I bought this jus' recently from my LHS cheaply, and as a bonus the kit comes with two figures!

The plates runnin' alongside the hull are already moulded onto the hull, and Dragon have supplied a 'correction sheet' and a seperate sprue of PE containin' two long strips that run down the edges of the fender plates, along with some very tiny bolt details.

After fittin' these parts, they came up a little too short so I cut to size some pieces of very thin styrene sheet, and added them to the areas that needed attention. I'll fill the small join with some liquid putty, although I reckon paint would be better 'cos there is no gap. Jus' need to make it look like it grew there, is all!

The turret went together well but the top plate did need a lot of sandin' underneath to make it fit flush, and not look like its raised and jus' hoverin' there. The weld seams are beautiful, and all the joins have been filled with liquid putty applied with a very thin brush and a steady hand. As a result there was no need to sand it back, the putty jus' becomes a part of the weld line.

I've assembled the upper hull to the lower now, but before this could be done the glacis needed some sandin' to make it sit flush on the lower hull. It jus' needed some sandin' underneath it to make it sit down and be level with the lower hull, same as it was for the top plate with the cupola. This still left a tiny gap, so I ran some liquid putty into it, not worryin' about those delicate weld seams, or accidentally sandin' them off, I formed my own before the putty had finally cured.

The rear deck came as many parts, includin' the base plate that everythin' is anchored to, and its best to cement the base plate to the hull before you add all the side and top plates 'cos this will ensure that everythin' butts and fits together without any mis-alignment. Dragon call for you to assemble all these parts together off the vehicle, this is not wise.

Jus the minimal amount of putty was used to fill the small gaps and form some weld lines. It is best in this case to jus' sand off the moulded ones and create your own!

Assembled some more details to the rear, includin' the beautiful exhaust shroud. I lightly textured the exhaust proper with Vallejo's Sandy Paste and scored a groove into the tip of it with the back-edge of a scalpel blade. Anythin' else will jus' foul it up!

I'm close to as far as I can go now in as far as buildin' this thing up. I now need to wait for the PE items i've ordered, regardin' the tools etc.

Looks good so far Paul, especially the exhaust shield, keep it up!

Regards from the Swamp

Eth

Hi,

Your build appears to be progressing nicely. The weld seams look fantastic. Keep up the good work! I look forward to seeing more photos.

Have a Happy New Year!

Scott

Thanks guys, Happy new year!

I got some superdetaillin' done over the past two days, usin' the Voyager PE set. I gotta' say that usin' Voyager's set was a breeze and a real pleasure to work with, not like some. I rate Voyager above Eduard and Aber now, 'cos of the way the pieces for the jack and extinguisher were tooled, they were real easy to apply. These pieces usually scare me but these were a breeze!

I'm lookin' for some AM headlights for the fenders now, 'cos the ones in the kit are far too large!

Very good work on the PE Paul, especially the shovel and jack block, keep it up

Have you used the Aber tool clamps in the past? If so how do you rate the Voyager ones in comparison? Are they easier to assemble?

Regards from the Swamp

Eth

Ethelian, mine are all glued together!!
I assemble mine by cuttin' off the nubs whilst still on the sprue, that fit and locate the latch. The bottom plate is first stuck into place, then the tools are fitted and then the top plate and latch. I cannot be bothered to make 'em workable, I find the above process much easier for me, and quicker!
Cheers for lookin'!

This is jus' a small update. I've textured inside the fenders and lower hull with Vallejo's Sand Paste to simulate a crusty build-up of dirt.

Also, in the shots you can see the sourced headlamps from my trashed Pz.IA kit, complete with some 'scratched' headlamp covers, for which I used Superfine Milliput.

Nice clean build!

I am a photo etch "virgin" but seeing the results on your model I will definately add some to my next build.

Is the Vallejo's sand paste hand painted or airbrushed on?

Keep up the good work, I can't wait to see what's next!

Cheers, Michael

Cheers Michael!

The sand paste is stippled on with a brush.

Hey guys, I would like your opinion on whether these cables look right, and are hangin' right. They're not cemented in place yet.

They're from Karaya and are 0.9mm thick, I don't think I need to go any thinner for a light tank, do I?

Cheers!

Looking good. Especially the work on the PE parts. Keep up the good work

Looking forward to see this little kit progress - Thanks for sharing

It´s very natural! I am impressed

Karaya? please enlighten me

Cheers guys!

Andreas, Karaya are a company that make cable sets and other items, for armour. Any type of cable you need for any type of armour!

I'm gonna' change these for a lighter cable, i'm gonna' try 0.6mm or 0.7mm! Bearin' in mind that PzI tow cables were as thin as rope!

Ok, I got this sorted out now, I feel!

I've ended up usin' some PzIV E tow cable ends, as suggested by John (Sticky), which I agree fit the bill nicely! At last, some progress can be made on this build now!

Hi Paul. Excellent SBS and very clean build. Enjoyed this .. clear photographs and good discriptions. Have the 3´n´1 kit, and a lot of your tips will come in handy when I get around to it.
When finished, this can be edited and will make for a great feature!

Andreas .... Karaya cables are available from "The Toy Soldier" in Stockholm. Link to homepage .
Check under Panzer, then karaya!

Paul,

Looks great! Keep us posted on your progress.

Excellent work, especially the PE stuff - very impressed!

James

Thanks for your interest guys!

I'm not sure whether it was common practice to fit brackets in securin' track links at this time, the references I have show the links stowed on the glacis but the images are poor quality and I cannot make out whether they're stowed with a bracket or not. Some images I have show no brackets at all, and they look like they're jus' restin' on the glacis hooks at either end, whilst the light is supportin' the weight of the middle links. All I can say is that, that light fittin' has powers beyond its looks!

Here are some shots, nothin' has been cemented in place, I still need to add a couple of PE bolt details and also a spare wheel (from my trashed PzIA) maybe, stowed tied down on the glacis hooks.

Well, I got some paint on it now! I gave it a basecoat of XF-17 Sea Blue (pre-shade), then a coat of XF-63 German Grey mainly applied to the centre panels, and then a final coat of XF-24 Dark Grey concentratin' on the centre panels, once again.

All the details were then painted. The X-10 Gunmetal on the jack and crowbar may look a little bright, but they'll be toned down with some heavy Black/ Brown washes. The tow cable was first painted with some thinned XF-1 Flat Black, then drybrushed with Chaos Black and Boltgun Metal mixed to a very dark Steel colour. Same for the machingun! The wooden box was first painted with a coat of XF-49 Khaki, then highlighted with a coat of XF-72 Brown (JGSDF)

The tracklinks will have no brace fitted, it don't look like one was used in all the references I have, but more on this later.

Now its time for the Future coat, decals and washes!

I nearly got this one complete! I threw away the braces for the tracklinks, 'cos in my references none were shown in use. So in the end I formed some tie downs with 0.4mm Karaya cable. The spare wheel is from my trashed PzIA, its different to the PzIB but what the hell, they've snatched this from a redundant vehicle. Thats my rationale.

Its a legacy to the PzIA, you could say!