Building the 8 ton Sd.Kfz. 7 Mittlerer Zugkraftwagen variants (part 3)

Continuing on from Building the 8 ton Sd.Kfz. 7 Mittlerer Zugkraftwagen variants (part 2) 

 

With the difficult to access undersides of the vehicle now weathered, it was time to attach the running gear. The wheels have been weathered and the task of lining them all up went without incident. It is always a delicate mission getting all these overlapping and interleaved components to fit as they did before paint.  The wheel fit to the axles was a tad loose upon building, so a little paint from airbrushing on both has now made the fit nice and snug. As a result, I deliberately left the middle row pairs un-glued, so I had some wiggle room, and relied on attaching the inner and outer pairs to their axles instead.

As the sprockets were already attached to the chassis and designed not to rotate, the track runs must be threaded carefully over them. Due to the addition of paint they had to be gently pressed against the sprocket pads ensuring all the guide horns located snugly between the rollers.

 

The last task was to attach both track runs. I made sure the connection points were on the top of the runs to make handling easier. Scraping away the paint on the locating surface of the connecting link on each run and inserting an unpainted track pad was a simple task. A spot of rubber CA and a light squeeze with a pair of tweezers was all that was required to get a secure connection. The pad was then primed and painted. To blend them in completely the same acrylic 'rain wash' will be applied to both the pads in the next session.

The remaining front tyred wheel will stay off for now to aid handling as I have a fair bit of weathering still to do with oils and the front axle connection point is very shallow. Masking the connection between chassis and cargo frame was a worthwhile exercise and has meant the cargo bed has been repeatedly dry fitted.

 

 

 

A long winding road.

 

I’ve just got back in my man cave after a protracted absence, and I have been musing on why there are some projects, that don’t pan out as intended. I always plan to push myself and better my last creation, but on occasion many things can and do conspire against that happening. One such example is a shelf queen resurrection project, already some eight years gathering dust. Although to be fair, it was in fact thankfully sat in a box quite dust free, but the gathering bit sounds more appropriate😊 In February I had just finished a lightning quick build of the same vehicle by a different manufacturer and was lucky enough to get it published. This inspired me to pull this older build off the shelf and make it even better.

The kit in question is the Dragon kit #6562, their 2009 release of the 8 ton Sd.Kfz. 7 Mittlerer Zugkraftwagen. Nothing particularly new or exciting to many, but having just completed the Trumpeter version, which in my opinion is a far more challenging build, this kit is the only other one available in 1/35 scale. There were a few construction issues to remedy but as it was pretty much 99% built, I was happy to concentrate all my efforts on the paint job.

I primed and base coated ignoring the frankly puzzling kit box art (not sure what they were smoking that day!) and I was pleased with progress. I was having fun with the airbrush, hairspray chipping, and all the pleasure that comes with laying down a smooth basecoat and then creating fine chips and in-scale damage to the paintwork. Then I threw myself a curve ball!

My original intention was to copy the plain dark yellow with the addition of some operational scars. This would make for contrast from my recent Trumpeter kits but, whilst looking at reference material I stumbled across two images of an abandoned vehicle towing a Flak gun that stirred my creative juices. At this point I decided I would sack my original ‘tank on a plank’ idea and try and loosely replicate this actual vehicle, give it some context, and place it on a small base.   

I figured to keep the project spinning I would also utilise a ready built 3.7cm Flak gun it had been towing. Although it was difficult to determine from the images whether either vehicle had any camo applied, I kept with the idea of plain yellow for the HT but for some interest, I would add an Autumn camo scheme to the Flak gun and trailer. Looking at the timeline of the image this could have been possible, so that was airbrushed down without drama.

In hindsight my next move was a rash one, and it ultimately snowballed into a painful series of events that not only spoiled my fun but threatened to derail the whole project.  For some unfathomable reason, although I had already spent a considerable amount of time on both adding camo to the flak, and layering the dirty and faded dark yellow paint finish, chips an all, I decided to give both vehicles a coat of faded winter whitewash!

I had no experience of applying winter whitewash over a dark yellow base, but I am confident using hairspray and it would add another string to my bow. What could possibly go wrong. Overreaching my capabilities and ambition is what!, so it really shouldn't have been a surprise to me when things went pear shaped and results were not to my liking.  WTF was I thinking! 

I’m a perfectionist and I want every project to be the best it can be. I like praise, who doesn’t, it’s nice for your work to be appreciated and although there are many who say ‘f##k em, I don’t give a hoot what other folks say’, I’m not one of them! Constructive criticism and a perceived improvement are what drives me to become a better modeller. Should I push some boundaries? yes. Are my skills improving? I think so. Am I consistently building better models? I should be!  I’ve not been model making for a huge length of time, maybe a decade or so excluding my attempts as a junior, so where should I expect to be by now? Am I on the right road? It certainly doesn’t feel like it sometimes.

This quote I found on another modellers blog page sums up things perfectly for me and offers some great advice.

 

“Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.”

Unfortunately, I do myself no favours in having a narrow selection of subjects that I enjoy building. I should, but I don’t, build aircraft or boats or Sci-Fi and thus, effortlessly switching between subjects has never been a thing for me.  I know I should try because I know deep down it would make me a far more profficient modeller, but I simply have no desire to do so! Even amongst land based AFV’s I’ve never built many that you would consider mainstream. I’m interested in a particular period of one conflict and pretty much any vehicle, particularly soft skins, that appeared in it, could get my creative juices flowing, so I’m really not doing myself any favours in expanding my skill set.

