Hi guys,
at first this build was to be nothing more than a simple Sd.Kfz 251/22 on a simple flat railcar..... but by now that simple project turned into much more than that.
I have been trying quite a few new things here, so I thought it might be a good idea to show my progress not only int the "Bitter taste of defeat"-campaing, but in a new thread, too. This way more people can bebefit from my work and lessons.

I started with the 251's hull and did the most tedious part of this kit right away too! No more tracktrouble to put me off with this one!




I also did some glueing on the figures, which are standard Tamiya figures. A box which I had sitting around for ages.


Then I started with putting my idea, an abandoned Sd.Kfz. 251/22 on it's way to the front on a railwaycar, being overrun by a Sovjet advance.
I'll be using Ironside's railcar and trackbed.


I took some boxes and such and grouped the vehicle, the railcarsimulator and the figures together..... And immediately realised that this will turn into a large dio....

The white box will be the station's ramp, the brown box the station's building and the grey squares are the planking of the railcar...
Here's a detailshot of the figure group;


I felt that it was best to build something easy after my surgery, so I started work on the railwaysection and flatcar from Ironside.
This proved to be no walk in the park, though!!
Bad fit, loads of cleaning up to do, because the molds had misalligned and some broken parts made the ordeal complete...


But I managed..... sort off.....
The piece of railroad was too short, because one of the rails was damaged on one end, so I had to use a part of a second Ironset, which had even more flash!
In order to suggest it wasn't just a single flatcar, but part of an entire train, I cut off one end and glued it onto the other. This way I could show the couplings too.






Unfortunetely, this flatcar comes with brakes, which I fitted and glued onto the wheels, because it was "parked".... Too late I realised there was nothing there to make the brakes work! No plumbing. wiring or pressuredrums.... nothing!

So I spent hours (litterally) on the internet, searching for references...
The kit used by Ironside is the G10 Boxcar minus the box, which appearantly did not exist. I could not find anything about this configuration on the net.....
This means that a lot of guessing will be in order here....

Just my luck....

Here's some more work I did on the railcar.
I replaced the horrible plastic wooden bed with real wood, made from coffee sticks;


I scratched the brakesystem;
The large drum is actually an external fueldrum of a T34/85.




And added more detail to the linking system;


I took me hours to find what I need!
This whole trainbusiness is as complicated as the different kinds of armor with all its designations and variations!

Here are the main pictures I used as reference;




And the progress I made;
I added the connecting hoses between the flatcars and gave the wood several washes;




As you all can see, I started painting the chassis too and what a headage it turned out to be!!
The plastic really doesn't like to be painted. It acts as is it has a coat of axlegrease to it! Whenever I put paint on the surface the paint simply retracts from the painted spots!
Also the undercarriage has loads of little corners, which are allmost impossible to reach...

I have made some more progress.
The chassis has been painted in its basic colour, using undiluted Vallejo panzer grey.
What a nightmare!
That'll teach me to next time do the painting first and then to do the constructing! Patience is a virtue!


I tried to make the planking more even. I knew it wasn't completely straight and aligned, but because of the washes the differences became even larger! Some planks even started to warp. However, as I was trying to cut the wood and to sand it down, one piece of wood after another came off, untill I had 7 pieces to glue again. I then stopped trimming the wood. I'll have to live with an uneven surface.


Instead I went on with the weathering of the wood, giving it a more used appearance by adding very thin grey washes; one on either side and one in the middle, thus creating tracks. I then sanded these tracks, so they look worn off by armortracks.


One of the guys at the Benelux-part of Kitmaker, The Pit, suggested I'd take a closer look at the system again, because there were parts missing in order to make it work and make sense. Because of that I made some changes.


I also did some more work on the 251/22.
I don't know what I was thinking or doing when I initially started out on it, but looking at it now, made my toes curl up!
I made numerous mistakes and I surely wasn't paying much attetion then or did I take great care.
I had to cut apart the gunbreech, because it was glue upside down and inside out. Also the gun is misalligned. The gunbase was uneven and badly glued too! The backdoors were attached open, but had broken off and so was one oh the lockers on the right front. I had to redo the hinges and the handles on the inside of the doors.
The front axle + wheels was hanging in mid air, app. 5mm above the ground.
Ohter then correcting these mistakes I managed to do some constructing too!


