This is my Tamiya Wespe. It was built basically out of the box with the exception of replacing the tie downs along the upper hull with brass wire and of blanking off the sponsons, hull openings, and a brass wire antenna.

It took second place in the yearly Granite State Modelers Club group build.






I don't normally build WW2 and as such didn't have too much info on it.

Any comments will be greatly appreciated, I'm always ready to fix it.

Dave S.

To quote MLD, "the winner threw everything including the kithen sink at it". MLD got third, but I personally liked his better than mine.

Dave S.

that is a nice paint job. I'm not so sure that there would be any brown on those binoculars you have resting on the breech & the tracks appear to be too rusty to me, but you got 2nd place so what do I know!

Proof that o.o.b. ain't so bad.

Thanks all.
Vadster, the tracks really aren't as rusty as the photos show. They are more of a dark brown ground in dirt color (compare to the muffler). The lights in my workshop are the GE Reveal ones, they tend to give everything a reddish tint in photos. The lighter ones had the flash on, but that washes out the details.

Dave S.

Outstanding work on your Wespe, Dave !! I had the honor of seeing this awesome kit in person at the last Nordland AMPS meeting in January

No wonder you got 2nd in the Granite group build !!

Some of those Bandai Gundam (?) kits you have been building lately are impressive as well, Dave !

Keep up the great work !!

Cheers !!

Alpen

Thanks Rob and Robert.

Dave S.

Very clean build and paint job. However, some weathering would've been nice too.

I disagree that it needs more weathering. If an attempt to weather it had been made, then fair enough, but David has obviously chosen not to weather the Wespe, and if that's the way he chooses then so be it. It's a great looking model, and finished perfectly for a vehicle not weathered. Brilliant! Well done David!

Vinnie

Have to disagree with there vinnie sorry.i do know its an outstanding build,but those wespes and marders took some knocks and bangs.they where mainly used for street fighting to support the infantry so scratchers and scrapes were common.

I know Karl, sorry, what I'm trying to say isn't clear. Any vehicle that clean is unrealistic, I know that, but if David wants to display his vehicles as pristine, so the vehicles form becomes the main interest, then we shouldn't knock that.

Vinnie

It is not my intention to sound like I am 'calling you out' -challenging you to a fight- on this, but I was under the impression that at the inception Wespes, as an artillery piece, were used from prepared positions in the rear of the fighting as artillery.

To me it follows then that they were not as banged up and scraped up as say a Stug or a Panzer IV. Since the crews were not in the thick of the 'fight of their lives' every minute, there was time to keep things looking presentable. Marders are a different breed of cat, used as tank killers.

Dave's a pretty modest guy, his Wespe looks even better in person.
I took 3rd, as Dave mentioned, with the Wasps in the Park. There are pics in my gallery.
I found out later I had a tiny seam showing on the top of the gun gas tube, there at one end... it was that close I am told.

As for the winner, yeah he used everything AND a kitchen sink, including quite the wallet-ful of aftermarket. If you get a chance, it will be at AMPS, I am sure.

I bought two books I was planning on buying anyway and only used bits and pieces from the spares box. In building a kit from the box with scratchbuilt additions, I met my goal for this build.

Mike

Dave,

I think your Wespe is great. The paint job and cleanliness of the build is someting to be proud of.

Thanks all,
I only gave it a very light overspray of earth colors to blend it all together and dull it down further.

I am not a big fan of the latest trend of making it look scratched to heck, most of the models I have seen like that have scratches that would be an inch or two wide at full size. Plus, since it was built OOB, I didn't think I could pull off denting and bending the plastic as easily or realistically as if it was done in brass or aluminum.

Dave S.

I like your take just the way you did it used not abused, great build, i wouldn't change a thing.

Very well done David,
If this is sort of thing you can turn out that your not used to doing you are doing really well.
I like the weathering, not over done and the figures also look great.

Thanks for the kind comments rv1963 and Russ,

We'll see how this and the M51 do in there first contest in April at AJLaFleche's show in western MA.

Dave S.