Grab a fresh beverage, pull up a comfy seat and settle in… here we go!

Matt I gotta give you kudos, I am just not patient enough for the enamels. Oh I hang with some guys that can do magic with them, but it just ain’t me. Maybe that is one of the things I should put on my experimentation list though… maybe.

Now on to some current experimenting, theorizing, squinting, and head scratching. I’ve been spending quite some time gazing at the pictures from the book and trying to make sense of the colors and shades I’m seeing (or at least what I think I’m seeing). Well this is that story.

First we have the truck on the outside of the curve, the one that I am not modeling.

From this picture I can see quite a few things, the fact that the gun base is a tan color while the gun itself is dark gray. It also does not appear to have any camo paint on the truck itself. Additionally the base of the gun appears to be in the configuration that I have portrayed due to the shape visible at the rear of the vehicle. The lack of camo on the truck here is what I had originally envisioned for my truck… but wait…
Here it the truck on the inside of the curve the one I am building.

The dust line is very apparent, but it also appears to have a tan color paint applied (at least in part) to the side of the truck. And then there is the front fender which is lighter than the water cans (didn’t get those in this shot) but not as light as the side. A green maybe? I think that is what I will go with.
What about the gun you say, well how about this.

Look back there by the guy in the chair, that is definitely tan and if that part of the gun is tan I’m thinking this whole gun is tan. Now there are quite a few pictures in the series and there are other vehicles to compare to, but I can’t put it all in here, just some of the key elements to illustrate the line of thought that I’ve been following.
I’m still putting the scene in 41 due in part to the only markings being a white circle with a five in it (5th battery maybe), so no dunkel gelb, desert sand maybe and some green or brown early campaign stuff. To go one step farther I decided to make the trailer tan, but leave the ammo box gray…

So here is what I have so far, the brown or green have not been applied as I’m still debating on that.

Soak it in and let me know what you think…




Thanks For bearing with me on this one…

We’re getting to the home stretch now!
I went ahead and added some the small details that my clumsy hands will surely break off at least once.
The side markers, with the spot light, and rear view mirror (minus the mirror right now)


Then I went ahead and shot some green.

After that a dark wash to the whole deal…


And…

So there still are a few things left to actually add to it, but the bulk of the remaining work will be paint.

I’m still planning on figures and a base, but that will be as time allows... even if it is after the show.

Jonathan,

I didn't know DAK vehicles had any Green camo on them....I'm certainly no expert, just an observation...:>}}

Or am I wrong on theater? Is this a European version?

Paul

PS Model looks teriffic though either way it's your model!

Unfortunately my Horch is going to be a victim of Allied Air Power in my dio. So it won't look as pretty as yours does, but it should be fun making a mess out of it As always, amazing job.

-Conor

Nope Paul, you are in the right place, Afrika! I’m no expert either, but I feel pretty confident that the possibility exists. Sure I could go with the standard full on tan camo, but what fun would that be. Heck I even tried it…

…but I didn’t like it. So maybe brown would go more with the standard, but since I’m modeling the specific vehicle I have to do what looks to be right… green it is!

Conor I gotta tell ya, building a wrecked vehicle is so much fun! I built a couple years ago (before there was an Armorama!) but I do have a build log for Jeep Wreck. That was a blast, I got a little sloppy on the finish, but I’m definitely happy with the build. I came across a picture of a Horch that was mangled, looked like a bomb blast tossed it up in the air and crumpled it… that was coooool! Good luck man.

Correct colors or not, awesome work! I sometimes get bored of the same old od and feel I need to spice it up with a custom mix. Seeing the last, little details added always gives me a feeling of satisfaction.

Hi Jonathan,

I think it looks fantastic! As far as green, as i understand it, there were green tones on some of the "Africa" vehicles. So i think it is plausible.

Gary

It may just be the lighting, but the green on the fender looks much deeper than that on the sides and rear of the horch.

I second Gary on this one. And bottom line: IT ROOOOOCKS!
Impressive build you have there jonathan! Congratulation



Phil.

Matt, I see what you’re saying about the fender, I think part of it is the wet paint and like you were saying the lighting. Of course there is always the heavy handed airbrush operator! I was trying to get some varyiation in the coverage of the over coats to give it that DIY field look. With the finish I envision the weathering (mostly dust) will mute and blend much of the coloration anyway.

Gary and Phil, it’s good to hear that I may not be completely off my rocker. I thought I remembered reading somewhere, that green was incorporated in some of the camouflage patterns. From what I recall too, there were some areas of at least sparse vegetation where German units were located early on. It really is hard to be conclusive with the photos from the book, but I just have a feeling on this one.

I’m still not to sure about the circle with the 5 in it and lack of other markings. I know I will be going with it, but as far as why it is the way it is, I can’t really say. I did see one other picture with this sort of marking (the Corradini Horch), but with that one I still didn’t see anything for a description.

At any rate I shall continue to forge ahead… I hope you continue to find this both informative and entertaining.

Thanks Again!

Progress continues…

I got a little bit ahead of myself when I added some dirt texture to the inside of the fenders and undercarriage…

Using my secret formulae…

...Leveling compound…

The part I forgot (kinda) was the only marking I’m putting on the outside, the circle with the 5! I tried masking and brush painting, but that was not going to due. So I scraped that off and airbrushed a patch of white (primer) to mask and repaint.

Of course I will need the 5 to go in the center, so I fired up the decal machine and cranked out some plates and numbers…

I added “S” too, but I just can’t see these as staff cars so it just has to be the 5.
I also started work on the small add on transmission cooler looking thing to go next to the radiator.

And lastly (for today anyway) leveled out the base of the gun, all I have is the after photo, but the forward leg was kicked up by the cribbing so I had to shave that down. Now it’s all level! Yay!


