elmarriachi

Hello, the elevators for the munition are also finished now. First I have modified the crane hooks with some wheels inside and a hook made of wire. On the top of the elevators I have added also two wheels under the winch/engine and glued in place. Some wire cable was glued inside the hooks, then the hooks were hooked in the elevators and the cables spanned to the upper wheels and glued in place inside the winch. Now follows the painting of the elevators... Now I wish you all a MERRY CHRISTMAS! Cheers Micha

Yes, it will be a (very small) diorama...

Hello, some new pictures of thoe howitzer. Most of the add-on parts are installed, the kit is nearly finished. Now some little weathering and a (very small) base follow ... Now I wish you all a MERRY CHRISTMAS! Cheers Micha

Hello @ all, the bigest assemblys are finished and dry fitted on the following pictures. On these finished asseblys I have added further details such as walkways, first ladders, handrails, crane and further stuff. Some more will follow later after the painting. The painting was made with Tamiya's German Grey at first, some highlights added with light grey. A drybrushing with light grey, some scratches and damages in the paint with a sponge followed next. A first washing with black oil colors followed before the bare metal was painted with "Rub'n Buff" which will be polished later. I think I will not add more weathering, no rust or dust I think ... I want to keep it in a good condition Cheers Michael LG Micha

The heavy howitzer M1 was a heavy artillery gun of the German Wehrmacht during 2nd Worldwar, developed and built by Rheinmetall. It was produced starting 1939. After the completing of the first gun and after the testing, the 1st cannon went to the heavy Artillery regiment (mot) 641. The weight of the howitzer was more then 123.500 Kilogramm and was built on a 2-piece base plate which allowed the howitzer to make 360° turns without having to do modifications on it. For transporting of this heavy cannon it was necessary to use 6 different transport trucks, the construction on the field was possible within 2 hours with an electronical crane. The gun barrel was 9,585m long and it was possible to raise it from +45° to max. 75° in high, and it had a durability of approx. 2000 shots. The weight of each used bullet was 575Kg. Totally 8 heavy howitzers M1 were built during the production time between 1939 and 1944. During the battle in F rance the howitzers were used for the bombardemebt of teh PFL I Line. after the fortress Eben-Amael was fallen during the first days of the battle already. The gun was taken over to the heavy artillery batallion 641 on 27th of July 1940 and delivered to the Eastern front. used at Operation Barbarossa in the 9th divison. In 1942 the howitzer was used ad the assault on Sevastopol under the command of the 11th division Group South. Finally in 1942 it arrived in Leningrad and was used at the siege of the city. After its withdrawal of the Eastern Front it was returned to the Reich and was used for a last time at the quell of the rebellion in Warszaw in 1944. It is interestingly that only the way of this heavy gun is comprehensible, although 5 further guns were inherited in active duty in 1942 and furter more in the following years until 1944. The kit of this heavy howitzer is offered from the Chinese manufacturer Soar Art Workshop, who already have some experience with heavy guns as they offered the railyway gun DORA as one of the biggest kits ever in this scale 1/35. The fitting and details are very well done, the plastic is easy to work with (and also standart glue is usable this time). The beautiful carton is full of wonderful parts, and as a kind of bonus there is also a 3D-drawing (blue print) of the gun included. The biggest flaw is the two-piece gun barrel which is not correct in size, details and the missing of any decals. All together it is a great kit of an impressive cannon. A very usefull upgrade is already available from Schatton Modellbau in Germany - a wonderful detailed and corrected gun barrel made of turned aluminium. If using that it is urgently necessary to use some counterweight for the barrel - otherwise it would be much too heavy to stay lifted up! Der I have started to fit the parts of the bases and the lower construction of the cannon. Everything remains movable if you work carefully. Further details as well as some platforms and walkways were added here later, together with the detailed multi-piece handrails. The loading mechanism remains also movable, the aluminium barrel is glued only at the backside of the loading block which received some counterweight of lead to keep the barrel balanced. Further details were added, the installation follows later after the painting. Next task are further plattforms around the base construction and further details.... Cheers Micha

Hello @ all. Dora received her decals now... not perfect, but much better then before although some are still a bit visible as decals. But after some weathering it will be ok I think! After the decals are added and a matt clear coat sprayed over it I have added some light grey dry brushing on the wagons, the bridge and the main gun itself ... So here it is - as it looks like now ... I think I will not add much more weathering to it .... I am thinking about some beige dust on the horizontal areas, some rust streaks ... but I am not shure. Maybe I want to keep it as it looks like now? What do you think? Cheers Michael

Thank you very much :)

