I've starting working on my Tristar 1/35 PzKpfw 38(t) Ausf. E/F. I'm building mine as one that served with the 19th Panzer Division in Russia 1942. That well worn winter scheme is just too gorgeous to pass up.





Here are some early hull assembly shots. I thought it would be a bit tricky since the hull is comprised of a bunch of flat parts, but everything lined up and fit perfectly!





The suspension is actually pretty sophisticated and it works! The parts are very small, so it's been a bit of a challenge getting them together with these big fingers. Good thing I took it easy on the caffeine while working on them!

I found an error in the instructions in step 1-1. Part E-6 is for the right side of the bogie, E-5 is for the left. Pay close attention for those of you who have this kit in the stash. The little shields on those two parts should be positioned so they act as a bumper if the suspension arm moves high enough to touch the leaf springs.







The bogie assemblies actually pivot on the springs, and the suspension arms articulate! See! If you watch real close you can see them dancing. They're moving to the beat of the Led Zeppeling DVD I had blasting in my fortress of solitude.












Hmm.... I think I've been inhaling too many glue fumes....

Here are a couple of shots of the drive sprockets and idler wheel assemblies. The assemblies work i.e. the sprockets and idlers turn on their mounts. The parts are very thin, detailed and delicate and do require great care and precision when assembling them to make them work. The detail is outstanding! This is my first Tristar kit and I must say I'm impressed!



Here are two shots with the bogies, drive sprockets and return roller assemblies (minus rubber wheels). The wheels and rubber parts will be attached after painting.





Here are some detailed shots of a couple of the visors. Those little PE brackets were fun......







And here is the finished front hull plate assembly. Those little PE brackets for the right side front hatch were a bit of a pain in the a**, but I'm sure my issues were self induced.





Believe everything you read about this kit, the engineering and fit are fantastic! If you run into snags, trust me, they are self induced (don't ask me how I know this.... ). I'm really impressed with this kit!

Here are some pics after having added the fenders, support brackets, hull top armor plates and various other detail parts. The box with the perforated sides consists of 5 separate parts which were a little fiddly because they're so small, but with good tweezers, patience and lots of care it managed to go together nicely. It hasn't been glued to the fender yet so the gap you see underneath the box is because it is just sitting on the fender right now.













Here is the hull after a few more of the details were installed. This is a fun little kit. It's good practice for these big hands working with all those fiddly little parts.

I have this kit in my stash as well. Great pictures!

Nice detailing! What differences are there between this version (E/F) and their G version?

Looking good Scott, building up pretty quick! I've heard nothing but good things about the Tristar Pz 38(t) line and have the B, E/F, and G kits all in the stash quietly waiting their turn.

Bill_c,

Main differences between the E/F and G kits are the fact that their G kit includes options to build a Befehlspanzer version with the radio aerial rails on the rear deck and the option of the blanking plate for the hull MG. There's also, of course, the actual variant differences between the E/F and G in terms of rivet patterns, fender layouts, etc. that are also different but the big differences in the kits themselves are the variants possible and the different markings options as well.

Thanks, Bill P! I have the Voyager PE upgrades for the DML Ausf. G in-house or on-order. Do you know if they will work on the Tristar model?

Also, is it me, or are the rivets on this baby on steroids??? They don't seem to-scale, but I'm far from an expert.

Great work so far, Scott. Agreed, these Tristar kits are nicely engineered. I'll be following along on this one, still have the Pz.I to finish and the Marder in the stash.

You might be right about the rivets, although it's really hard to tell. They may not appear so large once I get some gray paint on them.

The photos below are from this website: http://svsm.org/gallery/PzKpfw-38t

It likely will but might require some fiddling/adjustments here and there...but the key features ought to be similar enough to allow for it to be used. I'm not aware of any dimensional issues between the Tristar and DML G's on the things that are usually addressed by PE sets, but I'm not 100% sure they are an exact match to each other for PE replacements. As always, when one set is designed for a specific manufacturer's kit, you might run into some additional challenges when adapting it to another.

Scott,

Some nice shots of a preserved E/F. Shows the bolt pattern on the turret face and superstructure front pretty well. I tend to agree that once painted the rivets will look the part, the vehicle itself isn't that large and they did use ship-type rivetting technology in the design. making the rivets that much more prominent.

Here are some more update pics of my Tristar 1/35 Pz.Kpfw. 38(t) Ausf. F. The turret assembly is complete (just noticed I missed the PE visor/shield that goes over the gun sight). This is probably the most intricate kit I've built, there are so many tiny parts! It's been a fun challenge though and it's helping to improve my skill set with PE and small parts.

Coming along great Scott, it's gotten me to eyeing the ones I have in the stash for a possible near-term date with the workbench.

Scott, Also got this in the stash-I'll have to give it a look see again now after seeing yours. Dan

It's a nice little kit guys. Lot's of parts though, but if you're used to working with small fiddly parts you'll have no problem at all with this puppy. I just realized that I only have one or two tiny little pieces to add and it's ready for painting!

Hi Scott, Nice clean build so far. I'm very impressed with the detail of this model, your pics really show them off.
I'm wondering if the slight sink holes on the leaf spring is going to show up or is it minor, hard to tell.
I'm moving this up a notch on my buy list, ( I love the early stuff ).
Looking forward to seeing paint on this one, keep the pics coming.

-Bruce

Here are some photos from after I sprayed the pre-shade, base coat and post-shade. I use Tamiya Acrylics exclusively. The pre-shade was XF-1 Flat Black. The base coat was a mix of 2.5 parts XF-63 German Grey, 1 part XF-1 Flat Black and 1.5 parts X-20A Thinner. For the post-shade I just added a bit of white to the mix and sprayed the open areas on the upper panels and turret sides.

Making good progress Scott, this one's getting a whitwash eventually, right?

Thanks Bill, and yes. It will have a well worn white wash, if I can pull it off. lol

Looking real good, Scott. That turret is an amazing piece of work, isn't it? Looking forward to the whitewash, should look cool

Thanks James. It is pretty amazing! I love how the gun sight and the gun are "synchronized" so it moves as the gun moves.

I put the decals on last night. After having a "discussion" about the use of Future on armor models on another forum a few weeks ago, I decided to try not using Future at all on this build. The decals seemed to go on just fine. I'm still trying to get the big yellow numbers on the rear of the turret to hunker down over the rivets.... just about there. I applied some more Micro-set on the way out the door this morning and hope it will be ready to rock when I get home this evening. I'm going to have to build another one of these, I love the gray scheme on the Pz. Kpfw. 38(t)!

Wow, just stunning.

i like your work. its looking very nice at this stage.

regards Jens

Thank you Jens, I really appreciate your comments.

I'm almost hesitant to do the white wash now since I love they panzer gray look on this tank so much. I'm going to have to build another of these in a gray scheme.

Very, very nice.

Just for fun, I parked my Das Reich Tiger next to the Pz. Kpfw. 38(t) as a size reference. Either the Tiger is huge, the 38(t) is small, or a pleasant combination of both.

Coming along nicely The comparison pics are amazing, I didn't realize how much bigger the Tiger is to the 38(t) thanks Bob

Maybe you can add the Tristar interior kit to the nxt one!

If you want more experience with small parts, try Tamiya's Renault UE kit. You know you're in trouble when the kit comes with tweezers!

Nice work Scott. I especially like the shot with it parked beside the Tiger