JeroenS Posted December 26, 2019 Share Posted December 26, 2019 One of my favourite pastimes as of late is browsing the Scalemates kit database, looking for 1/35 scale trucks. I have completed two, nearly finished another one which I'll post in the RFI in the next couple of days, and a while ago my eye fell on this bad boy. Why? Ha! Because it looks brutal, that's why. I mean look at it: It's a road tractor (that's what Strassenschlepper means, and I just like the sound of that word), produced from 1936 to 1945 and in use well into the '60's. It was used extensively throughout the Wehrmacht's branches in WWII but I like doing civilian versions, and I rather like the look of this one, so for now that's what I'm aiming for. Just look at that front, it's massive. It houses an 8.5 liter 6 cylinder engine so it needs a bit of space. Of course, I've already started work on this one, and I've completed said engine. Even in 1/35 scale it's quite big! The engine is comprised of only a few parts, most of it is molded on detail but it looks serious enough. I will paint and weather it to some extent but it will not be visible in the end. The kit has no option for an opened bonnet and I will not be making it myself. So, about this kit. It's my first Takom kit, I have another Takom kit in the stash but that one is 1/72 scale. I'm comparing this one to the MiniArt kit I recently completed but I probably shouldn't. It's a completely different kind of kit. The moldings are great, no flash at all and everything fits very well. I think the kit can be called "sturdy" which fits the truck itself perfectly. The plastic is tough, it took me almost half an hour to go round the engine halves and sand away the joins. Where MiniArt's parts are "scale correct" to the extreme, the parts of this kit are indeed sturdy and make for easy handling and building. For instance, this is part of the chassis. The horizontal parts (flangs?) of the beam "weigh in" at 1.2 millimeter, which would translate to 4.2 centimeter of solid steel in real life which seems just a bit much. But it's fine, as I said the parts fit very well and so far the building goes like clockwork. I have skipped ahead and added parts to the engine which should be attached at later, seemingly random, stages. I just like "my" engine to be complete before I start painting. Someone on this forum said "I'm better at painting after glueing than the other way around" and I heartily concur with that 🙂 More later! 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy J Posted December 26, 2019 Share Posted December 26, 2019 I will be following along as usual this should be very interesting. Much prefer the civilian version as most people build the military one good to be different 👍 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamden Posted December 26, 2019 Share Posted December 26, 2019 I'll follow along as well if you don't mind? I do like military vehicles in civillian clothes so much scope for modifications/add-ons etc: Roger 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cooper645 Posted December 28, 2019 Share Posted December 28, 2019 Good to see that this is the one that made the cut for next build. I’ll watch with interest 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeroenS Posted December 30, 2019 Author Share Posted December 30, 2019 Finishing the KHD has given me time to return to the Hanomag. I'm busy making sub-assemblies, I always like to build stuff and it gives a sense of progress as well. Plus I haven't yet figured out to what state I need to build the chassis before I start painting. The trouble is that the engine needs to be painted before the chassis can be put together. The engine is mounted low, between the two beams so it has to be locked in so to speak. Now that I'm writing this I'm thinking "maybe I can cut into the beams to be able to mount the engine later, from the top". That would mean I can finish the chassis and mount the engine later. I'll start looking into that right away. Anyway, I already put together the rear "deck", a tank and storage unit: Assembled like this (dry fitted for now of course): Part of the interior: The sides are made like this: The doors themselves have inner and outer parts: Which makes for a pretty realistic looking door Downside: all the detail is molded on, even the outer door handle. The latter would have been nice as a separate part. But the side looks pretty good completed: I think it's possible to have open doors, so I'll try that for the driver's side. More later! 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeroenS Posted December 30, 2019 Author Share Posted December 30, 2019 Loads of progress made today. I started on the chassis in earnest after I decided to mount the engine at a later stage. I discovered that as long as I don't install the front axle the chassis is flexible enough to allow the engine to pass through. Problem solved. I think I have the chassis about ready for paint. The "whisker" on the left side of the truck is broken deliberately by the way. Apart from that I also have a nicely filled "ready box". The steering is workable, that's a nice touch. A tentative dry fit... In the gap between the back of the cab and the fuel tank the spare wheel will be mounted. I'm calling it a night, thanks for watching! 