And there you have the frantic progress for the day, not bad for a couple hours!

Oh yeah, it did dawn on me with all of this detail and close-up photography, that even I have lost the true scale of this build. So here is what it really looks like…

Dang I’ll never be able to ride around in that!

Looks like it has seen some use. You can never add too much dirt. I have my own "secret formula", so I won't ask.

I already spilled the beans, it's just leveling compound from your local hardware depot!
So... now vhat iz your zeekret formula... hmmmm...

Some more bits and pieces…

The mask worked pretty darn good (but I still should have done that first)

And the with the 5 installed


I had to remake the license plates though, the font was just too small. So while that new sheet dries I’ll lay on some more paint.
Chips to be specific, and yes these probably should have been done already… ahh well…
This was just done with a fine brush and the acrylic base thinned with a bit of alcohol…


It’s a little harder to see on the truck, but it’s there…

I have been planning for the canvas top, but so far I have not started to build that, I should probably get that going soon!

That is the update for now!

Are you planning on having the gun and the vehicle manned?

The Armor Museum in Czech Republic I visited last summer has one of these vehicles on display..the real deal, complete. I had not seen one before that, didn't know it existed.

Sorry I didn't take more pics of it when I was there! I'll be back in country in July or August, probably way too late to help though..

BTW..who makes the ammo trailer brass kit? I need a couple of those!

I sure am planning on loading it up with figures Matt, but that may not get done before show time. I did start assembling the seated figure since you pretty much have to build him with the gun. The hand wheels (and the gun) will just be white glued in so I can pop’em out when I add that figure.

That would be so cool to see it in person Gary. I’m pretty sure that I’ve come across some of the pictures of it on the web, but they really don’t have much detail. The book I have does have great detail on the truck from bumper to bumper as well as a couple of versions! It has been invaluable for this project, and it is from Czechoslovakia I believe.

The Lion Roar detail set (35007) for the Flak 38 came with the ammo trailer and it is definitely nice. I don’t know if they sell just the ammo box or if you have to get it as a package deal. I do know that they sell just the gun detail set separately.

Cool, thanks! i use the Lion Roar ammo cans 'n clips a lot for my 20mm flak builds, hadn't seen the gun detail with ammo trailer, I'll go look em up! Every time I'm in Czech (my girlfriend is Czech, we go there a lot to visit family) I find treasures in the bookstores! Tons of WW2 history, lots of pics, and most from archives we haven't seen much of in the West..Czech being a former Soviet satellite. When I was at the Lesany Technical Museum of armor, I was just dumbstruck by what they had there in pristeen condition..Pzkw Mk IV H, like the day it was made? Got one. And the Kruppe Protze trucks, Pak 40, Horch w. Flak 38, all there. Radio gear? All of it, on display. Man, I gotta go back this summer and burn out my camera! Now if I can just find that pic from last year...

Gary it sounds like you have a darn good thing going on there! Keep up the research!


Sad but true, there was no AMPS for me this week. Sometimes the it’s just not in the stars… Ahh well, the build goes on!

I cast an army of 2cm ammo cans,

And gave them some chips.

These will go on the back deck of the Horch as well as fill up the ammo trailer.
Speaking of the trailer, it’s still hanging around, I did some chipping on that in preparation for the coming load.

One of the big items left on the list was the canvas top. I used the kit bows and cut out the spaces between the bars.

Those were then glued to the resin top, but of course that one needed some adapting with green stuff…


Then primed up with the windshield cover.

I mixed my own paint for the base coat of these canvas pieces.

I used tissue for the headlight covers, but the texture of the tissue I had was just too rough.
So off they came, cleaned up, some white and silver base added (I doubt if you will be able to see it), and green stuff covers fabricated.


These will have to set for a bit before they get their base coat.
I did some wear on the rear deck and floor boards.


I finished up the auxiliary cooler and got that mounted up.

I may need to do some more paint work on it, but overall it came out pretty good.
So the overall picture… so close to done… but not quite there yet


At least this will give me the time to complete my vision the way I had planned it. The down side is that my building season for this year is very close to over… it has come a long way in a relatively short time!

Hi Jonathan,

WELL DONE!!! The putty work you have done is top notch.
Its all comeing together very nicely man! Your dedication to this project is inspireing. Model on brother!!!

Gary

This is an anthology piece Jonathan, one for thr books! I've enjoyed all the steps of this great build. Make sure to notice me for your next piece. Thanks again for sharing this with us.

Phil.

In between garage cleaning and all those other fun spring things, I managed to get a bit of building done on the mega Horch project.

With the passing of the show and restoration of the build I have started yet another sub-build… the figures!
The first to go under the knife is the seated gunner.
The stock pose.

The modified pose.


This will give him some clearance between his shoulder and the sighting arm. It won’t be an exact match to the picture, but I think it will be much closer than the stock pose.
Next is the loader his mod is much simpler. He needed to get some pant legs untucked.



So technically, this is the beginning … again!

It has been quite a while since my last post, which incidentally was the last time there was any building going on.
So before the building could even get going some archeology of the work bench was in order!

Once that was out of the way it was time to dig up some the the unfinished business and fordge ahead...
I pulled out those head lights and got some paint on there...

I added a black base to the gun site.

The research was mixed but since the site was likely removed during the camo painting of the gun, I'm going with the basic black.
And I continued with the sculpting of the gun crew,
The gunner...

And the loader...


So it is a bit of a slow start but I'm getting warmed up. I have to do some adjusting since I got a new computer, but lost my old photo editor... so forgive the photo quality!

There should be more soon...

I was wondering what happened to this build hahaha. Glad to see it's coming back

-Conor