Hotchkiss H35

This is a 1/72 scale Hotchkiss H35. The kit is from First To Fight. Velejo USA Olive Drab primer was airbrushed onto model, then Polly Scale US Sand was brushed on, and the black lines were drawn using a Zeyar paint pen. It was given an overall wash with burnt umber oil paint.

Had to prove someone other than Vince was building models. :-)
(And the cat hair visible in the last photo has been removed.)

Classic Build with Tamiya Flakvierling and Sandbags

 This was a tough one, OUT OF THE BOX, completely. Per our club contest requirements, these CLASSIC Tamiya kits (091 & 025) were combined to make this. 

The Flakvierling kit includes some accessories like the replacement barrel case and a few other equipment boxes with the shell magazines. The trailer was pretty well detailed for its time, and the instructions on the gun show how to modify for a traveling  position.

I thought this would look best in the desert with lots of rocks and sand to go along with the sandbags. It also allowed me to show off some chipping and scratches with rust. 

I am pretty happy with the results for what it is.

Vince B.  5-6-22

Marder I on Trailer

 You had all seen me working on both the Tamiya 1/35 Marder I as well as the Das Werk trailer kits. I had been showing progress on the Thursday night calls. The combination was a perfect fit.

Of course the new Tamiya kit was as perfect as it gets. The only added detail was the radio set wiring and head phones. All else was adding of the Value Gear bits. 

I had been practicing on my chips and scratches and am satisfied that I got the hang of it now. 

The Das Werk kit allows for several options in positioning. The rear wheels can be removed and the ramps put in place. There are two styles of ramps provided. Even the front wood panels can be in the raised position. I decided to pose the Marder already stored in place.

Unfortunately, most of the detail painting of the wood planks gets hidden away under the dirt work. 

Overall I got the effect I wanted and it only takes up one space in the display case instead of two. 

Vince B.  5-1-22

Stug III on Flatcar

 This is a combination of a Dragon Pro series kit ( NOT ) which is pretty crappy for the money, and a Modelcollect flat car, which was workable. 

I was able to enhance the Stug II with some Black Dog stowage. This brought the kit some life. 

I added some additional bits of stowage to the rear of the flatcar and blocked the tracks for travel. 

The fun part of the rail car was painting the wood deck and setting all of the tiny decals. These kits come with good rails, just need some painting up.

Overall I was pretty happy with the resulting effect. 

Vince B. 4-18-22 

38 (t) Hetzer

 This is the Tamiya kit in 1/35 scale. Relatively simple to build as expected. The Hetzer is a small 2 crew vehicle so it has little bulk to it. 

This vehicle was built entirely out of the box with added wire antenna (removable). Yes I resisted the urge to add stowage. Very much of a struggle.

I used this to practice my weathering layers. I painted the tank with the 3 color camo, Tan , Green, Brown enamels and did some basic shadowing and chipping. Then I Heavily gloss coated with floor wax. I sprayed light coats in streaks of white, then brushed off streaks with a lacquer dipped brush.  After another clear coat, I pin washed and chipped. I sprayed on another gloss coat and another layer of white.

Being as it is still winter, I wanted it to look cold so used some snow and ice effect products on the ground work and vehicle. 

Vince B.

Tigerzahn (Tiger Tooth)

 Modelcollect 1/35 scale German Paper Panzer Dreams..... Bad Dreams. Though the kit design of this Tiger III was fantastic, I wanted to to make beyond any creation of a paper panzer. There are lots of added details including the barrel extension, supports and recoil springs.

I enjoyed creating the camo scheme using the modeling putty in random string patterns. Ultimately it fit well into the forest scene like real camo. 

I performed at least six separate weathering layers over the white including rubs with lacquer thinner for chipping and wear.

Creating stowage decks over the intakes took some scratch build and fit time. The rear of the turret is so long that there is little room stowage that would not get knocked off. So basics such as jerry can racks and some small crates of supplies.