I started to paint my 251's interior.
I usually paint/spray in the open air, but since winter has a firm grip on Europe I had to handpaint the interior.
I used Tamiya's dark yellow as a base and added white and beige to this colour to achieve some variations within the interior.
The seats and backrest were painted with a mixture of dark yellow. buff and a touch of green to replicate canvas. I figured this late in the war leather would be very hard to get. The bench was painted in the basecolour mixed with wood, followed by a dark grey wash and the drybrushed with yellow again. The fire extinguisher and spares visorglasses were painted in a lighter shade of yellow.
Then I tried to do some washes with which I always have problems, because I only use acrylics. Somehow that doesn't work...











The vehicle is temporarily on hold.
I have to correct some mistakes I made, such as the travellock, the passengers visionslit and the gunshield inside. I also have to work out the fit of the kit itself and on top of that I ordered some detaillingparts for the outside, too.


So I turned my attention to the base itself.
Here are some pictures I used as references. You can see that the surface of these loadingramps is of a soft nature, resumably compressed sand;








After an initial attempt to construct one, which went horribly wrong, the result of the second attempt looks like this now;


It doesn't look like much now, but to give you an idea of what I have in mind for the final stage, some pictures;




The pole to the right is to balance out the Russians on the left. I will add a stack of boxes next to it;


Someone at the Twenotforum pointed out to me that the sides of this kind of flatcars are straight with a metal sheet at the end. Something of this nature:




At first I thought that I would have to rip apart the deck, but then I figured out a way to get this done and to get rid of the uneven edge of the deck, too!

I was going to cheat a little!

I cut a strip of plastic card to the length of the car and about 5mm high. To this I glued a square strip of plastic, creating an L-shape. This L-shape was glued upside down onto the deck, covering the uneven edge and having this metal strip on the sides in one go. The L-shape has the extra advatgae that it provides more holding area for the superglue on the wooden deck.


While I was at it, I added tiedownsrings and metal bars and sockets too;




As for me I have turned my attention to the base.
The layout is very simple. Tracks and flatcar in the front, loadingramp in the back, figures all over!
I was looking for something different in the rampwall. Not the standard brickwall or cobblestones. I went for a cast concretewall with the planking still visible in the concrete.


The base has been painted and once dry I will add a clearcoat and then I will unleash the powders, pimnets, washes and drybrushes!


This is how I picture the final layout;




And some detailshots;




Next fase is spraypainting the 251 and painting the figures.....

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!!

That looks very interesting... and it´s a lot of text or information in one post!
The cutted parts on the left side are very nice! (part of the wagon and part of the tank)
I also had an idea for showing a "part of a vehicle".

greetings...
Soeren

Very nice. I really like how you cut the flatcar and then added the Stug. Nice touches of items on the platform too. And nice use of the Tamiya figures. It'll be nice to see this one develop.

Nice start! I love the dynamics of the figures. Great scratchbuilt on the flatcars. Go ahead:)

I love
a great job in construction,
the idea is very dynamic, it senses movement, the rush ...

I look forward to more progress

saludos
Domi

Thanks a lot for the comments, guys!

Here a the latest updates;
Januari 18th;
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.




Januari 20th;
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!

give the layer below the mask a coat of future. That should stop it sticking. Maybe leave the paints to dry for a few days to make sure they are completely cured. Great work though!

Thanks Luke! I will surely keep that in mind the next time I intend to use it!
Here are some more updates;
21 januari
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

23 januari
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....

Awesome! Relly relly cool

Hi Ron. A very Dynamic dio so far. Im glad you added the frame to the long sides of the railway car, as there should be frame around it. You should also add this frame to the short sides.

Tack Erik!

Frank, you are looking at the cut off end of the wagon. That's why there is no plate or buffers or connections.
I will highlight those end with bright red when all is done, just to make sure.

very good , i like the story line behind it, good paint job too.... keep it up

Thanks William!

And another update!
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.

WOW! I havent seen this until now..this is some super work! really..the whole scene looks awesome. If I may add one tiny minor detail, how bout some oil stains on the rail car? armor and trucks sitting for hours can leave stains on the beds..especially as much use as the rail cars would get.

Thanks Tim.
Your idea about the oilstains is great! I will add those.

