Frank.W.

the completion of the shells took an afternoon. The bottoms of the shells was fitted with etched parts labeled with Sprgr AZ or Pzgr. Since it is different grenades, I've painted the cartridges also different. I do not know if this was so ..... evaluates it as artistic freedom. The explosive grenade got an iron-black color and a white tip. In recent days I have been busy with the ammo rack. These consist of a total of about 90 parts. I'd painted the parts black after the building of the racks (Metalcolor black). Then the parts were polished.....this gave a beautiful metallic luster. After drying, on each rack, a little water is applied and the part pressed into salt. Too much salt was removed carefully with a brush. After drying, the racks were painted white. Again to allow to dry. The salt has been removed with a hard brush. In this way I imitated damages of the color- Then the racks were fixed. After drying, some grenades were trapped in the racks, just to show the finished look. Here are the pictures:

The shells were separated from the sprues. At least 72 pieces ..... monotonous work soon. The water can inside was painted first in black, then dark yellow. Paint damage was made with Mr. Metal Color iron black, painted with a fine brush and then polished with another, broader brush. The fastening strap was made from a thin metal piece and glued. Overlapping side was provided with a buckle (rest of an edge part). The strap was painted in brown the buckle in metal color. Finally, a mild treatment with Mig pigments Europe Dust. Here the pictures: The shells were airbrushed with metal color gold once more and then polished. Because of this photo....... ........I'd painted the shells in this way

Then the anti-rust paint coating for the rear wall, the turret front and the cover of the engine compartment and some flaps, hoods and sheets was painted on the parts.

The rear plate was assembled and provided with Zimmerit (Magic sculp structured with a stamp) The same at the front of the turret. The covers of the exhaust pipes were provided with a metal casting structure. I created the structure with plastic glue, which I distributed on the surface, dabbed it with an old, hard brush to achieve the desired effect. The kit parts were too smooth.

Since the last publication I've done the following work: - All currently finished components were fixed. - The inside of the back wall was (2-part) glued into the hull. -the torsion bars were fixed. -The tracks (1 element with, 1 element without a guide tooth) were shortened. - Hoses to the hydraulic pump on the tank bottom and the bulkhead to the engine room were fixed with superglue. -The pigments have been reworked.

The cardan shaft, the turret drive, various hydraulic components and the inside of the rear wall have been assembled. Then the various components were painted first in black, then in stainless and last in red-brown . With a sponge scratches on the paintwork were imitated. This was done by dabbing of black and silver color. After that followed a treatment with pigments. Also, these modules had not been permanently installed.

The ventilation channels with flaps for the cooling air were glued together. One coat of anti-rust paint was applied. The parts were only put together without glueing. This gives an impression of the beautiful detailing of the engine compartment.

The rear tank was glued and hoses fixed with superglue. Then I tested the fit of the 3-piece engine cover. The engine cover is made of three panels. I glue these panels together. So I must not fix the cover and remove it any time. Unfortunately you can't see anything...but better than nothing.

Today I painted the modules I have assembled the last days. The modules are: -Fans and coolers -the petrol tanks -the transmission fluid tank -the batteries -rear petrol tank -the bottom plate on the batteries -the hoses First, the parts were airbrushed black. Then painted in Hobby Color anti-rust color (except radiator and batteries) After that partial airbrushed a mixture Hobby Color anti-rust and reddish brown in the ratio of 1 (rust) to 2 (reddish brown) Then I applied with a sponge black and silver to imitate paint damage. Especially the wings of the cooler fans and the and the edges of the petrol tanks. At last fans and coolers were treated intensive with color pigments Europe dust from Mig . I show the parts separately and then placed loosely, since the hoses have to be installed. Greetings from Reutlingen Frank (Lappes)

Now I "airbrushed" the grenades in gold. For this I used the color Mr. Metal Color color polished gold. I can not recommend this metal color highly enough ..... absolutely fine pigmented and a very realistic metallic luster. Then I built up the petrol tanks. Then came the story that caused me the most headaches - the "wedding" of chassis and the engine. Forewarned by various construction reports the torsion bars are not glued. After the torsion bars had been removed, I fixed the side walls of the engine compartment. After that it was surprisingly easy to fix the engine. The flywheel hadn't to be shortened in order to be slid over the torsion bars. The only problem - the connections do not fit to the respective openings of the side walls. But I will correct it after the drying of the parts. Here are the pictures: Greetings from Reutlingen Frank (lappes)

