I have been rethinking the position of the Russian troops and came up with a totally new concept. This meant that the front piece of railcar would turn up empty and that would be unacceptable!
So I came up with an idea. As if I didn't have enoug to do with this build I decided to add just one more thing; the rear of a tank! I happened to have a build Tamiya StuG III Ausf G, my son built once, but had lost interest in. I grabbed the StuG and cut off it's butt!
The patient on the operatingtable;


The result;


The idea I had;


I also turned my attention to the layout of the dio as a whole and there were some issues to be solved. First of all the upper section. It needed much more crates, boxes etc. The initial idea of putting supplies on the right rear has been maintained. I just added more + a German helmet and Sturmgewehr to show more German defeat.
I also found a metal Raketenwerfer Püppchen in my sparesbox and I think it really adds something to the dio, so I included that on the left rear. I rearranged the troops, but felt that the lowest region of the dio lacked interest/movement. I then put some troops dashing away from under the railcars, where they had been seeking cover and are now pressing on.
this is the "final" layout;


Birds' eyeview;


The troops;


and the lower group of figures;


Now its time to grab the paintbottles!!

I'm stunned! Guys, you're all doing a great job!.

I just want to ask you one small question: who wants an extension?
I really have to ask for one myself: I want to go to a model show next week and I have to prepare my models for. I've just checked them and it seems that they need much more work than I've presumed... It will take some time to make them look good enough to show so I could really use the extension.

Andrzej

Given the amount of work I'm generating with this baby, I'll second your request!!

I was thinking about asking for one so I would be very happy with more time to work on this project. It takes time to build a good dio, and I know we all have lots of other projects to attend to. Right now I probably should be putting more time into music.

Well good luck at the show, and have fun at any rate.

Billy

I keep pushing on in order to make it in time......

I am still waiting for some parts to arrive, so I can finally finish the 251. Untill then I am working on accessoires and figures.
The figures are basecoated and ready for the real painting;


I also did dome work on the accessoires on the dock.
Instead of using those precious ammoboxes I went for a cheap solution.
I used real wood to show a stack of loadingbeams and a pile of securingblocks. I also took a few (crappy) boxes and draped a tarpaulin over them, made by a piece of umbrellacloth. This has a great texture and very natural folds!!
Then I painted that in napoleonic green, followed by some highlighting and shading. The boxes underneath are in the basecolours only, yet.

I'd third (or is it fouth?) a request for more time! My Panther is in basic camo, but I haven't started "burning" it yet. The Jeep has paint and decals but no detailing/weathering, and I haven't started pouring the base yet. (There's a million rectangual paving setts to carve into it...) I might finish in time, but it'll be all too close...

Tom

PS: Ron, I like the figure production line! All you need is Henry Ford walking along it...

I've asked Gary for 2 more months. Thats over 60 more days for us to finish what we've started!

EDIT: Extension was granted! We have two additional months!

Excellent news! Now I can take my time and get it just right! (But I do want to finish by mid-Feb so I can take it to Trucks&Tracks in Folkestone, England...)

Tom

Good news, I can finish too now- back to work

Cool !

More time for fine tuning (and adjusting the inevitable miscues)....

That's great news, Andrzej!

This way I have more time to finish this build. Otherwise I would have had to bow my head and admit defeat with this build. Would that get me a ribbon, too?
Just like it's big, real time brother, it keeps fighting me!!!

Here's what happenend;
I received my Tank Workshop accessoires and I was able to finish the build, by adding the lifting eyes and several loops. I also corrected the guntravellock, added a cable for the headlight, filled up the gaps at the sides and back and completed the gun itself. As a last measure I replaced the passengers' visionslit by a steelplate.







That was last night. This morning I was welcomed by a smiling sun and little wind.
Time for some work in my sprayingbooth. As soon as the temperature was acceptable I went to work;


I wanted to do a 3-tone, hardedge camouflagepattern with the brown and green in an amoebeshape. I figured I should do those first, then add a maskingfilm, followed by yellow.
So I started with Tamiya's green, no problem there. Then I went on with Vallejo German cam. brown, mixed with a drop of panzergrey.
I guess it's my inexperience with Vallejo's paints, but I had a hardtime airbrushing with it!

I probably thinned it down too much, but still the airbrush sometimes had problems drawing the paint up.

Not to worry. Just dab the drops and runs in the paint gently with some kitchenpaper, let everything dry and add a second layer. This worked.


So I let everything dry for a couple of hours and then I added the maskingliquid. This is quite thick and had to be applied using a brush. I carefully brushed it on, giving it round and fluent edges.


When this got a matt finish, I thought it would be dry, so I added the final layer. I covered the entire vehicle in a dark yellow with a drop of ivory in it.
Once again I let this dry.
Then came the moment of trueth! I took a set of pliers and started to peel of the maskingfilm...
What the.....?? At first the film wouldn't come off! Then it did.... and with it the yellow paint..... and the brown one!! And the green!! It even took of the preshading black!!!!!






Now I have to peel it all off, which in itself is a tedious job, and then I have to start all over again!
But I don't know how to correct this properly.... and for now I don't really care...
I'm starting to dislike this vehicle..... a lot!

Ron,

When life hands you a lemon, make lemonade! If your halftrack is meant to be damaged and used, the remnants of paint you can't remove will just add texture. Crud it up a bit, add rusty patches where the old paint makes it lumpy, and when it is done nobody but you will know it wasn't exactly what you meant to do from the start. But let your paints dry overnight before applying any sort of masking...

