Model Mate

Very nice looking Zimm… looks like you nailed it. It’s not something I’ve tried myself, but I sympathise with your milliput and green stuff woes. One of them is too sticky and the other not sticky enough, but I’ve found that if you mix them together (50/50) they hit the Goldilocks zone very well.

Great stuff… dad and lad time - hurrah! I got into modelling about that age, and had great fun with my kids when they hit 9 or 10 and joined me for some modelling. I’m sure you’ll make a great teacher and look forward to seeing the results of your joint effort!

Very nice work Paul; great weathering. Maybe the driver’s a bit concerned about just how much he managed to fit in the back and the effect it might have on the efficiency of the brakes and suspension!

Another great result Maddox - excellent figures, great vehicle and very tidy diorama. I’m with you on Hobbyboss; I really like their stuff too.

I had a bit of a detour to the external parts and while cleaning up the exhaust, thought I could improve the flexible section located on the rear of the vehicle, by cutting out the centre section and replacing it with a short piece of plastic rod wrapped in thin lead wire. That’s it for the exterior for now, so back to the inside. I’ve really gone to town on the internal bits, with repeated rounds of masking, hairspray, chipping, grey brush-chipping, drybrushing, gloss coat and oil washes. I’m pretty pleased with the results, but there really won’t be much visible in the end. Seat and heater: Radiator & fan and transmission: And the various hatches: Here’s the engine at some point through the process, before final oil washes and the addition of a handful of wires and pipes from copper and lead wire. And here’s the empty interior: Finally, here’s the various bits installed…. It’s all a bit shiny, so it’ll get a squirt of matt varnish, although I’ll try to retain a bit of metallic sheen.

That’s an excellent tiny tiger! It’s got that “real steel feel” for sure.

Really lovely! I know it's big, but the detail you've added is magnificent. I particularly like the canvas seats - they look utterly realistic.

ooh - nice wibbly-wobbly camo. This should be good...!

It’s been ages since I updated any of my WIPs or even done much in the way of modelling – a bit of a mojo downturn I’m afraid. I’ve blown the dust of the old airbrush though and finally moved this one on a bit. First though, there are a few holes visible on the sides of the lower hull where a handful of internal fixtures are attached. Sprue goo as usual was used to fill these, using scraped flakes of the sprue that came with the kit, mashed into place with lashings of TET. Once dry, it was all scraped/sanded back of course. The gun got fixed together as well, although I’ve left the shield off for painting. It all went together fine, although there are some really tiny and delicate details - though there aren't many of these on show in these pics..... I painted the control panel and made up the dial backing plate. After a bit of oil washing and drybrushing it was fitted together with clear glue which was also dripped into the dials. I’d already cut out the engine access hatch and separated the external louvre, so I knocked up a new door with a scratchbuilt interior louvre. It’s a little strange that a number of hatches are moulded separately, but not the main engine hatch. Oh well, the transmission hatch got its fixing bolts drilled out and I added corresponding holes in the frame. And finally a bit of painting. I’d already brush painted much of the interior with a mix of enamel rusty brown and rub-n-buff. On reflection, it doesn’t offer much of a metallic sheen and is really too light, but following washes should darken it down. I masked up the parts that would I don’t want to be interior green. I mixed up a couple of different Tamiya green shades, and after a couple of coats of cheap hairspray they were squirted on using water to thin, and I broke out the scrubbing brushes. Once this is fully dry, I’ll mask the floor off, repeat hairspray and spray the walls white.

Absolutely stunning - everything is at the same, super-high level; figures, basework and of course the tank. Brilliant.

Fabulous camo and a really great job all round on what is a very vintage kit.

Nice simple arrangement, and the subtle undulations you’ve built in stop it being flat and boring. Great diorama work and superb figure to match up with a really nice truck. Great work all round.

looking good! Don't forget to tie it down securely.....

“Ooh, ooh, mr Peevley…!” I know what you mean, but I don’t know why! Great build, but it’s a shame all that inside detail is hidden.

Frightened? Is it a full-interior version? 🤭

Very nice scratch work! Should look great when you’re done.

I’m liking this very much - it’s one I’m considering for my next scratchbuild, albeit 1/16 as it’s such a tiny tank. Very nice work so far - that suspension looks incredibly fiddly.

Absolutely brilliant - superb model making and figure work. And to add to that, greatdiorama with a real sense of drama.

