I saw this kit some time ago and was determined to buy it when I could save up to get it. I was finally able to order it and bring it home. I have done a kit review of it and liked what I found. Their are sone highs and lows but overall I really like the kit. The link to the review is below.
https://armorama.kitmaker.net/review/3943

[imghttp://i368.photobucket.com/albums/oo129/sipc2001/Kfz11latebox.jpg[/img]

I started by taking the two sprue's of wheels and running gear and painting them polly scale panzer dark yellow # 505111


I will pick up again when I paint the rubber parts of the wheels.
Joe

Joe
You gotta figure out how to use those links
Review



Alan

Is this going to be pulling the gun you just made?

Alan

Enjoy your build Joe. Am working on AFV's Flak 18, and it's kicking my butt (lot's of small parts, great detail though!) Hope your's moves along. Will be watching your progress, as this is in the stash!

Cheers -

Tim

Alan, I plan on hooking up the half-track to the howitzer to see how they look together. I want to get some extras for the gun that can be hauled in the half-track and see how it all looks together before I make any commitment. I have two more half-tracks that could pull the gun but I haven't built them as yet. I have not done much weathering in the past so i don't want to go to far then change my mind on a tow vehicle for the gun.

The links confuse me a bit so I am happy you connected the dots for me.
Joe

Tim, the kit is nice and goes together pretty good. I think you will be happy with yours when you get time to build it. The AFV howitzer I put together had alot of small fragile parts and it was a bit frustrating. All in all I liked the howitzer and I hope the half-track and gun look good together. I want to get the 10.5 ammo pack for the gun so I can have something to haul in the track. No hobby shops around here so I have to have the local RR shop owner order things I need (I don't mail order). I only buy when I have extra cash to work with.
Joe

This part of the build involves painting the tires and roadwheel rubber parts. I read somewhere in one of the threads that someone used capilary action to paint the rubber parts. I mixed 1 drop of thinner and 6 drops of flat black and stired it as bit to see how it acted. The mix was applied to the parts little at a time allowing the mixture to flow up against the groves. It worked pretty well but it took alot more paint than I had mixed. The next mixture was off just a bit and flowed better causing some overflow onto parts that were already painted. After adding a drop or a bit more flat black everything worked good again.
I did not disconect any of the roadwheels from the sprues and painted everything I could. I will paint the cut off points when the parts are cut from the sprue. Below is a picture of the parts with the flat black applied.

Before the tire was painted it was glued together and a sanding of the tread was done. I did not sand the tire enough to show alot of wear.
The painted sprues were hung up to dry and I will procede to step one on the instruction sheet.

Waiting for the paint to dry I decided to procede to step one. This involves assembling the parts that go on the frame end and tow pintle. After looking over the instructions I decided not to do as shown. Their is no need to assemble all the parts then fill 4 holes. I deciced to fill the holes first, sand and assemble as prescribed. I streched some sprue of a different color then filled the holes. The ends that protuded were trimmed and sanded after the glue dried. The assembly of most of the parts was completed without problems. I decided to drill out the tow pintle while it was easy to get to. The pictures below show the progress so far.


We will proced to step two at a later time.

The second step of the instructions call for the assembly of the frame along with the assembled part from step one. The parts were removed from the sprue and placed as shown below.


Assembly went along smothly with no problems. I used some alligator clips to help hold some of the parts in place. The assembled frame is shown below.


We will procede to step three next time
Joe

Off to a good start Joe, looking forward to the next installment.

Joe,

I'll really be looking forward to following your build - I've seen this kit in one of my LHS's in the city and have been sorely tempted.

Rudi

Bill, thanks for the encouragement, I have to hold myself back on this one. I don't want to go to fast.
Rudy, this kit is a great one for a late war supply hauler. I'm sure their are several ways this kit can be used.
Joe

Today we will visit several steps on the instruction sheet. Step three calls for the assembly of the transmission and fuel tank. After assembling these two parts I painted the transmission flat green and the fuel tank flat black.
Joe

I forgot to include a picture of the step above.

Step four calls for more assembly on the frame and placing the transmission and fuel tank in place.
I decided to assemble the rest of the frame components and leave the transmission and fuel tank off for now. After assembly of the frame I painted the inside of the frame Polly Scale armor dark yellow. The outside of the frame was left unpainted because their are some parts that need to be added. The parts to be installed in step 5 thru 8 are mostly on the outside of the frame.