Thank you very much. It's time to continue. The following modules were fixed: -The gearbox -The driver's seat -Radio Operator seat -The bulkhead of the engine compartment As the bulkhead was fixed, hose connections were still glued. It has been proved that the torsion bars are not glued. (Since I have not followed the instructions, but to the experience of other reports) Then I built the radio and the dashboard. This consists of only 4 parts and it is too simple of the detailing. Since I build no cut model , I just "pimped" the parts a little. The radios normally hang in a frame, which is fixed at the top not at the gearbox. I added the rear vertical frame from the parts box. In addition, a small control panel beside the dashboard. Then I copied a photo of the instruments, scaled them on my PC, printed, cut out and glued onto the dashboard. The instruments were painted with gloss clear paint, to imitate a glas cover. You can use plastic of a blister packaging, if you want. Color treatment in white and german grey. Then I fixed a few wires, how I saw it on a photo on the internet. That should be enough, and looks more sophisticated than originally part of model. Now again different paint damages have been created throughout the interior with a sponge and black paint (do this with an almost dry sponge). I just pulled a piece of sponge and worked with tweezers and only a little bit color. Last still was a treatment of the interior space with pigments, especially of the bottom. The engine and the air filter have also been treated with pigments. The heat shields and exhaust pipes of the engine were treated with rust-colored pigments. Last but not least I put together more assemblies and put them temporarily into the interior: - Batteries - fighting compartment floor panel, battery cover -Water can -Transmission fluid container Only a small step forward, but very time consuming. Best regards Frank

I'm very pleased about your comment. Soon I will continue to report. Best regards Frank

Thank you very much for your comments. The poses of the figures are very good and this is the reason I've bought the kit. Unfortunately details are missing. It's an old kit from Tamiya and not comparable to the new kits. Best regards Frank

Meanwhile the Interior was treated again with a mixture of flat auburn and flat rust. With the airbrush I sprayed irregular this mixture on the edges and corners to receive a brindled appearance. Then followed a micro painting with dark iron (Hobbycolor). In addition a light rubbing with pigments. The torsion bars were painted in dark iron and after drying polished with a soft cloth. On the photos below, I have inserted the torsion bars to show the effect. In addition, the red mixture was applied cloudy outside the armourde hull. A Zimmerit coating was added at the not treated places. Now I have built a few assemblies and these were placed loosely in the model. I've covered the seats with candy wrappers as the seat cover was not enough structured. Also, the springs of the driver seat were bent of thin wire and fixed with superglue. Then the painting began. First everything with black. Then all "metal" parts unevenly with rust. Then with a mixture of Red Brown and rust also unevenly. The seat covers were painted in black, then washing in grey and drybrushing of the strained points with white. The radio was painted in German grey from Valejo. The framework and the dashboard in white. Details of the radio had to be painted.

Thank you very much. As I previously wrote: To reach the character of a cold day the background must be correct. You can´t use a wonderful green meadow as background for a winter dio: For example I've made a photo of my T34 in the garden, because the light was much better. The colors are good but the background gives not the impression of winter and a cold morning: Look here: Click for a bigger view: http://foto.arcor-online.net/palb/alben/71/7745071/6438326461343634.jpg Better is this photo. It shows an impression of a cold day. The viewer must feel the cold. I make my photos with a tripod and without flash. The background should not distract the viewer from the scene. click for a bigger view http://foto.arcor-on...06662383439.jpg

Now I've built the wheels and the bulkhead. Then I've continued the painting. Different places inside the armoured hull were sprickled with water and these were sprickled with salt. Then the engine and transmission were sprayed metal Color Dark Iron. This is an almost black iron color, you can polish it. This gives a super metallic effect. Then the inside was sprayed with Metallcolor rustred flat. This looks like anticorrosion paint. Now I sprayed with the airbrush flat rust onto the exhaust manifold and the heat shields of the motor. This was made with a fine airbrush nozzle with little color and close range. Then the track covers on the inside of the hull were sprayed white. Of course, after I had covered the interior. Similarly, the housing of the transmission. The engine bulkhead was first painted black, then some places sprickled with salt, then rust and at last white. Now the motor was painted chimney black. This was made very thin. Recently I brushed with a hard brush the salt of the components and the engine at the edges. This polished the metallic colour at the edges. It seems like drybrushing but the effect is a little glossy. The exterior of the tank I've painted in rust red. On the photos the parts were sticked together provisional.

Now I have put together 2 "kits" from the kit. These now waiting to be painted. Firstly, the gear box with the case , on the other the motor. Unfortunately you can't see anything from the gearbox after assembling. Otherwise, there's nothing wrong with the parts ... but see for yourself. Then I had added some cables and tubes. I'm quite unnerved, because these are made ​​of soft plastic and did not want to stick. With UHU Hart and for safety superglue it seems to be ok. In my opinion it looks good.

