Well, this is my first build log and it's about the Sd.Kfz.251/10 that I reviewed some time ago. I will try to point out any difficulties that I will have when building this kit. Keep in mind that I'm a slow builder and a handbrusher, that's why I some parts are alreay painted. But now, let's start the build.
I'm going to follow the instructions (more or less) and I will skip some points aswell.
The first part is to build the engine, but I will do that later. I started with building the lower hull.

The four crossbeams all had to be trimmed about 1mm so that the two side panels could fit to the floor plate. I forgot to take pictures of the trimmed parts. When trimming the parts be sure to trim them all equally or otherwise the towing pintle and forward axle won't be located centrally.




Next the rear axles had to be fit in place. I managed to have connector marks on all axles but they were easy to sand away.






Moving on, came the upper hull sidewalls. I haven't placed the rifles and MPs on their places but I will do that later.





Now came the firewall. I haven't done anything with it at the moment but I made a simple rack for the radio.



The next step was building the rest of the interior (it's still WIP). It's pretty straight forward, but I decided to try and make the front seats more accurate for an Ausf. B. I will leave the rear benches as they are, I will not try to correct them to be suitable for an Ausf. B. I know that the rivets are WAAAY to big on the back of the seat, but I think that they won't be visible after on. Also, the front seat I made, isn't 100% correct.










The rear benches still need some work to make them look more realistic.
Karel

Looking good,
What do you think of the general fit of the parts?
I have the Zvezda sdkfz 251 ausf B panzerfunkwagen in the stash, and will be watching your build closely for referance.

Cheers
Mat

Going good so far, Karel.
Keep in mind that the interior used by Zvezda is for an Ausf C and that one is very different form an Ausf.B.
It takes quite some scratching to get that fixed, as you allready did partially with the backrests of the fronseats. The rests themselves are trapezoid-shaped, the radio should be moved to the right, just behind the passengerseat, there were no backrests/lockers for the benches and these themselves did not have any lockers beneath them.
These are the main differences....

Thanks for your comments guys!

@Mathew: The general fit is good but not great. For example, all holes in the road wheels, where they should connect with the axles, are too narrow, so they all need some filing so they could fit in their places (I hope that you can understand what I meant).

@Ron: Yes, I know about the benches and storage lockers, but I will not try to change them, because this is a sample kit and I should build it as it is. But about the radio, then I have read, that in the early versions, the radio was indeed behind the passanger seat, but it was moved to the front later, when it was clear that that placing is impractical. By the way Ron, I have always followed your 251 builds and I just have to say that you have done an amazing job with all of them. I especially like you 251/1 ausf.B where you have done an immense work with the interior.

Well, nothing much has been done with this kit, but I have managed to clean and paint the road wheels, drive sprockets and front wheels.



I started assembling the benches with the PAK ammunition boxes. I'm supposed to but this thin plastic "thingy" on the boxes, but is doesn't want to fit there. So, I'm thinking of replacing it with some wire.



Karel

因为还没看清楚是做成雪地型的还是春秋季节型号的
如果是冬季型号的换成皮座椅不错
但是在一个视频里面看到把座椅换成铁丝网样式的会更好些
纯属个人意见

Rough Translation of PLAAIRFORCE's post:
Because had not looked that clear makes the snowy area Spring and Autumn Period season model, if this is the winter model possible changes into the leather skin chair to be good, ( i guess he means the chairs were changed to leather or coverd in leather) in

A video i saw the chair backs were also made of mesh ( most likey a reftited interior) but i geuss it goes to personal opinion,

forgive me if my translation is wrong PLAAIRFORCE and all, I dont speak mandarin and my translation was via the internet, trying to help those who only speak english

Thanks Karel for the advice on the wheels i just wrote that on the instruction sheet, and your road wheels look excellent.

As I mentioned in the review, then there is a fit problem with the tracks. As you can see from the pictures below, then the problem is probably caused because the track moulds haven't been correctly aligned together.



But that problem is easy to fix. You just have to cut some plastic away. Check the pictures below to see what I mean.



Now, I put some links together to see how they look. Also, you can see, how much clean up the tracks need and also note the sink holes in the track pads.



Some sanding is still needed with the pads and links.

The tracks fit pretty well around the drive sprocket.


I also did some work with the interior. The thing that really bugs me, is that many of the small parts are badly moulded (the moulds, again, seem to have been offset). Hear's an example:

OK, here's some pictures of the front seats and rear benches. I tried to paint the front seats and rear bench backrests so that they would look like leather. But, I think that I have failed miserably. The front seat look OK (more or less) but the backrests are awful.



And for the ending some pics of the rest of the interior.




Thank for looking
Karel

The next step I made was to build the rear doors. It was easy and a straight forward work to do.




I also built the front axle. The only problem I had was the nasty central mould line on the leaf spring. The really cool thing with the front axle is that it is movable and works like the real thing.





With some careful clueing you can leave the tracks movable. Here I have compleated the left side track with 55 links.


Here is the built and painted engine. I would like to know, what to you guys think about the engine colours and what can I improve in it?




Here are some pictures of the interior. You can see this cap, where the rear wall meets the side walls, but that is because I was tired of waiting for the replacement part and decided to use the broken part.. But that's not a problem because I'm planning to add weld marks to the hull.




