Looks awesome, Tat!

Beautiful work, Tat! Are those AM tracks or kit?

Thanks Mark, Clayton! The tracks are link-and length and came with the kit. Given that the kit was released in the 90s I'd call these as first generation types -- lies straight, no sag. Nevertheless still a better option than rubber-band types.

Sd.kfz. 251 w/7.5cm kwk42 finished.

eMan,
Very nicely done. That aluminum barrel must weigh as much as your very impressive ribbon collection! Congratulations on your finish!🍺

—mike

Yes, that's a heckuva gun on that truck! Very nice work!

Tat, yeah like he said - looking Awesome.

You too Lap man. That is one impressive looking gun. Very nice build.

Hi Lap Man,

Excellent build! That Sd.kfz. 251 with the PAK is impressive. That 7.5cm kwk42 must have really rocked that chassis when it was fired!

I’m in for a late start with a Soviet ZIS-42 in 1/72 scale!


With the end date extended to July 15 there are still nearly three weeks left to get this little guy built. I don’t know a thing about Soviet “half-trucks”, so this should be an interesting build.

Run with it, Tim! Looks like a cool little kit!

Thanks Pete!

PST’s ZIS-42 is an unusual little kit; it is derived from the series of ZIS-5 truck kits from AER. It includes their complete ZIS-5 truck plus an additional sprue for the all-wood ZIS-42 driver's cab, and another sprue with the parts unique to the half-track version. The kit, or variants of it, came originally from AER of Moldova, but it has also been marketed by Eastern Express of Russia, AGA of Poland, and now PromSnabTorg (PST) from Minsk (Belarus). These model companies in the former Soviet bloc share kits like swingers swap wives!

The parts are for the most part sharply detailed and cleanly cast in soft plastic, but the connection points are thick and must be trimmed with care. Since the parts are shared among quite a few variant kits, many need to be customized by the modeler. Even for an “out-of-the-box” ZIS-42 build, the bumper molded to the chassis must be cut away, the fender parts must have 3.8 mm sections trimmed off, locator ridges on the radiator removed, a shade over the windscreen trimmed away, the exhaust pipe/muffler part modified, and a metal drive shaft (not provided) must be added to connect the engine and transmission.

Here’s how things look so far:

This isn’t a fall-together fast build, but things look good if you take the time to adjust the fit of each part.

I know a bloke that went to a wife swapping party - came home with a lovely near new lawn mower...

Timer is on for this build Tim, better late than never. Hope to see it finished on time.

Where I am at now. Decals on. These are Archer generic plus the Dragon provided specs list and tool box decals.
I could have used more of the Dragon ones, but I wanted to try a different camo pattern on this vehicle, so with all the Dragon options being photographed vehicles with pretty much wavy line camo, I opted to leave off unit designations and numbers. They were not always applied anyway.

Luckily I was able to get the primer out of the turret screens.

So decaled, sealed, washed (filtered), Faded with Abteilung oils and some pin washes done. Some of this will be blended in when a little more dry.



I damaged one of the Archer crosses when handling them, but with the belts that will hang down off the hull door, these will be covered, so I used it instead of another - yeah, I am a cheapskate!



These are dry fit components at the moment. The Turret Halves have to be glued and then fixed to the hull, the road wheels and drive wheels are just pressed in place, etc. Have to glue one idler adjustment rod and the rear reflector tail back on - should have left them off until ready for final assembly.

Great job on the camo, Peter, you've blended it all perfectly.

I agree with Clayton, the camo looks great!🍺

—mike

[quote]...👇 See what I mean! This is starting to feel like Jenga!

🔪 Modified stowage from Legend, Value Gear, Verlinden, and a few scratch-built items. Thought I'd do a quick tie-down test with Tamiya masking tape and strands of sewing thread. ✂️




Side rack stowage to follow soon. 📦📦📦 . . .

Cheers!🍺


nice, a most definite staple of any U.S. collection.

The ZIS-42 chassis, cabin, engine cover, and truck bed construction was conventional (if fiddly), but nothing out of the ordinary. The track running gear, on the other hand, was a pain. In addition to the sometimes vague molding and iffy fit of the rest of the kit, these assemblies were over-engineered with seemingly ALL of the components molded individually.

And some of these parts were very small; there were 16 of these tiny paired wheels...

...which built up into 4 combined 6-part assemblies – much of which will be hidden once the tracks are fitted.

When cleaned up, lined up and cemented in place, the 43 parts of the running gear & chassis mounts do look good, but these assemblies could really have been depicted equally effectively with fewer parts.



The link and length tracks are next... all 36 parts of them!

@ Kelly – Thank you very much!
@ Tim – Wow, that is some tiny stuff! 🔍 Looks like a fun kit though.

I've been trying to get the M21 stowage decals, hand painting, and the strap additions done, but with the Colorado heat and my workbench lights, it's been impossible lately, as sweat has been poring down from my Opti-Visor. 😓 Even the Wet Palette is drying out rapidly. And I've still got that driver to paint before I can close up the final assembly. Yikes! ... Still trying to stay "opti-mistic." Lol! 😜

—mike

Thanks Mike. You may need to sit on a block of ice to get that one finished then or take it all down to the local mall and find a cosy air-conditioned hidey hole.

Don't envy you the teeny parts situation Tim. Coming along nicely though

You are gifted with far more patience than I was, Tim...

okay everyone, I got this yesterday to knock out before the date. I feel good this should be done in time. I opened the kit up last night and had flash backs to 36 years ago. Wow!

Fun Build! No Stress!!

As usual, posting procrastination strikes.....


And built up into its modules for painting








As the pictures show, I didn't quite follow the instructions. With these Dragon half-tracks I've found it easier to fit the walls at the beginning, before any delicate parts go on, so a certain amount more energy can be put into getting everything lined up

Noooooooo...... the tail up Upper hull sdkfz 250 strikes again!!!

I was hoping never to see that again, well at least until after I finished mine..

Good Luck Richard.


Last minute join hey Kelly. The clocks ticken' better be a quicken'.

Yeah I remember that way back when. I even bought another to build but never did..... still mouldering away in the stash at the moment.