Tinkering with Franken- Wirbelwind

Some quick "almost there" workbench shots... this is a bit of a Frankenstein and has been delayed way too long, in fact so long that two alternatives are available... anyway. JTFM panzer IV hull, Company B Wirbelwind turret, kit bashed company b/ rubicon flak 38 and dremelled bolt action crew! 

Thankfully there is no need to take this route anymore, I’d recommend the Rubicon or Warlord models as a much easier option. The Company B turret is a bit "old school", but had the advantage of being first to market but needs a lot of work to get to acceptable ( for me at least) 

Tinkering with... Flakpanzer 38(t) (1/56)

 

 

Far to frequently I start projects, primarily just for fun, unfortunately not all progress to a finish. This lucky one was resurrected so it can slip in with an interesting part interest/part commission Normandy "Becker" themed collection currently being assembled, but more on that over Christmas. So if anyone takes a fancy to it, it can be theirs in Feb!

 

Earlier pictures of the build are somewhere on the hard drive and phone, so we'll just have to go from here.

 

So this is the progress so far....flakpanzer 38(t) based on the warlord resin Marder with Pak 40. Its not finished, clearly, next stage will be rivets, hinges, exhaust and final detailing, but the grunt work is done.

 



 

Particularly impressed with the empty shell mesh assembly, third or fourth I've done and its getting easier. The flak is the Company B white metal model, certainly the best on the market, although I've replaced the barrel and some odds and sods.  Crew are from the spares box, all heavily modified to both fit in the compartment, and also, which is often overlooked, to try and portray that they are serving the piece.

View from RHS, you can see how tricky the angle on the plates were and the fettling of figures to fit.

 

Good view of the rear compartment before I started to add the top level plates, you'll note barrel removed to be replaced with a metal rod. The green stuff legs and modification is clearer here.

 

 RHS view again, the ammo boxes clearly aren't fixed as I had to fashion legs for the crew around them. Close up, showing all the flaws! all crew in final positions bar the loader who has slipped!

 

Slightly out of focus but you can see the crew positioning, flak mount with magnet for the flak 38 and the ammunition and spare barrel boxes. The crew will be pinned, and removed for painting. Pictures below, are more of the same, for anyone that's got this far.

 

Normandy Priests - WIP - going for a Christmas Finish !

Quick post while I have five minutes, have been juggling several very detailed commissions at the moment, hopefully trying to clear the decks for Christmas.   The blog has been neglected recently, partly due to my iphone no longer supporting blogger but mainly real world pulls etc etc, however I will try and reinvigorate over Christmas as some really cool commissions finish.

So, today's focus is two Company B priests modified for Normandy, which will be resplendent with converted Warlord plastic crews, as always heavily fettled!

Above, basic paint work with initial weathering ( alongside part of a lovely New Zealand force for Italy ( more on them soon). I will detail all the Priest Normandy mods in another post, but trust me there's a lot of work up till this stage!

Here we have the two Priests with some basic weathering inside prior to crew positioning, crew will be pinned and fixed in place. Apologies for the picture quality, I have invested in a superb LED light-set, which I cant recommend enough, unfortunately it creates this strobing effect when i use the iphone!

Initial crew positioning, the crew are still on full length painting pins as they still need finishing off, but its enough to allow for composition ( or more correctly confirm positioning from the build stage)

So you get the idea, crew will now be removed and both crew and interior will now receive final detailing, prior to fully fixing in place tomorrow (hopefully), and then to finish off the exterior.

As always, best to subscribe via the email link to the side, more prevalent now as I am no longer able to post update links on TMP.  

And for those who are interested...

Re: TMP - I seem to have fallen foul of the increasingly erratic and hubristic editorship, it would be nice to know what particular offence or digression I was found guilty of in absentia (I'm sure its more than me being on this side of the pond!)

Anyways, I'm clearly joining an increasing [secular] diaspora! Its a genuine shame as what was once a great and diverse resource is now unnecessarily, through the decreasing quality of content and discussion, increasingly incestuous spam and unaccountable, dictatorial editorship, driven into the self inflicted buffers!

Anyways, as "they" say: "his site, his rules", so I wish him all the best and sincerely hope he manages to resolve, or gets help for, whatever personal issues prevail. 

Tinkering with... Company B Wirbelwind

 

Sometimes, inbetween commissions, I get distracted! 

I picked up the Company B Wirbelwind turret from Great Escape Games, it is just the turret with flak 38, absent of crew, but usefully both the spare barrel boxes. I decided to marry this with a spare JTFM hull and a Warlord flak 38 crew from the spares box. 

 

The gunner needed some fettling to assume a realistic position, and I decided to recreate the sighting assembly, and add some detail to the flak. Not too much, as most wont be seen once mounted in the turret.

 

 

The complete crew, all fettled!

The Warlord crew has an annoying figure with arm raised or pointing, so this was cut and repositioned.  When configuring with the turret, I found the crew sat better if I removed their feet.

 

Early shot of the turret with flak and crew, all dry fitted as they will be painted separately.

 

 

Yes, I will drill out and straighten the barrels.

 

This is the Company B turret married to the JTFM Hull. Unfortunately the turret needed a lot of filing give the surfaces an acceptable finish. On looking through references,  I decided to add the field mod camouflage hooks and wire, used in Normandy for attaching foliage.

The hull has some mods, the extra barrel cases have been added, with associated brackets, also added were the late war mod of two towing hooks, form the spares box. the JTFM tracks are nicely rendered so I decided to lose the front fenders.

 

The turret sits quite nicely in the hull, although I did add some supports to lift the turret slightly so that the turret could traverse clearing the turret fairings.

 

 

Interestingly, and just like buses, I get one and two more come along, one in the wings from Warlord and, together with an Ostwind, one from Trenchworx in the USA. Am tempted by all, and ironically also the 12SS Normandy field conversion, with the 38 mounted directly on the hull, just not sure I'll be able to shift all of them..... decisions decisions.

 

This one just crept in the schedule, its an "opportunity" paint so will need a new home once complete, its slipping in with an interesting 1946 commission, more of that later.

 

As always, lost going on behind the scenes, most not reflected here. I have, and if I say so myself,  a lovely Fall Blau, France 1940 commission; just being photographed. Extensive mods for this set and I'm really happy with the results, although they've taken ages.

 

I also have a spare Warlord Puma, which i'll need to shift in short order.

 

Anyways, enough for now, theres a subscribe link on the right hand side for regular updates.

 

Morris C8 2 pdr Portee

Its seems interest in the North African campaign has been reinvigorated recently ( I expect largely due to the Perry's) so this paint for Company B is quite topical.

It is a Morris 2 pdr Portee as used by Armoured Divisions in North Africa. I originally wanted to do a snazzy Caunter scheme in line with the recent Perry Universal Carrier build, but there wasn't the evidence supporting this as a legitimate scheme for them. This meant a rather plane faded yellow scheme, however I didn't wanted a British "Dunkelgelb" so decided to go for heavy wear and tear and fading.

I'm really happy with the result on this interestingly little vehicle.

As always more pictures on my flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/troop-of-shewe/sets/

I have a flurry of finished, and finishing, projects over the next couple of weeks which I will post here as I have time, please subscribe to email updates if you'd like to keep pace with the eye candy.