Hello

what is everyone working on at present ? Seems a little quiet so I've posted my two current projects

I've near completed the Ace Kfz 17 radio truck, and the MW T34 Flakpanzer

the Ace kit is very nice, with interior radios as well. The wheels look a bit wonky in the pic as I've only temporarily fixed them to the model for the pic, they wont be permanently fixed till painting is completed

the MW kit is a bit of a challenge. its not a "shake and bake", its more "blood, sweat & beers". Thats an exaggeration of course , but it does take a bit of work.

And can anyone help me with the two below questions ?

Question 1 - what is the general consensus as to what isthe best 1/72 Kubelwagen kit on the market ? I'm referring to the most common variant of Kubelwagen, is it the Italeri ?

Question 2 - I'm looking for pictures I've seen somewhere, of a knocked out KV2, early in the war, with fashionably dressed young women (or maybe just one woman) posing with the vehicle. Anyone know where I might find that picture or pictures ?

[IMG][/IMG]

[IMG][/IMG]

cheers
Neil

I am working on two right now. The RoG Leclerc tank and the Matchbox M7 Priest. I intend to make it with deep wading gear. As to the questions I think the Acacdamy Kubel is best in overall detailing. As to the photo I have it in the Squadron/Signal book
Soviet Panzers in Action. This is an old book but still very good. If you need the picture I can send it off line if you want.

Hi John

RoG ? I'm not familiar with them, but then again I dont model post WW2.

thanks for the tip on the Academy Kubelwagen. I've seen it in a 3 pack with a Kettenrad and Jeep, I'll go looking for one. They used to sell quite cheaply, should have collected one or three a long time ago.

regarding the KV2 picture. I have an old Squadron book reprinted under Waffen Arsenal in deutsche titled 'Sowjetische Panzers' printed 1975 which has a picture of a woman wearing an expensive looking fur coat, and hat, sitting on the barrel, one hand on her hat. Is that the same picture you have ? Somewhere (proly the web) I've seen a series of pictures of a woman or women posing in different spots & positions around a KV2, probably all taken on the one occasion, and I was after some of the others (possible diorama idea)

anyway if your picture is different to what I described, please let me know

cheers
Neil

... I've started on my Matchbox T-34. First order of business was to fix up the gun and mantlet. The gun is too short and poorly shaped; the mantlet is too simplified, too small and lots of ugly join seams to eliminate. So I've replaced the gun with the forward portion of the 85mm gun from the Airfix T-34 kit, and built up the mantlet with some plastic card (including bits of scrap for rivets).

From T-34-76 #1

Also drilled out the end of the barrel.

The rest of the kit should be fairly straight-forward in comparison, though not sure yet what I'm going to do to replace the missing tracks ... the spare Airfix T-34 tracks are no good (for a variety of reasons). If I feel especially adventurous I may try building some from plastic card.


Bruce Probst
Melbourne, Australia

Hi Bruce

I often leave the hardest bit(s) to last

keep us posted with the progress

(and the piece of Pz I track is on its way, sadly I dont have any T34 tracks in the spares boxes, otherwise I'd pass them on )

cheers
Neil

Well, I'm trying to finish a stack of builds that have been hanging around for ages.

This morning I sprayed the upper hull on my Dragon StuG. Here it is mated with the chassis which I did last year! I'm not sure what scheme to do. I was going to do a whitewashed one, but think I may just leave it in the yellow. Decals, washes and weathering to be carried out next weekend hopefully..

[IMG][/IMG]

I can't believe how detailed these Dragon kits are. Absolutely outstanding. Wish they did some British armour...

Ian

Hi Ian

I agree the over all yellow really suits your model

the shade looks a lot like the Modellmaster Panzer Dunkelgelb ?

cheers
Neil

Neil

For this one I used Tamiya paints - 2/3 Dark Yellow and 1/3 Buff. One of the problems I have is getting a shade that stays light enough for scale effect even after various washes.

When I've finished it I'll post some more shots.

All good fun!

Ian

Hi Neil!
Right now I'm working on an article on what I'm working on. But you know this anyway, I'm sure you've checked your mailbox.
Now on your easy questions:
1. Yes, I think nowadays Italeri Kubelwagen is the best in 1/72. Its only weak point is that you wouldn't be able to display your model overturned, the wheels are hollow inside. BTW, have you decided suddenly to change the VW production line? I have thought you still have to wrestle with another herd of Beetles!
2. There was an excellent site with about 400 (!) German pictures of knocked out and captured KV-2s alone. Regretfully I was surprised to see it is defunct yet, I've just checked and received my favorite message "Not found". However, I have the pics from there saved as thumbnails at least. Sorry for the bad quality but this is what remained in my PC. Only one pic with ladies was found there, apparently stolen from Ebay, but the KV-2 on it doesn't look knocked out. Have it here anyway, is this the pic you're looking for?