Now I've started the construction of the armoured hull. The armoured hull itself - 1 part. The inner flanks right and left - each 1 part 4 Shock absorbers - 4 parts. Front Interior panels with pedal and 2 bearings. The inner flanks and the front plate beautifully simulates the original diameter. The brake cover - 3 parts. Various small parts, 2 cable channels 7 cross and 2 longitudinal rakes. The very thin rakes - both transverse and longitudinal - should be fixed very carefully. These buckles very quickly and needs attention to fix correct. Here the images: Shock absorbers and brakes were only plugged and not attached So far, I have assembled the torsion bars and the swing arms, deburred and loosely placed in the armoured hull (for easier painting). Chassis works are always so longsome. The Interior was primed black and then the armoured hull was coated with Zimmerit. I used Apoxie sculpt, a modelling clay with extra hardener for the Zimmerit. This is applied "by hand" and smooth coated with the finger and water as possible and distributed. .... I think a not very simple business. Then I have "stamped" the structure with an "Zimmerit"stamp from Imerial Modellbau. The stamp had to be cleaned again and again!!! Here again a small update, to show the dimensions.

Thanks a lot.....then the purpose is achieved :-) I'm very pleased about your motivation. Now the report of the building of the second modul At first I wanted to start a new thread about the building of the second module. I've decided to continue this thread, not to loose the connection. The base of the 2nd module was completed before. Now I present the first kit. The Kit of the Kingtiger in 1/16 containes a lot of packages for many many parts. These packages were distributed on the base to prepare the assembly and to get an overview. At last the kit contains more than 1200 parts. As I said above in the construction - the base is 60 x 70 cm and well-stocked with single boxes.

I hope that it was not too stressful. This is a summary of the entire report with a description of my practices. There are certainly other ways .... all roads lead to Rome. The first report was written on 6.12.2009, the last on 28.3.2010. If anyone has any questions .... go ahead. I'm willing to answer anything about my options. Greetings Frank

Thanks a lot Would be nice if you would pursue my report furthermore. But I must warn you ... it is very very long. ATB :-) Frank

Thank you very much. In my opinion a forum is for the sharing of knowledge. I like to share and hope that many will benefit. I just want to benefit from the knowledge of others. It's a give and a take. I've already a question....what's the meaning of JAw dropping? Now the report: The last picture of the post before shows it – the right part beside the front door had to be completed. I created a support wall from little balsa wood bars. On this vertical slats for support were fixed. Then horizontal slats were glued as ladder rungs. With a screw tip again nail holes were punched and two crooked "nails"were added. The how to do was described in one of the posts before. This was painted with diluted oil paint burnt umber again and fixed to the Dio. With self hardened clay I moulded the ground. Before this was dried I pressed a root coated with adhesive in the soft clay. After hardening of the clay this was painted with Revell Aqua Color dark earth. Then everything was covered with fine sand. Then came the diluted casein glue. Natural grass was re-created with the pine needles and bristles from Noch. Various root fragments were glued. Then debris (Crushed flower pot) was spread with a teaspoon and fixed with diluted casein glue. Finally, a rope was moved as little detail behind the stump along to the figure of soldier. The rope is Graupner rigging thread and has a very nice scale structure. Except for the one or other little thing the first module of my great diorama should be completed now. One figure and the rats were added later.....but this in the report of the second module.

Thank you for the great honor to call my work as an example. Certainly my diorama is improving. Quite a lot I would do differently. Diorama building is a constant learning process ... so let yourself be discouraged and continue to post. I look forward to your next work. Greetings Frank

From the thin aluminum sheet from a candle of a teapot warmer I cut shoulder straps for guns, fixed it and then painted brown with oil paint. The soldiers were further treated with diluted oil paint burnt umber and dust heavily with pigments Europe Dust from Mig . They were then fixed in the final position on the Dio. In addition, I built from aluminium sheet an open tin can, which I also fixed on the floor next to the soldiers. It was tinkered as follows. The sheet was bent around a brush handle and glued together. On this, the underside of the tin can was glued and fitted after dryingwith a scissors. The cover had been cut out, and a small corner thereon allowed to fix it to the seam. After that treatment with matte clear coat. And here a complete sight of the diorama from different prospects:

Since the grass did not look so good, they were refined with khaki and brown and with some natural colored bristles. Then I added further details. Once a bucket that I have left from my RC Tiger and then I have tinkered an old broom. For this I cut a small boards out of a strip of wood and drilled in the bottom half of a lot of small holes (not pierce!). In the middle of the top half I drilled a hole and glued a skewer into it. After a short time of drying, I brushed the bottom side of the small plank with wood glue and pressed tufts of bristles into the glue. The whole was placed in the form, and then a few minutes to dry laid aside. After drying, the bristles were cut. The whole thing was treated with diluted oil paint burnt umber. Thereafter, the "old broom" glued to the Dio.