Wow the work y'all do here is amazing! I think I'll jump in with this super oldie but goodie!





So I was at a show maybe a year ago at most and a guy had this under a pile of scrap boxes, griping that he couldn't even sell it for $8 USD, so I handed it to him - I think it to be complete, check it out!

HEAVY hunks of resin!


Spare parts and other bits:





(My artistic interpretation of the seller):


So I am going to call this a placeholder, as just today I ordered the Trumpy seperate-link tracks, otherwise it's gonna be OOB for me!

Lovely work on the Marder 3 Zon. I have built both the Dragon and Tamiya ones - in my opinion you picked the best to work on.

David, I agree - go the Tamiya if you do not have one in the stash. I have built the Academy Achilles, including correcting all the faults and adding missing details but Tamiya would be the best approach these days.

"SUre" looks 'G100d" Angel...….

COMMENT CAFE:

Norman, thanks. Besides the cut-a-way, I'm leaving the top hull unattached.
David, thank you. I'm glad you like my humble efforts.
Norman, terrific job on the painting and decals.
Oliver, thank you. As I said above, I'm leaving the upper part loose.
Bob, thanks a million. I enjoyed your thoughts about the Hetzer cut-a-way.
Phil, your build is progressing well. Enjoy.
Angel, thanks for the nice comment. Your build up, mods, and figures look impressive. Great job.
Phil, step by step, your kit is coming to life.
Angel, all the additions make seeing the original kit difficult. Hahaha. Marvelous!
Phil, alright! Now we can see your StuG emerging.
Jesse, cool kit for the campaign. Enjoy.
Zon, love seeing a Marder built. Nice paintwork.
Angel, Stunning job on your Bulgarian beast!!! Much respect.
Bruce, welcome on board. Cool kit. Enjoy.

Alright gentlemen. Keep up the magnificent work. Bill

Update on my 1/48, Bandai, Hetzer.

Too many photos for one update, so this will be........
PART 1

Painted the upper and lower hulls. Also added horizontal, mesh intakes for the engine compartment.

All the interior components are painted and ready for installation. Kind of winged it on the front hull Elfen color.

Got all the shells painted too. The cut-a-way on part of the shells was fun to do. Ha!

That's it for Part 1. Part 2 will be uploaded tomorrow. Thanks for viewing. Model On!!! Bill

Hi Peter, yeah I have the tamiya version I just wanted the academy one as I fancied a crack at it and I couldn't find any on eBay.

Bruce, I'm looking forward to seeing that s tank being built as I have only ever seen one assembled in a book.

William, I'm loving all the details you've put into that bandai hetzer.

COMMENT CAFE:

Bruce, if a squirrel could ever be accused of being "lost in contemplative thought", that one would be. Ha!
David, thank you, sir.

Good luck everyone with your projects.
Bill

Part 2 of my 1/48, Bandai Hetzer update.


All the interior components are attached. Note: Much to my chagrin, a friend pointed out I'm missing a 3rd crewman on the left side. For visibility sake, poor Klaus stepped on a landmine and there will be no replacement.

The engine compartment turned out pretty good. It's not 100% accurate, but I am satisfied with it.

Besides giving the gunner/loader a shell, I also added a map to the commander's hands.

Adding the main gun to the upper hull really gobbled up a lot of interior space. Tight quarters inside that lil tank destroyer.

Moment of Truth, the top hull drops into place revealing the cut-a-way interior. Since I'm leaving the top hull loose, I did have to cope and sand a bit to get the best possible fit.

Now it's on to the exterior of the build. Thanks for viewing.
Bill

William,
your Hetser looks fantastic!
a bit cozy in there, for sure!

Whoaaaa!!!

I take my hat off, Bill!

Great job on the Hetzer. Even if it's quite tiny at this scale you still can see most of the details you've added.

Enjoy the exterior.

Olivier

Very cool hetzer. Really shows off the lack of space.

Hi all
I'm calling my AMX 13 SS11 done.









Olivier

very nicely done Olivier. Weathering is first rate, on an unusual prototype.

Outstanding Bill. One of the builds of this campaign, which given the standard on here is quite something.

Holy cramped interiors, Batman! (Or Panzerman...) That's a stunning build! The missing guy is the gunner, but for the life of me I can't see how he fit in to the remaining space. I can see why these were not popular with their crews.

And Olivier that AMX is perfect.

I love the AMX 13. Those missiles are way cool (as my 5 year old nephew would say)!

And I'm very impressed with the Hetzer. It makes me want to do a kit with an interior....

That cut away Hetzer is looking really nice!

Finally concluding my own Hezter build. Finally primed and painted, used oil paints for the first time and waited more than a week for it to dry. This little Hetzer is looking a little different........







Engine deck isn't glued in place yet, still painting a tovarish who will be peeking out the open hatch. The binocular sticking out the smaller hatch broke on me more than once and I tried as best I could to get it to stay in place but it keeps drifting off to one side a bit. But it's as good as done for now. Wanted to go with Polish markings but I couldn't find them in my stash, only to find them sometime after I finished this one up, oh well.

Interior work is fantastic Bill.

Olivier, that has turned out magnificently. A joy to behold. Thanks for joining in.

Very nicely done Comrade. That pink is very dazzling, as is the build!

Thank you all for the comments. Norman, this is not a prototype. It has been in service with the French army for a couple of decades before being replaced by the VAB Mephisto, ATGM variant with 2 HOT missiles in a pop-up turret.

Olivier

I know. One of the quirks of English is that sometimes words have 2 slightly different meanings. In this context "original"could be substituted for "prototype"

Thanks for the explanation Norman.

Olivier

Hardly worth posting really, but I got the fenders done for the StuG. They took a week. The plastic bits were easy but Dragon supplies this really stiff wire for the tow cable. The only way to make it look a little realistic is by clamping it down when you glue it. Even then it popped off a couple of times while I was putting a primer coat over it to check for defects. I thought there would be a lot of bad glue marks considering how much fighting with the CA glue I did, but in the end, there are only a couple and in a place where they won't really be visible. So now, on to the tracks!

Good job on that wire, Phil! I've thrown out a bunch of these DML "cables" over the years and replaced them with brass picture wire that is much more workable. I've heard you can anneal the DML metal over a flame to make it more bendy, but never bothered to find out myself.

Fenders are looking good. Did you heat the wire first. Use a candle (large household type not little Birthday type - don't laugh, someone I know mistook me before) and heat the wire until it is cherry red. Let it cool and then do it again. After a few treatments the Dragon wire looses most of its 'springiness'. Alternately, buy some copper cable like Eureka XXl's to replace it.

Thanks for the tips.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who has had this experience.

Pointers to copper wire is appreciated. I saw Panzermeister36 do it on his Stug so I just launched into it thinking it couldn't be that hard. About halfway through the first one I thought about trying to pull it up and go with something else but I persevered. Lesson learned....

a couple of where its at.