More goodies!

Yesterday I acquired two more kits. The first I won in a Twitter giveaway by DragonUSA Online. Here's what I won:

Later on I took a trip to the hobby shop to pick up some paint for this and a couple of other models. I made the mistake of browsing the aisles and ended up bringing this home as well:

 

Both are fantastic kits. I fell in love with Dragon kits while building my Hummel and expect nothing less from this kit. The Bf.109E-4 is a kit I've looked at before. I've been wanting to try an Eduard kit and this seemed like a good one to start with. And yes, I did get the paints I had gone to the shop for originally plus the paints for the Emil. All in all a very good day!

Grr....

Suffered a major setback in finishing the Hummel. I was trying to paint some of the detail parts when I dropped a brush full of Model Master Metalizer. The result is not pretty:

I'm not sure how to proceed at this point. Options are to lightly sand the affected areas and try to repair the existing paint job, or to lightly sand the entire thing and start over. The lower hull and tracks weren't affected so that can be masked off whichever way I choose to go. If I do decide to repaint I"ll go with a different camo scheme. This one is neat but a bit more than my current airbrush skills were capable of. There are simply too many flaws for my liking, so this would be a really good excuse to redo things. Got to think about it some more - maybe while we're waiting for our landlord to fix the broken air conditioner.

I have commited camouflage...

Yep, the Hummel has its camo scheme:

The scheme is for a Hummel with the 2.SS.Pz.Div. "Das Reich" on the Eastern Front in 1944. Still have decals and weathering to do.

Caution: Wet Paint!

Put the first color down on the Hummel:

Model Master Acryl Panzer Dunkelgelb (Dark Yellow). Still have to add the camouflage colors - once I determine for sure which pattern I'm going with, that is! Red Brown and Dark Green, or just Dark Green. Not going to attempt the winter schemes as I do NOT like airbrushing white paint.

I've also been working on painting and weathering the tracks. First time ever doing anything but painting them steel and I think I did okay:

Primed with Tamiya Light Grey, then base coated with Model Master Metalizer Steel (Non Buffing). After that a wash of Model Master Acryl Shokoladenbraun (Chocolate Brown) and a wash of Model Master Rust enamel. Finally dry-brushed with Steel on the contact surfaces. Might have gone a bit heavy on the rust wash but that's okay.

Tracks!

The Hummel has tracks!

Each side is 103 individual links glued into a continuous track. Time consuming and finicky but the absolute best way to model realistic sag.

More work on the Hummel

Finally managed to get a bit more done to the Hummel.

The model is just about ready for paint. I still need to assemble the tracks (Dragon Magic Tracks) and set the length so I can permanently attach the idlers. Once that's done it will be time to prime and lay some paint! The paints I will be using are Model Master Acryl over Tamiya primer.

I only started using the paints a few weeks ago but I'm really liking them! After a bit of a learning curve (you MUST use a good primer with these for them to stick) I find they go down quite well and give an excellent finish. They brush well, resulting in a smooth, flat coat. Airbrushing also provides excellent results, although depending on the airbrush you may need to thin them a bit for them to flow properly.

Hummel progress

Slowed down a bit the last few days, didn't really make any progress on the Hummel until last night. Here's what I got done:

The photo-etch on this little box took me 45 minutes to do - yeesh!

I decided to go ahead and close the vision ports since there's zero detail inside the driver's compartment.

 

The gun was actually done a couple of days ago, just forgot to upload the pic.  I have a few more bits on it, 66 of the 69 total pieces (!!) that go into its construction. The paint is Model Master Acryl Panzer Dunkelgelb (Tank Dark Yellow), the color all German armor was painted from 1942 on. Green and/or brown were added in the field, either by brush or sprayed with painting gear that was standard equipment for German armor. There are three photo-etch brass plates that go on the gun as well, two info plates and the range plaque. Those will have to wait until all the painting is done as they need to be painted black with white details - oh, joy.

There is still a LOT more to go on this including the Magic Tracks - 144 individual track links per side. There's also a lot of photo-etch still to go. One thing I have discovered is that bending photo-etch without a purpose-made bending jig is tough, especially for some of the tinier bits. So far I've only managed to lose one piece, a mounting frame for the first-aid kit, due to trying to bend it with what I have and managing to break it instead. Ah, well, live and learn. This is my first photo-etch enhanced kit and I'm learning as I go.

Awesome kit so far, despite a few bobbles along the way. Can't blame those on the kit, though, they're entirely the fault of the builder.

Dragon's 1/35 Hummel

I've taken a slight break from working on the Arizona. Yesterday I tried airbrushing the hull and the results were rather less than spectacular. I don't know if I over-thinned the paint or if I simply didn't prepare the surface well enough but whatever it was the paint just lifted right back off. I'm using Model Master Acryl which is a new paint for me so it may just be a new learning curve at work. Whatever it is, I've set it aside for now and decided to work on something else for a bit.

That "something else" is the Dragon 1/35 Sd.Kfz.165 Hummel (Late Production) that my wife bought for me as a delayed birthday present. This is my first Dragon kit and I must say I am extremely impressed with the quality and detail! It's one of their Smart Kits that includes photo-etch frets and an aluminum barrel for the main gun. It also has their Magic Tracks that consist of individual links - 144 of them on each side. I must say that step, building the tracks, is one I'm both looking forward to and dreading!.

Here's the box art:

I neglected to take photos of the parts trees before I started construction but there are plenty of reviews of the kit online, both video and photo.

The kit instructions are CAD generated and more resemble engineering assembly diagrams than traditional model kit instructions. Tamiya set the standard for those years ago and it's been one that other kit makers have had a hard time matching. Fortunately it's not that difficult to decipher Dragon's instructions, at least for me. Then again I do have a background in both architectural and mechanical drafting as well as multiple forms of CAD so it may just be that they're something I'm used to. Either way once you examine the parts and locations they go it's easy enough to figure out.

Assembly starts with the sprockets, idlers, return rollers, and road wheels. From there the suspension is assembled and put in place, then the final drives, driver's compartment cover, fighting compartment floor and gun mount deck are installed. Fenders go on, but where Dragon calls for installing all the fender mounted gear (tools, jack, etc.) I opted to leave those off until a later time. This is where the kit stands now (please pardon the messy workbench, it's a bad habit of mine):

Just from this much I can tell you there will be many more Dragon kits in my future! I grew up on Tamiya armor kits and while I still love them, they simply cannot match the level of detail Dragon puts in at remotely the same price. I'll still be building Tamiya but if it comes to a choice of of Dragon or Tamiya for the same subject Dragon will most likely get the nod.

Goodies for my stash

I used to have a stash of 30 or 40 kits waiting to be built. Not big by some standards - I know guys who have literally hundreds of kits in closets and on shelves - but decent. That was a long time ago, before moving out of Texas, going to college, getting married, moving again, that sort of thing. I'm slowly convincing my wife that just because I'm still working on one kit doesn't mean I can't buy another for later on. Not sure she believes me just yet but I'm persistent.

She has bought me two more kits, one a delayed birthday present and another as a thank you for replacing the broken screen on her iPad. Here's what I have in my micro-stash:

 

I'm really looking forward to building these!