Karel

You're making some good progress with this one despite the issues Karel, keep slugging away! The tracks in particular are a little disappointing given the fact that you have to trim down each one and deal with the sink marks on the pads, but you seem to have overcome that with good old fashioned persistence and hard work.

You're making a very good job of this Karel and a nice build log too.

Thanks for the kind words Bill and Pat!

Now, I finished the right side track. As you can read from the review, there should be 56 links on the right side, but when I tried to do that with this model, the track was too loose so I had to use 55 links on that side as well, so it adds another error to this kit. Then, I painted the tracks matt black but now, I don't know, how to continue painting the tracks. Should I leave the tracks black and dust them later or should I drybrush some steel colour on the links? I'm opened to suggestions.


I have decided, that I don't want to use the engine in this build. I want to use it in a future project with the gear box and fuel tank from DML's 251 half-track. But still, I did a dry-fit with all the engine parts just to see how it looks.




(sorry for the crappy pics)
I also built the Pak36 but I will post pictures of it later on.
Thanks for looking
Karel

Karel, your Zvezda 251 is turning out wonderfull!
I know what a pain in the lower rear end this kit and especially the tracks were, when I built them, but in the end it was all worth it.
With the engine looking like that, are you planning on leaving the enginebayhatches open? It would be a shame not to so and in real life these vehicles ran with them open all the time.... or at least when not under fire.

Keep it up and I will keep following this one!

Thanks for the comments Ron! I will leave the engine out, but I scratched a radiator imitation, so I'm leaving the front hatch open.

Now, here are some pictures of the Pak36. Unfortunately, I deleted all progress pics of the build, so I can only show you the finished gun. The gun build, was pretty painless, although there were some mould lines on the smaller parts.

Here you can see the line that is left when bonding the two gun barrel halves together:




Sorry for the pictures being too dark. Now, when watching the pictures, I see, that some cleaning is still needed with the parts.
Thanks for looking
Karel

Some more progress have been made. I'm close to finishing this project. All the major parts are ready and all I have to do is clue it all together. I'm also adding crew members in it and I will put it on a small base. I dropped the idea of adding weld marks because I couldn't get the result I wanted to have with them.


I had a nasty gap between the left fender and the body that had to be filled with some putty.

Here's a picture of the crews' equipment that I'm coing to add.

And for the end, a picture of the un-finished base.

Next, will be finishing the exterior painting and starting the weathering.
Comments welcomed
Karel

Going good!!

As far as gaps go.... well... I Guess that's one of the distinctive "Zezda-marks"..
As far as the base goes, I would sugeest yo'take a bigger one. This one doesn't do the model, and the work involved, justice.

You have done a grate job here M8.

Thanks for your comments Ron and Captin Caveman.
Now, I have painted the hull and started detailing the exterior and interior. From the pictures, I can see some stupid brush marks but I hope to get rid of them with some good old weathering.







As you can see, I have managed to break off the drivers backseat.

I also had some problems with the tracks. The links started breaking up.

Karel

Keep slugging away at this one Karel...despite the issues it's turning out to be a nice piece of work.

This project is getting close to finish. All the major pieces are glued together, just need to add some small pieces here and there. I had a little problem, when meeting together the upper superstructure to the hull sidewalls. It left me about a 2mm wide gap between the superstructure and the engine cover. That was filled with putty.
The hardest part for me was the weathering (this is my second 1/35 kit that I have built). I had to strip and repaint the hull for 3 times before I got a result I'm pleased with.
Now, I'm struggling to get some decent pictures of it. I just can not get the colour tones right. When using artificial light, the pictures are not sharp enough and the tones are too "warm". And when I take the pictures outside, then the most of them are too bright. You can see the difference in the colours in the pictures.


And, I have a question about the straws. Should I keep them or not?
Comments and suggestions welcomed
Karel

In my opinion, the straws are a bit distracting. Maybe tone them down or put them in a different position? I like it without so either way is okay.

I like the weathering and your accessories are very well done! Thanks for sharing your build!

Outstanding presentation,Karel. Extremely informative and descriptive. I was pleasantly surprised by how well Zvezda articulated the front suspension and running gear,a big plus for me wanting this kit. I was wondering about the roadwheels and idler set-up. If the small locating pin on the roadwheel arms was trimmed off,would they articulate in the designed manner? Idler wheel looks like it might need a limit block or bar for it's travel?
Your thoughts on this would be valuable.
Again, congrats on a job well done.
Cheers!
Rick

Looks very good, I might have to pick up this kit!!

1 vote FOR the straw, I think it compliments the top heavy-ness of the vehicle (with the AT on there) and adds some originality.

Oh and for the photos, without a good photo setup try shooting outside in a slightly shady place of when it is slightly overcast, so you still get some shadows, but the light isn't so 'stark'. I usually shoot indoors with as much light as possible and the white balance set to incandescent (or lightbulb!)

Karel, you did well on this one!
I for one like the strawidea, but maybe you could cut them down a bit and add some more bushes?
The busted headlight is a great idea too.
The contrast in weathering between the running gear and the upper armor is a bit harsh on the pictures, so you might want to blend that a bit more.

All in all a job well done!