I hope to get some painting time myself over the weekend.

Tom

@ Ron - oh, mate, I'm really sorry to see what happened... that's a mess... a lot of good work destroyed. I hope it's nothing a bottle of window-cleaner wouldn't fix!
I've almost finished my building and cutting my Panther, though I have to put it aside for a while - I have only one more week to finish my Mighty Wheels entry. I've been also cleaning and fixing my models for upcomming show.

See you soon with some pictures.

Andrzej

Ron,
Been there, done that. Had the same thing happen to me while building an Airfix lightning. While tedious to remove the masking, it is salvagable. Once you get the masking removed try this method for you hard edge. I think you will like it better. Spray your entire vehicle with the yellow first and let that dry. Then using silly putty, or even blu-tak, lay out the areas you want to remain yellow, and spray your next darkest color. I'm guessing that would be the green. Add more putty over those areas you wish to remain green, and then finally shoot the red/brown color. I have been using this technique for years with no problems and the hard edge comes out very well. Hope it helps. "Q"

Thanks, guys!

@ Tom; nope... No lemonade!
@ Andrzej; Nope... no windowcleaner!
@ Mathhew; nope... No sillyputty!

I fixed it... sort off!

Here's how I did it.
First of all I peeled all of that masking stuff off, every single little sticky piece of it, by using a sharp set of pliers and a ton of patience! I then sanded the exposed areas with a very fine grid sandpaper.
Then I masked the remaining sand yellow with good aol Tamiya maskingtape, making sure I stayed as close to the edhe as possible/desirable.


Then I did spray on Tamiya's deep green and let that dry. Then I did the maskingtapeprocedure again and sprayed over the red brown, mixed with a drop of black.


When dry I removed the tape with sweat on my forhead, but with steady hands...
It turned out quite allright!




I then retouched the vehicle with a brush and some paint, making some bends more round and covering all the little mishaps and foul-ups... And it looks like this now;






Operation was succesfull and the patient is doing fine now!
The colour in the first 2 pictures is nearest to the real deal.

I know my description sounds easy, but it actually was, too!
This way I will not have to use the "Hinterhalttarnung" I initially planned for covering up all the faults!

We'll keep steamrolling ahead!!

I largely finished the 251, by adding the tarp, tracks and frontwheels, all painted and ready for weathering. I also added some decals. Just ht elicenseplates, because other markings like numbers were appearantly not used often and division- and/or tactical markings were not used at all. At least I couldn't find anything indicating otherwise.
I did some pinwashes too and gave the vehicle a first wash of raw umber. The colours (green and brown) of the vehicle are quite dark, but I hope to tone those done with further weathering/dusting later on.






The base, or at least the tracks and wall, had there first washes, too. First black, then a dirty grey, followed by brown. I also painted the top of the tracks in gunmetal.
The frame got a new colour too, but that turned out much more intense then intended! At least it stands out between my other builds....

And another one!
Quite saturdaynights and drizzling rain on sundays do have a purpose!!

First I made the concrete pole look like a concrete pole.
When I took it out of the box it was a small disaster; misaligned molds, a flague of flash, some significant sinkmarks and no texture at all!
Because of that I could fill and sand as I saw fit, so I ended up with a completely smooth surface. To give it a concretelook I took some thick waterbased paint and dabbed that onto the pole, giving it its rough surface.


Then I made a lamp, a hook and some wiring. Because the base looked empty I added a fuse/telephonebox at the bottom. The box is a reworked, modern 40mm grenadebox..




After the first grey paint;




Then I went on with the railcar and rails.
I thought that 2 grey cars were boring, so I painted 1 in a primerlike red, just for fun. Then I added the decals and what a mess they were! When I handled them, they simple fell apart and when I was able to get them onto the intended surface they were too big!
After this was all done an dry, I painted some gunmetal and rust in the appropriate areas, followed by washes of brown and rust.





Then I took to the rails.
I had washed those befor, so I needed to add powders here too.
I started with a deep, brick red dusting, followed by a light, redbrown.
Then the car was glued to the rails.
The Püppchen got its share of washes and powders too and was permanently fixed in place.
Thw 251 got several dustings with licht greyish-brown pastels, in order to tone down and blend the colours.
It all looks like this now;




I have to do some finetuning on the tracks of the 251, befor that gets fixed in place, too.

Lookin' awesome, Ron!

Yes Ron, you hit a homerun!

I've got my Dio working right now. This is my first campaign, so I guess I just finish before the end date and post the pics to the gallery?

Excellent work on that lamp-post, and the signal box with the telephone hanging out is a great touch

This is exactly what you have to do - post pictures of finished diorama in campaign gallery.

@Ron - I'm happy to see that your painting went well. Your dio is looking really good so far and the lamp is perfect - I really like the telephone.

A.

Thanks a lot for the compliments, guys!
I feel that dioramas need such details to give them life...

but....

I finished my first 5 figures!!
Woohoow!!
All the green are basically Vallejo's Russian uniform green, mixed with greens, browns and sandcolours. This way a nice variety was achieved. When dry I drybrushed them all with a sandy beige and gave them washes of black and brown.
The rifleslings and helmetstraps are made front ordinary printingpaper. When moist it is easily shaped and looses its natural resistance.

Ron, have you slept this week?

Nice job!

Thanks Andrzej!
Yes, I did sleep, but I still didn't go to work nor did I commit myself to physical labour at home...... so plenty of sparetime... which can be both good and bad...