The Panzer looks great! How about something to add a splash of contrasting colour in the background as well as a bit of height?

welcome to the world of tiddly tanks! Great work so far.

Thanks to a slow work week, and recovery from recent foot surgery that leaves me unable to travel into work anyway, I’ve had quite a bit of time to enjoy this one, and progress is racing on. This lovely kit does have a few shortcomings despite generally great fit and detail. Firstly the cabling, or rather lack thereof. I know this isn’t an issue limited to this particular kit, but now that tiny, detailed interior components are regularly included in kits, I wonder why manufacturers don’t pay more attention to piping, wiring and cabling? A little bundle of wires or at least pre-formed holes in parts and some instruction as to the where wiring should go wouldn’t be amiss? I’d already scraped off the moulded cable detail on the tub sides, and so set about replacing this with black-coated copper wire, guitar string and a few bits and bobs of plastic. I’ve also drilled a few 0.5mm holes in various parts of the engine (or rather starter motor, alternator etc.) ready for some wiring and made a tiny distributor cap with its associated HT leads ready to go on once the engine is painted. I’ve also replaced the oversized bolt heads with smaller versions cut from hex rod. I glued in place the various control rods, fuel tanks and raised floor into the tub. I left off the handles and footpedals that poke up from these though, to avoid inevitable damage. In one rare example, HobbyBoss have decided to supply one part where eight would do and moulded one of the pedals already fixed to its control rod, so in an unusual modelling reversal I decided to cut it off and actually increase the parts count, drilling a 0.5mm hole in the separated rod and pedal to allow a bit of strengthening wire to be included when I fix it back together later. I also glued the bottom half of the front differential and the drive axle in place, together with a small shelf. I’m not sure what this shelf is for – batteries maybe? I’m guessing that the kit was based on museum survivors that also have nothing on this shelf and it could well be that batteries have been removed in museums I guess. Not sure really – if anyone out there has any idea what this shelf is for, I’d be keen to hear. I applied a coat of my “base metal” coat, including to the differential upper casing, still on the sprue. Talking of on-the-sprue, the (canvas) seat looks a bit flat, so I scraped some folds and creases into the seat and back and before blowing off the dust and scarf, sploshed a load of Tamiya extra thin all over them, working it in with the brush to do a bit of in-situ sprue goo sculpting. Looks a right mess here, but I think it’ll be fine. Sticking to the sprues, I noticed another slight shortcoming. As with the cabling, there’s nothing supplied for the control panel other than the (nicely moulded and accurate) plastic panel itself – decals wouldn’t go amiss really. I marked the centre of each dial with a pin, and then drilled 0.5mm holes. These got enlarged to 0.7mm and finally drilled all the way through, with 0.8mm for the smaller ones and 1.5mm for the bigger dials. I’ll thin the back of the panel and fit a backing sheet with decals on later. Time for a bit of work on suspension, wheels, tracks etc. – I’ve been having far too much fun on the interior. And here’s my third gripe – this one isn’t so much a wish-list item, but an issue with the basic kit engineering. As is often the case, the suspension units are one of those modelling tasks where you really need five hands (or a jig) as they’re made up (based on the 1:1 source I guess) of a load of fiddly parts. I got the basic components together ok, except for some ridiculous PE parts. The instructions have you bend and fold some ludicrous PE shapes to fit between the front and rear mounting plates. There are no convenient folding lines on the parts, and I really can’t see how anyone would achieve these. I gave it my best shot, but it they were awful. I don’t see why the parts couldn’t have been moulded with these closing plates in place to be honest. Oh well, plasticard to the rescue.

excellent chipped finish - particularly given that it's brush painted. Very nice

we often trot out the old "great weathering" line, but this one really ups the ante - amazing work. I love the scattered leaf litter.

