Hello,

Next build will be armory's all resin Pz I F which I hope to finish before the end of this month.

Pz I Ausf F was supposed to be a heavy version of the PzI but at the time it hit the battlegrounds it was already outgunned and was quickly phased out.

Armory have done a great job on this model, with crisp moulding and many details in excellent PE. They even provide resin tracks with PE track tooths (definately a pain to build
)





One thing that was evident fron the start is that a large portion of the underhull is going to be visible even after the tracks and the fenders will be installed, so I decided to fully weather the sides before attaching the tracks and the fenders.

I used blue tack to apply a green-yellow camo scheme and applied some chips:



Next I applied filters, pin wash and some oils to simulate griming:



Next application of decals follow up with a light preshading effect only on the lower hull (gives a nice conttast):





Before moving to pigments I constructed and dry fitted the fenders to minimize later handling. A very handy tool is this long PE bender (called elbow bender I think)


Dry fitting of the left fender was perfect



Not good on the left fender though. Some modification is needed here and I wonder how they missed this one..



More soon, P.A.

Alex...Man this is very cool. Great job so far, those front fenders look like they will be fun to do Jeff T.

Nice chipping! Not overly-done as is sometimes the case.

Alexander, I think this is going to look fantastic... nice job with the paint so far, and looking forward to the wheels and tracks going on. When I first viewed this thread the photos didn't load, but I read that bit about the track guides and had to see for myself! Have they provided any kind of jig or means to make sure that they are all evenly spaced, or is that just clear from the locating point on the tracks themselves?
On this tank the tracks and wheels are a great feature, looking so oversize for the size of the hull.

Alexander, this is a very interesting subject and I must say that you are doing a superb job on the painting and weathering. I was somewhat confused by the right fender not fitting as the picture of the fret looks like it should. So, obviously the rear shock absorbers are not in identical positions on the body and they merely made a mirror copy of the first? Can't wait to see this one progress.

Cheers,
Jan

Guys thanks for taking the time to comment.

@Matthew

The track teeth are connected to a very thin metal strip so they are actually pre-spaced all you need to do is cut the length you want to use and glue it on the same length of track.After glueing the strip becomes invisible(I hope). I'll take a close photo of this ingenius system.
The making of the suspension is something that troubles me though, I hope it'll go well.
Resin kits tend to be somewhat 'loose' and 'at will' when it come to fitting pieces and the suspension of this tank isn't the simpler one around.




Correct, this odd tank doesnt have symmetrical suspensions, the left shock absorbers is not at the same spot as the right but no one seems to notice when they made the PE fret.

I managed to make some progress this weekend building over half of the supsension and tracks.

Suspension:


Getting the wheels aligned was really a matter of aligning the brackets that hold them a thing that was done much earlier. A couple of adjustements were done but nothing serious.

A close photo of the tracks:

No specific instructions about what part goes where so it took some time to figure out what to do.

Close pic of the teeth.
I realized that the spacing of the track teeth does not follow the spacing of the tracks but it doesn't really matter.


No need to place all track teeth just the visible ones.

Some pieces were warmed and bent to go around the idler wheel and drive sprocket .




The complete rear idler wheel


And the completet right side of the tank.


More soon P.A.

Great work Alexander, it looks good - and very fiddly! Is that the track teeth showing inside the idler edge?

Yes although I did not install all of them

I am having an issue with the tracks, it seems that there are not enough individual tracks links to complete the track system I am about 6-7 pieces short.

I have already email to armory, I hope they'll send me what I need.



P.A.

No reply from Armory but the guyz from my local model club came to the rescue

The tracks of the Pz IF are a rare oattern used only by Pz II AusfL and by Sturer Emil.

The latter were used and succesfully installed. I have still the turret to weather and install the tools and headlights.



Aber's fine brass MG 34 barrels were installed. Very nicely crafted indeed.



More soon, P.A.

Very smart and so good
- James Hardway

I wonder would there be enough of Armory's track if you pulled it taut, suspended over the wheels?

David

Hi James, thanks for commenting.




Good question, I was missing 8 links, 4 per side of you divide them.

I haven't seen this tank with stretched tracks though don't know if it would be right.

Plus the fact that I would have to make resin track stand in midair......brrrrrrrr

Pity for Armory models, no after sales support at all

P.A.

Looking pretty good so far, Alexander, especially considering the small scale.

I'm curious though, is this a new kit, or one that's been out for a while? If it's a new release, some bugs might be expected. If, however, it's been around a while, the fact that the bad PE fender and the track link issues haven't been dealt with, will give you an idea of what kind of support you can expect from the company.

The model has been in the market for some time and I think it's already OOP.

I would not judge Armory so hard because
a) They make first quality kits (casting I mean)
b) They pick unusual (many times unique) subjects
c) Propably it's a one man show business with limited option to correct a mould once it's made.

Still, not answering to emails or Skype calls is unacceptable.

P.A.

Finally I managed to get Armory models on Skype today and he said that he will have the missing tracks in about a month.

In the meanwhile I had to cannibalize a Sturer Emil which along with the Pz II ausf J they are the only tanks who wear this kind of tracks.

I 'll use the ones Armory will send me to complete The Sturer.

P.A.

Since the last time I commented on this I learned a bit more about this particular tank. The tracks were pulled tighter than you have them. There was a bit of a sag in them but they rode well above the road wheels.

That said, I don't think it would have solved the missing link problem you had.