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Winter Pz.Kpfw.III Ausf.L - Dragon 1/35 - FINISHED and in the RFI section


PlaStix

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On ‎28‎/‎11‎/‎2017 at 14:47, clive_t said:

Nice track work, good explanation too. Personally I like lots of photos, so absolutely no complaints from me! :thumbsup2:

Thank you Clive - that is very kind of you.

 

On ‎28‎/‎11‎/‎2017 at 16:08, AgentG said:

Tracks look superb!

Good job sir.

G

Thank you!

 

On ‎28‎/‎11‎/‎2017 at 16:44, Bullbasket said:

No, not long winded. Just a master class in how to assemble Dragon Magic Tracks. I have the M/N version, but it's quite old. It's got 1995 on the box, but it also says something about containing new 40 cm tracks, so don't know if these are the Magic variety or not.

John.

Hi John and thank you. I think your Dragon kit sounds like the one with some nicely detailed individual track links - don't know if they were Magic Tracks back then though.

 

On ‎28‎/‎11‎/‎2017 at 17:34, Gremlin56 said:

Super job done on the tracks there Stix, really excellent looking footware !

Thank you Julian.

 

On ‎28‎/‎11‎/‎2017 at 19:58, Soeren said:

I really like your dirt accumulations. They are not overdone, but they look really cold. ;)

Thank you Soeren. I usually try to do just a little dirt to start with - figuring I can add more later if needs be.

 

On ‎28‎/‎11‎/‎2017 at 20:12, Badder said:

Lovely work Stix.

Exactly the method I would use. And if you're going to portray the vehicle riding over uneven ground you just 'break' the tracks down into smaller sections along the bottom, adjust the road wheel positions to fit the terrain, create the bends in the links to suit and then join them - remembering all the while that bends increase the number of track links here, while decreasing them along the return - in effect the return becomes less saggy.

Looking forward to seeing the snow on the tracks. Of ALL the effects I think this is the hardest to get right, so good luck!

Rearguards

Badder

 Hi Badder and thank you for the useful information about other ways to put the tracks together. If you check below you will be able to see, when I've posted the photos, how the snow went on the tracks.

 

On ‎28‎/‎11‎/‎2017 at 21:08, fatfingers said:

Aye up Stix,

Those tracks look like they're made of steel and heavy! Fantastic job :yes:

Regards,

Steve

Thank you very much Steve,

 

On ‎28‎/‎11‎/‎2017 at 23:21, SimonT said:

Very nice, great job on the tracks!

Thank you Simon.

 

Thank you all for you kind comments. I'll post more replies soon.

 

Kind regards,

 

Stix

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On ‎29‎/‎11‎/‎2017 at 06:14, Kris B said:

Traks looks very good. 

Thank you very much Kris.

 

On ‎29‎/‎11‎/‎2017 at 08:39, modelling minion said:

Superb work Stix.

The weathering is looking absolutely spot on and the way you have done the tracks has worked really well. Thanks for sharing such a detailed "how to" guide, I'm sure this will be very helpful to any of us who might tackle these in the future, and the way you have weathered them is fantastic and very realistic.

Hi Craig and thank you for all your very kind comments.

 

On ‎29‎/‎11‎/‎2017 at 14:11, Blaubar said:

Stix,

Bookmarked for future track assembly help! Great thread, getting better every day. Keep these informative and long posts coming, there can never be enough smart input.

The snow effects are building up nicely!

Thank you very much Blaubar and you can see soon how the snow went on the tracks.

 

On ‎29‎/‎11‎/‎2017 at 15:03, Dads203 said:

Incredible work fella, brush painted is really hard to believe mate. nice one :D

Thank you very much for your kind comments.

 

On ‎29‎/‎11‎/‎2017 at 16:36, Ozzy said:

:goodjob:  on the tracks Stix. :yahoo:

Cheers Ozzy. :thumbsup:

 

On ‎01‎/‎12‎/‎2017 at 13:44, FrancisGL said:

Fantastic job with tracks!, I already told you...:popcorn:, cheers mate :yes:

Thank you very much Francis.

 

10 hours ago, Hewy said:

All round top job, tracks, and the excellent painting and weathering, really looking ace

Glynn 

Thank you very much Glynn.

 

In the next post I'll include the photos from this morning's modelling session.

