The Ugly Duckling begins to become a swan....



The nifty winch and cable (not yet weathered):


Thanks to Mig Jimanez, the rusty muffler!



Wrestling the MIG pigments to the ground:



The painting all requires cleaning up, and the weathering process still is mostly undone, but I didn't want to leave everyone with the notion of a raw and unfinished project.

BILL
sorry ,I am english pool.
Why need not trumpeter 8 ton ? tamiya 8 ton to modify a lot of places ,very very lost time.
I also pay attention to very much 150mm GUN +8 ton , because modify very lost time,so I like pinting. I find out history photograph,The hope is useful to you.

Chao Xiansheng, the Trumpeter Sd.Kfz. 7 is not yet available in the States. I have been asked to review it, though, by this forum, and am looking forward to it.


Yes, you're quite right. And expensive. For this kit, I have purchased:

1.) Modelkasten wheels (with sprockets and tracks I sold): $30
2.) Friulmodel sprockets and tracks: $32
3.) Eduard PE upgrade: $12

Plus a good deal of scratch-building of parts like the support struts, handles and canvas top.


Thank you for that photo which shows very clearly how the gun is towed and all the $#&% that was stacked on it. I have an historical photograph I will be basing this diorama on, but don't want one of the faster modellers here to steal my idea!

I think you're in the right tracks, if what you want is to make something similar to the image you show us! Keep it up!

Thanks!

Anyone know what the cables/ropes are connecting the gun and the prime mover?

Gentlemen, I applaud your dedication.
I have the flak version of the kit, and it came with no tracks (and a few missing bits). As it is, the lack of tracks might not be a bad thing, after all... In all, looking at your efforts (and the drain it means to your wallets) I decided to build the kit as a burned-out model to practice weathering. If it looks like a 7, it is one. Even if the tracks remaining will be a few leftovers from a 251 scattered around.
I'll build the Trumpeter/DML version if I want to have an accurate one, I guess.

Here is where things stand so far. I'm not sure if the damn thing is now TOO weathered, but I figure that it's time you saw what can be done with the old Tamiya kit and some AM stuff.









The canvas top is scratchbuilt from tissue and calk (thanks to you guys for showing me that). It may need some touch-up on the paint, the flash on my camera is unforgiving!



I don't know if the rifles are too dusty, either:



Nice instruments detail from the Eduard PE upgrade:



No one will see it in the diorama, but here's the undercarriage with MIG pigments rust on the exhaust pipe:

............. nicely done !!!

Bill,

Excellent rendition of the Sdkfz 7! And, I really like your rusty looking exhaust pipe. Tell me, please, before you used the pigments, did you add some texture to the piece? And if so, what did you use?

Thanks,

Rob

Tom, thanks, I had put off finishing the major work because I didn't want to do the canvas top, but it went together much faster than I feared.

Rob, I started with a base coat of enamel "rust" paint, then built up with several different rust pigments (dark, medium then bright). The pigments provide a nice texture, though I'm sure anything that adds texture would work as a base coat.

The good thing about working with pigments is if you $%&# up, you just wash or rub away the excess.

Hello Bill_C,
Having one of these in the stash, and having built an AK version w/MKs. The GD vehicle is very nice. The pigments on the rifles maybe a bit much, but on the rest of the vehicle looks very good. One item to note is that the front couple of sets of roadwheels do not contact the tracks. Are they seated in the guides or is that because of the suspension?
Best Regards,

Thanks, Mobious, I'm not sure if you're looking at the final pigmentation, it's just where things are now. The rifles may need to be scaled back.

I will look at the tracks and wheels. The Friul tracks are stiff, and the wheels are Modelkasten, so I don't know if there's a mismatch somewhere or the photo simply makes it look wrong. I'm going to be returning to this build shortly now that I've decided on the bridge they're going over and how to build it.

Hello Bill C:

I just started building the Sdkfz 7 from Tamiya and the same 150 from Trumpeter about 3 days ago for the halftrack campaign, just making minor improvements over the originals....nice work on yours, I usually dont buy any aftermarket stuff, just OOB......anyway.......will follow your progress closely...

Mirko

Fine work, Mirko! I guess I won't be entering mine in the halftrack campaign!

Looks great Bill, nicely done. Am going to tackle the Flak version here soon, won't be as in-depth as yours, but will be looking at it for inspiration anyway! Thanks for sharing!

Cheers -
Tim

Keep us informed of your progress. I'm hoping Trumpeter will follow their usual practice and release the variants of this prime mover, especially the FLAK ones. If they wanted to get super-rare, they could do the V2 spotter!

Hi Bill
Knowing your working with this old Tamiya kit and had embarked on buying the various expensive upgrade parts for it before the Trumpeter and Dragon (ha ha) released their versions I have a question for you, especially as you are also blogging the Trumpeter build.

