Sd.Ah 57 ammo trailer
It is basic in many areas but it builds up well. Care is needed when removing the casting blocks as some of the parts are extremely thin. The roof on mine was seriously warped and although it was left in warm water and straightened it is still not perfect. The ammo boxes included in the kit are for the Flak 30/38 and not accurate for the Flak 43, so an aftermarket set will have to be sourced.
I was looking over wartime photographs and noticed a lot of these trailers had additional racks or boarded compartments bolted onto the roof. As the Wiener Modellbau version has the later curved roof I decided to add a jerry can rack to the front panel. Making sure positioning cleared any opening trailer hatches and would not interfere with the towing vehicle, I liberated the rack of a Bronco Sd.Ah 52 kit.
Painting
The trailer was then carefully washed to remove any resin release agent. I then gave it two light coats of Tamiya Red Oxide Fine Surface Primer followed by a couple of fine misted coats of hairspray. The base coat was made up using several mixes of Tamiya dark yellow 2 mixed 50/50 with H2O.
Graduating the colour from the darkest mix at the bottom, first up was a XF-64/XF-60 mix. Higher up the side of the trailer received an XF-60 mix, and the upper most sides were covered with just XF-88. Finally, the lightest XF88/X-2 mix was airbrushed from above to highlight the upper surfaces
Again I utilised a splatter airbrush stencil in the same way I had with the Sd.Kfz 7/2. Giving the surface a light misting of chipping fluid beforehand will always give you the option to tone down any areas that you feel might spoil the effect. Lastly, I highlighted raised details with Vallejo Buff and sand coloured Acrylics. I then added a blank licence place and divisional insignia decals. The last step was to airbrush a filter using a mix of X-24 and X-35 to harmonise the overall look
The next process involved giving the trailer a pin wash to pick out all the recessed details. I mixed up some Raw Umber and Dark wash Abt 502 oil paint mixed with white spirit. I always clean up any serious overspills on the lighter parts of the paintwork immediately with pure white spirit and then set it aside for 12hrs to let the oils dry a little. I find leaving it for this time makes blending any overspill into the paintwork an easier task and I never have to worry about blending the colours out too much. The easiest way I have found is to moisten a flat brush very lightly with white spirit, ensuring to wipe off all the access. You do not want the oil to wash out so using a dabbing motion I carefully feathered in the oil into the surrounding paintwork. This always gives a nice transition and contrast from the previous lighter highlighted raised detail. To compensate for any areas I still felt were too dark, I dry brushed in Buff coloured oil to further pick out detail I felt had been lost.
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To
weather the trailer further, I airbrushed a buff/flat earth mix of acrylics
over a coat of chipping fluid to the lower parts where dirt and mud
might accumulate. I then chipped off areas of the paint with a downward
streaking motion. The
tyres were hand painted with my favourite brush applied acrylic colour;
Vallejo dark rubber. A final weathering round was completed with a
combination of mud coloured acrylics and enamels.
Without finalising whether I would incorporate figures or just display it as abandoned vehicle I still figured plenty of crew gear and flak ammo would still be present, as much of it was stored externally.
I sourced my 3.7cm ammo boxes from various aftermarket companies with the best value option being Bronco's Sd.Ah 52 and Sd.Kfz.6 flak kit's. My understanding is the Flak 43 ammo came in both 6 and 8 round boxes so I guess a combination of both would have been used. The Bronco Sd.Kfz.6 kit also has a spare barrel and rangefinder with transport boxes, and although the barrels cannot be used the boxes themselves make great additions. Other items included jerry cans, beer crates and other personal crew equipment.
More work is yet required on the above gear to give a little bit of variation to the Dunkelgelb finish. Likewise the leather areas will receive some oil mapping.
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