Work in Progress

Flakpanzer IV Möbelwagen (Conversion from Esci Wirbelwind)

Posted by huib on 23 Jun 2018, 13:17

Painting

Not a very difficult paintjob, as the prototype Möbelwagen was painted plain Dunkelgelb, without a camouflage pattern.

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Humbrol 94 painted all over. I needed three to four layers to get sufficient opacity, especially on the white plastic parts.

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All details painted and the model covered with gloss varnish.
No decals. On the pictures of this prototype not any form of markings is present: no German crosses, no numbers and no unit sign. So, that's easy.

Now for some weathering.
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huib  Netherlands
 
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Posted by Peter on 23 Jun 2018, 16:38

Thank you for this nice and clear answer! :thumbup:

And now, go on with your project. We are waiting and you talk to much! :mrgreen: ;-) :thumbup:
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Peter  Belgium

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Posted by Wiking on 23 Jun 2018, 21:49

Huib wrote:
On the pictures of this prototype not any form of markings is present: no German crosses, no numbers and no unit sign. So, that's easy.

To save weight !
:mrgreen:
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Wiking  Germany
 
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Posted by huib on 24 Jun 2018, 19:48

Peter wrote:And now, go on with your project. We are waiting and you talk to much! :mrgreen: ;-) :thumbup:


I'm sorry about that. It won't happen again. I'm back to work now. ;-) :mrgreen:
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huib  Netherlands
 
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Posted by huib on 24 Jun 2018, 20:00

Weathering

I only want to do some minimal weathering on this vehicle, as it was a prototype that was only used for testing and demonstration purposes, and never was used in combat. So no mud, and no dents and scratches.

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A wash of dark brown oil paint in all nooks and crannies.

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After removing the excess oil paint, I did a drybrush of a light sand colour to highlight all raised detail.
Everything covered with a matte varnish.

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The effects of wash and drybrush on the lower hull side.

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A bit of rust on the exhaust muffler. I estimate this part of the vehicle is vulnerable for rust because of the high temperatures it can reach.

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Also the sparetracks got a few rustspots, and an extra heavy wash to visually separate them from the hull. The jack on the right front fender is the only part I did some chipping on. I imagine the tool was borrowed from another vehicle.

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And some detail of the gun cradle after weathering.

And now my vehicle needs some wheels.
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huib  Netherlands
 
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Posted by Peter on 24 Jun 2018, 21:12

Excellent work on the weathering! :thumbup:
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Peter  Belgium

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Posted by huib on 25 Jun 2018, 19:42

Thanks, Peter!

Wheels

To continue with the wheels:

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All wheels were painted and weathered on the sprue, so you have something to hold on to.

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The Esci returnrollers are awful, so for this kit I used Hasegawa returnrollers from the sparebox. But they also are not perfect, as the real returnrollers consist of two wheels with a slot inbetween. So I glued the return rollers with CA glue to short lenghts of 1,2mm iron wire. Then I used my Proxxon drill as a lathe and grinded in the slot with a razor saw.

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Before and after grinding.

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The return rollers after painting and weathering.

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The original axles of the of the return rollers removed. After that holes were drilled on the same spots.

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All wheels in place. The junctures with the sprue were sanded flat and camouflaged with paint and a drybrush.

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On its wheels! Now it's time for tracks.
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huib  Netherlands
 
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Posted by huib on 26 Jun 2018, 15:26

Tracks

To continue with the tracks

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The old Esci plastic band tracks are notorious. Detail of the outside of the tracks is not bad. But on the inside there is no detail and instead of guiding teeth the tracks have a continuous raised ridge in the middle. To make things worse they are made of a quite stiff quality of plastic. Arkoudaki suggested already to change the tracks for aftermarket stuff earlier in this thread. But although I have some suitable link & length tracls lying around I am hardheaded and wanting to try to make the most out of the Esci tracks first.

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First I painted the tracks. This time no rust, mud and dust, but factory fresh: dark grey with an iron coloured drybrush on the thread pattern.

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I connected the track ends by old fashioned melting the connector pins, supported by a drop of CA glue.

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I stuck ends of 0,7mm iron wire through the lower hull to force the tracks into the desired track sag. I started this exercise with much thinner 0,4mm iron wire, but this was just bent by the inflexible tracks. The iron wire was also painted grey to make it invisible after the tracks have been placed.

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Tracks in place.

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Track sag is a bit overdone, but it is useful to get a snug fit of the tracks around the wheels, as the Esci tracks are a tad too long.

It looks quite simple now, but it took me several hours to get the tracks like this: bent iron wire and its replacement, wheels broken of and glued back, connection between the track ends broke and repaired again, reposition of the tracks several times to get the connection point in the best position, etc,

For an Esci track I think the final result is not too bad. But I'm afraid some nasty things will show up in the final pictures. Well, that's my own choice of course, being stubborn to use these old tracks.
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huib  Netherlands
 
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Posted by Kekso on 26 Jun 2018, 15:34

It is pleasure to follow this topic. I enjoy every step of it.
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Kekso  Croatia

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Posted by Bluefalchion on 26 Jun 2018, 18:21

The tracks look better than "not too bad." I admire your dogged determination to get the most out of the existing kit. You are getting quite a lot out of it, no mistaking that.
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Bluefalchion  United States of America
 
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Posted by huib on 27 Jun 2018, 16:49

Thank you very much, Kekso and Bluefalchion!

Assembling the gun

In the meantime I also assemled the different parts of the quadruple 2cm Flak.
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The barrels in position and interconnected with a length of plastic rod. The shields glued in place

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The gunsight is connected to the barrels and moves up and down with the elevation of the guns.

Now we are approaching the finish. Some last details to attend to.
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huib  Netherlands
 
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Posted by huib on 28 Jun 2018, 20:52

The last details

A few small things and then it is finished.

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The sidewalls have hooks to connect them to the front and back plates. I made them of 0,3mm iron wire. On the picture they still need to be painted.

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And in the very end I placed the antenna. Now I only have to assemble the separate parts.

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In the fully opened configuration, having a full 360 degree hemispherical field of fire.

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In closed position when on the move. (And of course I managed to bend the antenna when raising the side walls. :( )

Final pictures soon!
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huib  Netherlands
 
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Posted by huib on 29 Jun 2018, 11:51

Final pictures

The Möbelwagen is finished!

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More pictures in the Gallery
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huib  Netherlands
 
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Posted by Peter on 29 Jun 2018, 20:26

This was once again a great topic to follow! Thanks Huib! :thumbup:
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Peter  Belgium

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Posted by huib on 01 Jul 2018, 20:58

Thank you, Peter!
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huib  Netherlands
 
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