Keep them moving

Spent the last few nights adjusting the German grey tone on the Stug. Used Vallejo Air series for this tank and surprising it is holding rather well to abuse. Perhaps this was because the primer coat was an auto-primer instead of my usual Gunze's Mr Surfacer.

A darker version of Vallejo Air 052 German Grey was obtained by mixing black into the paint. The tonal highlights of the panels were acheived by spraying a mixture of German grey and white. Next step.... post shading.

Not much progress with this big cat except for the spraying on of primer red onto the area where the side skirts were supposed to cover.

Tamiya Stug III B (OOTB)

Got myself so hooked on tarp rolling the past week that I pulled out the Tamiya Stug III B to construct. As lovers of Stug III would know, almost all the Stug III from Ausf A-F were seen with equipment stowed on its rear deck and what better excuse for me to roll more tarps. The next thing I knew, this kit was completed (OOTB) with a evergreen stowage rack. Heck, I even painted the interior together with the Panzer IV E I completed recently. The build happened so fast (kudos to Tamiya's excellent engineering) that I forgot to take any photos before priming the model.

Dry Paints

Had to spend a couple of days for the thinner to dissolve the hardened paint pigments before I could use them. Afterall, it has been 3 years since the last time I opened my paints and used my trusty airbrush.

Completed the basic scheme for the hard edge camoflage of the Jagdtiger. The base coat was a mixture of Gunze Sanyo's dark yellow, white and sail color on an estimated proportion of 3:5:2. The green was hand painted on using Andrea Color's AC3 olive green. The brightness should be toned downed after weathering is applied.

Keep them rolling

The fact that improvements are needed to bring old DML kits up to current standards meant that you either add these improvement in the form of aftermarket accessories or simply scratch build them. I did both for this Panzer IV F1.

Improvements made to the kit:

- Commander's cupola from Artisan Mori

- Driver and radio operator's hatches from TMD

- Sproket housing (no idea what they are called)from TMD

- Fenders and on-vehicle tools were spares obtained from the Panzer IVE kit.

- Dipped into my spare parts box for jerry cans and spare wheels

- Tarps rolled from Tamiya epoxy putty

Building of this little cat allowed me to rediscover the joy of building old DML kits. The little imperfections in these kits has allowed me to improvise, think out-of-the-box (pun intended) and in the process, produce a model that is unique from others.

Panzer IV Ausf.E construction completed

Building on the momentum of the completion of the Pz IV E's construction, I pulled out a previously half-built Pz IVF-1 and spruced it up with the parts left over from the newer kit.

Yes, this F-1 is based on the old DML kit, which at its time of release was considered an excellent kit but pales in comparison when placed side by side with the new generation Panzer IV kit.

Hate'em and love'em - on vehicle tools.

For myself, on vehicle tools are usually left to the last, especially when PE parts are involved. Sadly, more often than not, this resulted in many of my projects being shelved after building the chasis, turret, gun, linking up the individual tracks, checking the "sag" on each side of the tracks etc. The fun part of construction is over and it is the back-breaking time to start handling those pesky little PE parts with my stubby fingers.

This time, I am determined to finish up the tool clamps for the remaining tools left over from the previous week as soon as possible. The Bronco wing nuts are God-sent replacements for the microscopic wing nuts provided by the kit. Personally I found it impossible to handle the ones provided and these replacement wing nuts provide a better overall finish as compared to the PE ones.

To ensure that the wing nuts are able to withstand a fair amount of abuse especially during the weathering stage, the PE parts which the plastic wing nuts will come into contact are replaced with styrene strips. A quick brush of Tamiya thin cement is applied and the wing nuts is put in place.

Parts #MA28 and MA29, which were the brackets for the jack, were replaced with styrene strips as they seemed be too narrow for the jack.

One night of cutting, gluing and mission accomplished. I am glad that the tools are completed. The tools shall be installed tomorrow. Since it is already 1am now, I will pick a book to research on a suitable Panzer unit which this Panzer IV will be modelled after.

Tiger 1 WIP

The famed DML kit 6253 built with minimal modifications, construction completed in November 2008. 1 down, 3 more to go.