Hello, Suited to the coming Christmas Season ... a small winter/Christmas diorama I have put my finished Mercedes Benz L3000A Snowplow in a small winter diorama, wich I made with the small house and base from MiniArt. The Mercedes Benz L3000 as base truck comes from Italeri, received the 4-wheel drive modification and the snowplow from Plus Model and some resin wheels from Signifer. The Santa Claus is coming from MAIM. This is my first try with snow ... I think for the first time it is ok .... improvable, but ok .... I hope you like it ... Cheers, Michael

Hello. thank you very much Yes, it is impressivly big :) Big and heavy the gun mount with add-on parts also received its painting now. First Tamiya's German Grey, followed with light grey higlights and a blue oil color filter.... Also this part will wait for the print of the decals now, then I will spray on a layer of clear coat as base for the decals which follow next. After a matt clear coat to seal the decals I will start with a light weathering - rust streaks, rainmarks, dust, ... But now it will pause a few days, as I will be on a bussines trip until middle of next week ... Cheers Micha

The painted main struts of the gun. The painting of these was a kind of logistical problem as it is really, really big... lot of paint and much to big for my paint booth ... Also painted in German Grey, highlights with light grey, filtering ... The engine room after the paint, some chains added at the hand rail ... All the painting was made in a cloudy way, so that the black plastic was partially visibile under the grey paint. This gave some first kind of shadow to the big grey surfaces. Some light grey was used for adding highlights in the big surfaces, specially at the areas which were in the light. The bluefilter from AK Interactive is a great product to give some variety in the color and makes it look more interesting. Next step will be some dry brushing of all the painted parts with a lighter grey, then a pin wash with high diluted black oil color. A final layer of future will be the base for the decals, which were made completely new, printed on a very thin decal foil and will be added next Cheers Micha

The loading mechanism was painted with Tamiya German Grey, then added some highlights with a light grey and a filter with AK Interactive's "Blue for German Grey" ... The plattform after the painting, highlighting and filtering ...

Hello, some new update of the Dora gun. First the modified gun barrel, ready for a first layer of primer (and maybe more sanding and primering after that). The loading mechanismus of the gun got a lot of modifications. The kit parts are realy simplified and need lot of modification. I have added some details with plastic profile, plastic card, parts from other kits, wire, .... The plattform at the rear of the gun was mounted next, then lot of modifications added. Some made of plastic profile, lot of mesh for all catwalks, modified hand rail and new made plattform left and right of the pillars.

Hi Jeroen, oh I lost it several times... That's why I started this kit alredy years ago ... with several years pause ... Cheers Michael

UPDATE After a layer of Future I have added all the thousands decals of the new peddinghaus-set. This is a lot of work. ... and each decal needs to be cut out .... Now some days drying, then matt clear coat to save the decals ... then a little bit of weathering (but not much) The "Kraftzentrale" was first painted inside in a light grey, then outside in German Grey, with light grey highlights. The doors were painted light grey, highlights in white. Now also a filter from AK Interactive follows, then future, then decals and matt clear coat.... Cheers Micha

Update 3 All the 8 wagons and the 4 bridges were painted in Tamiya's "German Grey" first, then I have added some highlights with a ligther grey. After that a washing with AK Interactive's "Blue Washing for German Grey" followed, also the (hand painted) silver wheels. A layer Future as base for the decals came next.... Next steps - decals, then matt clear coat, then further wathering .... Cheers Micha

Update 2: The housing received some putty (not yet sanded) and the doors, partly open, with some (not finished) clasps inside. On the roof I have added a new exhaust which is possibly visible on one picutre. Also I have added some closed hatches. The exhaust on the downside of the floor received some new, open endpipes...

Update 1: Some of the doors and hatches at the "Kraftzentrale" (engine room) will remain open or at least partly open. Due to that it was necessary to add something to the inside. I have searched wherever I could but have not found a detailed picture of the engine. As there won't be much visible of it I have decided to make it with some parts which I had left from any other kits... some trucks, tanks, airplanes, sprues, ... whatever I could find and glued together. After that I have painted it in a light grey with the airbrush, then added some colors with the paint brush to it. I think it would be ok inside the engine room.... Also I have added one area ("indside a 1/24 truck tank") with some handwheels, lever and - later - some gauges. The floor of the catwalk is made with plastic profile (evergreen) and aluminium mesh.

