Almost ready for priming

Now some minor upgrades (clamps around the roof, etc) and I can prime it. In the background I'm doing some research about the camo schemes for the Jagdpanzer IV... It'll be hard to choose :)

Ammo

No time, lost tempo, lack of motivation. I feel stuck. But spent some money on aftermarket stuff, this time ammunition. Don't know which of them will be used if I use any of them at all. I'm thinking on it. Open hatches would require some minimal interior work (too visible empty interior is not nice) and an ammo loading crew would mean open hatches. Or whatever. Another stuck-point is the paint scheme. Hard edge camo? Soft edge? Disc camo? I need to meditate...

Tools and things

Friuls ready. Now the tools on the rear deck... I clean the kit parts from the moulded-on details to be replaced by PE. The barrel cleaning rod was schratched from plastruct rods and looks nice (though the original kit part looked well, too).

Fire extinguisher was from the stash (some of the Dragon kits had a redundant one) and also looks better than the also good kit part.

Jagdpanzer - Friul tracks

My first ever Friul track assembled and test-fit. It sits perfectly and looks like after the first try:

 

Looked a bit too tight (though wartime photos show this kind of tight tracks sometimes) so I added one more link. Now it's much better:

And as this is only one side, I started to prepare (minimal cleaning and drilling) the next side as well. Hope finish with it till the weekend.

Ghost from the past

As I uninstalled WoT from my laptop, a lot of free time (?) dropped to me - at least 20 minutes per day :) I just thought it would be great to finish one of my favourites, the Stuart. Some stowage was added, and MG + antenna will be put on soon - and finally I collect my willpower and paint those two tankers - and some dioramic background with palm trees and jungle vegetations similar to Makin atoll's natural environment...

Cleaning the rear deck

Small update at the weekend: I started to cut parts and fill holes on the rear deck to enable the fitting of upgraded tools with PE clamps, holders, etc. Not a visually interesting step but I put a pic here for the record...

Test fit

Well, it turns out to be one of my fastest builds. Thanks, Tamiya! Finally I found some pin marks on some of the parts to clean up but overall the kit is unbelievable. Engineering masterclass. The upper part is test fitted - and to be honest, it would be let this way, without glue because the fit is 100% perfect and fix. Now comes the upgrade session, the tools on the rear of the model with the PE and the Schürzen. I can hardly wait :)

Jack-block

The rear is finished (two additional PE chains will be added but only later at the final stage to prevent breaking accidents). I made the jack-block from balsa wood instead of the kit piece. Eduard also offered a wood block made of brass but that looked strange...

SpeedSurprise

The wheels section is ready. Tamiya uses poly-caps to hold the wheels, no need to glue them to the axis - I have the feeling that it will be useful when I try to paint them somedays. All-in-all, it is a fun build with beautifully clean parts. Almost no need to sand anything and every part fits tight. That is why Tamiya is so expensive. But worths it.



 

Lots of wheels

Progressing with the lower hull... lots of wheels, my second vehicle with that heap of them (the Leopard was the first). No problem with the cleaning. But I fear the painting in advance...

My next issue is the interior. The kit provides nothing - but I bought the 12660 set (metal barrel plus gun breech) and... well... just thinking about to buy Verlinden's interior resin set. Two factor against it. Or three factors:
- expensive... it doubles the cost of this build
- I have limited time and the group build finishes at the end of April 2017
- the upgrade is for the Dragon Jagdpanzer, not the Tamiya - though I think there would be no major fitting problems...

And the pro factors:
- I like detailed interiors for some unknown perverted reason...
- The top of the upper hull could be assembled to be "openable" so this would be my first model where the detailed-up interior would not disappear after finishing the model.

Life is tough. Full of decisions...

Jagdpanzer IV. L/70

 

My absolute favourite in World of Tanks, the Jagdpanzer IV. L/70... This weekend I started the kit and was amazed about the details. Fine, perfectly fitting parts, delicate details, and seemingly an easy build lies in front of me. Almost no cleanup is needed and it is so neat... Look at those weld seams... and cast texture...

 

 

 

Leopard primed finally...

The Leo is primed finally. Some minor touches are still missing, tow cables, mud flaps, machine gun, and last but not least the commander figure from the turret. But at this point the finish line is clearly visible - which is JIT because the tank hunter campaign is about to start on armorama.com...

The postman has come again...

Well, I bought some more kits. No rational reason behind that. Simply just wanted to have them...

Turret ready

Sweet memories...

Today I just scrolled through my photobucket account and my planetarmor vBench... Damn. I like my models built by my earlier self - and got some inspirations to build a lot of them in the forthcoming decades... I have to make a list of my stack. And I have to make a wish-list. And I have to play significantly less WoT and build significantly more models :)

Turret 99%

Almost finished the turret. Ugly job. Lots of sanding (seam lines everywhere), lots of filling and a really minor upgrade on the commanders periscope. But at least it is coming together - I'm planning the paint job. I have no camo mask so it will be tricky...

Armorama Campaign

Almost finished with the turret. And thinking on what to do next. I've found a soon-to-begin campaign on Armorama, and enlisted to it. It begins in September and finishes in next April so seems to be quite enough time to finish a model. My decision was based on my other idea: I'd like to present the German TD line of World of Tanks in the next five-ten-twenty years alongside with other interests (modern Russians, IDF, US, German AFVs, etc.). So I have at least 3 possible models on the shelf: (Dragon) Panzerjäger I. Ausf.B., (Dragon) Marder III M (opened box, and cut some parts but almost intact) or (Tristar) Marder III H.
Or I buy Tamiya's Jagdpanzer IV./L70, my personal favourite in WoT (and most played, most succesful vehicle, as well) and build that. I have time to decide...

Revival

As a sign of revival I ordered some stuff. There were BlackDog accessories on sale at Luckymodel.com - so my Marder III, Kübel and Chaffee will receive aftermarket bags, tentrolls, etc. But on the other hand I found a site - GreenStuffWorld.com and I was amazed by their idea of making a punch tool to create realistic tree-leaves from actually real leaves... (and to be more cost-effective I ordered silicone sculpting tools as well however no sculpting happened in the last few years but it is another matter...)
And as spending money is always fun I'm just planning to order hobbyzone desktop organizers, too. But its postage cost is frightening. I need to find a vendor in Hungary...

Leopard progress

Slow-slow-slow. That is the pace but the Leopard progresses. A lot of filling, sanding, fit issues and a horrible barrel (replacement ordered almost a year ago from Hong-Kong but no sign of them coming) but the most tedious works done, some more weeks and it will be ready for painting. Maybe.