Kit Build/Review: Airfix 1/76 Panther #2

White Milliput zimmerit goes on to the hull.

On this second build of an Airfix 1/76 Panther I haven't bothered detailing the box contents or initial build. Instead I've just jumped in at the point where things get more interesting (to me, at any rate!), with detailing the kit. This is part of a current series of 'panzer wrecks' for the battlefields of my putative 20mm WWII wargaming collection.

Rear turret access hatch open.

Chipped zimm...

Zimmerit on the turret as well.

After applying the white Milliput zimmerit to the major areas, I decided to detail a number of other aspects of the kit. Mostly this meant opening a number of hatches; in addition to the easy commander's cupola hatch. In fact nearly all the crew hatches are open. I suspect they all baled out - and sharp-ish, as they haven't destroyed the tank, as per reg's - after hitting a mine and coming under fire once immobilised. The driver's vision hatch and the rear turret hatch (is this the 'loader's hatch'?) both required rather more effort! But I think the results are worth it. 

Both main turret hatches are open.

Driver's hatch also open, as are the two upper hull hatches.

Note different zimm' patterns on turret and hull.

Zooming in on the turret a bit.

Hull glacis up close.

Keen observers might spot that the turret and hull zimm' patterns are different. I've seen this often enough on photos of actual WWII German tanks. But I didn't follow specific reference. I also removed the turret lifting eyes and replaced them with bent stretched sprue, which I think looks a helluva lot better. In addition I scratch-built towing clevises (clevii???), a tow-cable, and added some tools and spare track.

Note missing rear road wheel.

I've scored the kit itself just two and a half 'kreuz this time. Maybe that's a bit harsh? But it is pretty poor. The tracks, for example, are so bad as to be unusable, f-f-f-frankly. Still, it does make a usable base kit for having fun like this with, albeit in the slightly smaller 1/76 scale, as opposed to my preferred 1/72.

Added details: tools, tow-cable, turret lifting eyes, etc.

Am I therefore wasting my time polishing a turd? Perhaps... I've even ordered several OKB Grigorov 1/72 resin Panther track sets. They look amazing online. I want the tracks on this to look nicer than is possible using the awful rubber band jobs that come with the kit. I also took the trouble to make sure the wheels went on without recourse to the oversized 'cap' type doodads that Airfix supply. 

I'm quite keen to add a jack and maybe a bucket at rear. And I may well add the rear stowage bins. Or perhaps jus one? And have the other 'missing in action', with no zimm' where it was... hmmm!?

Kit Build/Review: Revell 1/76 T-34/76, 1940

This is my second 'panzer wreck' build, after the FoV 1/72 Pz III. Only this time it's a Russian tank. It's  also 1/76, for starters, so smaller than my other 1/72 T-34s. But as a battlefield wreck? And a thing in itself? Well... whatever! As they say these days.  

Sprues... inc. ol' Matchbox diorama base.

And the rest.

Vinyl tracks... eugh!

Lacking internal detailing, other than teeth.

Didn't document much of this build.

Gorilla gel superglue sorts vinyl tracks.

Felt pen 'print' template on plastic card, for inner turret hatch detailing.

Added the gun breech, so the open hatch view isn't utterly bare.*

I've built it to look it took a hit or two, conked out and was abandoned. So apart from the shell penetrations and minor wear and tear, it's not in too bad shape. The surviving crew baled out, hence the open hatches, and someone's taken a few bits - the hull m.g. and two fuel tanks are missing - but it's mostly in pretty good shape. 

* Doubtless extending too far into the turret space, but I think it'll look better than empty space.

Hull MG has been removed. Commander's hatch open.

Missing rear mudguard and both fuel barrels, port side.

I did it in this manner on account of the model leading me this way. I thought about having the rear engine access hatch and the engine grill covers open as well. But that presented too any tricky challenges. I'd like to build a real humdinger of a wreck, but, ironically perhaps, a better base/donor kit would make that easier. 

I have a third model on this particular pending pile (I have terrible piles!), that I'd considered either doing as a wreck, or maybe even as a tank being built, which is an Airfix 1/76 Panther. I have the Nürnberg Panther factory book, and quite fancy doing a diorama of a hull under construction in a workshop. But I might entirely scratch-build that, and use the Airfix kit for a battlefield casualty.

Anyroad, re the T-34... TBC...

FOR SALE: Battle of Waterloo, Revell 1/72 200th Anniversary Set

Well, this a first for me... I'm attempting to sell something via my blog, in addition to other more normal channels.

What I'm selling is a Revell Battle of Waterloo, 1/72 200th Anniversary Set.

Contents: Soft plastics - British Dragoons (complete), Prussian Infantry (Complete), French Guard Grenadiers (several missing). 

Condition: All miniatures are partially under-coated, and the paint is flaking off. 

