Afrika Korps Kubelwagen

Italeri 1/72 kit. I'll add the MG34 and stand as the weapon requirement. Airfix driver too.

It should be a quick build Tom. Airfix does not give too much parts.
Enjoy your build.

Olivier

Thanks Olivier.

Beside adding the MG stand I have to make up a spare wheel. Mine has apparently rolled away.
I'm going try to convert the regular tyres to the balloon desert style also.

When I opened the box of Airfix Afrika Korps figures to find one to chop up for the driver, I found several have shovels and are digging.
That started me thinking about a little dio when them stuck in the sand. The campaign description said dios are flexible. What do you think?

A little scratchbuild with FBCB2 monitor and seatbelts.

Hi all.
Would this model be accepted in this group build?

Making alittle progress...


After I loaded this I noticed my wife's hair (must be since I don't have any)...


Wheels converted to balloon style.


Before and after figures.

Coming along very nicely Alex. Nice little extyras.

Tom, interesting take on the tyres. Never seen them done that way. Can't wait to see them painted.

Remodelling 1/72nd scale figures - too challenging for me to contemplate. I couldn't hold the itty bitty parts to glue them back on!

Peter thank you.

Your kit is a big project, good luck.

Thanks Peter
Need to spin the tire on the Dremel to round them out more.
Yes - those tiny soft plastic figures are tough.
Had to pin joints and super glue. Then putty.

Final set of in progress - should be finished pics after this.
Everything primed, started to paint (all hand for this).



It is just about impossible to get the seams off the small soft plastic. New sharp knife, x-high speed wheel, etc !
But fix them I must...

Nice setting but I would place the soldier in front of the car farther or aside. If the car suddenly moves forward he will get into trouble.
To remove the seams your best option is a sharp blade. Any high speed sanding tool, would melt the plastic.

Olivier

Just freeze the item for an hour in your home freezer and then move quickly to apply sharp knife-blade or various fine and medium-grit sand paper to the seam needing to go.

I actually first did this back in ca 1970 when I used the home storage deep-freeze to "harden up" some of those Airfix plastic soldiers for to remove the seams from helmets, etc. for painting. Pretty much like what plastic neediness I see in your pic!

Most newer home freezers will get the piece down to ca 05 degree f - and the frozen vinyl is quite stiff, so the seams go quickly. You'll get only a minute tops to do your work, so take and clean the pieces one at a time. For small "men" and other small soft items, consider using a frozen steel or other metal block as your work surface... It will keep the work a little colder while you scrape or cut away seams.

IF you have access to cheap dry ice (available in many super-markets upon request...), or you have plenty of "jobs" lined up, the dry ice does a truly "bang-up" job at freezing the plastic. It will get so cold that it will be quite brittle, so care needs be taken! Treat cleaning the seam like doing so on a thin styrene part... I strongly recommend that one is extremely careful with the dry ice, as it is dangerously cold and you should never handle it with bare skin.

Maybe give "freezing" a try!

Bob

Here is my entry:-

Nice tip Bob. I have never heard of this before.

Good choice Richard. Welcome aboard.

Time to show my (slow) progress.

I have seen pics of other people's builds in the raw, and I have not seen much in the way of filler in sink marks. I must have bought a dud kit, because mine has more sinks than a bathhouse....

A lot of time spent filling, waiting for it to dry, then sanding...

Overall dry assembly to give you the idea of the beast:


Some of the sink marks filled on cabin parts, etc.


and yet more on the turret and gun cradle (which also had a nasty twist):


Lots more I could show you like the sides of the gun cradle, but you get the gist...

Nice Dana Peter. This gun is quite attractive if I may say so ans I've always wanted to build one. However the kit by Hobby Boss is usually not highly rated and I haven't got one yet.

After a pause I resume the work on the M-ATV. The paint is on as are the decals. When they are dry I will apply a brown filter and begin the weathering. The various antennas and the weapon station will be added later to avoid breakage.









Olivier

Having had some free time yesterday and this morning I managed to apply a pin wash after a brown filter.










Next steps will be weathering of the wheels, adding all the missing details like the antennas and dusting the whole beast.

Olivier

Looking very sweet and tasty indeed Olivier.




Very true Olivier. If you are a 'it looks like a duck, it quacks like a duck... it must be a duck' builder you will get a nice rendition. If like us, you like accuracy and a suitable amount of detail, unless you are prepared to do a lot of work, then pass on it.

I have started on the mods.

There are some very significant issues with the kit. For starters:
- The cab floor area extends way too far back and as a consequence, the chassis rails are too short. I'm talking 10 mm here. The cab rear should not be up against the transmission access cover. Part of this you can get away with as the wheels hide it.
- The said front transmission cover mount section is wrong. The 2 brackets as per the kit do not exist; there is only one bracket on the vehicle which is a completely different shape and extends forward to the cab rear. The face plate has bolts, etc where there shouldn't be any.

- There is no recess for the steering linkage in the cab floor, no access hatches in the floor, nor any components for steering to the wheel assemblies


- No air tanks or braking system is present apart from the boosters on the suspension arms
- No ribbing under the fenders (okay - that is not unusual in a kit) and the recess under the turret floor is not depicted - kit has a flat floor. Anything other than gun straight forward and this stands out.
- The opening in the truck bed behind the cab is nothing at all like on the real thing and absolutely no detail of componentry is present.



-The leaf springs on the suspension bogies are missing 4 leaves - 2 on top and 2 on the bottom. The whole leaf spring retaining assembly is wrong shape on the outside and the flat part on top that mates to another plate on the chassis rail is missing. The inside section is not a huge flat piece that extends out over the shaft tubes - the bogies could never articulate.
- Shock absorbers are just straight tube with square blobs on the end, nothing like the rear thing.

- The tunnel between bogie units has a basic blob, nothing like the gear box in real life
- There is none of the very visible hydraulic lines, pipework, etc anywhere on the vehicle

-The rear engine grill has a rectangular plate moulded in, the real grill has a plate under the vents.
- Access panels are wrong shape, missing, and many other details just do not exist.



etc, etc, etc...

Some of this I am going to live with, but a lot of work ahead of me...

You could write a comprehensive tweaks list with all you've already noticed.
Good luck for the next steps.

Olivier

It would be a very long tweaks list Olivier - more a 'What you need to fabricate to replace' list

Interestingly, ET and Voyager both do detail etch sets for the Dana and the engine grill error is repeated in their etch parts. However, Eduard does a Big Ed set as well as selling the frets separately in smaller sets, and their engine grill set has the correct layout in multi parts and the engine covers have bracing parts on the inside if you want the engine viewable.

Phew! You have your work Cut out for you there, Peter.

I am not as hard core as you on the details, But in this case I agree especially the missing details around the engine deck sticks out as overly simplified.

Looking forward to see more

My wheels are going to be Tamiya's 1/35 AMD35.

Hey this is a neat choice and please do build it! had no idea that such was ever made, welcome & sorry for the delay!

Wow the work y'all are doing is just incredible! SO SORRY for not being here more often, my company is opening a new foundry and as you can imagine, work is a bear right now!

BB