I don't know if this will be of use to anyone but I've been searching for pics of the radio set up for my 250/5 and have finally found one which is allegedly in a 251 but looking at the size it's a 250

http://img11.hostingpics.net/pics/224259293.jpg

Made some progress tonight and finally got the wheels on. Will stick some pics up tomorrow as I'm building it in sections as it seems the most logical way to do it. I'd forgotten just how crap Dragons instructions are and also how much I hate painting the road wheels on half tracks lol. Now that's out of the way I can get on with the interior. I'm leaving the tracks until later as that'll take ages so I'm leaving that. I've bought the Archer instruments and placards so we'll see how they go on. Piccies tomorrow hopefully. I've not postedanything as yet as there wasn't much to look at.

Brilliant clear pic!!! Yes,that is definitely a 250 for sure.

Yes, that image belongs to a wonderfully restored sdkfz 250/3 neu.
Here are many more images; 250/3

And I sit here, in my hobbyrum at my worktable, staring at the contents of my boxes...... and nothing happens!
It has been like that for a while now......

As promised , some pictures. I've had a good few hours on it tonight and have made some progress. My eyes have gone haywire from doing the radios but I'm happy with them. This pic shows my initial problem



As a result of some great bargains on ebay I've ended up with seven halftracks, which means the panzers behind are in limbo. The 250/5 is in the Stug box which is the one I bought without a box and had forgotten about. As you can see I live on my own hence the pile of kits up the corner and no wife or girlfriend to moan about me taking over the living room lol.
Onto business. I always paint stuff as I go along as there's no way I could paint it when it's all together. I have no idea how people do it but I take my hat off to them. I always try to build in sections as I find it easier to keep track that way and it keeps me motivated.





I added a few bits around the main radio area for the radio op. As 250/5's were of special use to SP artillery I've put a map and clock on the shelf next to it. The clock was out of the Communication Centre and I used one of the kit decals for the clock face. It's only got one hand being a rev counter or the like but it's that small you can't tell . I thought a clock would be essential for timed barrages and obviously the map for relaying coordinates. I may stick another map folded down the side of the tubing. I hated painting the radio but was quite pleased with it in the end.



It wasn't until I took the pics that I noticed that one of the decals has moved slightly off on the dashboard but hopefully it won't be too noticeable when it's all together. I used Archers decals for the dashboard rather than the kit ones as they look a lot nicer. Once again I had problems with heat from my fingers pulling them off the carrier sheet but fortunately didn't lose too many important ones. The radio I just painted as it was easier and just used a couple of the lettering plates.
Looking at the kit instructions they've got the layout for the wall mounted kit wrong going on original photos I've looked at. I think they're the same ones as Ron's got on his blog. The layout they've got is for the Alte type so I'm altering it. I've used the etched metal plate for the back of the seat as in the pic I put up as I have a pile of spare bits. Having said that I bought a box of spare 251 bits off ebay last week for £6 and was amazed at how much stuff I've got now lol which is good as if as always I break something very fine I should have a spare. If anyones stuck for anything let me know and I'll see if I can find the relevant bit. Tomorrow I'm going to start on the internal walls and kit stowage and hopefully start putting it together. Quite a nice little kit bar the crap instructions. So much easier when you've got a picture on the monitor to work from. How's everyone else getting on?

Ron, nice set of images. They should be helpful when I do the plumbing on the radio which is always a mystery. I've really struggled to find decent pics of radios wired up. I found a couple of good sites showing decent colour pics of peoples radio collections but alas not all wired up which is a bit of a bummer. This ones a good site for doing the detail on the radio fronts with super fine brushes and a magnifier. Being long sighted is definitely a pain in the proverbials where it comes to fine details!

http://fykse.dnsalias.com/radio/old/index.htm

Initially I was looking for pics to work from for the CP set but there's allsorts on there so it's pretty useful.

Has anyone got any idea what the round thing is sticking up on the right hand side of the radio frame? It shows it in the instructions but no clues as to what it is. Could it be a speaker? I've not been able to find a pic at the right angle that shows it so I've no idea what colour it should be.

I think it is supposed to be a clock.
That rearseat should be turned 90 degrees.
When not used the back folds forward and then the seat upward against the side of the vehicle.

