Following the fall of France at the start of the Second World war, around 500 Renault UE tractors were captured and forced into service for the German Army. Many were simply used as munitions carriers , though there were a number of UE's which recieved mounted rockets and cannons.

I have been waiting for this kit to be released for a long time, Alan has kindly donated a number of pictures from his visit to Bovington, which have come in very handy when up-detailing this tiny kit. That said though, I find it very hard to fault this kit in terms of attention to detail. Let me just say that any bolt counters out there; you know who you are, he he!, will not be disappointed.

Firstly, decide which version of the Ue you wish to make, Tamiya offer three options, though you will need to get the micro drill out straight away as the three different models require idifferent parts.



I will be making a 28cm Rocket carrier, otherwise known as the Selbstfahrlafette für 28/32cm Wurfrahmen auf Infanterie-Schlepper UE(f). Try saying that when you have had a few! These were often mounted on the rear of the vehicle, or on the sides by aid of a rudimentary frame. I will be making the former.



Aluminium foil was used to close off the rear storage bin and thin strips of styrene sheet and rod were cut to add detail.



The rockets have come from the Mirage Hobby set and are quite hard to paint well, I will only be using the rockets and parts of the frame.



Extra detail was etched into the rocket frames with my handy scribing devise.....or a needle stuck to an old brush, whatever you want to call it. The painting method will bring out the etched pattern of the wood

Painting the wooden frames was quite fun. I do it in three stages, Base coat of tamiya XF-57 Buff, followed by highlighting with the airbrush, finished off with a coat of brown water colour paint wiped off after a few minutes.



Painting was a bit of a bold move as this was only my third outing with an airbrush after 10 years of builing without one. Not a bad attempt, but plenty of room for improvement. I have started to apply pin washes of Tamiya Black to panel lines, though this is taking my a while due to the sheer number of tiny details on the surfaces.

Hope you enjoy my build, i will keep you posted as ever. i am trying to get this finished as soon as possible and try to get it published quickly before others beat me to it. So i had better get back to it........

Be lucky

Stuart

Thats looking really good so far mate.
what scale is it?
Ur airbrushing looks really good to me.
Keep it up and updated

cheers

Thanks for the compliment James. Oh, and it's in 1/35, though its about the same size as a 1/72 tank! It's tiny.

I have added a pin wash into the recesses and panel lines, highlighting the detail a little more. I followed that with a couple of overall oil washes with Burnt Sienna. This helps to blend together the three tones of the camo scheme.





The rockets in all honesty have taken longer than the UE. The way in which they must be painted and assembled was in all honesty, a bit of a chore. I'm quite happy with the results though.



I couldn't resist adding fuses to them.





Onto the finer detail next. Followed by a base and maybe a figure. Times a ticken though.....

Thanks

Stuart

With the UE almost finished I thought I'd attempt a figure to go with it. I really need the practice with figure painting, so any input would be much appreciated.

I started with a Zvezda german infantry figure and have tried to adapt it, I probably could have found an arm or two in the spares box, but as I said i need the practice so in for a penny, in for a pound.....



I was also feeling a bit ambitious with the stowage as well. Coffee stirer, wood glue and old PE and there you go.



I wasn't going to build the trailer to start with, but I though it would look good in a diorama. I added bolt detail with styrene rod and a bucket which I noticed on the example at Bovington Tank Museum.



I built the link and length tracks up off the model to ease painting them.

I think this build is going to turn into a diorama piece, in which case I will start it in the 'Diorama' forum link, so keep an eye open.

Stuart

Stuart -

Nice build! Like what you've done, the narration and extra steps are great.

Looking forward to seeing the diorama. Keep us posted!

Cheers!

Tim

Looks good Stuart.

I just picked up this kit literally a hour ago.
Tres' petite but nicely detailed.
I can't believe how delicate they managed to make the muzzles on the MAS36 rifles.
Certainly a far cry from the clunky rifles that Tamiya have done in the past.
Hopefully Tamiya's Hetzer and any other new kits will follow suit.
Cheers

jjumbo

Moving along nicely Stuart!

Figure is looking a bit better now that some paint has been splashed on.

As I said earlier, i am a bit of a beginner when it comes to figures, so am learning all the way along. For instance, I now only use Enamels and oils on figures, as I find the finish given by Tamiya paints to be too satin. Though this can be corrected with a coat of matt clear.



I have almost finished the uniform, minus the smaller detail and have started painting the skin areas. This has always been my downfall in the past, so i'm trying something bolder and attempting stuble tones around the face as well.

Also been working on some more stowage....



Still waiting for parts to arrive at the moment, so I will update you as and when I have them.

Thanks

Stuart

Man, it looks so much better than mine... and I can't even blame Mirage Hobby for that
I guess I've got some way to go and improve myself.
Nice work on the paintjob; this is something I can not do properly at this time.

Thanks Andras

The painting is easier than you think. I have only just picked an airbrush up and it couldn't be simpler. The hardest part was saving up to get basic set-up.

I saw your UE, looks good, I always wondered who released that particular one. I wanted to mount the rockets on the sides like yours but was unsure of how to approach it with such little reference. I believe that kit is discontinued now so hold on to it.

thanks again

Stuart

Looks very good so far. I really like the good job on the camouflage - especially considering the size of the vehicle.

Looking forward to see more.

May I have a question? I just built a H-39 with the launchers attached to its sides, and can't find any info where the ignition wires go to. (Come to think of it, it'd be great to have some info on the 251 and the UE, too.)
The other thing is that I have no idea what mark do these rocket leave on their surroundings once launched. Do they simply kick up a lot of dust? Or scorch the earth behind them?
Thanks...

Hi Stuart. I must say you´ve caught onto the airbrush pretty quickly. The camo looks great.
You´ve got a great style of writing clear and concise text, that goes nicely with the images. This will make for great article. Will be watching!!

Hi there Andras

With regards to the ignition systems, I couldn't find much for the particular rockets we are using, though I hope this picture helps in some way; I think it would be safe to simply poke the wires in the base



I drilled a small hole in the bottom of the rocket and glued the fusewire into it with CA adhesive.

That's an interesting question on the effects of the blast. From what I could see, there wasn't much of a blast stain. I think they took off so quickly that there wasn't much time for the ground to burn. Nevertheless, I hope this little picture will give you an idea.



Bovington Tank Museum has a fine example of the UE, please have a read of Alan's thread, he has done a great job of picking up some of the UE's finer details:

lAlans UE Pictures

Thanks to Frank Glackin for the kind words. I have been writing an article to follow this piece, though I had to change direction once I found out that Steve Zaloga had beaten me to the pages of Military Modeling with his UE. It is my lifelong ambition to be a full time modeller, I know it's a long shot, but you have to have a dream! Ken Jones from MM has been great so far, even publishing my Humber scout! Thanks Ken.

I think it's time to move this thread over to the diorama forum and change it's direction to concentrate on the base side of the project. I will post a lonk as soon as i have one.

Thanks everyone.

Stuart

As promised.....

Diorama Forum Link