 

Kind regards,

 

Stix

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As promised - some photos of the tracks with some snow on. I'm still using the Vallejo product and applying it with a cocktail stick:

D5BE308E-6ED6-4A92-8DDC-571A1072AC56

 

D3AB8D53-4C98-48F1-A800-1566D22A7900

 

14BD75F3-1306-4340-864A-B4371DCFED16

 

F165F749-38A6-4B72-97D0-A0BCE4A91409

 

D52EB201-2285-483E-B7F2-B94A02086040

 

I may add some more later on depending on the scene I finally decide upon. The basics are on and it's been easier to apply at this stage rather than with the fenders in place.

 

Speaking of fenders - I decided to start some chipping and weathering before they are in place so I can get at all areas without the superstructure getting in the way:

3350FBA9-9E80-4630-92F4-DD0F0A28816F

 

....and of course I had to try a test fit:

F8EAFC1D-1E8E-4C13-8F63-EC3ADE2558A8

 

DC25F6AE-49CA-4FAE-99F1-600ED4105AEC

 

0CD61473-9D9F-447D-9BF3-78AB2CDB0386

 

3615A396-CF54-4E42-B38F-90596DBFB4CF

 

Then of course I had to try the upper hull parts in place:

7F7ECF45-F33C-46B6-B07B-D1D65EC4FE0D

 

0D9FACF0-4755-4D1D-AB1F-1CA4A356665A

 

96645636-7DC6-4A7A-9D04-20BE318DA295

 

At the moment everything seems to fit together well - we'll see what happens when glue gets introduced later on!

 

Comments and suggestions welcome.

 

Kind regards,

 

Stix

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Looking fantastic Stix,

Those extra-wide tracks make a difference to the amount of snow that gets 'attached' to the wheels, suspension, lower hull, underside of the fenders etc, so bear that in mind if you decide to add more. Certainly you could add compacted snow between the cleats where the snow gets compressed as the tank drives over it. However, unless your panzer has been driving through deep drifts of snow where the snow will fall from the sides of the rut and land inside the confines of the tracks, (top and bottom) don't go too overboard!

 

Rearguards,

Badder

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Looking very chilly and frostbitten Stix, excellent work. I really like the tracks, they give a big shot of character to the III.

Must have been a dreadful job to repair a track in those temperatures and conditions.

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What Badder said with regards to the snow on the tracks. Everything else is coming along just fine. I'm always in awe of what some people can achieve with a hairy stick. There used to be somebody who had articles published in Alan Hall's Airfix Magazine back in the early 70's, who could replicate feathered edge cammo on a Phantom in 1/72 scale as good as any airbrushed effort. Can't remember his name though.

 

John.

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One thought regarding the snow and stuff:

If the tank has been moved recently, there would be more snow at the rear than on the front of the tracks, as the shaking and all the touching of the return rollers would gradually reduce mud and snow as the track "moves back to the front". Just a thought.... <- I have read (can't remember where and how good of a source it was) that this "mud reduction effect" was also a reason why the drive sprockets of German tanks were mostly located in the front. Will see what some pros will say.

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On 02/12/2017 at 14:54, clive_t said:

Liking the snow effect on the tracks, Stix! Starting to come together very nicely now :thumbsup2:

Thank you very much Clive. I have been looking at lots of photos of these type of tracks with snow on but pretty much each one looks different! So I'm just trying to get a general appearance of not too heavy snow - I did quite a bit of work on the initial painting and weathering of the tracks so I don't want to loose all that effort completely!

 

On 02/12/2017 at 17:02, Badder said:

Looking fantastic Stix,

Those extra-wide tracks make a difference to the amount of snow that gets 'attached' to the wheels, suspension, lower hull, underside of the fenders etc, so bear that in mind if you decide to add more. Certainly you could add compacted snow between the cleats where the snow gets compressed as the tank drives over it. However, unless your panzer has been driving through deep drifts of snow where the snow will fall from the sides of the rut and land inside the confines of the tracks, (top and bottom) don't go too overboard!

Rearguards,

Badder

Thank you very Badder. Yeah - I'm finding it quite tricky to work out what looks correct. I don't want too little, but, as I mentioned to Clive, I don't want to lose all my original painting and weathering.

 

On 02/12/2017 at 18:24, Ozzy said:

Looking good Stix, having followed your wintery build. I think my entry in the Pz IV GB will be a wintry affair.

Thank you Ozzy and yes a winter Panzer IV sounds like a great idea! 

 

On 03/12/2017 at 07:49, Gremlin56 said:

Looking very chilly and frostbitten Stix, excellent work. I really like the tracks, they give a big shot of character to the III.

