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For this project I originaly envisaged a fairly new, lightly weathered vehicle. Having been hastily despatched to a new bridgehead, I planned to have it sat on a heavy duty SSys rail car awaiting disembarkment. No camo had yet to be applied yet there had been light damage to both track guards and the tools stowage box. To get this project finished I now aim to build this as a stand alone vehicle with maybe a few figures.
Continuing on from the build in Chapter 1 way back in 2020, it has since been primed with Tamiya’s rattle can red oxide fine surfacer. It's a perfect foundation for German armour, especially if you fancy employing the hairspray technique.
Here we have Dragon's 2011 Wirbelwind kit #6342. This features an Ausf G early hull without zimmerit.
Skipping ahead of fitting the few engine components, I mulled over how best to approach adding the hull zimmerit. The kit separately moulded side armour plates first require fixing to the hull tub sides. Spacing is dictated by some very chunky holes and they fit precisely, butting up perfectly to the rear plate.
Test fitting the ATAK zimmerit sheets against these side plates found that they also attach to the side profile of the armoured front plate. This front plate is not added for a few more steps in the instructions and is first to be attached to the top plate moulding. I didn't really want to add too many smaller parts before having to handle the model, so, ideally I needed to first add the armoured plate to the hull tub. Checking that fixing it to the hull tub instead would not disturb the build sequencing, or impede any other parts placement, I found it is possible. But only if the lower glacis plate is fixed in place at the same time. Two glacis plate options are offered. One with moulded on front track guards and one without, so you can add the PE track guards with the option of folding them back or adding damage etc.
As I was going to represent a vehicle with zimmerit applied to the front armoured plate, glacis, and bow plate, I could now attach all these parts and the zimmerit sheets at the same time. The hull side zimmerit sheets have a myriad of small square witness holes to open up to fit around moulded on track guard mounting studs and cable fixings. Once these are opened up with a sharp blade the zimmerit fits really well. Likewise, both front and rear sheets also mated up nicely. There is the inevitable small amount of tidy up to do where the sheets meet, but overall I'm happy with the way it's looking.
The first few steps build up the running gear. The lower hull tub is a one-piece affair to which you first add the front tow hook extensions, torsion bars, wheels, and rear plate. To take advantage of the adjustable torsion bar engineering you simply guide them through the hull and fix them into the curved grooved slots into small fixings on the opposite side. This system allows the torsion bar axle ends to then compress and rebound as they would do on the real vehicle.
With the 80th D-Day anniversary just around the corner and just the one decade on since I purchased this, I have finaly got round to popping the lid!
What can I say about this kit? Well after 19 years since its
release it still looks to be the gold standard for Tiger I kits. Tiger
guru David Byrden had a hand with technical advice with this one and his
website https://tiger1.info/
is invaluable to anybody who likes to model these big cats. He even has
a page dedicated to pointing out both errors and fixes for pretty much
every Tiger 1 released to date,
Scrolling down on his webpage to this particular Dragon kit 6253 there are still a few small issues to address. No real cause for concern, just a few
little anamolies that David points out and advises how to solve. Looking at all the big box Takom builds on his site, I notice even these current releases still have there issues. Some of which were not present on
this kit 19 years ago 
The one big bonus they have over this Dragon kit, and one that the current crop
of Tiger I late kits over the last decade have adopted, is the inclusion
of moulded on zimmerit. Although some folks still prefer to make there
own or use resin sets, I think the majority of modellers welcome this.
Whilst waiting for scenic supplies for the diorama base, it was time to start work on the towed vehicle. In this case a Flak 36/37. This was taken from the recently released Tamiya/ICM Renault AHN combo kit. As the Sd.Ah 52 trailer wheels had been removed in the image I used a set of 3D resin brake drums from a Sd.Ah56/57 trailer. To replicate the hub and wheel studs I sanded the rear of a pair of outer Sd.Kfz 251 wheels until just the central hub remained. These were then added to the 3D drums and fixed to the trailer axles. Looking at the image the trailer also had a few grab handles that were not present on the kit, so these were made up from copper wire.
It was time to test fit the painted accessories onto both the load area and cab ready for final fixing. I suspect a few items will still have to be removed or placement tweaked but I'm nearly there. Less is more and all that! The green stuff sculpted tarps were made almost 10 years ago and are very crude in places. As some are fixed in place, they will require a little more work to make them look like convincing tarps, blankets, and clothing. I might have to resort to placing some extra material over certain areas to disguise some overscale edges etc.
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With the underside 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 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 surfaces 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 just fixing the inner and outer pairs to their axles instead.
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.
Decals
Now the Alliance Model Works instrument decals had finally arrived it was time to get back to work on the 8-ton. As well as the instrument decals the Wehrmacht licence plates were also added. These were made up from the individually numbered kit decals. A weight stencil included on the kit decal sheet was also added to the driver’s side of the cab. They were all sealed with an airbrushed coat of VMS satin varnish.
Over the last few years, I have started to base more and more projects on period images of vehicles. With such a wealth of online material it is often possible to find multiple images which makes the task of replicating them accurately a real possibility.
The engine details and visible portions of the exhaust were brush painted with Vallejo acrylics.
Hairspray chipping
I have always found the best results can be obtained using acrylic paints mixed with water, but with a slightly different approach it can also be effective using lacquers. For this build I wasn't looking for a heavy chipped paint finish but rather tired looking paint with a worn patina, showing fine scratches and chips added to edges and damaged areas of bodywork. This I attempted by adding three layers of slightly different base coloured tones.
This effect works best by adding hairspray in-between light layers of paint. It then becomes a process of distressing each layer before adding the next. The proceeding paint layer will soften the chipped effect in the previous layer so adding the heaviest chips into the first layer work best. You can then fine-tune the process along the way. The last coat is always the lightest so as not to diminish the effects gained in the previous two layers.
Before I committed to priming the model, some more paraphernalia including tarps were added to the cargo and cab areas. The cab bench received some crew gear along with some rope and a canteen lid. The engine bay also received some rags and cloths to give the impression the engine had been worked on before it was abandoned.
Primer coat.
The whole model received an airbrushed coat of Mr Surfacer 1500 black. Any imperfections were dealt with and then it was time to decide on a base coat. Unlike the strangely coloured box art all these late war vehicles would have left the factory in plain Dark yellow (Dunkelgelb). Any camouflage would then have been applied in the field.
An introduction to modelling the Sd.Kfz.7 can be found here
The pics below were taken before the Trumpeter kit was painted so we can compare them side by side. The most striking difference is the height of the canvas tilt frame! The Trumpeter one looks far too low, and this seems to be confirmed in period images.
The next thing to notice is how soft the Trumpeter kit’s details look. The radiator housing fins being a prime example. The front fender profile difference is also clear to see here. The Dragon kit has the correct one. The Trumpeter model's running gear and front wheels also sit a little lower on the chassis.
I started this build in around 2015 and the main components had already been assembled. The only aftermarket parts I used was a set of 'Quick wheel' front wheels. These come in two parts and to construct them the seperate hub and spoke part simply 'click and turn' into the rim and tyre section. I built the kit up in sub sections to make painting easier, but unlike my Trumpeter kit build I had already attached the cab to the chassis. This means that some areas I would have liked to improve on will have to remain.
Built up kit with the kit 50/50 plastic and vinyl tyres test fitted and the outer track wheels left off to aid painting.
