

hey up richard i think the second diorama idea would be interesting, on the point of stripping paint off of figures what paint have you used enamel or acrylic? because if its enamel i find oven cleaner is a good paint stripper i learn't this technique from phil greenwood's book "building military vehicles" basically you spray oven cleaner all over the figure, then put in a black bag, or someother plastic bag leave it for 24 hours then remove the figure and rinse. as for removing acrylic i'd probably try John's method. keep up the good work

Chalk pastels - I only started using these this year, so am no expert, but I picked it up from the Osprey "Panzer Modelling" book, where the suggestion is using them dry. That's what I do. Grind up little piles of each colour you have, then mix them as you need them to get different shades, so say sand, orange, earth, dark earth, black, etc. Then using a small brush you just pick up small amounts of the dry powder and kind of brush/dab it on, working it into the corners and around the raised detail. This is pretty safe as if you put on too much you can mostly remove it again with a cotton bud or a clean brush. Best to start off with too little and to light a shade, so that you can work towards more and darker as you need to. Also start somewhere not too noticeable then move on as you get more confident. Sometimes best to do some, then go and do something else for a few hours and come back and look at it. When you're sitting up close, you can really get carried away if you know what I mean... I've done it before and made a desert vehicle look too dark.

Vary the look and the effect you're getting by making some areas, say where people walk in dirty boots, look dusty - so paler colours, then areas where it is mechanical dirt you're representing, go for darker shades, black or dark browny grey, where it's mechanical grease. Try looking under the wheelarches of your car and see the weird matt browny grey black colour you often get.

Adding water - I don't know what that does to be honest, but it sounds like it could get messy!

Your diorama - I reckon it depends on whether you want to build another vehicle straight away, or fancy doing figures. Both are another challenge - I fancy leaving Karl as the only vehicle, but adding crew; also this might keep the size of the base down to something not much bigger than the mortar.

You know there's footage of Karl firing on You Tube?