HTH if any H!

Hey Ilian

those Beetles are arriving any day - then I'll throw them in the waste bin and do something else.

Just joking. Soon as they arrive I'll start chopping the first one.

I'm thinking of getting a Kubelwagen to put in a diorama with the (almost completed) Flakpanzer T34 - one of the rare photos of the T34 Flak has a Kubelwagen and what looks like two mechanics, indicating it may have broken down, and the mecahnics went out in a Kubel to fix it (maybe) thats how I read the picture anyhow.

its a longer story with the KV2 and the ladies, its just a concept, I dont even have a KV2 yet (except for the Trumpeter KV2 Beute kit, which is not what I'd use)

thanks for that picture - its not one of the ones I was thinking of, looks like that one is on display in a german city

anyway your started article looks great - I've emailed you a longer reply to it

cheers
Neil

Neil, nice Horch softskin. I just bought this ACE kit andf look forward to building it. I hope you'll do a construction review and post it at On The Way.

The best Kubelwagen? If you are talking about the Volkswagen Kubelwagen then I would say the Academy kit based on looking at it in the box. Hasegwawa's and Matchbox's are respectable but need some detailing work. Italeri's I do not have but have heard it is an old rebox from an aircraft model and is a bit crude and unaccurate.

What I am working on? At this time I am finishing up a Hasegawa Pzjgr IV with BK Resin zimmerit for the Panzer IV Braille Scale Contest for May! Am I late??????? :-D Its a pretty nice kit, not as many parts as the Lizard's Pzjgr IV kits, but still respectable and better than ESCI's! I did replace the tracks with aftermarket tracks from CMK, Hasegawa's Pz IV tracks are dismally poor.
I am also working on a SdKfz 234 kit for a group build with some friends. There is quite a difference between the Hasegawa, Italeri and Roden 234 kits!

stephen

Currently working on a great deal of consignment work, IBG trucks, Pegasus BT-7s, BA-6s, Pumas, Wespe resins..as well as custom resin castings.

Hello Neil,
On my worktable right now is a Ford truck. I´m in a Finnish kind of mood at present, so it´ll be a Finnish Ford 098 truck converted from a German V3000 truck.

I´ve used the cab from a HR Models resin kit, but the chassis is from a Mac Opel Blitz. The wheels are from the Airfix GMC. The old wrong ones with 5 holes fit this one perfectly. The loading area will be scratch built.


The biggest problem right now is that i would like to make it a wood-gas powered vehicle, but i have no idea about the wood-gas system used on these. I think it was a "Svedlund" system, but haven´t managed to find anything useful on the net.
I notice that you didn´t follow my advice about using an UM kit for the Flakvierling T-34, but i´m sure it will turn out nice enough anyway.
About the Kübelwagen, as the others said the Italeri one is the most accurate one, even though it´s not as detailed as the Academy Kübel. Dragon also offers a ready-built one that looks very good. I´m sure it´s better than the Italeri kit, and i hope Dragon will release it as a kit too...
/Peter

Hi Peter

is there anything more appealing than an Ost Front softskin ? (no reply needed, thats a rhetorical question )

this looks like its going to be a beauty

cheers
Neil

Hi,
The dragon wagon from Academy, + both Eduard PE sets, and M4A1 from Dragon.
Started the weathering recently .
Eyal.

AML60 / ACE

[img][/img]

Nagmachon / Cromwell

[img][/img]

A.S. 42 Sahariana, Il Principe Nero

[img][/img]

Mercdes Benz 1500 A, ARMO

[img][/img]

Guess I will finish these this year

Bye Jörg

I'm currently building the Cromwell Centurion Mk 1 (Late 1945) and the Cromwell Centurion AVRE (Gulf War) - first and last British Centurions. Makes a nice contrast.

Jolyon

... RPM AMD 35 turretless command vehicle (next in my series of Panhard 178 builds) plus a non Braille item, the 12 Squared Gnat 750 drone/RPV.

al

I'm building the Ace BS3 100mm kit, almost finished a BA-64 also from Ace, Panzer 1a with interior from Attack and a lot of sculpting projects

Greetings Patrick

some of my workhttp://poky609.fotopic.net/

Im building the Italeri T-34/76. Adding a few details and plan to set it on a small base. Casting a few xtra crew also.