The frame with most components installed.

We will pick up here at a later time
Joe

Today we take up step seven in the instruction sheet. This step involves the construction of the front axel. The parts are laid out for assembly.

This step only takes a few minutes to complete.



The assembled axel was left to dry then painted panzer dark yellow. Tomorrow we will procede to building the wooden load bed with the frame cover.
Joe

Today we built the wooden bed and support frame. The picture below is the starting point with the sides added on.

As I went along adding the four side walls I forgot to take pictures of the assembly. The complete bed with frame is below


The whole bed with under frame support assembly installed.

The bottom of the bed and support frame was painted then the metal parts were painted armor dark yellow. The parts that were wood are well done with wood grain on both sides and have no knockout marks. The under support frame has no wood grain and the attachment points are well done.
Joe

The bed was painted using Polly Scale sand yellow for all wood surfaces. I used a light coat over the wood parts to simulate fresh cut wood. The whole bed was dry brushed with polly Scale armor dark yellow. The wooden parts were painted lightly as if the wood had absorbed some of the paint, and the medal parts were painted heavily showing metal parts.
The canvas top frame was painted armor dark yellow. The picture below shows the bed after painting the base coat of sand yellow.

I have to go over the metal parta again to make them show up better.

Joe,

Out of curiosity since this one's getting fitted with the bed, how much of the transmission, fuel tank, etc. are going to be visible from the top? Quite a bit would be visible from the bottom I imagine since the chassis is open but short of putting it on a mirror base, would you be able to see much of it? You're making good progress and enjoying the updates.

Bill, the fuel tank top will show just a bit under the bed. It will be hard to see because of the bed supports. The transmission sides will show at the joint between the cab and bed. I am trying to find out how the fuel tank is filled. Their is a short joint in the wooden bed over the fuel tank. I would think their would be a filler pipe from the fuel tank to a fill point somewhere. Possably they had a trap door in the bottom of the bed and filled from the top. After looking I haven't found any info on filling the fuel tank. The SWS has a fuel tank in a simular position and has a filler tube run to the back of the vehicle. I had a link to a late Sd.Kfz 11 but lost it. Something will turn up after I finish up.
Joe

Step 11 involves building the cab floor with the shifting levers and other fixtures. All parts go together very well with no problems. The floor has been painted and glued to the rest of the floor of the cab and front fenders.

I have painted the fenders and lower cab assembly. Step 13 involves building the front of the cab along with the inside and outside firewalls. These parts are shown below with the complete frame assembly.

I am looking at finishing the cab then working on the track assembly next time
Joe

The cab assembly was easy to build. I painted the seat cushions model masters olive drab. The cushions were glued in place and the rest of the interior was painted and touched up. The windows were glued into their places and left to dry. After everything was dry the cab parts were assembled.




I left off the smaller parts (lights, mirror) until last to keep them from damage.
Next we will take up the tracks and see what can be done to make them look good.
Joe

great build so far, its in a LHS and it calling me!!!

Well we have the cab, bed, front axel all ready to add to the chassis. Before adding everything we must take a look at the tracks. The tracks supplied with the kit are the rubber band type and look pretty good. The picture below shows the tracks applied to the chassis road wheels. You see that their is no sag and they look stretched tight.

The tracks could be tied down to make them look sagged. I have a set of AFV club late 251 tracks that I will try and build to see how they look. I also have a side by side view of 4 types of tracks. Left to right you see Dragon E Z tracks, AFV club workable track links, the kit rubber band tracks and the last is a Tamiya set of rubber band tracks.

I will spend a day or so looking over all the above to see which may work best.
Any ideas or comments are welcome.
Joe

Been working hard on the tracks, The tamiya rubber band tracks were put away. The kit rubber band tracks were tried but they keep comming unglued. I have tried to build the AFV club late tracks but they failed to meet any reasonable expetations. I have decided to use the Dragon E Z tracks for this kit. Below is a picture of the Dragon E Z tracks and the AFV club tracks.

The AFV club tracks look good but are not as good as the Dragon E Z tracks in my view.
The picture below with the tracks painted and one dusted with Polly S dust

More at a later date
Joe

The tracks have been installed and ready for final black link pads to be painted. The cab has been put in place and the front suspension installed.



The bed is in place and ready for the next step.

We will do more tomorrow
Joe