I have two of the old Tamiya kits, both of the flak variations. Now I could upgrade these with all the parts available to do this and I'll probably get at least a PE set to enhance them, but I was thinking the price of some of the replacement items such as Fuil & MK track & wheel set are actually more expensive than what I can get the Trumpy kit for. In UK money termst the tracks would be over £20 whilst I've seen the Trumpeter on sale for that price. So do you think that the parts could be used and are they as good quality as the aftermarket stuff. ?

I'm thinking the wheels, sprockets and tracks at the moment but maybe I could use a lot of the other stuff in a sort of kit bashing type build.

It just seems crazy to pay for some tracks etc. when I can actually get a whole kit to use for less. But is the Trumpeter stuff better or as good as the aftermarket items. I'm not including the front wheels, I know these are supposed to be wrong.

What do you reckon ?

Cheers.

Alan

Alan, those are very good questions. I'm thinking about doing an Sd.Kfz.7/1 or 7/2 (Vierling and 3.7cm respectively), but don't know if Trumpeter will be extending this line anytime soon (no announcement so far, but we know how they got a lot of mileage out of their KV-1 series). If they don't issue a 7/1 or (preferably) 7/2, I likely would go the "kit bashing" route with a Tamiya.

Knowing my perfectionism, I would add the Eduard PE upgrade for either vehicle (35183 for the 7/1 and 35489 for the 7/2). An upgrade of either gun is probably also a good idea, but I don't have any in particular in mind.

The body/chassis of the three vehicles was, from all I can tell, essentially the same (the principal differences being the FLAK vehicles had armor plating on their engine compartments and front cabs). I don't know how well the Tamiya cab and gun platforms would fit onto the Trumpeter body, but it's worth a stab.

The tracks are, in my opinion, the equal of ModelKasten's. They even imitate the dark russet plastic of MK. The Trumpeter plastic is softer, so I've had a bit of a problem keeping long skeins of the tracks from separating. But they definitely "trump" Magic Tracks in terms of performance and action (sorry, couldn't resist that pun, given all the arguing over who's better, DML or Trumpeter, with some folks refusing to buy this kit until they can compare it with the DML announced version).

As for Friulmodel tracks, they are my favorites, since they sag like real tracks, but you're adding another $35-$50 if you go that route.

The sprockets on the Tamiya (and Modelkasten) are inaccurate (too big for the former and wrong number of teeth for the latter). The front tires on the Trumpeter are post-war, but you can pick up nice AM versions from Tank Workshop ($5) and R&J Enterprises ($7 in regular, sand and snow versions).

The key issue here is how well the Tamiya cab and gun platform (with or w/o PE upgrades) will adapt to the Trumpeter body. You can consult my build log on the Trumpeter (see below) to look at how the chassis, cab and body come together, then judge for yourself how the Tamiya would adapt to it.

https://armorama.kitmaker.net/forums/121900&page=2

Hi Bill

Thanks for taking the time to reply. Yes I've read your Trumpeter build, followed it more or less up to date and it looks a nice kit and you sound as if you are enjoying it, that's the main thing.

I figured if the tracks etc. were as good as the MK ones why not get the Trumpeter kit instead. If it's going to cost less it makes sense money wise and you get a whole box of other bits like the engine etc you could add to detail up the Tamiya kit with.

I don't know if I'm up to taking the elements of the Tamiya kit and grafting them onto the Trumpeter. I had in my mind to certainly use the tracks and their roadwheels, replace the front tyres as you say with another after market set. Eduard or Aber PE set for the chassis detail, but I was going to see if I could use the two outstandingly detailed Lion Roar kits to upgrade the flak guns.

Might even be better to just use the Tamiya kits as a guide/template to modify the Trumpeter kit to become a flak carrier and buy the Lion Roar kits to go with that. Leave the Tamiya kits untouched and sell them on ebay.

Bye for now

Alan

Sorry, Alan, I misunderstood your question. It seems like such a waste of a great chassis, etc. to use the Tamiya version. The wheels are all wrong, and the only AM sprockets that are correct are the Friul ($5 here, but still an added expense). The LR upgrades are very good, I forgot them. Depending on what you get, they might be the way to go.

Here the Tamiya kits have lost a lot of value since the Trumpeter kit came out. I lost money on one I sold on eBay after deciding it was too much trouble to upgrade a second time.

Hi Bill

Did you misunderstand my question ? No I don't think so mate. Anyway you gave the right answers. It's just up to me to decided. It's that old dilemma, dress up an old kit to bring it up to "today's standards", or take a kit made today and modify it to the representation of the AFV the old kit represents.

I'm sure in time, as you say Trumpeter will bring out more variations based on this vehicle, probably just after I start hacking their current kit to pieces !!

Anyway, loads more kits before this happens. I seem to find myself in this situation with all my models. Determined to retain and make goood the kits I've "rediscovered" in storage for years now I've come back to modeling but really wanting to build the latest and greatest.

Take care.

Alan