Hello @ All, Want to show you some pictures of my finished Oshkosh M911 8x6 C-Het in scale 1/35. The kit is coming from the Hungarian manufacturer MinimanFactory and consists of several highest quality Resin parts, photo etched parts and clear foil for the windows. Construction is nearly the same way as a "standart" plastic kit ... very good fitting, great details and a "real beast" once finished.... Hope that you like it! Cheers Micha

Hello, the chassis is finished. All the wheels are mounted, only the center parts of the rims are still missing here. The exhaust pipes are included, painted in black and rusty colors. Some rusty shades of darker color will follow with pigments. The cab was painted in Nato green inside, then weathered and masked. All the small parts of the exterieur were added before painting as far as possible. Then the exterieur got painted in black (primer), then dark yellow and Tamiya's buff. The black marking on the doors and the window frames were painted next. The weathering started with brown, beige and white oil colors. In the meantime the double winches behind the cab were finished, primered and painted in the same way as the cab, as well as the other parts. Next I will add the window foil, then the interior, then I will mount everything on the chassis .... Cheers Micha

Hi, here are the bogies once again - totally there are four nearly identically bogies now (each consisting of two 5-axled wagons). The differences are only the railings and the chests on top. Next step will be a washing of the wooden parts.... then salt/water on the wood.... then airbrush in German Grey.... as fist step Then some highlights with light grey... drybrushing, washings Cheers Micha

Hello all together. A long time ago… at a place far, far away … I have started a big project concerning the German railway gun „Dora“. I have planned to continue this never ending project several times, but due to some other projects I never had the nerve to go back to the “Dora-project”. I have made lot of modifications and changes to the kit which made lot of work necessary. This discouraged me to continue so many times… so many times I had the “Dora” back on my desk, but never really started to continue finally. Now finally, after some years of pause I want to come back to this work…. What are we talking about… the “Dora”. It was Hitler Germany’s biggest (often called by mistake) railway gun, although it was no railway gun as it was not able to drive on rails. It was transported in several separate pieces and put together at its final destination. The kit in scale 1/35 from manufacturer Soar Art Workshop was called the biggest plastic kit ever…. And it is really, really huge. Big parts, lot of parts and lot of mistakes. There are many things at the kit that need some modifications or upgrades, some changes which I started long time ago. A small survey of the changes done before are … Gun barrel. The gun barrel in the kit is too long and the proportions are wrong. I have cut the barrel in several pieces, shortened each part and put it together once again with an aluminium pipe inside for stability. Catwalks. The catwalks in the original cannon were made of wire frame. In the kit it is made of one-piece plastic walks. I have made new catwalks with mesh and new crossbars. Railings. All railings in the kit are about 10mm too high. I have modified each railing to its correct sizes. Wagons. The gun was situated on 4 long wagons. Each of these wagons consisted of two separate wagons, put together under carriers. The kit provides 4 long wagons. I have cut each and made 8 separate wagons as it is at the original cannon. The running surface was made new of real balsa wood. Further changes or modificatsions will follow during the further built of this model. But for the moment, some pictures of the actual state of the kit in the following … The next steps will be the platform at the top rear of the gun and the engine bay below it. Also I will start painting of the eight railway wagons in the next days. I hope that this might become an interesting project for you, although I want to warn that I will not be able to work on it daily… so the updates will not come every day or week I think…. But after such long time I will continue now finally Cheers, Micha

Thank you very much mates !

Hello, some updates of the M911 HETs. The frame was finished, received some fuel pipes at the tanks. After finishing I have black primered the frame, the wheels and the engine as a base for the final painting. The engine and one wheel was painted in Nato-Green, then the details at the engine painted in silver, black and dark rust, then washing with a dark grey/brown oil color wash. The frame and the other wheels were first painted in Tamiya Dark Yellow, then brushed with Tamiya Buff. Buff is the main color of the painting, the dark yellow is for the shadows. All the scratches and damages on the wheels and on the frame were made with a dark grey color and a sponge and a thin pencil.A brown/yellow oil color wash followed. The tires wre painted in Nato-Black, the rims were masked with a cap of some color bottles Then washed with beige color to show some dusted look on the wheel. On the pictures the wheels are only loose, not glued yet. Next I will add some leaking oil and dust on the parts .... then glue the wheels Cheers Micha

Hello, please find some pictures of my finished Macchi M.5 in 1/32 scale by HPH Models in the following. The kit is made of resin, photo etched parts, wooden parts, wire, decals and EZ-Line for the rigging. Painted with colors from Lifecolor and Tamiya, plus different oil colors for the wooden parts. The rips of the wings were preshaded with a pencil and after the painting finished with different pigments in light colors. I hope that you like it! I hope that you like the final result. It is a great kit of HPH, although it was not easy (specially the mounting of the upper wing). Cheers Micha

Hello, the frame is ready for painting Some further parts added such as the tanks, steps, mesh, front fenders and some parts more. A detailed wiring is not necessary as there won't be anything visible later due to the parts following on top of the frame. Also the engine is mostly finished. One etched parts is a skewed and needs some repairing. Some further pipes will follow later when then engine is installed in the frame of the truck. Cheers Micha