And the work for the day... Limber...



More trimming, bending, and glueing to come!

You are keeping it up great! The quality of your work is realy inspiering. this thread is a blast to follow Jonathan!

Phil

I'm giving my Horch a layer of black primer, guessing that it could create a decent shadow effect. I haven't tried anything like this yet, and seeing as I've only sprayed the bottom I figured I would ask an expert if it was smart before i go all out...

I have no words... just awesome!!! masterpiece! congrats !!!

I'll tell ya what Conor; I myself have wanted to work on the preshading method since I heard about it. But my expertise is still the old school oil wash (and I'm not sure there is really much expertise there!) Painting is one of the things that I need to do some updated experimenting with. I was going to use the preshading on this build, but chickened out due to the inherent complexity of the build itself. I'd say go for it though, the worst that can happen is the preshading disappears under the top coat. Plus I would be really interested to see how you approached it and how it worked for you.
Phil and Javier I am glad you are still enjoying the build. I hope I can keep it going enough to keep it interesting. My progress has definitely been slowed by my 12 hour work days, but I am still going to try to get it wrapped up enough for the upcoming AMPS show (I'm thinking there may still be some wet paint when I get there!)

Thanks Again!

Hi Jonathan,

Once again, some brilliant work from you man! Well done.

Gary

I would've had a progress photo of it, but I got my wisdom teeth out Monday, so this week hasn't granted me any progress
I'm still amazed by all your detailing on this build

-Conor

Dang Conor, I think I'll stick with the warm weather and long workdays for slowing up my progress... wisdom teeth, ouch!

It dawned on me today that of all the pieces parts that are going into this build there is one thing that I don't have the least bit of reference material on. That would be the gun limber! I started doing some looking but so far no luck. I'm not even sure if that is a field built or manufactured piece of equipment. What got me thinking about it was planning the painting of the box itself. So if anyone has any information or knows where I should be looking, please help me out!



***UPDATE***

Minutes after posting this plea for help I made a discovery. If you know what you are searching for it is easier to find! So when I started searching for Sd Ah 51 Ammunition Trailer, I got results. Amazing! Most of the pictures were of models, and the information (so far) is not very detailed, but it's a start... and I'm still looking. So if you do have anything, don't hold back!

Thanks

This one really makes me nervous about entering mine in Nationals.

Matt, dude ya gotta bring your build. We're talking AMPS right? I went two years ago and it was a blast. I really like the judging, they give you a summary so you can learn from the experience (Oh yeah, I did some learning). Even if I don't get this one done (ahhh relief right) I'm still thinking of taking the GPA just to see what they say. I know that there will be some phenominal stuff there too, but heck we are all on the same page, we love the hobby!

I have a backup build, if I don't get my panzer done in time. Even if I don't enter, I'll be there. Not going to pass up the opportunity with it only being a few hours away.

Matt, that sounds like the same boat I'm in. You can't beat a national that is only a couple hours away!

I had to do some photo shuffling this morning and that means link fixing. I think I got them all, but if something is missing I'll get it back as soon as I find it.

As for building... there is progress... slow progress...
More work on the trailer.



And a test fit

There are quite a few hinges (that work!) on this thing, and those small latching mechanisms, talk about makin' ya cross-eyed! I was a little surprised about some of the fit issues with the box and the trailer. I had to remove more of the plastic than I would have thought. But over all it does look good, I think?

And a little truck teaser again... (Oh I wanna git this thing together!)

Aloha for now!

Nope, I don't have the slightest kind of patience for work like this. It still makes me want to go and super detail the Panzer IV I'm working on, but after 30 seconds of sitting and looking at it I say "Screw it" and go do something else...

Trailer looks like it was boring, compared to the rest of the build.

Ya know it was a kinda nice bit of straight forward type building. With the time crunch I was debating on moving forward with the main build and skipping the trailer, but I decided I don't want to compromise just because I made a deadline for myself. I think it will be worth it in the end. I also think they need an "almost done" catagory though, that would accomidate all of us with big plans and not enough time!

