In order to break my modellinglow I started on an oldy: Tamiya's Sd.Kfz. 7/2 in order to try an idea I had for a long time; making a vehicle and crew, struggling through the Russian mud as spring sets in at the Eastern front.
I am using an old kit, just in case the whole thing goes wrong and ends up in the trashcan.
I wanted to "throw" the old kit together. Nothing fancy or complicated.... or so I thought.
Opening the ancient box (some of the sprues are from 1972!) I discovered I missed a few things; the Flakgun and one track. One of my friends sent me the gun and the missing trackissue was solved by cutting the one I had. I then glued this on top of the wheels and sunk the rest of the wheels in the mud.
But first I built the kit and added a small crew.
Here are some pictures;
The subassemblies;


The diggers:


The driver:




The "tracks":




The mud:


Just to do something different; a treegroup in the foreground:


And a small impression:


Looks like I broke my buildingdeadlock!!

Ron Its looking good so far, what figures are you using for the diggers? keep at it I'm looking forward to seeing it completed

Hi Ron. Great way to hide the worst of the old Tamiya kit. It looks good ... believable. It´ll be important to get a realistic look to the mud ... somebody linked to a base Bradley made a while back with poured resin puddles. Something like this would really look the part.
The kneeling figure with great coat on the ground ... what figure set is this from?

Great idea and execution of this work!
I also had the idea, to build one of the Sd.Kfz. 7´s. But perhaps I will use a street as a base.

I also look forward to see next steps and to get some hints for "landscaping."

greetings...
Soeren

Hi Frank

That was probably me, I remember somebody asking about mud just recently and I've always loved Brads take on it.

Brads Post

As for the figures - Tamiya German Soldiers at a Field Briefing is my guess



Nice to see you building again with the Brummbar blog by the way.

This one looks great Ron, I was wondering what to do with mine and I think you've given me an idea for a later build Thanks.

Alan

I like where this is going, can't wait to see more as you come along.
Warren

hi mate, nice looking diorama, what will you be using as the mud?

I've seen some Russian mud and this looks like it. Great stuff.
I wouldn't want to be crew that has to walk through that. Be careful that you don't make them seem like they are walking on top of the mud when you place them.

Hi Alan. Thanks and thanks again!! I knew that figure from somewhere, but couldn´t place it. I like the way his coat drapes out behind him! Cheers.

Thanks for the comments, guys!
The figures are indeed a mixture of several Tamiya kits, including the middle three figures Alan showed, with some head- and handswaps.The driver is a leftover from Tamiya's attacking Russians.

Thanks for the link btw Alan. I might be able to use it! Although the mud is of a different kind then what I had in mind.

The mud is actually made up of a cheap wallfiller, which was mixed in a yoghurt-like consistancy. This way you get that thin, watersoaked, slimy mudlook as I've seen it on pictures.
The last layer will be poured, when all is painyed, so the figures will be IN it...

your painting it after sticking it in the mud?

Looks good, but how do you plan on painting the vehicle and driver? If everything is connected to the base.
Tom