I was given these in exactly the condition they are in now, by a model making pal. He gave up on them due to failing eyesight. I, on the other hand, have large Nap' white-metal armies in 6mm and 10mm that need painting and basing, so I don't want the distraction of dealing with these. 

I'm hoping any collectors of 20mm Nap' plastics, who might stumble across this post, may perhaps want them? £5 plus postage, or buyer collects.

My apologies for the crappy pics. I had to harvest them from my Gumtree listing for the set, under limited time constraints. I can be reached via this blog. I'd prefer that the buyer collected. But I will post within the UK, if the buyer pays postage.

1/72 WWII - Revell Sdkfz 7/1 with flak & trailer

NB: This post was originally published by me ages ago. All of sudden, and for no reason I can understand, it's popped up here, with a publishing date of 16th Sept, 2019. Can anyone enlighten me as to how or why this might happen? I was editing the 'labels' on numerous posts yesterday, to standardise certain search terms, and hopefully make the blog a bit more streamlined. But, as far as I know, I didn't edit this post. And even if I had done, it should still remain in sequence, unless I were to deliberately change the 'schedule publishing' date. Weird!?

I love this model! It's actually more like three kits in one, rather than just one kit. As well as the superb Sdkfz 7/1 half-track, you get the delightfully intricate four-barrelled anti-aricraft gun, and, admittedly not quite so exciting as the vehicle or the gun (but still fun to build), the ammunition trailer.

If any of the models I've built so far have been mouth-wateringly good, then I'd have to say this is one such. It's certainly amongst the best for getting the model-making maw a-droolin'. The styrene itself is almost tasty... it makes me think of top quality dried pasta. It even looks the part! 

As with many 1/72 AFV models, this commences with the running-gear. It's terribly well designed, although some hardcore old school modellers might object to the fact that several multipart wheel elements are provided here as single pieces. Although this does potentially lessen the amount of fun to be had gluing bits together, this kit still has a high enough part count (thanks chiefly to the gun), and  this design approach also has the distinct advantage of simplifying this stage, and guaranteeing a much tidier result into the bargain.

The winch is finger-lickin' good!

Perhaps the best tracks on a 1/72 model ever!?

I simply have to say something about the tracks in this kit: they are, in my view, far and away the best tracks in any 1/72 model I've as yet encountered. They're made form the same styrene as the rest of the kit, and are beautifully rendered. They are as flexible as they need to be, to easily wrap them around the wheels. And, being ordinary modelling styrene, they are totally easy to glue.

The only problem with these otherwise superb tracks is that they weren't exactly to-the-millimetre accurate, in terms of the length needed for a totally snug fit. As some of these pictures show, there are gaps. On one set of tracks the lone gap was negligible. On the other (one would've expected exact symmetry!) the gap was so large I cut a section of track off, so as to spread the gap between two points, with the aim of having two slightly smaller gaps, rather than one large one. 

If this set had included a few spare individual links, to plug such gaps, they would have been 10/10 perfect.

After the running gear and some of the cab were built, it was time to make the ammo trailer. I might like to build another one of these and have the ammo trailer open, with shells being unloaded, etc.

Once the trailer is assembled, it's the turn of the gun. This is a lovely thing, if a bit fiddly to assemble. If I were making it now I might want to replace some of the parts with finer detailed photo-etched parts, e.g. the sights, and possibly even the barrels. The latter might be better for being replaced with turned metal parts. But this was my first such model, and I was content to put it together as it was, straight out of the box.

The whole vehicle has, by this stage, been base-coated in matt black, sprayed with hair lacquer, and then undercoated in dunkelgelb. The only bit of the vehicle to have been painted any more than this is the deck of the fighting compartment, which I decided to have a go at detailing ahead of the rest of the paint job. I must've met I'm quite pleased at how this has come out, with traces of rust and paint scratched off, etc.

Some of the above pictures appear to have got out of sequence! As I'm currently putting the finishing touches to this entry whilst staying in Belgium for the Waterloo 200 celebrations, I'm not going to be so fussy us to rearrange my post just yet (I can do that later). But some of the pictures shown above and below record my progress when painting the internal cab details.

I also painted and added a driver figure (I think I've got pictures of him somewhere, not sure where though!). I've Blu-Tacked the upper cab hatches, in the roof, in their positions, for the duration of the external paint job, with a view to eventually glueing them in the open position, so that interested parties might get a glimpse inside the cab. Even then, I doubt very much will be visible!

Conclusion:

Although armoured cab half tracks aren't my favourites, in terms of looks, this kit is such a joy to build that I almost feel I like the ugly beast. Painting the interior of the cab and adding the figure gave me a massive thrill - am I some kind of modelling deviant? - despite (or is that because of) the knowledge that the work would be nigh on invisible once the model's completed.