So, back to my frustrating Dragon kit project. What have I learned? For one thing creating a plan and sticking to it from the outset is something I need to adopt. Deviating without a plan has not worked in this instance. Maybe a deadline date too like my last build 😊 Another is not to assume the next project will go as well as the one before. I simply don’t complete enough projects and I need to improve on that. It’s all a learning process and consistency can only ever be achieved with practice and this project is just that. Nothing more.

I still have a long way to go.

 

 

 

 

Building the 8 ton Sd.Kfz. 7 Mittlerer Zugkraftwagen variants (part 2)

Following on from the original build Building the 8 ton Sd.Kfz.7 Mittlerer Zugkraftwagen variants (part 1)

After a month away from the bench I've taken a fresh look at how the whitewash looks and although it didn't come out at all as I was intending, a step away has made all the difference. I’m now slowly working my way through areas of the cab that I feel still need improving and have started on a list of small things to do to prepare for all the sub-assemblies and tracks coming together.

As per the war time image, the driver’s side screen was missing. This was fortunate as the kit screen has the older style split opener on the driver’s side. It was little tricky to remove just the screen portion as both screen and frame come as one clear part plastic moulding. I cut out a square of material with a cutting disc from the centre and then carefully sanded outwards leaving an equal amount of material to replicate the surrounding frame. A small area of broken glass was left in one top corner. Three small pins were then added to the top of the frame. These were to hold the cab canopy in place.

Other small updates include, painting the rubber hose between the foil made retaining bands on the air cleaner hose and added some shadows to the engine rags. Improving the heated rust effects on the manifold and adding a shadow coat to the bench rag and rope and chipping back the base coat of both the gas mask and canteen lid. I've tidied up a nick down to plastic on the passenger side fender front near the headlight by adding some Lifecolour Base Coat Rust so replicate a fresh scratch and have cleaned up the paint on the cargo bay rags, tarps and accessories ready for highlights and shadows with oils. Finally, I have started mapping out the surface of the whitewash with Abtielung white oils. A pin wash with MIG Neutral Grey enamel has also been added to add a little definition around small details.

Weathering the tracks   Conscious the vehicle I was representing had not moved for some time, the tracks were made a little rustier and only given a light weathering. As I was using the kit’s plastic tracks, I decided to stay clear of Enamel products. There are plenty of alternatives these days and Uncle Nightshift has a fantastic, dedicated video on how to achieve excellent results with only acrylic products…. Well, almost exclusively  Whilst I didn’t have all the products that Martin uses, I did however have the most excellent Lifecolor rust set. As the rubber pads would obviously not rust, I had to pay particular attention to keeping them free of paint. This meant being a little more precise on the outer face rather than slapping it all over. Much like the video I added very diluted coats of the two lighter shades with a brush. I then speckling the same colours taking care to clean the pads after each pass. Once completely dry I just speckled the third rust shade and again had a brush moistened with tap water handy to clean up the rubber pad surface. Once happy with the rust tones I proceeded to add some dirt and dust build up. First with AK Groundwork paste to a few selected areas. Diluted with water it was kept well away from the moveable portions. Once dry I articulated every link to ensure none had been clogged with either the AK mud or indeed a build-up of acrylic paint. A wash of the two lightest shades in Lifecolor's acrylic rust set   Taking another tip from Martin’s video I concocted my own acrylic ‘rain wash’ mix using similar tones and washed down both track runs. The last step in the video is to speckle enamel rust wash but I choose to use two diluted mixes of both oil and an oil pigment mix instead. First up a diluted light earth oil wash followed by a speckling of Abtielung light rust oil and MIG pigment rubble dust. (A great mix for manifolds and dry dusty exhausts incidentally) My very last step was to treat the guide teeth to a rustier tone using Lifecolor acrylics.    Weathering the chassis Before the tracks and wheels could be attached a small application of dust and dirt was added to the visible portions of the chassis and the undersides of the cab metalwork. This was first carried out with airbrushed buff-coloured acrylics and then to add some texture with AK groundwork paste as used on the tracks. This was added in small amounts to simulate where dirt would have naturally accumulated.    The next step was to build up layers of dust and dust. This was applied with a brush over a cocktail stick, speckling mixes of both light and dark earth Abtielung oils with a tiny amount of rubble dust pigments added to a final round. A small application of speckled dark earth and black oils completed the effect.     The cargo bed with added oil washes and speckling.   Building up the layers of oils under the fenders and track guards. A mix of Abtielung light rust oil and MIG pigment rubble dust were also added to the exhaust, leaf springs, sprocket rollers and exposed ends of the front wheel spokes. The manifold was also given a light wash as I really liked the appearance of this mix once dry.   I know very little will be visible but it’s all good practice 😊 As the vehicle appeared to have been stationary for some time, I figured rainwater would have removed most exposed surface mud so all that is remaining once the oils have dried will be to add streaks to the vertical surfaces. Then it will be onto weathering the track wheels so I can get the running gear attached.

Building the 8 ton Sd.Kfz. 7 Mittlerer Zugkraftwagen variants (part 3)