Thanks Giovanni. I'm sort of not looking forward to painting the tracks, it will be the first time I've done them this way. Ah well, this build has given me lots of challenges so why not one more?

Kimmo

This is a real impressive build, I am very new at this and following closely... Thanks

Yes, Kimmo, nice blog, you've really been hammering your way through this quite problematic build, and now the primer is on it's looking good. I know the Dragon offering has had a few mentions here, and I was reminded that those slidey up and down doors didn't really fit between the little runners on that kit either. Nothing more frustrating than parts that aren't long enough to fit in place...

And at least this kit has figures

Painting the tracks in place - I did it this way recently and I think maybe I prefer it to trying to fix painted parts in place. Suggest spending the time masking off the wheels then airbrushing the track base color, then do the tyres, then touch everything up.

Thanks Scott and welcome to the fun house. Lots of good people on the site to follow and ask for advice.

Matthew, parts that don't fit properly can drive you up the wall. Especially when it's something that should be pretty basic and straight forward. I guess manufacturers have Monday mornings and Friday afternoons as well. As to painting, I'll be using my collection of hairy sticks so masking won't be needed. I actually love detail painting, so long as I can get at the detail in one go rather than having to hunt and peck. And the figures are a nice addition, even if they are a little on the basic side. The biggest plus of this boxing is actually all the gear you get.

I should have an update later today on painting progress.

Kimmo

As promised some painted stuff!

Starting with the tracks, I first put on a black-grey-brown with a hint of silver heavy wash. Vallejos are great for translucency, I wanted a bit of the brownish tint coming through from the base coat. Then a wash of heavily thinned camo black brown and a touch of the grey mix from the first stage. Then a drybrush of a dirty silver, basically I added camo black brown and the grey mix and a touch of black. Then finally, a wash of sepia mixed with a touch of rust. Sorry I can't get more precise with ratios, I just go by feel and look. Then the pads got dark grey and the faces with a bit of earth added, not much, just a smidgen. I may need to redo the pads darker.





That's basically it. I need to give the sprocket and guide teeth some shine and then final weathering with pigments. These were a right pain to try and get pictures of, the light kept on wanting to turn everything into aluminum foil. I'm optimistic that once everything is together, the light won't bounce around as much and you'll be able to pick up subtleties better.

The road wheels and front wheels got a coat of Life Color dark grey ground (base coat I'm guessing) and then dark grey shade for the rubber. Not a lot of contrast here folks.




I've had Life Colors for a while but haven't really used them, I got 3 sets (14 bottles?) for less than 15 euros off ebay. Delivered. I figured this was a good test subject. I noticed doing the vehicle that the paint doesn't cover quite as well as Vallejo and is prone to leaving streaks. Now that can be used to your advantage with a little thought and experimentation. I also noticed that the paint foams up when shaken so you have to keep an eye out for bubbles.





I like the depth from having the Vallejo primer underneath and the shade looks pretty good, dark, but not as dark as the Vallejo primer. Dunkelgrau is very dark. Very, very dark. Pulling a number out of my hat, I'd say it's close to a 90% grey on a scale where white is 0 and black is 100.

I also got some paint on the jerry cans and a box. I should have a full day's worth of bench time tomorrow to continue and with some luck, I can get the figures started.

Kimmo

Finally got the track assemblies mounted. Some nasty gaps to deal with even though I thought I had it sussed. Fortunately the gaps along the hull wall will be mostly hidden when the upper run of tracks is in place so the only real work is the rear join which needs some more work.





I also glossed areas for the decals and for a bit of variety, gave the tarp a coat of field grey.



I got quite a bit done figure wise too. The skin areas are pretty much done and the uniform base coats are too. I used a combination of paints for the uniforms so they wouldn't all look the same. Field grey, US and French tanker with green or grey added. They look sort of funky right now, that's just my camera and lighting. I have yet to figure out how to get good true shots with this camera. I suspect it won't do any better, but at least the shades look pretty good for a change.




I won't be spending a great deal of time on these guys, they honestly aren't worth getting too worked up about. But I will try my best "quick" method, just basically a less refined shading and blending technique to see how good (or bad) it will look. I did my first figure in acrylics over the summer and I spent way too much time on it. Turned out pretty good, but just took forever. The pictures were a right disaster though so I won't show them here.

Anyways, that's it for today. I should be back at it tomorrow. So much for the getting it done by then hope.

Kimmo

Hey Kimmo,

The build is coming along very nicely! Dude, you are one detail-oriented individual!

Regarding images: I feel your pain, brother! I haven't invested in a camera since my old film-shooting days. I'm just using my iPhone's camera for now. However, I've been getting relatively okay results — for progress posting, anyway.

