Hey guys here I've been busy again this weekend. The plan was to atleast have the Antenna's A GPMG and fine tuning the Weathering.

As you can see i've come along quite ok with the weathering. I used wet q-tips to remove most of the Sand on the turret and the top side of the PZH2000 I tried to leave on more on the side's of it.







I Used 0.75mm Plastic rod from evergreen to make the antenna's. I used putty to make the protective tips of the antenna's. While being busy with the work I figured out it would be a nice addition to make a guywire (not sure if that is the right word to it) I used some thread wich i soacked in Medium Grey from tamiya. When it had dried out I tied it down to the lifting hooks of the turret. and used some leftover metal wire to make the hooks for the antenna's.




The GPMG; I've found a left over GPMG of my DUMVEE set and used that I painted the GPMG in German Grey and dry bushed it with gun metal wich turned out quite ok if you where to ask me



Additionally also a photo of the trackes painted and weatherd



CHeers Remi

looks very nice,maybe to much weathering for my taste....

Cheers

So you decided against the removal of the rubber pads in the tracks?

Yes I studied the tracks. I feared of destroying them if I would take of those parts...

Cheers

I wasn't able to sleep so I've continued on working on my model.

-Towing Cable
-Antanna wiring
-Rack

The towing cable was taken from a dragon sherman set. I had some spare ones so i used it on this one.


By buck_compton at 2011-01-29

The Rack. I've used an Evergreen L shape 1.5mm to build the Fram. I supported the corners using 0.3mm plastic plate. Using remnants of the PE set of Eduard i mad the wire mesh on the rear and using 0.75mm wire from evergreen i made the other sides. Then I painted it using Mat black and Nato green. After that had dried i drybrushed it using Gun metal and weatherd it using the tamiya weathering set. Its a bit out of shape but I think that, for my abillaties, this is quite ok.






The antanna wiring I made was used to pull down the antennas when eigther driving or when whe are in a hidden position. It is to avoid crew members to stand on the turret to pull them down... But it is also just for lazy artillery man ofcourse



Time to sleep

Grtz Remi

Right gents I would like to have some advice from you guys,

I havn't got much, to say the least, experience with painting figures. As some of you might have noticed I have som problems with finding the right colors to use. So I would like to have some advice on wich colors to use preferably Tamiya but im able to buy paints from humbrol and vallejo.


First the Dutch opsvest:


The Uniform


And the Boots:


I've planned to buy a couple of figures from Verlinden for my Dio but these figures have the wrong weapons. Im looking for the c7-Diemaco and the Minimi version of the m249. Does anyone of you know where to find a set of them?

I have another question. Somewhere in this week I expect to recieve PUR plate's but they are about 1inch thick each so I need to glue them togheter does anyone know what glue is the best for it? Also I would like to know if i before applying the stuc and gravel on to it i need to prepare it with something? And what kind of tools are best to mold it in to the right shape?

Here are some other questions that still remain



-Do you guys happen to have tips or tricks to make a good looking afghanistan desh ground?
-How and when during the construction of the dio do i need to apply the vehicle tracks
- Are there possibillitys to avoid fast drying of the stuc while applying the grit or other texturizing materials?
- Are there health issues that I need to keep in mind while working on the PUR plates?

I believe this would be enough to answer for now. Thanks in advance

Grtz Remi

Right is has been a while since i've posted and i've done a lot since then actually... Here is a small report of that:

I've been working on the add-on roof protection. Ive tried to do the job using 2mm thick plastic plate and drill holes in it and put in those holes small plastic rods but somehow that didnt cut it... the amount of rubber pins on the plate are far to large to be remade realistically.



The antenna's. as some of you might know allied vehicles use to put plastic bottles in the antenna's so that it could carry (IR) breaklights for indentification from the air. I've bought a set of bottle's from real models. I also put on one of the antenna's a pirate's flag as my commander had one put up in the antenna.



We had a rack on the rear of the turret. Amongst other things we had a bunch of MRE boxes in it during OPS.


I've also been busy working on exhaust fumes but that somehow doesnt quite cut it. I've been working on some techniques to get it look right. I saw a short instructional vid on youtube. the guy told he used isopropanol alcohol to attach it to the body... I havn't tried it yet on the PZH but i have tried it on a test vehicle I have and it looked promissing


There where a couple of things on top of the turret during actions. First of all i made a C-7 Diemaco for the commander. I added a lead foil weapon sling to it and hang it around the periscope. Also both on the side of the munition worker and the commander i placed a couple of stones. And on the rear of th turret i put a marker panel for indentification. I made this of leadfoil and painted it with fluorecend orange paint. To finish things i had something extra added to the GPMG being a sight wich i found in a m16 box from dragon.






also a couple of photos of the diorama base i've made:



[I

This is how far along i came up to now. I still have some planning stuff to do. I made the 3 figures i wanted to add and bought some paint from humbrol for them. Also im planning to cut some lager parts of the base but i need to find some time for it...

And to finish this post a couple of nice photos taken from along the process.










CHeers Remi

Hi Remi,

Beautiful work on your Panzer. I remeber seeing one at TK but I don't think I ever heard it fire though.

If your still looking for the Minimi try Mouse House.

http://www.mheaust.com.au/MHE/Weapons/MAW1.htm



Cheers,

John

All you guys are right but i have agree with HeavyArty ,,the rubber blocks do protect the road surface and shut the things up as they move but its also down to cost .. when you take into account that one set of tracks for a MBT cost between $10,000 to $35,000US each its much cheaper to wear out rubber blocks then it is to wear out steel tracks but Bernd is right also ..but one thing i have seen with my own eyes kinda up closeish was Challenger 2's on excerise at Bovington ..the tracks with the rubber blocks had massive grip because as the tracks move around the drive train they bend and open up the track and the mud falls out ..the tracks without the pads ended up looking like one solid strap made of mud ..they lost a heap of grip and the smile on the drivers face told me he was having fun trying to control the thing .. talking to a tank commander confirmed this ..thats my two cents anyway

Rubber improves traction plus the design of the track itself. Just like tires improve tractions. Different roads condition needs a specific tire/thread design such as wet, dry, mud, desert, offroad, tarmac etc. Same thing apply to tank tracks plus all the other benefit that goes with it as what have been mentioned. With cost, well rubber wears off faster than steel and have to be replaced more frequently and I don't know if the total cost would be almost the same lets say in a specific amount of time factoring in the overall use as compare with steel.