Kameraden, ACHTUNG!

Building continues: this time it's a 15cm Sturm-Infanteriegeschütz 33 auf Pz III 1/35 from Dragon. Kit No: 6042 Out of the box.

I was so impressed bi Javiers SIG 33 that I absolutly have to build one. Check out his Page, just amazing work!

http://javier-warmachines.blogspot.com/2008/11/sig-33-auf-fgstpzkpfw-iii.html

I ordered this older Dragon kit over eBay at a reasonable price. I tried to get some pics of the sprues, but my lamp isn't very bright. I try to get soon a new one, perhaps Santa got one in his bag So, here's what you get:













Here's the first step:



I began with the bunch of wheels spending much time to get them clean... (Sorry, I'm uploading the pics next time)

Not much for the first time, but holidays are approaching!

Have a good night.

I am excited about seeing this guy come together. Good Luck A.W!

Looking forward to this build!..

Russ

Thanks for your interest!

Ok, still not finished with the wheels, I began with the wheel suspension. Looking at Deanos build to get information and prevent mistakes. Thanks for your build log!

So, first the rear plate, the the idler arm Still have to get some liquid putty in some fitting holes.



But the rest fitted very well, but I noticed that the running gear and the wheels are not my favourite part of the build As we would say in Switzerland: 'duck and go through!'

Looking good so far A.W. I will be watching how this SiG comes along. What do you have planned for the paint scheme, PG or 3 tone camo? Keep up the good work.

Rob

Hei Rob, thanks for your comment! I'm planning to do the camo PG, but if I find an interetsing paint scheme perhaps I'll change my mind...

Here's a little update:

I finally finished to build and clean the wheels



Then I made some progress on the entire hull, assembled top and bottom. And filled some gaps with liquid putty.



And I assembled the gun barrel and the mount. But it does need some cleanup.





Next step will be mounting the wheels and assembling the tracks. Because now I still have good access. With my Jagdpanther it took me lot of patience to get the tracks in place.

Hei Rob, thanks for the comment! I'll paint the tank in PG to exercise my oil filter and dot method skills. But it still has to be decided. Have you got an interesting scheme?

A little update on the build: I managed to get the links from the sprues (which went faster than I thought) and assemble one side . The wheels are just glued in spot with a tiny drop to hold them. But I'll paint them separetly. This time the track-job worked very much better than with the jagdpanther. Perhaps I had more patience

Here you go:

The tracks are looking good, I always dread doing them especially the cleaning part.
How about overall PG with a little bit of DG camo slightly faded? I have never tried this camo scheme but I think it looks cool.

Rob

Nice job on the tracks, shes looking good so far.

I managed to get some time on my tank. So I'm finished with the build. Just a littlte bit of cleaning is left and attachment of the superstructure, which will be a little tricky. Tools and wheels will be painted extra.

Comments like always welcome.







Have a nice christmas day!

Here's the first painting stage with Tamiya German Grey:





For the painting I'm following Adam Wilders article about color modulation and trying my best... The colors I use are German Grey xf-63, Field Blue xf-50, Medium Blue xf-18 and Flat White xf-2.

Regards,

Aenea

A.W,

I like that, at first i could barely tell you painted it. I was expecting a dark painted model. I am not familiar with that article, i'll read up on it. From the looks of it, its alot like preshading like those aircraft guys use.

Hei Justin, thanks for looking in. The Tamiya German Grey was applied like a preshading, I didn't want to make the tank just dark grey. So in the secon painting stage I added the other blues (Field Blue xf-50, Medium Blue xf-18 and Flat White xf-2) at different levels. Here you go with the result:









Now following Adam Wilders article about color modulation I tried on the side hull to get at the lower places a dark grey and upwards more light blue. I used primarly the colors German Grey and Field Blue and the Medium Blue just a little bit but next time I'll have to concentrate between Field Blue and Medium Blue to get a lighter result. Here's a detail shot:



While I was painting several questions came up. How I should paint the horizontal surfaces? Adam Wilder paints them plain in one color and very much lighter than the base color. I should have done this too, but because the nuances on the side panels were too dark I painted the horizontal surfaces lighter to the center. Now it looks a little bit strange, like a rupture going from the sidehull to the top. But what else was I expecting if I mix two painting styles together... Perhaps you see what I mean:







Now I'll post shade with a dark brown-black color. And the first thing after applying a gloss coat, is putting on a blue filter and hoping that it gives a more uniform look.

Has someone got a tipp for a book about color modulation 101 ?

Good and bad comments are very welcome!

Regards,

Aenea

Looks like a lot of detail in the Kit.

Nice build so far.

Hi Aenea
Very nice build so far. Good job on the clean-up ... your build looks so neat. I believe its worth taking the time here, as it makes such a difference for when it comes to painting.

Are your wheels and tracks totally seperate ... or are they one assembly to lift off? Ive seen guys do both, and need top start doing something similar. So many Dragon and Tristar kits with non-workable tracks.

Thanks for the compliment, but after painting and studying the pictures you always find spots that you oversee or forgot to clean...
Wheels and tracks are seperate and will be painted like this. This time the job on the tracks went much better than with the already cut out magic tracks from dragon. I glue them anyway to the wheels to get some stability.

@ Jeff: Thanks for looking in! I liked the kit very much, details are well done.

Thanks Aenea.
Do you widen the hole in the wheels so they slip on easier again ... or sand down the axles. How easy or hard is to slide on and off the whole assembly? Your answers are appreciated .. as Ive never done this before, but have considered doing it many times.

I sanded down the axels so that the wheels go on and off with a little effort. But you still have to use too much strength to put the whole thing (wheels and tracks together) on and off, so that it will probably break. My solution is to put the wheels on and glue the tracks, take the whole thing off to finish assemble the tank and paint. Then paint the wheels put them on, and finally last thing done is put the glued and painted tracks on the tank.

I hope I could explain my approach (very bad English ) ...

Thanks again Aenea.
I understand exactly what you mean. Don´t worry about your english ... its great.
Will be interesting to see how this all works out for you. Cheers.

Hi A.W.
Looking good dude, I like that painting technic, I will try it out sometime.Will you post pics after the decals are on, what type of numbering are you planning on? Looking foward to seeing more pics.

Rob

Hei guys,

Good that you did understand my Blabla Frank

Now here are the pics after a very diluted post-shading with flat earth and flat black. And after the decals with a coat of clear. There will be no numbering only perhaps something written with chalk.

Tell me what you think!

Cheers

A.W,

Great job on the post shading. It looks excellent. I must say excellent job so far! Im jealous!

@ Justin: Thanks for your nice comment! I feel flattered

After sealing the paint job and the decals with a clear gloss goat I put a blue filter with oil colors over the whole tank. Then after drying a semi flat coat was applied to get a nice base for working with the oil dot color technique. I used different oil colors: paynes grey, burnt umber, burnt sienna, cobalt yellow and white. Applyed with a tooth pick at first randomly.



Then I dampened the brush slightly in thinner and began to mix the dots in a tapping and swirling motion. Concentrating on little areas, so that it doesn't get a whole soup of all colors mixed together. Then in a second step i put again oil dots on in specific areas and blended them in.

Here's the result:



Please tell me what you think, good and bad!

Regards,

Aenea

Looks really good. Nice colour tones, makes it look like a well weathered metal surface.

Darryl

Now it looks way better!

Lars