Whenever I need a quick image, I've made it habit of using the same background every time I shoot — a medium sized upward-curving sheet of white paper. No flash or special lighting, just regular household bulbs that hover over the sides of my workbench.

I never shoot on the green mat-board anymore. I always shove that piece of paper under the model before I take a shot. The results aren't spectacular but at least they're more consistent than they used to be.

One day, I'll get around to building a very simple background box based on the same principle ... and yeah ... buying a camera too ... ugh!

—mike

Thanks Mike, the devil is in the details I need a better camera plain and simple. Even with a proper background it just can't pick up subtleties on figures, with vehicles it does ok but even then it takes a bit of fiddling. It doesn't seem to want to hold a white balance either, this time around I tried the built in filters and it looks to have worked out. I'm pretty sure phones have better sensors than this piece of crap and they're geared to taking up close photos so they aren't really all that bad. I might be able to pick up something better in the next couple of weeks and to get some decent bulbs for my lamps; hoping for clear, sort of sunny weather in these parts is like trying to win the lottery. My greatest lament is not having permanent space to build or shoot photos, everything gets unpacked and packed back up each session.

Kimmo

Me too, I feel your pain!

I also just use a white card background, like Mike, the curve just propped up on a heavy lump of metal. I agree that the green background doesn't help as I think it bounces green light around and makes everything look the wrong colour. (A pet hate of mine in professionally produced modelling mags is the use of blue background for the photos of the finished build - for the construction photos OK, but not the final photos.)

By the way, it's great the way your finger continues from one photo into the other in the first two pics in the post above...

Anyway, on the tracks, I think those are rubber pads on them that could perhaps be a slightly different colour from the metal of the track. Having said that, looking at the photos on Prime Portal, there's not a great deal of difference in the colour.

Matthew, oh I agree with you and Mike on the background. I have to balance between getting stuff done or making the shots look nicer. My workspace is quite limited (half a dinner table) so... The green mat sometime bounces the colour, but more often than not it's my camera reacting badly to the light source. I'll take 3 or 4 shots sometimes and each can be quite different in hue even though they're from the same position with the same settings. Very frustrating. When I remember and feel up to it, I do a bit of adjusting in Photoshop or GIMP. The construction photos are really just to give an idea of what's going on and then I'll take a little more time for final shots with a cleaner backdrop and adjustments in PS or GIMP as needed.




I had no idea what you were talking about until I scrolled up...I don't think that would have worked with hours of planning

Enough jibber jabber, time to get back to the bench.

Kimmo

Figures are looking GREAT!

Thanks Michael, I do appreciate the kind words. Maybe I'm being a harsh critic, but I still have a ways to go with the dark art of figure painting. Let's see what today's session produced.

I got the figures more or less complete, a few details to be added on the collars and epaulettes and of course, helmets. Ulrich appears to be wearing a scarf so I gave it some light blue to add a bit of splash. The shading and highlighting is a mix of my basic uniform colours and touches of buff, camo black brown, grey and black as needed. I went with feel this time around rather than try to get a specific shade. I used a wet palette which kept the paint workable much longer and applied heavy or light filters rather than solid paint. You do get a fair amount of blending time if you move quickly and work on small areas. I use two brushes, one for adding colour and a clean moist one to blend or remove with. I did a wee bit of zenithal shading, meaning I added shadows under the arms and so on.











I cleaned up the rear hull gaps as best I could and moved on to decaling. The decals are Tamiya's, I believe, and are well done. The carrier film may be a touch thick for some tastes but at least they don't bend and fold on themselves. I prepped with Vallejo decal medium, it's a good solution for moderate softening and cleans the surface nicely so decals will snuggle down pretty well. It is not as aggressive as Micro Sol, which was needed for the dials. I'll see how they conform overnight. I was worried the dials and stencils wouldn't match up with the kit details, but they seem to be spot on. You will have some fun here though, the carrier film should probably be trimmed back and the main dash decal should be cut in half to make life easier. The two dots can always be painted in afterwards. You can just make out the film on the rear license plate, I didn't want to trim and risk losing the black outline, I'll shave it off when the decals have dried. The front plate has the same issue although not as noticeable.






And that's it for today. I should have a few hours tomorrow and over the next couple of days to try and wrap this up.

Kimmo

Kimmo, I fully understand what you mean: my workbench appears at 23,00 and disappears at 1,00. A permanent place is my dream...

Anyway, you made a great job with the tracks. I will return on your steps during the weekend trying to do something similar for my baby. I'm just thinking to paint and then masking the wheels. We'll see...