Here are some pics I use. You can see the backrest behind the operator.

Oops..thanks Ron. Yet another DML faux pas in the instructions. I do sometimes wonder if the people doing the instructions have ever seen the vehicle in real life or even seen the kit in real life before there's that many errors in them.

A bit more work done last night. Not a huge amount to show for it but I've done the inside of the hull walls. I've completely ignored the DML instructions as they are hopelessly wrong as everything is in the wrong place, things are missing and, well..they're just wrong. They've obviously not researched the inside very well. I changed the MP40 pouch by the front radio op as it seemed huge and used one out of my spares box also using another one for the MP40 mag pouch on the left hand wall with another MP40 hanging at the back. They'd omitted the radio ops MP40 as well so I added one out of the spares box. There's a weird looking box on the engine firewall (which wouldn't be seen anyway) so I've moved that to the right of the radio op as there appears to be a junction box for the radio missing there. They'd put it in entirely the wrong place. I've added things to the top of the hull that they'd missed off.They'd put a rifle rack there when in actual fact it's three waterbottles .



I've put the drivers section and the main radio sections into the hull now as I'm fairly happy there. I'll add a few more bits of kit in there once I've got the walls on. My next step is painting the crew. I've picked out a couple of DML Waffen SS to go in the back from the 6309 Verfungstruppe set, one sitting, one standing but in slightly different poses. Having said that I may change the standing one for one out of the 6110 HJ 1944 set. I'll paint the three up and then choose. I need to find another figure for the front radio op so I'll have to have a rummage about in the stash and the spares to find one I like. The driver's fine so I'll use him. As he's in a panzer uniform I'll do him in 44 pea dot. The other three are in smocks (when I find the third). Trying them for fit shows there's not an awful lot of room in these 250's for a crew!



So that's where I'm up to gents. I'll stick some more up once I start on the crew.

Really nice progress man! I am so far behind I haven't even gotten out of the gate yet.
J

*taps J on shoulder*

Right here with ya, mate....

LOL, don't worry I'm starting on a few figures now so you'll have chance to catch up as I tend to take my time with them as I usually get half way through them and decide I'm not happy with the colours and start again. I bought the Vallejo SS paint set not long ago so have been experimenting with that. I've put the base colour on now after lightening it as it didn't look pinkish enough for plane tree smocks so I'll have to see how it looks when I get some green on. Jerry your figures put mine to shame so I'll try harder seeing as you're in the room lol. I think it's quite funny. Two of the most prolific modellers on here stuck on the blocks

Now I am very interested in those kind of sets, as I have a handful of smocks waiting to be done as well.
Please do tell more about them. I am going for peadot and 1944 issue smocks.

Ok I am jumping in with this 1/72:



Because a) It's the only 250/251 I have in my stash
b) I've been wanting to build it
c) I have projects I am trying to finish and I don't want a long campaign!

Here are the sprue shots:



I took those shots 13 days ago and since then I made some progress. This is the body with tracks assembled. I used a piece of wire as an axle for the sprockets. The road wheels were bowed in slightly - pigeon toed! So I used a sliver of 10 thou card as a shim so hopefully they are 'true' now. (At least according to the Mk 1 eyeball.)



Turret assembly with scratch built screens.



I have a photo which is not so high-res which seems to show a camo pattern I have not seen before. I am suspicious that what I am seeing is an artifact of the printed photo, but I'm tempted to try it anyway as it will make my little vehicle somewhat unique!

I have bot the Vallejo set and the AK set and I like the colors in the AK set much better. Their paints are a bit thicker but once you get the hang of it the colors really are spot on.
J

Decided to re-do the screens using some surplus PE.

Kind of off topic but nice vinyl collection... one of my big regrets was selling all my vinyl two years ago. What an idiot...

Here's what I'll be building:


Nothing flashy, but got it for a song at the local model club meeting. Will probably combine it with the Flak 43 I'm building for the Sign of the Four campaign. Thinking of painting it as captured and put back into use by the Soviets. What do you guys think?

