The exceptional Pz. Kw. IV 223

Here we go! This is the last, the best, the exceptional of the trio

Number 223!

I know, self-praise stinks, but this one makes me really proud. That brainwave was just too good not to be implemented, besides the huge effort. This is the model, I lathed the 7,5cm ammunition for...

The Spare-Roadwheel-box with a wooden crate inside, instead of wheels. Made from the tin of a windlight.

Again, loads and loads of spare-tracks. This time from an old wrecked Matchbox Panzer IV. Since these tracks are made from vinyl, they virtually have no detail on their back, leaving me no other chance than mounting them the wrong way round.

The rather uninteresting side of the tank

Now for the special:

The loader disposes of the fired shells(violating the commandment from above).

This is an abused Preiser Figure. He once was a driver from the Mounted Panzergrenadier Set.

The left turret-side hatch with a viewblock and a handle for opening/shutting it.

The right turret-side hatch with the locking/unlocking handle.

Looking forward to your comments on this one :)

Cheers,
Mojo

PSC Panzer IV 224

Here comes number 224:

The Schürze with the HE-hit is (together with the muzzle-break) the only modification on this tank.
I'm not 100% pleased with how the hit turned out, but to be honest: I can't see these tanks anymore, been working for much to long on them. It'll stay as it is ;)

Have a nice sunday evening and stay tuned for my last and most sophisticated Panzer IV ;)

Cheers,
Mojo

PSC Panzer IV 225

I've got my Cam back!
I'll start with the "last" tank from my platoon (2nd Platoon, 2nd Coy) number 225:
This tank (like the remaining two) has several modifications:

"Blitzkrieg-Fuel-Upgrade": A rack for 5 Jerry-Cans

 Spare-tracks as additional Armor on the turret...

 ... and the hull. All with appropriate suspension brackets.
One mudguard is folded up.

One of the Schürzen-Parts went missing. Since the Schürzen-Mounts are very basic in this model, I scratched an appropriate suspension, including the triangular teeth.
To make the suspension fit in, I had to move the airfilters closer to the hull, meaning lots of filing and scraping from the part behind it... ;)
Finally I drilled out the muzzle-brake, the gun-barrel and the exhaust-pipe.

Pics of the other two tanks will follow these days :)

Now I'll go catch something to bite. Lunch-Break is already almost over ;)

Cheers,
Mojo

Schützengruppe #2 finished

I'd like to show you my second squad for Behind Omaha.
While I took the shots, I realized that I forgot to put the matte varnish on :-/
I think I'll have to do this yet.
Nevermind, have a look:

Italeri German Elite Troops Set

Airfix Afrika Korps Set

Pegasus German Mortar Teams Set

Italeri German Elite Troops Set

Airfix German Infantry Set

Italeri German Elite Troops Set

Airfix German Infantry Set

Pegasus German Mortar Teams Set

Revell Deutsches Afrika Korps Set (Water-Carrier Conversion)

Same figure as above

The Bases are not as sophisticated as the "Streetwarrior" ones, but nevertheless I hope you like them ... :)

Greetings,
Mojo

Finshed... at the last moment

It's new years eve, and I am ready to leave for the party, but before I go, I'd like to wish all my visitors and readers a happy new year!
Finally I have finished my latest project and I wish to share some pictures with you...
The Sd. Kfz. 251/22 is done. As I learned from Double 0 Seven, I have put the model in some context for the photoshooting ;) Have fun (tonight) !

Taking aim

Dispensing the used round

As Paul asked for the Crew, here's a shot ;)

The interiour without the gun

And with the gun

In action

Vorwärts, Männer!

Yeah, tank support!

And one last picture...

Now guys, go out and do some party!
See you next year!

//mojo

It's got me again

Tonight, the Ausführung 22 caught my attention again.
Since I was not really satisfied with the quick and dirty mock-up of the gun platform and the vehicle was really lacking space for crew, I felt the need to disassemble it.

First, I cleaned the interior a bit. Some of the seats were removed, because they would not ever be used again in this vehicle. This also promised to provide some more place to stand for the figures:

The holes were covered with some styrene sheet afterwards. As you might notice, the space for the figures did not really increase. I rather feel like it decreased, because there is less horizontal space to stand. So what, its done...