Regards
Giovanni

Thanks Giovanni, I notice a lot of European modelers have the same problem, 40 square meters (or less) doesn't leave much room for anything permanent. The tracks were easier to paint than I had thought they would be. Getting a base coat on the wheels was a must though, otherwise it would have been a nightmare trying to get paint in there with a brush.

Kimmo

Got started on detail painting today, almost there now. A bit of touch up here and there is needed as well as dry brushing to bring out some details. The transmission unit still needs some silver to give it a better aluminum look. The decals snuggled down nicely on the dash after a second application of Micro Sol. The large dial could have been a hair smaller to fit better. Trying to decide whether to attempt the red and green "sectors". The rear benches are just dropped in lace for now. Oh, and the rear fender/flaps and tension adjusters are in place now too if you hadn't noticed. All in all, a good session.









There's a slim chance I'll get this wrapped up tomorrow. I'm hoping that's the case, bench time may be hard to come by for the following week.

Kimmo

Slightly off topic but here is another reference photo, this time from the left side, covering the aux air tank on the Ausf. B with the Patton's D7 towing their PAK 40:



Note the rear window shade roll hanging from the cloth top.
Photo copyright 2002 Michael Koenig; Pattom Museum collection.

Reference shots are always welcome Michael.

Almost there now, still need one good session. Detail painting mostly done, the muffler needs doing and a few touch ups again. I started the weathering process with a mix of pale grey and burnt umber wash, nice dusty look I think. Shaded the tarp, rather pleased so far with it. Added the rifles to the racks. They were trimmed just above the butt stocks to account for the part which should be hidden in the clasps and then cut in half, they won't go in from underneath. I think I got them lined up well enough. You'll need to trim the pads in the rack space to get the rifles in as well. Not a big deal, just another thing added to the list of what seems like hundreds (ok, dozens) of minor corrections that needed to be done. The windshield glass went in well enough, although the right hand side one seems a bit short on width. They come pre-cut and there's enough material left over to make new ones if something goes horribly wrong. And finally, the upper track runs were added. I used gator grip liberally applied and wiped back to make sure they stay put.








I got the helmets on the figures and did the collar and epaulette piping. The collars are easy to do if the raised detail is crisp, otherwise a bit of retouching will probably be needed as was the case with a couple. Do the horizontal lines first and if they aren't to your liking, then go back in with the collar green and tidy up, then add the verticals.
I couldn't resist putting the figures in place for a test run, all the stowage in the pics is glued in place, the mg and wire cutters for the fender will go in last.





And that's it for the moment. As I mentioned, bench time will be hard to come by until next Thursday. Next on tap will be the remaining details to be painted and a round of pigments to complete the weathering.

Kimmo

Looking good Kimmo!

—mike

Thanks Mike. I can't say I won't be sorry to see this one wrapped up.

Kimmo

Our long national nightmare is over! The site is back up and this puppy is done. I'm playing around with a "new" camera and haven't quite got the settings worked out, but it's a vast improvement over my other one. The weathering was done with pigments, a mix of Mig Russian Earth and Vallejo Light Sienna. The Mig is quite dark and powerful, very nice for fresher mud if you add a drop of gloss. I layered with increased amounts of sienna to simulate drier staining and dust. I added a light filter to the helmets and boots and equipment to blend everything in a little. The subtleties don't quite show up in the photos, but I'm quite happy with how it turned out.













And some cropped shots









It's not going to win any awards, but it turned out ok considering what needed to be done.


So, to conclude, it's not the world's greatest kit, but not the worst either. A lot of work will need to be put in to make this a show stopper, but the basic details and dimensions are pretty good. Fit and molding quality could have been a lot better. Fortunately, all of the booboos can be fixed without after market stuff if you have a dab hand and want to invest the time. The figures are adequate for the overall level of the kit. The biggest plus of this boxing is the inclusion of a plethora (Tamiya's own words) of accessories including early Jerry cans. I'd recommend this kit to those who want to get some practice in on making improvements to basic kits or to those looking for a fairly complete, busy vehicle and crew and don't mind the somewhat basic detail.

My thanks to Tamiya USA via Armorama for the kit and thanks to all those who have followed along and participated in the build.

Kimmo

Hi Kimmo,

I kind of lost track of this for awhile ... site outage, I guess.

Just wanted to say that I really enjoyed following your build. Lots of good intel.

Congratulations on a great job!

—mike

Thanks Mike, glad you enjoyed it.

Kimmo

I know this build log was to be a more or less out of the box build but one interesting after-market item I just discovered today is a dress up PE set for the floor pan/tranmission/shifter area of the D7.

The set comes from Griffon Hobbies:

I built the Italeri Demag with Pak 38 mounted to it, it was an easy, fun build. Dragon has a similar it...I wonder if its a hard kit to build?