I am not too sure if it was or not primed. All I know is that is is wall plaster and applied to the bare metal. Then the tank was painted. Hope that this is helpful.

Grant: Love the camo! To be honest, the barrel blended in so well that I couldn't discern it from the hull.
Trevor: If it was applied to bare metal, I'm sure it was primed. Thank you for the info.

At last.. I started my build..
It's the old Tamiya Flak 88 (1972 sprues.. )



Step 2

The builds are preceding nicely, some excellent work going on!

Grant, your Tiger I looks fantastic. Very nice work on the camo.

I have finished general painting of all parts. The gun itself is about 95% complete, I just have to touch up the weathering in a couple of places. I have barely started weathering on the two trailers, the one in the picture below only has the chipping phase finished. With a little luck, I should be able to make some good progress this weekend.

Enjoy the photos and don't be shy with your critques; I am just getting back into building tanks and guns and there are a lot of new techniques to learn.

Ernest

Ernest: I like how your flak is turning out. You may have gone a little overboard, with the chipping. As you aren't finished, I'll hold the rest of my observations in cheque.

Hi Ernest excellent build buddy, love the chipping by the way, looks as if the 88 has seen some action!
Tom

Hi Matt - I agree with you concerning the chipping on the gun itself. I was attempting to show more wear on the paint rather then chipping but did not bring it off well at all. The trails turned out better, but I still did not get the worn effect I was after. There is a technique that uses a brush dampened with lacquer thinner, but I was not brave enough to try it. Well there is always next time!

Tom - thank you for the kind words. I wanted to show a gun early in the North African campaign that had had a field paint job. Photos show those paint jobs wore very extensively; as I pointed out above I did not achieve quite the effect I wanted though.

Ernest

Small update.. 1972 - Tamyia 88 Flak gun





Stay tuned !

Nice start on your build John, looking forward to seeing more. I built that kit years ago and it went together very well.

I finished weathering the trails today. Overall they turned out fairly well; I am much more statisfied with the chipping and wear, though it does not show up well in the photos. I plan to work on the figures next.

Enjoy the photos,
Ernest

Ernest: Very nice work. Is that kite string, you used for rope?

Thanks Ernest !
That's a great job you have done too !!!

Here's my update

John: I have also built that kit. I really enjoyed it. Unfortunately, the putty I used on the barrel shrank. This was a couple of months, after I finished it.

Hi Matt, thanks for the kind words. The string is a piece of left over rigging from a ship build I did some years ago.

Sincerely,
Ernest

Coming along nicely John! Keep it up!

Ernest

Thanks Ernest,

Another update, still a few details missing, but it's almost there...

I don't think I am going to be motivated enough to finish this one. Too many projects going on. But, I will follow along. I have already spied a couple of future builds, here. You guys are doing some really amazing work!

Still missing the gun shield.
German grey base coat, filters & washes later

Your 88 is looking good John. Do you plan to display it in a diorama?

I am working on the figures and base for my 88. The basic paining of the figures is about 75% complete, but I have been too lazy to take photos of them. I'll take and post some pictures when the base painting is finished.

Below are a couple of photos of the basic diorama base. Unfortunately I was unable to get the lighting to show the contrast of the groundwork colors, which is subtle but evident to the eye. I plan to mount this on a wood base and then frame around it.

Ernest

John: Spectacular work! The gun shield is optional. When used for flak, you will find the 88 without one. This could have been easily converted to an artillery piece by simply adjusting the vector.

Completed the base and couldn't resist fiddling around with developing a scene. This will not be the final display, but it gives me a few ideas how I want the end result to look, and it confirms the model meshes well with the groundwork and base. The figures are far from complete and I still have to finish several small parts, but the pictures give a good idea what the final composition will look like.

Ernest

ernest,

WOW thats coming together great cant wait to see it finished.

luca

I did a winter finish over a panzer grey base coat.

Just yesterday, a big bag full of stuff just fell over the 88...
it wasn't very heavy but it did some damage.

Anyway, it was a sign, I call this one over..
Still a lot of Campaigns to work on...

well there went the long weekend to get going on this build.. I did get much of the long delayed shield bolts and plastic installation started, but now with company comng, I've got to clean house.




the gators grip glue wipes up with a wet paintbrush, there are the bottom of the shield where it is still wet.
Man! those turned brass bolts look nice but they are TINY!

the mounting pins for the optics tubes are really too small to mount neatly into the brass shields.


I might still get these done this weekend, we will have to see.

Mike

Ernest - Amazing work, can't wait to see the completed scene.

John - Nice looking 88!

I plan on building a limbered Flak 37, hope to hitch it to Sd.Kfz.8 12t at some point. The kit itself is looking very nice with all the parts to build a Flak 18, 36 or 37. Comes with some nice metal goodies (barrels and shells) too.



Nathan

John: Your build looks great. I like the winter wash a lot, it looks very nice.

Mike: Good start on your build. I'll bet those bolt heads were a bit of a bear to install. They really add to the realism.

Nathan: I'll watch your build closely. I almost bought that kit instead of the AFV Club one; so I am interested to see the differences between the kits.

I have been making steady, if slow, progress on the figures. I have finished shading and highlighting the uniforms of 4 of them, and have completed the shading on the other 4. Attached are a few pictures of 3 of the completed, with the exception of detail painting, uniforms. Unfortunately, it is a dark rainy day and I did not get as much light for the photos as I wanted.

Ernest