Thanks Patrick. I think there's probably about 400 albums there. I was talked into selling my 45's collection years ago by my evil ex and have been slowly rebuilding it over the last few years. I know what you mean about regretting selling stuff. I could kick myself as I sold some really expensive 45's which I got for practically nothing. I don't buy a lot these days really but ebay USA is my port of call when I do as I can get soul and rhythm and blues 45's cheaper from the US haha. I seem to spend my money on kits these days and sit and look at the big pile of boxes. I really need to work out a building plan as my cupboard under the stairs has about 100 boxes of unstarted figures. Oops!

I have to confess I've not done much this week as I got sidetracked. I bought some PE grilles for my Tigers which have been sitting around for ages so now they're complete I intend to spray them so I've been digging through the tank crews that I've got to see which ones I want to use. I'd forgotten just how many boxes of them I'd got. Six different DML sets,a Tamiya and a Tristar one as well. At least I've got some options LOL. On a positive though I've finished the seated radio op and picked out the other figures to go in the 250. Hopefully I'll get them painted up in the next couple of days then I can start putting it together. Still not looking forward to the tracks however.

These are the two figures I intend to have in the back of the 250. I'm reasonably happy with the radio op feeding his face. It's the first time I've used the Vallejo SS set which is to do camouflage smocks and it's not come out too badly. I lightened the base red colour as it seemed too dark going on photos of original smocks I've seen. Not overly keen on the head so may pick up some more resin heads as this is just a straight DML one. I need to put his collar insignia on,matt him down and make him look a bit grubby then he'll be done. The officer has a Legends SS head. I'm happy with his stance as it looks as if he's explaining something. I just need to get his equipment on now before I paint him. I've got a load of the Gen 2 equipment so he can have some MP 40 pouches etc out of that. The radio op is loose at the moment as I need to do the wiring on the radio before I set him in there. As I've not found any really good photos of the "plumbing" of the radio so I may have to use some artistic licence and hopefully his body will hide most of it as inevitably there'll be someone on here who is knowledgeable about German vehicle radios and will tell me its wired up wrong haha

Nice to see all of the progress that you made Kurt! BTW,I also made the stupid mistake( also because of an ex-wife) of getting rid of my extensive vinyl collection! I didn't even sell them but just threw them in the trash.
What we will do to keep peace in the house.
On a more pertinent note,I have still not managed to crack the box on my selection for this group endeavor!
Maybe I should put the Ford truck on hold.
J

Jerry I know exactly what you mean. I've got a bit sidetracked with this panzer crew thing. I need five so I can finish off the two Tigers and Panther in the background of the pic with the boxes in. All that needs doing to them now is airbrushing the camo pattern on now I've got the PE engine grilles on and sticking the crew members in the hatches. Weathering can be done when I build the dio. The problem is the amount of tank crews that I have found. I built some up to see which ones I fancied using so now there's 15 figures sat on the desk waiting to be painted and I'm still undecided so I may build some more. I've got a box with 19 in already painted anticipating being used at some point. I went through a phase last year of completing figures for this Falaise dio I've got rattling round in my head but none of them are really ideal to go in the turret. They're more out of the tank panzer crews. I'm doing the Tigers as 101st Heavy Tank Btn so haven't decided to go for pea dot or black for the crews which is distracting me from the job in hand even more as I don't want to do all of them as SS tank crews. I want to do some as Wehrmacht and some as SP artillery but can't decide which. I may hide them and go back to the 250 as I should be doing lol. My school reports always used to say "Karl is easily distracted" so not a lot has changed lol.

This may make things a bit easier for you man. There are very few,if any pics of the WSS crews in Normandy wearing the black panzer wrap. They are all in the pea dot or green denim uniforms or gray shirts as it was hot weather. The Heer fellas were in reed green panzer wraps or fieldgray work cloths. Easier for ya?
J

I ended up selling my entire hardrock & heavy metal collection too.... but not due to evil ex-wives, but the vile monster of bad economics. Had to put food on the table in the most literal sense of the word.
Nothing I really, really regret though. They were just standing there gathering dust. Although the empty space did bother me for a little while.

On a campaign related note; I seem to have lost any and all interest in 1/35 military subjects!
and I wandered off to 1/24 cars. Doing my first one now, yet it still holds that olive green feel to it; Italeri's armed pick up and another 4x4 is sitting in the stash; Fujimi's Jimny.
These cars have less parts and details that your average Tamiya Kübelwagen!!


But that will mean a lot of scratchbuilding though.


But I shall return!!