It's been done, yes. I always liked this late war monster and when I found it at ValleyCon for $25, I snatched it. I was a little hesitant due to Dragon's new "Smart Kit" of this, but for the price, I went with it.

I'm doing this build log for the critique, I haven't done an AFV build log before, and I'm hoping I learn a lot from it.





The netting was $3, so I picked it up to use some of on this. The SPG crew is up in the air. If I can modify them to fit with this (and if they don't suck) then I'll use them as well.





Close up:



This has probably been covered before, but a guy at ValleyCon called me over when he saw me with this kit. Apparently if I cut off the little nub at the end of piece B4:



Then my wheels can be turned:


So that's a pretty neat bit of information. And that's where I stand for now. The instructions gave me a headache when I looked at the suspension, but it actually went together very smoothly, and I only had to dismantle it once when I accidentally missed a step

I'm not going to get the Cyber Hobby upgrade, mostly because I would only need the PE engine grills. BUT! If anyone has that kicking around, and wants to part with them for $10, let me know

Thanks

-Conor

nice start... looking forward to more of this

Ola Conor

I'm going to be following this. Got exactly the same kit here at home and it is always a good inspiration to see others work on the same stuff.
Quite interesting tip about cutting off the nub. I wasn't aware of that but will keep it in mind once I start. Makes the vehicle a bit more dynamic.

This one's my favorite of all the 234 variants. Will be following along with interest.

Thanks for the comments guys. The best part of slicing off the nub is that you don't even need to glue in piece D19, so the wheels are movable as long as it's not glued to a base. So it's almost like a toy, but it's not hahaha.

But moving right the hell along, I've gone through the first part of the construction of the interior. I love it, it all went together flawlessly and the detail is pretty good. I saw a different build log using the Griffon upgrade set, and that was amazing, but I'm not quite good enough with PE to be tackling something like that. Anyways, I took some pictures:





Couldn't focus enough to really get the detail on the back of the chair, but it's there


The radio and that other part. The section on the left is missing a piece, because I don't want to stick any of the clear pieces in before I hit everything with primer.


Ammo storage and the little folder type thing. I left the door open a crack just to make it a bit more visually interesting. I'm not going to paint inside it, because once it's installed it'll be hard to paint and won't be visible.


This piece separates the fighting compartment from the engine


And finally the mount for the Pak


Hopefully I'll have made a dent in installing most of that by tonight


I'm going to get AK Interactive's 1945 color set to paint this later on, & that will also give this kit the first camo scheme I do with an airbrush. That should be...interesting

Thanks for looking

-Conor

Good progress, Conor.

Thanks Bob The interior went together almost as easily. Only drawback was that the instructions had me putting pieces in below the steering wheels, after I had installed them. So it took some work fitting them in underneath it. So if anyone's planning on building this, remember that

So this is what it looks like:


This wheel gave me trouble. It went crooked and stayed that way.


And the view of both ends


You can see the radio off to the back left, and the slightly opened ammo container up front to the right. Perfect explanation for why I'm not going to go crazy detailing the inside of the container haha.



But as of now, the chairs and gun mount are not glued in. Leaving them out for the moment should make priming and painting the interior a much easier job.


I'm going to prime the chairs with everything else tomorrow, just separate from the main body.



This is getting along quicker than I expected. Which is good, because otherwise I would probably lose patience and not touch it for a while. I'm going to try to scrounge up 2 drivers as well, and try to fit them in with everything.

Stay thirsty my friends.

-Conor

Way cool work, Connor. This is looking awesome!

Connor,

I built this model a couple of years ago and it was a great kit to build. Yours looks like it's coming along nicely. Keep up the good work.

Do you know how youre going to paint it?

Kevin

Thanks for the comments guys




Built one of your own? Any pictures? I'd love to see it. What color did you paint the interior? I'm a bit stuck on that. And I'm doing the 3 tone scheme. Might buy AK's disk stencils and use them, but that's a long shot.

Well I couldn't get any figures done to fit in the driver's seats last night, but I threw a commander together.



Tentative. Might use a different figure but for now, he's our man.

Primer! And guys I must admit, it's not the right color. Instead of that German red they used as primer, this is only normal red Hope you can look past this. Haha


My rattle can still managed to get the inside of the ammo case


And I started painting odds and ends inside.


And I've stopped there. I was going to do more but I think the contrast from the red and everything else is too strong. I'm considering hitting it with Dunklegelb or something. But I read online that the high command couldn't decide whether or not to paint the interior due to paint shortages. I've seen it both colors. But what do you think would work better? Leave the red or go with a different coat?

I'm not sure which would work better.

Thanks!

-Conor

You're right about that red being too intense. Personally, I'd go with the dark yellow, otherwise, you'll have to come up with the proper primer color.