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

You´re right Ron ... sorry wasn´t thinking. Don´t know about the red though .... might draw too much attention ... might be better in natural colours or even black?
The fuse/telephone box is another nice little detail.

nice work

Thanks guys!

I hope you guys are not getting sick 'n tired with me and my updates....

Because here's another one....

May I present to you...... La petite derrière de la StuG!

After the figurepainting I wanted/needed some more building.
What did I do to this StuG rearend... let's see...
- I hollowed out the exhausts
- Sanded down the exhaustplate and fenders
- filled numerous holes and sinkmarks
- made pieces of track with plastic single links
- build an inletgrille
- made a stowagerack
- made 2 bolted together angleprofiles, complete with bolts
- added tracktensioners and towinghookpins
- added a lot of plastic bolts
- added edges to the mudguards
- added a stowagebox and liftingeye to the enginedeck
- and, as a Grande Finale, added 2 towingcables to the deck, too.

Anyway. See for yourself!











For these pictures I had to hijack my wife's photobucket-account.... Mine's been a bit busy lately, as you might have noticed...

My StuG is standing!!
I used the transport securingblocks as "feet". I also dressed it up in it's basic colours. Now for some weathering!!









Here a shot of my workingcorner; 2 dio's nearing their final stages!
Yeehah!!



Finally......

I have been a bit busy with my build and I consider my vehicles done!
The StuG was treated with pastelchalk, both wet and dry and as a finishing touch I added a leaking lid on the StuG and a stained wooden floor, too!
Thanks for the idea, Tim!







The 251/22 was also enhanced by adding a wire for camouflagepurposes along the sides and nose and by adding a muzzlecover, instead of an open barrel. Makes things look just a little bit different and more interesting, I think.



6 More figures to go and some touching and finishing off on the groundwork...

Really cool. I like the Stug a lot.

Are you still planning on the abandoned german helmet and assault rifle?

I can't believe I never commented on your work Ron! This is pretty good, good construction indeed, I like the way you regrouped the Russians -they looks like ants rushing out of a hole -really try to make that sort of mass effect even more visible if you can - this is a great visual effect that counter-balances the great number of parallel lines in your diorama
keep on the great work
JB

IM really likn that russian with the cape. looks like something out of "Comrade Potter" who needs magic when you have a ppsh? LOL
im really lik'n that cut off stug. you should do a stug stuck in a lake with the other half.

Also, i would put alot more stains on the sdkfz 251. a ccording to my refs, these HTs usualy got more weathering than panzers themselves. so unless fritz the station manger was going around pressure washing all his tanks, the halftrak would be much dirtier. also, i would drie some roots and put some flocking or somthing on them to make good camo sticks to put in the HTs wire.

Yes, your welcome for the essay. LOLOLOL

Great, dynamic build. I like how fluid everything is. There is a feeling of futility attached to the StuG and 251 as they are swept up in the flood of Russian soldiers, and see them continuing to spill onto the tracks and on down the line.

Considering that the 251/22 didn't enter production until December 1944, they wouldn't have had much time to get a lot of wear and tear. This one could have easily been loaded at the factory and shipped to the front, just in time to be captured.

Hi Jesse,
look below to see your question answered!

Thank JB.
It's always a pleasure to get positive comments from a master!

Hi Erik, I am trying to show a relatively new vehicle here. That's why there is only washes and powders.

Thanks for the comments, Russ. Good to see my intentions are interpreted in the right way!

As for me I dragged myself to the workingbench yesterday, to finally get something done!!
And here's the endresult; 2 more figgies completed!!






Because I did get started I wanted to do some more work today.
Main focus would be the finishing of the base with it's details.
I overpainted the blue sides in a semigloss black and did the cut off edges in black, too.
The black, Tamiya's X-1 looks very hard, because of the flash.


I used Mig washes for the first time today and although I was sceptical at first, I must admit they did a wonderfull job on the texture and depth of both the railwaybedding and the upper section. Look at the pictures with the helmet and the grass.

As for the details, I added some ammobixes to the 251's interior, so it has a bit more to offer. I made the classical mistake of not glosspainting those boxes befor applying the decals. Fortunately it is not very much visible.


The German gear left behind;


The grass by Fredericus Rex to break the outline of the base and to add life and colour;


The painted figures in place;






4 more figures and a plate and I am done!!