I needed to show off the camo so set this all up in a frozen deep forest scene including that scratch built figure I showed before. I think it looks cold.

Vince B.

Panzer 38T

 This is the fist TriStar kit that I have built. I was impressed with the detail and quality of the fit. I know this was an older kit and TriStar had a good reputation before being bought out by Hobby Boss.

I happened to have an old Legend stowage set for the Italeri version.  I was caeful to select which components would fit well and what plastic parts of the kit to leave off. I then superglued the resin pieces in place and completed assembly with most of the stowage on.

I did have to re-arrange some of the kit tools in order to make them visible. 

I used thin strips of masking tape as belts and straps on the turret for the personal stowage items.  After hand painting all of the details I was able to weather the entire vehicle to blend.

I am pretty happy to enter this in our 38T club challenge for July. 

Vince B.

Breakfast In The Desert

 This is a 1/72 scale diorama of a Long Range Desert Group vehicle in the Sahara. The Chevy truck is from Dragon, the figures from D-Day Miniatures, and the base, stowage and some other truck details are from Black Dog. Painted with acrylics with oil washes.

Flakpanzer on Flatcar

 This is a combination of 2 distinct 1/72 scale kits.  The Rail Car is a Modelcollect and the 55mm Flakpanzer is a Dragon kit. Both are pretty well detailed but boring individually.

I added some details to create a FUSION of the two into a single interesting piece. 

I simulated tarped crates by using small blocks of balsa wood wrapped in a piece of glue soaked paper towel and tied with thread. Chains were carefully hooked around the rail tie downs and the tank lift eyes. The small crates in front I believe were Geoffy Models resins before they were turned into Black Dog.

Vince B.

3cm Flakvierling

 This is a Das Werk kit of an experimental 3cm quad AA gun emplacement. This had large drum magazines with 3cm shells as seen on the loading pallets.

The kit was very detailed and engineered to fit well. I found no problem with the parts or the instructions, The instructions were color coded to illustrate which parts were being added on each step, along with a check list.

I used my typical enamels through my airbrush along with oil washes.

Vince B.

Coffee Break

 You will have to take a real hard look at this one to figure it out. The model is the MENG Namer kit which a group of us have been working on together. The figures are also MENG. Since we were all doing the same kit though it comes with options for 3 different versions, I opted to use the figures in an appropriate set diorama.

The Namer is an Israeli made Heavy Armored Personnel Carrier based on the Merkava IV Chassis. It is the  highest protected APC made so far. As you can see the vehicle is huge with a crew of 3 and a capacity for a full squad of 8 infantry which exit from a ramp in the rear.

Though the kit is very well detailed a few bits were added for effect. I used Fiber Optic line and wire wrap to make the bent antennae and tied down using EZ Line.

The flags were just reduced sized prints from the internet. Those are on K & S wire. I threw in some plastic and resin stowage strapped onto the grab bars with strips of tape.

The table and chairs etc were from a MINIART set. I added some resin bits and a printed map and pin up. The sandbag an wall bits were from old Verlinden plaster diorama sets. Groundwork was a combination of yard dirt and gravel mixed with some Hudson & Allen debris,

The focus group will  bring in our Namer builds to the Feb meeting for the club inspection.

Vince B.

"For the Fatherland" Wehrmachthelferin

 This one is a bit of a stretch.  Though Germany did have many women soldiers, mostly in non combatant rolls, this displays a final desperate measure of putting women in combat. "Wehrmachthelferin" = Wehrmacht Auxiliary.

The tank is a Trumpeter kit with pre-stamped sheets of Zimmerit. The kit went together well, including the individual wing nuts on the tool clamps.

The tracks were individual link which I made into sections. 

The tank riders were a set from YUFAN, wonderfully sculpted and perfectly fitting parts.

The commander was of an unknown manufacturer similar to the Yufan. 

I selected the color scheme and markings of 1942 Poland.

I was happy with the overall weathering outcome which brings out the zimmerit details.