I have an Ace Ardelt 88mm and the Dragon PzIV in the works but I needed a break.

I am almost finishing an SU-85 by AER (at last!)

I just finished assembling the tracks. They are beautifully molded, but require some carefor proper alignment. I had an extra job: I lost one section (20% of it - the upper section one) and kitbashed with tracks left from an AER SU-100.

Now I´ll add some small bits and close it. Assembling is fine to me. However, painting is becoming another chapter, once I have almost 15 kits ready and no one painted! It has been difficult to overcome this stage!

Neil, concerning your questions:

1) Your question seems to be a difficult one to me. Once I talked about it to Augusto Versiani and maybe the answer would be the size. Does thge size preclude from making more accurate ones? However we have a nice GAZ 67 by Forti, Colibri and others.

I have the Hasegawa. It´s a good one, but requires some job. I´ve heard that the Italery is good because of its wheels (maybe it will be a nice one closed). I don´t have the Academy.The Airfix is 1/76, but would pass it closed and with many bits. Same for 1/76 by Fujimi.

2) Unfortunately I don´t have, dude.

Happy modelling, Ricardo

Hey everyone

thanks for the updates - nice to know theres all sorts of stuff going on !!

thanks for the comments re the Kubelwagen, looks like Italeri or Academy is the preferred option - I'll check my local hobby store to see what they have in stock.

Being the weekend, and as I'm waiting for parts and for the cement to really harden on the Kfz 17 and T34, before painting them, I had a couple of spare hours.

I used that time to put together another kit I've just received - the Attack T-57 Tatra Kubelwagen. Soon as I opened the box, I knew it was one that wasn't going to serve time in the stash pile. It went together quite well.

Here it is all but finished with wheels temporarily fitted , needs a tiny bit of filling and some light sanding,

[IMG][/IMG]

cheers
Neil

Some comparison shots:

http://forum.modelismo-na.net/viewtopic.php?t=8275&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

In my opinion, if you add the interior detail and rework the wheels, the Italeri kit looks more like a kubel than a Academy.

Francisco
http://fbminis.blogspot.com

Hi Francisco

thanks for the reply

I think I'll be getting the Italeri double pack of Kubels on my next trip to the hobby shop. Nice to know it seems to be the favoured product. I know for sure they have it in stock, the Academy probably is not in stock anyway.

cheers
Neil

Hi,
Here are a couple of things that I am working on right now.


The tracks are not glued on yet,, this picture is actually from last week, and this beast is now ready for paint, which will be going on some time this week.

And a T34 mit 88mm



This is still a work in progress. I got the idea from this discussion on the Axis forum, about a month ago.
http://www.network54.com/Forum/47207/message/1243616356/Interesting+pic+found+on+the+net


Cheers
Iain

Hi Iain

I like both these 'freaks'

would be great to see a real picture of that 88mm armed T34 (presuming it did exist)

there are two artist's depictions of it in the following link

http://beute.narod.ru/Beutepanzer/su/hypothetical/flakpanzer_t-34.htm

in the artist's pictures they have managed to 'sink' the gun and its mount into the hull, and have taken the top of the shield off in these pics, which lowers its silhouette dramatically. I'd imagine a field conversion would be more likely to be simplified, along the lines of your model.

the photo of the T34 "Drilling" (below it in the link) has been discussed at length elsewhere and is another fake - photoshopped from a picture of a beute T34 without a turret.

cheers
Neil

Hi Neil,
Thanks, I have not found any pictures a real 88mm armed T34, but who knows what with everything going on along the Russian front. Those drawings are what got me thinking about it some time ago, but when I saw the thread on the Axis forum I just knew that was the one I wanted to do.
That Drilling gives me ideas, hmm...

As for the E100, a friend who is well known on M-L is bugging me to do it in 1/35 as well.

I have also got an idea or 2 for other What-Ifs, Oddball or Monsters, one of which is also based on something from the Axis Forum, more about this later after I look into it further.

Cheers
Iain

Hi Neill,

Working on the hasegawa Puma at the moment, to go in the long-time-completing dio!(first time doing a diorama...) Just back from a two week hol so taking it slowly, have both the dragon King Tiger kits with Fallschmirger para's too-mainly for all the extra kit to spice up my Pegasus SS figures!

