World War II Project - P107 (f)/U304 (f) 21st Pz Div Halftracks - Tracks & Wheels

Halftracks are always such a joy when you get down to the suspension, getting to work on both tracks and wheels is so much fun. This is the last bit of work that the U304 (f)s are going to need and, of course, I'm still experimenting with the best way to weather both tracks and wheels to get them looking good.

I started with the tracks and basically followed the same set of steps I used on the S307(f)s. I was a little heavy handed on the tracks on these so I stepped everything back a little bit and I also purchased some pigment fixer that would make adding back in some grease and grime a little easier as it would fix the pigment permanently (and I do mean permanently) in place.

After the tracks I moved on to the wheels and tried out the oilbrushers to add the dust without resorting to pigments. I think these came out pretty good in the end. A little more practice and some better wheel castings and I think my wheels will start looking pretty good. I'm sure there will be some more halftracks in the future (not to mention jeeps) to practice on my wheel weathering technique.

Something to keep in mind you can mix pigments the same way you mix paint.

Pigments on the tracks

Tracks are a little shiny with the pigment fixer and while I waited for that to dry I started working on the wheels with the Oilbrusher (Buff).

The tracks from the other side after applying a combination of paint mixed with pigments on the tracks

A better look at the tracks with the paint/pigment combination. I think it needs more pigment and less paint but it looks okay.

Tracks on this side are done, wheel needs a little more work

Starting the wheels while the tracks dry

I see a couple of spots that could use a little work but overall these wheels looks pretty good.

World War II Project - Return to Normandy - P107/U304(f) Halftrack - Decals

A spot of detail painting and some decals and these are ready for some weathering. For the most part the markings used on the 21st Panzer Division vehicles was pretty light, I decided to flaunt historical accuracy at this point and add the markings that I wanted which includes divisional symbols and numbers. Location of the division symbols is pure conjecture as are the numbers on the rear of the vehicle. License plate markings on the front round the whole thing out. There doesn't appear to be a spot for the license plate on the back.

World War II Project - Return to Normandy - P107/U304(f) Halftrack - Basic Camo

I know we are all on lock down but sometimes finding time to paint between all the things my wife can find for me to do is quite difficult! A little basic camo work on the U304s. I like this "leopard" pattern a lot so I decided to do these 21st Panzer vehicles in the same scheme as the others. I'm seeing a little bit of spitting from the airbrush with the brown paint, I'll have to be a little more careful in thinning the paint down a bit more.

That brings these up to about the same level as the other 21st Panzer Division vehicles I have been working on. I'll add the decals and then start the weathering work on all 7 of them. Good practice before I move back to the StuG IIIs.

World War II Project - Return to Normandy - P107/U304(f) Halftrack - Paintwork

I had an opportunity to start the paintwork on these. I primed and applied the dunkelgelb in one session of work. While that sets I hope to start the detail work on some of the other Normandy vehicles.

World War II Project - Return to Normandy - P107/U304(f) Halftrack - MGs

Probably against my better judgement I decided to go ahead and add the extra MG positions. Realizing that this are going to be pretty fragile I pinned everything. Since quarters are pretty tight I used a #70 drill bit (and probably should have used a #71 or #72 instead) for all the holes and staples for the pins themselves. Finding staples around here is a lot easier than darn near anything else. Each staple yields four pins so they are a pretty good value when you think about it.

This is a pretty standard pinning job. I didn't realize how soft the lighter grey resin really is until I managed to shave away one of the support posts when I was cutting an "x" into the top to guide the drill bit. Fortunately I had a piece of styrene that I could substitute for it so I cut the whole thing away after my knife slipped. The only issue is the cross section is hexagonal rather than round but I doubt anyone will notice once they are on the table.

Six MG34s and three MG42s. Each halftrack will have three MGs; one in the main mount over the driving compartment, and one on either side.

With pins glued in. I'll cut these to length after I glue them to the support arms.

Glued to the support arms although not I have not trimmed down the pins yet. I also had to drill out the bottom portion of the support arm to hold it to the halftrack. This is when I discovered I should have used and even smaller bit when I blew through one of the sides when I was slightly off center.

Drilled out the holes for the support arms on the left and right side. I had already drilled out and mounted the MG shield at this point.

Pins in place on the sides

And all glued up. I suspect that they side MGs will not last long in game play, but they look cool now.

World War II Project - Return to Normandy - P107/U304(f) Halftrack - Windscreen

The next issue with Warlord's P107 is the windscreen which really doesn't fit and has a tendency to fall through into the body. What I did was take some strips of sheet styrene and glued this in behind the windscreen so it had something to rest on. The second issue is the hinges on the windscreen don't match up between the top of the hood and the windscreen. I'm just going to ignore this particular issue figuring that most people are not likely to notice after its been painted up and weathered.

Slipping in these little pieces of strip styrene turned out to be trickier than expected. There just isn't much space for my big fingers, but the concept is pretty straight forward. Once the windscreens were in place I filled the gaps with Squadron Green and smoothed everything out.

After that I pinned and glued in place the MG shield, but didn't mount the MG and added the head lights. I glued the heads to the drivers and left those loose as well for painting. 

That's what it takes to get the Warlord Games UNIC P107 up to snuff for the gaming table. I was pretty unhappy with this kit and how poorly it went together considering how expensive it is.

World War II Project - Return to Normandy - P107/U304(f) Halftrack - Axles

I started the axle surgery on the Warlord Games P107s. Really nothing more complicated than cutting brass rod. The front, pewter, axle measured out fine, so I cut three pieces to match that length. Front "suspension" ready to go! The tracked portion requires a bit more finesse. The axle for the drive wheel is also not long enough. I decided to cut it long enough to be flush with the front of the casting on both sides. I drilled out the drive wheel hole and the return roller and inserted brass rod and cut it to the right length. The two small axle pieces are also not long enough. With the drive wheel axle in place I inserted the small axle on one side and cut it to length. Kind of a guess and by golly estimation to be sure. Also note that you need to drill out the return axle holes in the body of the vehicle as well. From there is was just a matter of making sure that all the axles would slide into the appropriate places and then glued things together.

After building these models I'm contemplating mounting all of my vehicles on to bases. Not my favorite thing to do but if I can find a way to do it and make it look good it would go a long way in protecting the models themselves.

Here are the steps:

A quick front axle dry fitting

This small axle is just not long enough, it wouldn't even reach the track casting.

  

Holding it all together after cutting the drive axle to length

The supplied axle was just not going to be long enough.

Testing fitting the drive and return roller axles

All the axles ready to go.

Broke the tip of my cutters. Brass is hard pay attention to where on the blade you are trying to cut on!

Drilled out the drive and return roller holes on the casting

That return roller axle is even close to being long enough

A quick test fit of the front wheel assembly. Here is the issue to be aware of the slots are not actually parallel to each other, they are crooked! I didn't bother to correct this but a few swipes with a file should take care of the issue.

Managed to get it all together. Basically I glued the axles to one side, set that assembly into place on the model and then press fit the other side into place. The hard part was getting the return roller axle into place on the second side.

This one ended up being a little long and needed to be trimmed. I suspect what really happened is that I didn't quite hit the hole in the body.

All the new axles in place

I know you can't really tell that I did anything but at least everything is together and (hopefully) will stay together.