There is always the "Get 'er Done" campaign, for all those stalled builds.

I do remember seeing that campaign, but I was thinking more along the lines of a show catagory, like the wet paint catagory or the no paint catagory!

This one would have to be the wet paint catagory, although it was one of the cooler looking unpainted ones that I've built, with all of the foil and brass it was shiney!

Speaking of brass here are some updates on the ammo wagon.
I got the rest of the detail put on including pioneer tool mounts, latches, and braces.


Then back to the gun I added a few bits including these scratch mounts.

I couldn't wait any more so I headed over to the air brush and this is what I ended up with...




And there you have it, wet paint and all!

Craftsmanship at is finest!

Phil.

Did you use MM schwartzgrau?

Nope, I used Tamiya German Grey (XF63) on this guy. I do have an assortment of paint brands and types, but I still use the Tamiya for the base coats. I think most of that is my comfort level with mixing and finish, so there usually aren't any surprises with them. I do washes, which are probably more like filtering. Since I do them on the flat finish the do shadow a little but also give an overall tint.
You may be able to see it here (it's hard with the photos). The truck has had a wash and the trailer has not.


And since I had a little time before work today, I went ahead and mounted the spares.
The truck spare on one side...

And the trailer spare on the other...

I did have to shim up the truck spare a little to bring it flush with the side of the truck, but the trailer spare looked like it was good, sunken in just a bit.

I probably would have gotten some more done but I had some bottle cleaning to do. It looked like some siver flecks were showing up in the wash so I changed out my thinner.

Jonathan,

A little late getting to the party but below is a photo of a European version...

Tires look similar but different rims.



Photo courtesy: Milatarfahrzeug Der Wehrmacht (Ryton Publications)

Sorry, the photo's a bit dark. Good view into gun platform and ammo trailer.

It looks to me that you have the gun mount backwards, the end with the spade faces the rear of the vehicle, which actually makes more sense. The rear seat is removed and the angled plate you show in your model, looks removed to provide more room.I would think also the rear deck as you have it should be lowered to provide room for the rear part of the gun mount so the whole platform is at one level.

I think the platform mounts for the gun were similar to the 10/4 and 10/5 versions. Not sure though.....

Regards, Paul

PS Now I see it's actually a different version but very similar. It has fold down panels where the doors would be.

My lhs has just started restocking Tamiya paint. I have one observation. The driver's side front door doesn't seem to fit flush with the body panel. It appears to be pushed too far forward.

Matt, you are looking hard I like that! The door is actually just stuck on there with a piece of wax to keep the finish consistant. I' want to have that one open on the finished model, but I figued I would just break it off if I did it now.
With the Tamiya paint, I don't know if it is all that great, but I've been using it since I switched from the old testors enamels in the little square bottles and put down the old white plastic brush in favor of an airbrush. So I'm trying new paints here and there, but I'm just not as comfortable with them.

Paul, I definately do like that version and you have really found a great picture of it! I think that one was a factory made purpose built version. The one that I am trying to portray is a field mod created by the troops. There are quite a few pictures of these modified trucks, but so far I have not seen a good shot of the gun deck. So that is where, with the bits and pieces of info, I have had to come up with my own logical design (at least what I think is logical!). I have seen some builds done the way your are describing it, and they look good, in fact I found one museum picture that is similar in that the rear deck has been removed and a single gun deck installed (probaby a post war conversion). At any rate, without better reference of the individual vehicle it is really anyones guess! I hope it will be a fitting representation of the vehicle I am building from.

With all of that being said I took some hard looks at the photo series in the book and made some fairly drastic changes to the painting scheme. Unfortunately the pictures haven't been uploaded yet and I don't know if I will have time tomorrow, so the suspense will just build... right... I don't know if I like that!

I'm loveing this build Jonathan,

I've been following it for sometime now and it just keeps getting better and better, well done.

I will continue to follow with interest.

Keep up the great work.



Neil

I find MM enamels work great. I thin them at 1:1 and get a very smooth coverage. The only problem I have is that they tend to clog the tip, if left unmixed for very long.