Must have been a dreadful job to repair a track in those temperatures and conditions.

Thank you very much Julian. These wider tracks do add an extra dimension to this Panzer III and I agree, working on these tanks in any way must have been awful in the conditions they faced.

 

On 03/12/2017 at 09:26, Bullbasket said:

What Badder said with regards to the snow on the tracks. Everything else is coming along just fine. I'm always in awe of what some people can achieve with a hairy stick. There used to be somebody who had articles published in Alan Hall's Airfix Magazine back in the early 70's, who could replicate feathered edge cammo on a Phantom in 1/72 scale as good as any airbrushed effort. Can't remember his name though.

John.

Hi John and thank you for your comments. There are some really talented brush painters out there who manage to make their painting look like it's been airbrushed. Amazing stuff. When I was trying to find some ideas for how to improve my painting I watched loads of videos on YouTube and was frequently amazed by their ability.

 

On 03/12/2017 at 11:31, Blaubar said:

One thought regarding the snow and stuff:

If the tank has been moved recently, there would be more snow at the rear than on the front of the tracks, as the shaking and all the touching of the return rollers would gradually reduce mud and snow as the track "moves back to the front". Just a thought.... <- I have read (can't remember where and how good of a source it was) that this "mud reduction effect" was also a reason why the drive sprockets of German tanks were mostly located in the front. Will see what some pros will say.

Thank you Blaubar and you make a good point. So yesterday afternoon I did start work on your suggestion by adding slightly more snow on the back end of the tracks. :thumbsup: No photos though as it was a bit too dark to get a decent photo.

 

Not much in the way of photos of yesterday's session. I began by gluing on the fenders:

5BE55042-E232-4544-B815-99CDA1715F0F

 

AF92A000-D91D-435C-BF64-8F40E5254201

 

6917CCDF-EA8C-4199-9414-E07BBB69CC1E

 

After these were set I began work on the initial weathering on the rear and front of the lower hull which actually took me longer than I was expecting. There are quite a few areas that I wanted to get sorted and weathered before the next set of pieces are glued in place. By the time I stopped doing the weathering effects the light wasn't really that good to show up what I had done.

 

Finally yesterday I decided to find all the other small kit parts (tools, lights, boxes, etc.) which I haven't even done anything with yet and cut them (still with some sprue in place) off the main runs so I can get some cleaning up done on them when I get the odd minute:

628B56D3-6313-4EB0-893D-90641CE94B69

 

 

Comments and suggestions welcome.

 

Kind regards,

 

Stix

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18 hours ago, FrancisGL said:

Even with a light not entirely to your liking, the result that is appreciated in the photos is very good (for me at least) ...:popcorn:

Cheers Stix :yes:

Hi Francis. I will try and get some photos taken of the weathering on the front and rear lower hull as soon as get chance.

Kind regards,

Stix

 

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On 07/12/2017 at 16:40, Mark Hoffmanly said:

Beautiful job with the tracks and snow!

 

Mark

Thank you very much Mark....most kind! :thumbsup:

 

I didn't get as much time on this over the weekend as I would have liked but I managed to get some stuff done:

First off I managed to clean up the seam lines, etc. during the week, on all the smaller parts I found and cut off the sprues (last photo above):

D58830CA-A3EC-41E4-9C3B-F72467627D2D

 

Then I got them painted - Revell Anthracite for a base coat on anything with bare metallic areas (right) and Revell's Panzer Grey for the rest (Left):

AC73163E-7E4E-4895-B46A-A738DC0CC4FA

 

Then any areas that are going to be bare metal later were given a dry-brushing with Humbrol's Gunmetal:

0AB07A8A-8F6D-4A42-96B0-B808FCC63F5C

 

There's a lot more work needed on all these smaller parts but at least I'm not leaving them right to the end!