When this step was finished, I started scratching a rack for the gun. This is a bit closer to reality, but actually it's still pretty far away :D

This is how it looks when its assembled:

As already said, there is not really more space than before, but I think it looks more neat and I do not have to cover anything with camo nets... Oh, and my poor rear Machine Gun mount is broken :( I hope I can fix it again (about the 4th time)...

As I don't think that I'll get to post something before 24th:

I wish merry chrismas to all who believe in!
...and  simply some nice calm days for those who don't ;)

//mojo

W.I.M.P. is international again!

After my mate Mork6969 from boforum.de and http://mork6969.blogspot.com/ decided to continue blogging in english only, I felt like I had to check my blog-stats.


Now I think I need to follow morks choice, since 49% of my visitors are from outside of germany! I have to thank you for watching my blog, even if you might not understand everything I write :)



So, enough of that... Back to business!

In the past, I started several big projects, like building and painting 2 Panzer IV, one Panther A, a Kettenkrad and a Kübelwagen, or painting and basing 72 figures at the same time. The goal of it all was to keep the effort low.

But the consequence of it is, that I get forward very slowly with both projects, and I almost don't want to look at it anymore... I promise, I will not do it again :D At least I hope so.

The "Panzers" are currently being weathered:
The Decals are on (the Seitenschürzen are not mounted yet), the washing is applied and the edges are highlighted.
The next step would either be a filter in earth-tone or some kind of fading. But since I am not really sure about which colors I should use for fading with this camo, I think I will omit this step.
The problem is: My girl is going to bed earlier and earlier every day. Which is alright, because I have more time for modeling, but I cannot use my airbrush, because it would keep her awake.



Feeling unable to apply any filtering without my airbrush, something else came to my mind. Since I recently got the double-pack of Armourfasts Sd. Kfz. 251, I thought about my old 1/76 Revell 251er and my old PAK40, which is also made by Revell and also in 1/76.

 

In the past I have often put the PAK on top of the 251 to simulate an 251/22 while playing Behind Omaha (See the bad picture). So why the hell shouldn't I combine them to one model?

I am well aware, that it would be unlikely to see a 251 c with a mounted PAK 40. I don't really care, I felt bored ;)

 
 
 
 
 

First, I built a platform from plastic sheet. This platform is not like in the original, I know :) As I said, i just tried to kill some time ;) It was not easy to fit the platform into the vehicle, but after some trial and error, it worked ;)
Most of the interiour will be invisible, when it is finished, because I plan to cover the platform with some camo netting.

Also, I costumized two figures for this vehicle:

The "commander" was an Airfix Paratrooper with an Revell DAK-NCO head transplanted.

The gunner/loader is one of these incredibly ugly Hasegawa Flak 88 crew members. I really had to chop his head off... Since this figure is rather big, I chose one of Italeris "German Elite Troops" to lose his head for him :)

It is not nearly finished, a lot of painting has to be done on this one, but I hope you like it so far :)

 

Greetings,

mojo

Panzerlehr-Box

Da mein Armeeaufbau was Fahrzeuge angeht soweit abgeschlossen ist, habe ich am Wochenende meine Transport- und Aufbewahrungsbox fertiggestellt. Es handelt sich um eine alte Sani-Kiste aus französischen Militärbeständen, in die ich einen doppelten Boden eingebaut habe:

Soweit ist sie eigentlich schon aus einem alten Post bekannt.

Auf der oberen Ebene befinden sich meine schweren Panzer:

• Panther Ausf. A
• Jagdpanther
• Tiger I

Ebenfalls zu sehen sind drei Transporter, sowie zwei Panzerabwehrgeschütze.

Auf der unteren Ebene (beide haben jeweils eine Höhe von etwa 5 cm) sind hauptsächlich Unterstützungseinheiten zu sehen.

• 2 Jagdpanzer IV
• 2 Panzer IV
• 2 Sturmgeschütze IV
• 1 Panzer III
• 1 VW Kübel
• NSU Kettenkrad

Damit die Fahrzeuge weich stehen und beim Transport nicht durcheinanderfallen, habe ich auf jeder Ebene eine 3mm Schicht Selitron eingefügt. Die Ketten oder Räder der Fahrzeuge sind jeweils in das Selitron eingelassen. Bei nächster Gelegenheit werden auf dem Selitron und unter den Fahrzeugen Magnete und Unterlegscheiben verklebt, die die Transportsicherheit noch verbessern sollen...

Ich hoffe es gefällt und dient dem Einen oder Anderen als Anregung :)

//mojo