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeroenS Posted December 31, 2019 Author Share Posted December 31, 2019 Well, and that is when I ran out of parts to take off the sprues... just some minor stuff left, mirrors and such. This kit sure does make for an enjoyable build. I thought I'd show you the breakdown before I start painting. That is one massive engine, and it's not just the angle on the photo. I have decided against leaving the driver's side doors open, there's not much to show inside and also, for me, it ruins the shape of the cab which I like very much. So doors closed it is. Now I'm going to have a long hard think about the paintwork! 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cooper645 Posted January 1, 2020 Share Posted January 1, 2020 Looks like something you could hit rod in the last couple of pictures. Looking forward to seeing it in colour. Happy new year. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeroenS Posted January 1, 2020 Author Share Posted January 1, 2020 Happy new year with lots of paint and glue! 8 hours ago, Cooper645 said: Looks like something you could hit rod in the last couple of pictures. It does look like a hot rod doesn't it? I like the picture taken from the top, where you can see the wedge shape of the bonnet continue into the cab. It's a good looking piece of equipment. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeroenS Posted January 1, 2020 Author Share Posted January 1, 2020 I thought I'd make a good start of 2020 by fashioning some proper outer door handles. I put a fresh blade in the knife and very carefully started cutting off the molded on handles. And it went a lot better than I expected. Worst case was having to scratchbuild new handles, but I got best case, which is four useable handles. I drilled holes in the doors for a piece of rod and after that they only needed a little bit of sanding and they were in good shape. A promising start so to speak. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeroenS Posted January 3, 2020 Author Share Posted January 3, 2020 So, painting is underway. To begin with I basecoated all "outside" parts in flat brown. It's a nice base colour for spots where the paint has chipped. In the first post you can see that my intention was to paint a dark yellow. I had selected Vallejo's Golden Brown for this, a pretty much exact match. But... yellow paint, hm... What I was a little bit afraid of beforehand indeed happened. When brush painting you need thin paint, otherwise brush strokes will show. I started painting the inside of the doors which were still light grey, I wanted to use body colour on the interior as well. However, there is not all that much pigment in yellow paint so I found I needed 10 plus coats to cover the light grey. I mean, I don't mind painting but at that rate I'd still be painting by Christmas 2020. I'd probably need even more coats for the outside. A change of colour was required, I needed something with better coverage. I decided to go green, something like this: To my eye, it's sort of greyish green, and I wanted something along this line, starting with the interior which I wanted to paint a little bit lighter than this. Some mixing followed, until I had a shade of green I was quite happy with. It's 2 parts Medium Olive, 1 part Olive Camo, 1 part Medium Brown Camo, 1 part Orange Brown and 1 part Light Grey. Heaven knows how I came up with it but I rather like it. For the exterior I'll go darker and increase the Olive Camo, I think that should work. Anyway, enough of the rambling. The interior is done, I glued in the front seat (bench) and the doors after painting and I can now paint the outside of the cab, along with everything else. I will keep the black mudguards of the first reference truck by the way, and I think I'll go for a lightened German Grey roof. We'll see. The interior (Medium Brown seats) All I've done so far is dry-brush the seats with a little Off White and Green Ochre, and Gun Metal on the interior itself. I think it's fine, it will never be seen again in any detail so let's no bother too much. More tomorrow! 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cooper645 Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 Those seats look excellent. Nice colour choice too. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bengalensis Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 Good work! Those seats are looking great and would not be a shame even in an open car. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeroenS Posted January 4, 2020 Author Share Posted January 4, 2020 Some more paint. I decided to paint the engine and the chassis (still to do) in the same lighter colour as the interior. Plausible scenario for a truck rebuild / restoration for a new purpose: take everything off the chassis except the engine and spraypaint the lot. Then put everything back on. Something like that. I've painted the mudguards and the engine. The other parts are tanks and toolbox / storage, these are painted in the darker colour for the cab. I added more Olive Camo and a touch of black into the mix. The lighting and focus are terrible but you can see the difference in colour between the tank and the engine in the background. The "splotches" on the fuel tank are Vallejo Liquid mask, applied with a cocktail stick. It will rub off easily when the paint is dry. Creating an effect like this, on the roof which was painted in German Grey spiked with Light Grey. Thanks for looking in. 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spiny Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 Somehow I've missed this one up to now, but it's shaping up very nicely in no time at all. No wonder you got 7 kits done in 2019! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeroenS Posted January 4, 2020 Author Share Posted January 4, 2020 12 minutes ago, Spiny said: Somehow I've missed this one up to now, but it's shaping up very nicely in no time at all. No wonder you got 7 kits done in 2019! Ha! I should start building aircraft, it seems like you can do more than 20 of those in a year 🙂 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan R Posted January 5, 2020 Share Posted January 5, 2020 Nah! I have about seven or eight aircraft models part-built. The best I have managed is about two a year! Cheers, Alan. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeroenS Posted January 5, 2020 Author Share Posted January 5, 2020 2 hours ago, Alan R said: Nah! I have about seven or eight aircraft models part-built. The best I have managed is about two a year! Cheers, Alan. That's because you have so much other stuff going on as well Alan 🙂 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeroenS Posted January 5, 2020 Author Share Posted January 5, 2020 Basic painting is done, except for the chassis. I'm pretty happy with it. This is a dry fit: I'm having second thoughts about painting the chassis in the lighter colour. I wanted to do that because I didn't want everything to be the same colour. However, looking at this, I think the green is already offset by the grey roof and the black mudguards. The running boards and the front bumper will also be black. So I think I'll go for a uniform green colour on the exterior parts. The chassis will have more dirt and such so its colour will be a tad different anyway. Work starts again tomorrow, I've been off for the past two weeks which was great. I could get used to modelling on a daily basis... ah well, only 20 years to go until retirement 🙂 More later! 8 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy J Posted January 5, 2020 Share Posted January 5, 2020 Looking good Jeroen I agree with the chassis colour will bring it all together nicely 👍 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cooper645 Posted January 5, 2020 Share Posted January 5, 2020 Quick question, do you varnish/seal before using the liquid mask or just apply straight onto the acrylic paint? That is a cracking colour choice, work does seem to get in the way of modelling, but it also affords the ability to fund said hobby 🤷🏽♂️ If I opened a model shop I wonder how I would spend my days? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cooper645 Posted January 5, 2020 Share Posted January 5, 2020 Quick question, do you varnish/seal before using the liquid mask or just apply straight onto the acrylic paint? That is a cracking colour choice, work does seem to get in the way of modelling, but it also affords the ability to fund said hobby 🤷🏽♂️ If I opened a model shop I wonder how I would spend my days? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeroenS Posted January 5, 2020 Author Share Posted January 5, 2020 5 minutes ago, Cooper645 said: Quick question, do you varnish/seal before using the liquid mask or just apply straight onto the acrylic paint? Straight onto the paint, it's very non-destructive 🙂 7 minutes ago, Cooper645 said: That is a cracking colour choice, work does seem to get in the way of modelling, but it also affords the ability to fund said hobby 🤷🏽♂️ True! 7 minutes ago, Cooper645 said: If I opened a model shop I wonder how I would spend my days? Not modelling, probably 😉 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeroenS Posted January 6, 2020 Author Share Posted January 6, 2020 Small update, basically the same picture as yesterday, but now in full paint. I think it works out very well so I can now move on to assembly and weathering. The tyres will need some work, they are very black and shiny. They are nicely molded though, almost without any seams. Very firm too. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cooper645 Posted January 7, 2020 Share Posted January 7, 2020 That’s looking great, your work rate is inspiring. Thanks for the info on the masking, good info to keep in the map pocket 👍🏼 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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