Catch up with PART SIX here
Just a quick photo update. Got the hull zimmerit finished and have now started assembling the Academy link and length tracks. Don’t you just love cleaning those up. 200 odd links with about 40 down. I’m doing a single run for the bottom on each side then I’ll do a section to go up over each sproket, then I’ll dry fit all the running gear and glue a length across the return rollers, around the idler and back down to the bottom length all in one hit. That way once it’s set I can pull the running gear back off and be left with a single fixed track for each side.
I built a basic, rudimentary engine bay using a photo as a reference and just rough fitting bits of scrap wood and plastic bits to ressemble the engine ( as well as two fans from the Tamiya sprues ). Next to no detail can be seen through the grilles but when this is installed you can see enough to see that there is something in there and once it’s painted a mix of black, red/brown and white it should look the part for anyone who looks down through the grills.
The hatch pad is finished and textured, the latches are in place and the vision port is fitted, though with the figure in place all you can really see is the lower half of this, and only then by really trying. But it’s there. A few more rivets have been added, mainly for the turret schurzen, and the zimmerit has been finished on the rear plate.
I’m going to add zimmerit to the hull sides and I still have to do the glacis and the drivers plate. I’ll do the drivers plate the same way I did the hull sides and rear plate, but for the sides and the glacis I’ll share a little tip with you. For small ( or difficult to work in ) spaces where you want to add zimmerit then using DAS modelling clay has another advantage. If you roll the clay out thinly onto a shiney surface you can add the zimmerit detail to it as a sheet, and then when it is dry it is easy to cut up into small sections with a sharp knife and these can then just be glued to the model. In the photo here you can see a square piece and some smaller strips which are being used to do the transmission inspection and access hatches on the glacis.
Speaking of using a shiney surface, one thing I did forget to mention earlier on when I started adding the zimmerit is that to get the DAS to adhere to the sides the plastic needs to be roughed up with coarse sandpaper and/or scoring with a knife blade. But if any of it comes loose just glue it back on like a veneer. Use a clean, shiney flat surface to roll the clay out onto and when it’s dry it will lift off quite easily.
So now I’ve started on the clean-up and resculpting the parts of the figure that need doing interspersed with doing the track links to stop from getting too bored doing them. The hope is to have it all ready for a primer coat by the end of the week.
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Fair call Dean. And you’re right – I do a recall a late war pic that actually showed a German afv fitted with the MP44 as a close defence weapon – might have been one of the Panzerwrecks books.
Looking forward to following this build. I’ve got quite a few old kits in the stash – your project proves that you don’t need to buy the latest and greatest to build a great model.
Apparently the Panther F if it had gone ahead was going to have an MP44 as the hull gun too. I actually get a lot of fun out of dressing up the old kits. I like the newer ones too but it’s still nice to be able to take what is in effect a 30 year old kit and bring it up to a decent level of detail without spending great wads on AM stuff.
This is quite an inspiring project! Just shows what one can do with good modelling skills. Great stuff,
Though if I can squeeze in one suggestion – don’t know about the Sturmgewehr 44 – would a tanker have one of these (pretty rare)infantry weapons. I’m a bit picky so perhaps just ignore my comment! An awesome build.
Yeah I had to give that one some consideration. I originally had him with a PPsH.41 but decided to go with the MP43 as I figure being a relatively new toy on the field at that point getting your hands on one would be a sort of status symbol, though they weren’t really that rare by early ’44. The MP43 was unofficially in production from October ’43 and they made nearly half a million of them in the next 18 months. Even so I’m tempted to backdate it to the original MKb42 as the only real visual difference is the gas tube and there were 12,000 of those put into field trials in late ’42. I figure actually having it in the tank wouldn’t be a problem as the PIV/70 came with one included for crew defence ( I’ve also seen photos of the interior of a PIV Ausf.H with what appears to be mounting brackets for a rifle or MG on the left hand side of the underside of the roof ) and there was a StuG recently recovered from a river in russia that had an MP44 stowed inside so, but even if not inside the tank there are photos of PIVs with a rifles mounted on the turret roof right above the side doors.