Adam

Probably with a Flak 43 on the back.

Alex

Dragons M4A1 76mm, Sherman Vc, M4A3 105mm all 1/72 scale, have been my summer projects that I've been dragging around on camping/trips. I've also been working on Tamiya's M4 1/48 scale, and a couple of aircraft: 1/72 Hasegawa F-18A, Fujimi A-4C, 1/48 scale Monogram A-26C, and AM TBM-1 Avenger....just to name a few.

Pete

I'm working on my alkett panzerjager4 for the group build from May!!!Actually have it almost all ready for paint. I'm scratching the Thoma schields and it has really slowed me down. also have the dragon M4 with waders half done, and got the dragon's Beute panzer Sherman and Panzer 4 F1 last week and they are too cool not to start right now. I was amazed at the amount of spares in the Sherman kit. too bad they cut off the tops of the unused turrets or you would have gotten three full turrets in one kit....I think I'll make it back ito a soviet Sherman.

Niel, it looks like everyone else answered your two questions better than I could, so I'll just list my latest armor projects.


My armor projects in 1/72 scale:

-> ACE sIG 33 infantry gun

-> Trumpeter Br52 Lokomotive

-> Roden Sdkfz 234 8-rad

-> Two Dragon Beute 75mm Shermans (one German, one Russian)

-> Italeri 90mm gun 'and servants'

-> RevellAG M-48 A2C (German postwar markings)

-> RevellAG M-60 A3 Dozer tank

-> Two Revell AG M-60's with reactive armor: One Marine, one Italian.

Half of this list is at the decal/weathering stage and will be completed in another day or so. The rest will take the rest of the week.

Good post Niel, thanks for getting this started!

Hi Mark

I'm looking forward to seeing pics of some of those when you get them finished

you wouldn't believe it, but I picked up a british glossy modelling magazine at the newsagent a couple of months ago, and in it there was a colour picture of a huge group of Braille Scale models, and the caption said 'made by Mark Deliduka'.

is he related to you ? or is this guy maybe guilty of identity theft ?

cheers
Neil

Wow, really? As far as I know, I am the only 'Mark Deliduka' in the world, so if it ain't me, I don't know who it was. Do you remember the name of the mag? I sure need to get copies; I haven't seen it at all. Can you possibly scan and post the pic? That would be cool.

I gotta get me a copy of that mag.......

Also, let me know what you want to see when it is done. I'll try to post them.

as certain as I am that you are playing possum, here is the scan from the magazine, top of page 73, Scale Military Modeller International, Volume 39, Issue 458, May 2009, the one with the blue camo Matilda on the cover (seriously)

if these are not your models, and this isn't the same Mark Deliduka, we have some kind of slip up in the space/time continuum

cheers
Neil

[IMG][/IMG]

That is me indeed!

That picture was taken from my Webshots album showing my entire ( as of March last year) German Army. I have pics of the remainder of my Armies posted as well. That pic only shows about 1/6th of my total collection.

Here is a link to my Webshots Armor album:

http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/album/562668064dWodam

WARNING: These are extremely large pics that I left large on purpose so that some detail can be seen as well as vehicles recognized.

To view them full sized, click on the pic you want to view. Then click the magnifying glass icon on the bottom. Then when the pic loads, click it again to see it full size. You will have to scroll around alot, but you'll be able to make out many details and tell which vehicle is what.

Since that pic was taken, I have added anther twelve completed models to my German Army, and a total of 42 other completed models to the entire collection. Maybe later this year or next year, I will try to take full shots like these again showing all the new additions.

Besides, I forgot to add my Afrika Korps to these pics! I need to do this again.

Thanks for the scan Neil! I have GOT to get me that issue!

Rigging a pig-sty underneath the Airfix 1/76 'Jungle Outpost'.

For what it's worth, all the best

that sounds exactly like a scene out of the latest Rambo movie (set in Burma if you havent seen it)

seriously, that sounds like a very interesting diorama. I once saw a Braille Scale Vietnam era diorama that was set up like an "ant farm". Village on top, of a "glass tank" and extensive tunnels undrerneath with sappers, ammo stores, supplies, VC, wounded, etc throughout the tunnels, and could be viewed from all 4 sides. Bit like an iceberg - 20% above ground, 80% below ground

cheers
Neil

I missed this thread first time round but I'm still working on my project for the Panzer IV group build plus a distraction on the "dark side" (1/35 Stug III).