Yeah that's what I'm leaning to. Oh well, maybe I'll try the hairspray technique.

Anyways, boys, I spent this Friday night working on the kit. Which is unusual for an 18 year old... But oh well, I'm kinda house-bound for the time being regardless.

I had a vision of hell while working on this. It's step 10.


The fact that I'm having the wheels in a turned position made it all the more painful. I had to slice away at the joins of parts D15, and cut off the joining nub on D23 and 24 in order to set the wheels in the turned position. I doubt my wheels will have perfect alignment in the end, but it should look good enough.

This is what it looks like as of now:




Started on the lower hull too, just a few pieces connecting it to the suspension.


I think that was the most annoying part of the construction. Up next is the roof of the interior, followed by the Pak and the exterior bits. So the hard part is over, and it should be fun from here on out. Depending on how airbrushing goes hahaha

Thanks for looking

-Conor

Conor, had a thought last night. If you want the primed interior you might try going over the red with a brown wash (experiment in some hidden area or on a scrap piece of plastic). That may get you the tone you need.

Connor,

I built mine about 3 years ago and used some dark (photos of a remaining 234/4 that was captured by the British in the final days of the war and then returned to Germany in the 1970's (I think). And even though it was late in the war and Germany was having all sorts of shortages by then, I still painted the interior dark yellow.





I enjoyed the build and the outcome so much that I would like to build the 234/3 if I can find one for a decent price.

Good luck with your build.

thanks

Kevin

Actually just a few hours ago looked up the Kingfisher models page on facebook and saw the kit there. Awesome job, the commander figure is great. As were all the other builds on the page haha.

I got the 1945 German colors set in the mail today, now all I need to do is get a can of propellant and clean the airbrush, then I'll go back over the interior and hopefully do the camo before too long.

@Bob: I'm going to go over the interior with the dunklegelb, seeing as I've got the new colors. Might make it heavily chipped and worn out though.

Thanks guys

-Conor

Have you dry fit the upper hull with the interior in place yet?
Reason i ask is that mine had a fit issue i never tracked down.
And i am wondering if it is the kit or was it something i did..
On my kit the front or rear upper hull fit fine, just not both st the same time.

mike

I actually just tried that. I didn't pay too much attention to it, but it might be a bit funky. I'm going to prime and paint the interior before I permanently attach the upper and lower hull. Probably going to put the side compartments on after I do that as well, just to make it easier. I'll keep an eye out for any fit issues though, because I'm pretty sure I'm going to have that same problem.

-Conor

Sounds good to me Conor. As I mentioned I'm partial to the yellow anyway. I just thought I'd throw out the wash idea in case you were contemplating going with the primered interior.

On the item Mike brought up about the fit, good luck there. I hope your's does fit all right, but would not be surprised to hear there was going to be sanding and putty work involved. I've built (and seen built) a fair number of the 8 wheel series of different brands. I can't think of one that didn't have a fit issue of some type with the body halves.

Connor,

Thanks for checking out Kingfisher on FB. I'm sure with your new paint set you'll be able to produce a great looking 8 wheeler. And like the others said, I too had some minor fit issues with the upper and lower hulls, but nothing that some glue, rubber bands and putty couldn't fix.

Keep up the good work.

Later.

Kevin

Well this morning I dry fit the 2 halves again. Very, very minimal fit issue. I'll probably be able to get away with a bit of sanding. Hoping to avoid using putty as that's always messy for me hahaha. But whatever works will have to do.

-Conor

Just thought I'd mention that I haven't abandoned the project, it's just sort of on hold. My airbrush, or the nozzels with it, are all sorts of fouled up. So until I can get a compressor, or a new airbrush, this is going to have to wait.

It really sucks, because this build was going at a fast pace and this little bump in the road came outta nowhere. Suppose I should've taken better care of the airbrush though. Live and learn! Hoping to get an update in as soon as I can.

-Conor

It's back! Sort of. This is too great of a kit to let it sit and die in the basement. I'm getting a new air brsuh, one that actually works. So I figured I'd get some work done on this kit in the meantime.

The gun!











I commandeered the dining room table to build this morning, as it's a nice roomy change from the cluttered bench. The MG-42 is only dry fitted on until I paint the gun. For a straight OOB kit, this is really really detailed. Up next are the wheels, then I'll have no choice but to get my new AB and restart the interior.

Thanks for looking!

-Conor

Im really liking the way its going together. I will be putting the 234/3 together this winter( cant remeber who made it as im at work) i will def be following your build

Hi Conor: Your cannon barrel is not glued in its cradle, right? It's fully out of battery. It should be slid as forward as possible. Also, if you plan on leaving the breech block open, you want to adjust the breech actuating handle (on top of the breech block). From the top view, it should be about 4 o clock, when the breech is opened.

You sure do work fast. Where did this one come from?
J