I started this thing a couple of years ago, then lost interest and shelved it. After picking up a set of Friuls and a few other bits, I decided to do a repair depot type refit, using the earlier Tamiya hull and Maquette's late turret. I had to move the ventilator, since the Maquette kit depicts the post-war style of one in front and one in back, so I cut up a Tamiya turret to get the paired style. Bits and pieces are Maquette, others Tamiya. Grab handles are .020 wire. I have the Dragon tank riders, as soon as I can gut up to do figs, they're going on.
Mud is a mixture of PVA glue, craft paint, used tea bag contents, and pigments.
Any comments/criticisms welcomed, thanks for looking!
Starting point when I picked it back up:


And as it is today:

VERY NICE. I really like it! I have something similar going... those Maquette kits are very useful (I think I have 2 Rudy kits and another with the mine-roller I got way cheap... you have to watch out for their spider wheels, though... some don't have the lightening holes all the way formed!) and I found a set of MB Models white metal spider wheels I'd like to put on mine.

Looks outstanding, congrats indeed.

You advise the maquette kit doesn't you?

I was wondering to buy it as a cheaper alternative to (very hard to find) DML kit

What do you think about?


Thanks in advance


Cheers

I'll be saving my tea bags, from now on. Great idea on how to mix and match the pieces! This one looks like it just drove out of the swamp/bog. Don't know of any swampy areas in Europe. The weathering brings it to life. Keep up the good work.

Thanks guys. I kind of got tired of looking at all the projects on the shelf, and since the parts and pieces were there, why not get busy modeling......
I got the "Rudy" kit for $5, too cheap to pass up. I'm always looking out for the old kits anyway, and for five bucks, I got some very useful parts. A "Rudy" pic:

Mauro, I would not recommend the Maquette kit over the DML kit. I only bought it for the turret, and being dirt cheap helped. It was in the consignment section of a local hobby shop. Many of the kit parts are poorly formed, especially running gear parts, and there are some fit issues as well. It does however have some detail parts that are not in the Tamiya kits.
Matt, this one will be displayed on a small base depicting a forest road in Germany. I may have over-done the mud and dirt for this situation, but I wanted to give the impression of a long, quick push into the heart of Germany, and figured this was one way to do it, by making the tank look "rode hard and put up wet".........Now if I can overcome my extreme aversion to doing figures......
Once again, thanks for the comments!

many thanks for the advise.

I'll try to find the DML kit or the AFV one....I don't know why they are so hard to find

Cheers

Unusual, they're both fairly common here. Different markets, I suppose. I look forward to seing what you do with whichever kit you find!