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Playing in the Sandbox Group Build Sept 1, 2024 - Jn 1, 2025

Bronco Marder II


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2 minutes ago, Kaireckstadt said:

Great progress Gary! PE is always much work but the result speaks for itself.

You’re now close to the paintshop and the camo you choose is very attractive.

Thank you, Kai.  I wish I felt close.

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20 hours ago, DocRob said:

As we learned lately there are some riveters around here and now a wingnutter :D. Your PE work looks great Gaz, I love the clasps and other tiny details. I hope you don't knock them off while masking and painting.

Cheers Rob

Thank you for the kind words, Rob.  Still a long way to go on this one.

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Gaz

I feel the same about large PE parts, as they have a uniqueness all to themselves. I'm getting the feeling that you're going to do the cammo pattern with soft edges which seems to be correct way to go, especially if the cammo was applied in the field. 

Keep 'em comin

Peter

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  • 2 weeks later...

 

Thank you for the kind comments, fellas.  Throughout the week, I've been slowly putting together sub-structures of the gun and gun shield to get to a point before I can paint, weather, and assemble...   cuz I sure won't get a paintbrush in there once done.

This kit is on a whole other level for me.  I haven't built much stuff with open gun shields.  The last one I did was the Dragon Marder IIIH.  And it was my first armor build after 30+ years without.  Needless to say, it didn't go as well as I hope this one does.

 

Two pieces of clear optics for 4 spaces.  I'm assuming that they were only issued two and were expected to move them as required.

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The interiors of the three main parts of the shield.

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The gun and shield held together either by friction or blutack.

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I think that whoever made the directions assumed you could build all of this in one session.  The problem is that you have some very spindly parts without clear and definitive ways of assuring alignment unless it's all put together while the glue joints are all still soft.  Which is all well and good if you're the type who can weather all of that in confined space.  But I'm not.  These two parts highlighted by the red arrows have no way of being aligned if the gun carriage and full shield isn't in place.

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Here, you can see it after pulling apart.  Once I attach the shields, hopefully all of these braces slip into place easily.

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Once I put in the crew...  I have no idea how much will be seen.  But at least I hope the pre-completion pics look cool.

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I was wondering about the possible color for the periscopes.  I'm guessing these are black, but made to look brown by the yellow background.

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Thanks for looking!

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This seems to  be a nicely detailed kit and your fine work does it justice. I'm like you not very comfortable of painting and weathering in confined spaces, but had to learn it on my last two build. With a bit of pre planning some of the problem areas mostly are sorted out easily, the res,...

Cheers Rob

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14 hours ago, Kaireckstadt said:

The details of the cannon and the shield are very crisp. Great kit!

And you‘re right: The periscope look brown to me too. 
 

 

4 hours ago, DocRob said:

This seems to  be a nicely detailed kit and your fine work does it justice. I'm like you not very comfortable of painting and weathering in confined spaces, but had to learn it on my last two build. With a bit of pre planning some of the problem areas mostly are sorted out easily, the res,...

Cheers Rob

 

56 minutes ago, Bomber_County said:

Gaz, looking amazing, ironically the Dragon Marder III H was my first AFV back after the dark period………..I’m going have a look at this range……

Thank you, Fellas!

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Today I spent a lot of time on weathering with enamels and chipping with acrylics.  Not sure if it looks realistic...   but it doesn't look too clean.

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Weathering with enamels is quicker than oils...   but it doesn't allow you to spread them as far, or blend them in as much...   which helps make it look dirty...  if ya know what I mean.

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I left the gun sight green.  I figured there's really no reason to repaint it...  and it gave me another opportunity to provide contrast.

For scale purposes I've included a failed figure...   one I tried to do with acrylics only.

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You can see it's a cramped space for five guys to share.

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I have a little puttying to do...  but not much.

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And not that I see the full layout of the thing, I can see that the ammo was passed up from below for the loader to shove into the breech.  He didn't actually have to remove it from the ammo containers.

 

I have a lot of little details to add to the exterior...   and still the lion's share of the photoetch as well.

 

Happy modelling!

 

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That's a big gun for a tiny tank. With the armor shields applied, you can clearly see the improvisation, construction wise. Must have been very cramped inside and behind the shields. I like the weathering on the lower part and gun.

Cheers Rob

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1 hour ago, DocRob said:

That's a big gun for a tiny tank. With the armor shields applied, you can clearly see the improvisation, construction wise. Must have been very cramped inside and behind the shields. I like the weathering on the lower part and gun.

Cheers Rob

Ditto !!...... :popcorn:

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Gaz

Very nicely done and it always amazes me on what a kit manufacturer assumes a modeler can and can not do. The two braces and shield alignment is a perfect case in point and I doubt it the company spent much time actually test building the kit in the first place. Nice work getting everything to align and work out. The periscope is black on my monitor in one pic and brown in another but after carefully looking at all the photos, black seems to be the correct color as the brownish hue looks as if rust.

Nice work on all the details as a lot is going on in such a tight space and completely agree, I not a fan of paint in tight spaces either.

Cammo work is light and so very realistic - just my style.

Keep 'em comin

Peter

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HI Friends!

     I decided to caption the photos with the photo editor...   I think it makes the process a little faster than trying to remember what each photo means an hour after taking them.  Thanks for looking!

 

 

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4 minutes ago, DocRob said:

Nice detail work and great explanation about what you did. These open hull tanks are full of detail and not easy to build and paint.

Cheers Rob

Thank you,  Rob.  They definitely make you put in more time and effort.  Getting close to the stage where I need to fit the figures.

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15 hours ago, Bomber_County said:

Looks very good, bet the complex PE was a matter of think three times and bend once…..

 

14 hours ago, harv said:

This is so true.....harv :popcorn:

 

8 hours ago, Peterpools said:

Gaz

Sweet progress and your new method of explanations right on each pics works perfectly. So glad in the end you conquered the large PE frame into submission - looks mighty good.

Keep 'em comin

Peter

Thank you, Fellas!

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