I’m currently fiddling around with a few projects at the same time – not like me, but it’s all in the name of procrastination regarding my 1/16 Italian tank crew which I’m STILL putting off. I’ve got an ancient SMER Alfa Romeo Racing car underway over in the vehicle section, and as a foil to that very old and basic kit, I thought I’d make a start on another birthday pressie – this one a HobbyBoss Beutepanzer oddity from my girlfriend. It’s a beauty – fantastic interior detail, crisp mouldings, a good PE fret and nice, hard plastic. My recent armour builds have all been vintage Tamiya; great kits, but not up to the level of detail included in a lot of more current offerings and I’d forgotten just how good many newer products are. That said, the cover art is a travesty, and doesn’t look much like the actual vehicle at all. As with the Alfa Romeo, I made a start with the engine. Both kits seem to devote around half their parts count to the engine, but where the Alfa engine comprises 12 parts, this one is at least 50! Actually, before I did tuck into this miniature feast, I concluded that it would be a crying shame to end up hiding it all, so I plan to have as many hatches open as possible. There are a few provided as separate hatches, but not the main engine cover, so the first job was to carefully cut it out, taking care to save the upper moulded louvre for later. The inside louvre was unsalvageable unfortunately, so there’ll be a bit of scratchbuilding to come for that. I found some good interior photos of the parent Renault R35 online and as a result added a line of bolt heads and strip to the internal “shelves”, whilst shaving off the moulded cables/wires etc. I should really have done this before fixing the tub together, but it wasn’t too tricky with a curved No. 10 blade. On reflection, the bolt heads are too big, so I’ll shave them off and redo with smaller versions. I’m not too sure about interior colours – the instructions indicate that the interior should mostly be Panzer grey, but whilst It’s sort-of open topped, there wouldn’t be much to see from outside, and I can’t see the German army bothering to repaint everything inside, though I could be wrong of course. Either way, I’m happy to go with the rather more colourful interior scheme that the original French tank carried. I glued together the gear lever and drive shaft construction and added a sprue “foot” that should be hidden to support it – I’m not confident that the PE legs will stand up to it otherwise. I annealed them to assist in bending and they’re pretty floppy as a result. Putting the engine together was great fun; good fit and amazing detail – it even comes with individual spark plugs, and this is a little engine; no V12 Tiger beast here, but more like a Renault 5 4 pot. I left a couple of parts off for now until the painting is done, but it’s mostly there. I painted the engine and other sub-assemblies with a highly thinned mix of Revell red-brown and silver rub’n buff. It’s a bit light for slightly corroded steel, but the subsequent oil washes etc. will darken it down and it’s only the lowest of undercoats – the engine will be painted green/black/steel and so on over a hairspray coat, so only a few glimpses of this base colour will eventually be visible.

I’ve been able to get a bit of progress to report on this one. First the wheels – I bought some reasonably thick fishing line, and had a crack at spinning the wheels again. I first had to redo the hub though. I had made it with just a centre barrier to separate the upper and lower runs of wire, but each of them (particularly the lower ones) simply fell off the end of the hub, so I needed to add top and bottom restraints/shields to keep the wires in place. This was fiddly to start with – a 3mm long tube with three plasticard grommets on to form two recessed grooves was a challenge, but nothing compared to actually wiring the thing. I followed a really good video I found online, but even so, it was just completely baffling. I don’t quite know how I got it to work, but after much head-shaking and fruity language, I finally got there. I’m really pleased with this but am not looking forward to doing another three! To put off that task, I put a bit of effort into the rest of the kit. The engine really isn’t too bad – certainly better than the rest, and accounts for around half of the parts, with about 12 components. I glued it all together and added a supercharger air inlet from a bit of squashed tube that looks roughly like the photos I found of the real thing. It looks a bit of a shapeless blob, but so does the real one. It needed a bit of sanding into shape and the cowl needed thinning a bit to allow it to fit, but it seems ok now. I also added a bit of wiring in 0.2mm silver wire and then painted it using model-air steel + light grey as a slightly oxidised aluminium, neat steel elsewhere, a bit of black and some Molotow liquid chrome for the shiny bits. Not amazing, but looks ok I think. The radiator got a similar paint-job and I added a couple of pipes and wires to the engine bulkhead before fixing the main body parts together. The dashboard/bulkhead got a coat of steel, and I highlighted the bezels with liquid chrome. I tried adding the decals, but they fell into dust as soon as I looked at them, so I punched out a set of thin plastic circles and painted them black. I’ll scratch some markings onto them with a pin and drop them in place with a blob of clear glue later. The upper and lower body join is appalling, so needed quite a bit of sprue-goo and sanding. I checked that the engine and control panel/bulkhead could be fitted after the two body halves are mated, so I’ll fit them after all the sanding is done. That left a bit of interior painting (which I should really have done before I glued it together) all done by poking a paintbrush into the openings. Very rough and ready, but good enough for this model and my aspirations. The sanding took its toll on the already indistinct fuel caps and panels, so I glued some thin plasticard on to replace them.