 

This weekend I also decided to get the additional spaced armour that was mounted on the main gun mantlet added. This looked like this to start with:

 

5332EA19-CB73-4588-853F-D5500F5D8CC2

 

 

A test fit of the top and sides looked like this:

AA9BD993-2971-468F-BDD5-AE7EA60449E0

 

920DED71-79D8-4A9A-BA93-0AD5FB113271

 

From looking at the above it was obvious that the mantlet would still be visible inside the spaced armour so I decided to add a bit of weathering to the mantlet:

224FE722-05B5-4587-9FFB-BC870BBBA440

 

It is very subtle but at least it adds some interest - again it looks more noticeable in real life:

EF17017A-0885-49B8-B22A-D4905963DDA6

 

Upper, sides and lower sections glued in place:

52C31FA1-E0B6-4358-B57B-DB53337B51F3

 

And then the front on:

94E19CBA-379C-4095-B35E-3E9E90D92C17

 

05938BA3-EC80-478D-94F3-687B01C3FCE0

 

A quick test fitting on the upper hull section it will be mounted on:

B01D5315-FBB5-4C8D-ACB0-CFF0C3E5F355

 

....and of course on the lower hull:

AB4294C6-06BC-4139-AD41-8272A5E079CA

 

51613EBC-41A2-43AE-B140-B876F1261CA9

 

You can also see some of the base weathering I did on the upper hull sections (not the turret yet - that's next week).

 

Finally this week I got the exhaust units fitted:

13BD24F6-020E-4D65-A4DE-4315395428DA

plus I did a bit of weathering behind them.

0B412230-3655-4E84-BB81-065DB4371A40

 

But of course all that work on the exhaust units disappears behind the deflector unit!:

E6F3514C-DCCA-4228-8657-DBC2F158E53B

 

Ah well..........

 

More next weekend.

 

Comments and suggestions welcome.

 

Kind regards,

 

Stix

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On ‎11‎/‎12‎/‎2017 at 16:02, Bullbasket said:

Just got one suggestion Stix......keep doing exactly what you've been doing. It's coming on a treat.

John.

Hi John, thank you. 

 

On ‎11‎/‎12‎/‎2017 at 17:35, FrancisGL said:

I like everything a lot, but the accumulation of snow on the tracks is magnificent, and very real for my taste, just with Vallejo's product ?, I'll have to buy one as soon as I can ...:popcorn:

Cheers mate :yes:

Hi Francis - thank you and yes it's all just the Vallejo product. It does seem pretty good and so far it's been easy to use.

 

I did a bit more work on the tools this evening - got any wooden areas painted and started some basic weathering. Bit too dark for photos when I'd finished though.

 

Kind regards,

 

Stix

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On 13/12/2017 at 16:16, AgentG said:

Marvelous, simply marvelous. 

I love what you are doing here.

G

Hi G and thank you very much. I have to say I am really enjoying this build - I'm still a bit nervous about the whitewash but it's been a fun kit to build so far.

 

On 13/12/2017 at 21:23, Sairou said:

I love the rust effects on the lower hull, very subtle and realistic-looking.

Thank you very much Sairou, that's very kind of you. I'm doing these slightly heavier than I normally would do as I've still got to add whitewash, mud and snow effects to many areas.

 

On 15/12/2017 at 13:32, Gremlin56 said:

Really excellent job Stix, yet another masterclass :worthy::worthy::worthy:

You are way too kind Julian, but thank you.

 

18 hours ago, Hewy said:

Love the back end weathering, top drawer. 

Glynn 

Thank you very much Glynn.

 

Right this past weekend I've been putting off starting the whitewash stages by working on other elements of the build. One of the things I've been doing is painting and basically weathering the tools and other smaller parts that still need to be added. Part of the reason for doing this is avoiding risking the whitewash stages but also because I have found that painting and weathering these smaller bits can become a bit of a chore after getting all the major work done. Anyway this is what all the parts look like that still need to go together from the kit:

38402811454_91887f0d89_b.jpg

 

- this is everything bar one fender light which I managed to break off the sprue early on and it's currently safe in a ziplock bag.

 

Closer view of the smaller parts:

38402810754_916ac6fea3_b.jpg

 

Some views including some of the base weathering I have applied to the turret this weekend:

38402810074_72c80366e3_b.jpg

 

38402809424_b0092afee4_b.jpg

 

39081639092_16d17d624f_b.jpg

 

38402808924_822e94aeff_b.jpg

 

I also added some wires to the back of the smoke launchers before fitting them. I used lead wire to represent the cables:

39081638082_3d9c5a5c69_b.jpg

 

38402808324_4f3062de97_b.jpg

 

39081637202_a73b4cb89a_b.jpg

 

More next weekend. Comments and suggestions welcome.

 

I'm hoping the above photos work - EDIT: seems they do - Flickr has been having some issues lately - I used the BBCode for these which isn't as quick as the usual method but at least I can see the photos and hopefully you can?

 

Kind regards,

 

Stix

 

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