Lots of repetitious tedious work! Looks good. This kind of effort pays off in the end I think and for me,it helps relieve stress. You have to concentrate so much your other problems get forgotten.
J

Tedious it surely was... I had the most problems with handling the buckles. I started over at least a dozen times because of *PLING*. This part was not particular relaxing. These buckles were workable, since I needed to connect top and bottom straps... Now they are fixated...

Closed up the vehicle, minus hatches. The rear hatch will be closed, though I might try and see if it can be made workable. Getting the side walls in place required some tender and loving force, not to mention persuasion.

Looking good Erwin , I like how the engine turned out .

Cheers. So do I. The big secret ingredient is a wash and splattering of Raw Umber oilpaint. Looks like oil in this way

Hi Erwin,

Looking good, your work is an inspiration to those of us that are less experienced and/or talented. Great detail work, and excellent paint job, thanks for sharing the images, .

Cheers, ,

G

Gee.. You make me feel really humble. I really do not consider myself a skilled modeller. More than enough goes wrong while performing our dark art.

After finishing the adoptions to make the vehicle "Dutch", it received a base coat, over the layer of black primer.
The adoptions made on the exterior, were collated from contemporary pictures and are as followed:
- Lifting ring on the turret
- New mounting plate for the Schwarzlöse MG (got the dimension for the cooling jacket from the Dutch National Military Museum)
- Extra brackets (dunno what for) on the left side hull
- Wrench on the left side sponson
- Rail on the engine deck (apparently to prevent from firing in the engine room) + it's brackets on the side.

The colour used is Tamiya IJA Green.

Looks superb already, it must have been designed by a committee

Thank's. This was the easy part... I need to heavily convert a figure: the overall he now wears is too skinny, specially compared to the one the other figure wears.

Hi Erwin,

It's looking good, a lot of detail for such a diminutive tank...think I'd have gone boss-eyed by now, .

Cheers, ,

G

I've had an operation for this when I was 3, and wear glasses, so no problem with that

Thanks Gary, I only need to add some chains and add the hatches. Contemplating how to weather it. The lower half will be wet, from driving through the water. But grease around the wheels or not? I read that there where no seals so it leaked profusely, but won't it be washed away? No dust, as it will be a winter scene. Some minor scratching I guess. The thing would have been well maintained, since it was used only for demo's and tests... Long distances where travelled on a specially designed trailer.

Thanks for the compliment. O

Received some resin pollard willows from Blast Models last week. Only need to add the twigs. Not 1005 sure about what to use. Seafoam?


Also, I have been toying with the composition. More ice will be added to the icy obstacle. Also the figures will be on a higher level than the ice, standing on top of a partially snow covered grassy slope. The definitive shape still has to be decided.
What do you think?

Hi Erwin,

Sounds like you have a picture in your mind's eye...go for it, .

What are the intended dimensions of the base?

Cheers, ,

G

Not really sure. Depends mostly on the composition. Besides the space between the figures an the tank, I do not want to have too much empty space. Maybe a teardrop shape?

Looking back at your original photo ref did we firmly establish that the tank really is resting on blocks of ice (if so how did such big chunks get broken up like that – by the tank??) – or could they be just chalky/limestone rocks, maybe covered in frost/snow?

Pollarded branches – most garden bushes or small trees would surely have the kind of twiglets you need.

As for the figures placement I would have thought it would be better to keep the image as is, with figures looking up at the tank rather than down on it. But it’s your baby, depends perhaps what the figures are actually doing, attempting recovery or just gawping?

Thanks for thinking with me.

I've read a report, where, during the winter of 1939-1940, trials were conducted on a moot, where the soldiers were ordered to throw up a obstacle of ice, and see how the tank performed. Also, limestone is pretty rare in this country, mostly made up of sand and clay
Besides that, this picture is one of a small series that clearly shows the icy circumstances.




Since these were trials, the officer (a colonel) in question would not have stood next to the vehicle and risk falling in front of his subordinates.
The idea is that the colonel will gawk rather gloomily at the tank, as he didn't expect (or hope) it would tackle this obstacle too, while the crew, having clambered from their can, stands next to him. One has a rather confident stance, while the other slightly turns his head away, to hide his smirk.
The slope I have in mind, will be only minor, so they will be not so much looking down.

Lots of nice progress and careful thought going into this one. Interesting research as well.
J

Thanks... Not as researched as Tim's dio, but then again, there is much less info on this available. I wonder how much will be lost during the 5 years occupation, besides the tank itself...

Ready for weathering:

Nice work Erwin , will be looking forward to the ground work !!
Cool ref pics.

Thanks, so do I

I actually thought I was finished with the FT, until I found out, after close scrutiny of the original picture, there turned out to be quite some mud on the running gear. Specially on the drive sprocket (rear). After thinking it over, this is logical as it just drove through the muddy floor of the moat. Yet, I do not want to withhold from the results of my splashing around with AK's water effects and my effort to represent some small ice chunks.

Sweeeet….totally…..tank looks A1 but need it be a binary weathering decision? Couldn’t you have dirty slushy ice on the running gear?

Well. I started throwing mud yesterday (actually it is Mig European earth pigments combined with Water Effects), as the previous drawn conclusion led me to believe the tank was indeed too clean.
Also made some grabbing straps on the hatches, since these were missing in the kit. Definitely looking better IMHO.

Yep,looks better with mud IMHO. You can always say the tank touched the bottom of the pond after breaking through the ice!
J