Work in Progress

Hasegawa 1/72 Flakpanzer IV Möbelwagen conversion

Posted by Wiking on 17 Nov 2018, 06:38

Bluefalchion wrote:
Great idea with the beer can.

Conclusion. If a modeller is drinking, he is able to do very complex bending and cutting stuff. :eh:

:mrgreen:


You do a really good job huib! :yeah:
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Wiking  Germany
 
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Posted by huib on 18 Nov 2018, 21:26

Thank you very much guys, for your kind remarks!
Wiking wrote:If a modeller is drinking, he is able to do very complex bending and cutting stuff.

Quite right!! :yeah:
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huib  Netherlands
 
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Posted by huib on 18 Nov 2018, 21:44

Foldable shields

The foldable shields for the fighting compartment are finished.

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I started with four pieces of 0,5mm styrene. The front and backs shield are not square but trapezoid: a bit narrower at the top than at the bottom.

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Cut outs were made at the right places for the hinges. A piece of iron wire was glued to the styrene as the axle for the hinges. In reality there is such an iron rod there which works as a torsion bar, making the lowering and raising of the heavy armour plates an easy job.

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A small testfit revealed several issues. The front and back plates appeared to be too narrow, so I had to make new ones (A1 and V1 are the new plates). And the iron wire had to be repositioned to enable faultless hinging.

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When everything worked more or less flawlessly, the shields were further detailed with hinges, loopholes, spare barrels, etc.

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Ready for paint!
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huib  Netherlands
 
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Posted by Bluefalchion on 19 Nov 2018, 07:38

I am not sure that anyone has more fun scratch building stuff than huib. Really cool look. And the fact that the parts function the way the genuine article would do? Icing on the cake!
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Bluefalchion  United States of America
 
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Posted by MABO on 19 Nov 2018, 22:00

Bluefalchion wrote:I am not sure that anyone has more fun scratch building stuff than huib. Really cool look. And the fact that the parts function the way the genuine article would do? Icing on the cake!


I second that!
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MABO  Europe
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Posted by Peter on 20 Nov 2018, 20:58

I nominate the following pictures as picture of the WIP:

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When someone uses a beercan of my favorite beer, then he is my best friend! :-D

Huib more beer please! ;-) :thumbup:
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Peter  Belgium

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Posted by huib on 20 Nov 2018, 21:11

Bluefalchion wrote:I am not sure that anyone has more fun scratch building stuff than huib.

:-D :-D Possibly! Who knows?

Peter wrote:When someone uses a beercan of my favorite beer, then he is my best friend!

This proves again that beer is very important for friendship. I have to remember that! ;-)
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huib  Netherlands
 
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Posted by huib on 21 Nov 2018, 17:17

Painting

The paintjob is done! But before I show, first a bit of research:

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Studying lot's of photographs indicates that Möbelwagens were factory delivered in plain Dunkel Gelb (dark yellow, a sand colour). But if you look at pictures of Möbelwagens in field conditions they are without exception painted in two, and mostly three tone camouflage patterns, most likely using the standard German camouflage colours of olive green and red brown. Look:

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From the irregular and sometimes shabby looks of the camouflage patterns, they appear to me field applications, done by spraying in the batallion workshop, or by brushes, brooms and rags by the vehicle crew in the field, which is known to be standard practice in the German army. So, such a pattern is what I am aiming for.

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First the whole model was covered with four layers of Dunkel Gelb (Humbrol 94) to reach sufficient opacity on the white styrene parts.

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After that a fine pattern of reddish brown (Humbrol 113) with a very sharp pointed brush.

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Followed by a similar pattern of olive green (Humbrol 86)

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Difficult to see on the picture, but nevertheless important: applying a drybrush of the base color (Humbrol 94) all over, I tried to tone down the contrast between the diffeent colours, and blend in the camouflage pattern. After that all tools and other details were painted.

Ready for a gloss cote now.
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huib  Netherlands
 
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Posted by Graeme on 21 Nov 2018, 18:38

This WIP report starts out awesome, and gets more impressive as it goes along.

The building of the beer can shield is probably not very different to the work that was done on the full size original. How realistic is that?

Your finished models always look great but I don't know a lot about WWII kits so if it wasn't for these WIPs I wouldn't know about the incredible detail you put into them.

Very glad I saw this.

P.S. The Jackson Pollock camoflage is COOL!
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Graeme  Australia
 
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Posted by Peter on 21 Nov 2018, 21:00

Real nice cammo pattern! Looks good so far Huib! :thumbup:

Have a beer! ;-)

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Peter  Belgium

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Posted by Susofrick on 22 Nov 2018, 11:00

Okay! :beer: I can't help it, but I always think of IKEA when I see the title of this topic (möbel=furniture in Swedish :-D ). Very nice work!
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Posted by Konrad on 22 Nov 2018, 18:45

Really impressive!
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Konrad  Germany
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Posted by Wiking on 22 Nov 2018, 20:18

I know how much (boring) work is done with all this brown and green bows and curves (meander) for camouflage.
Looks good !

I like that you open the round observer holes.
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Wiking  Germany
 
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Posted by Beano Boy on 23 Nov 2018, 08:56

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I had looked into it at length on November the 12th, as I studied your pictures,and the gun that I had
fetched down from my railway room.

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You had therefore thought it out too.
Bravo! So to you alone goes the thunder! :thumbup:

Yes they were of course painted in the field, and I guess most were quite shabby in certain degrees? After all not all crews manning these things and others beside were ………
artist authors like yourself ? :thumbup: Well done.

I guess they also mounted the 4 gun version of the weapon too on these as they did on the half tractor versions that once pulled the famous 88`s around?

Thank you for mentioning the Humbrol paints you used. This I feel is a great help indeed for those who struggle with coloured paints. Myself included being one. :-D BB
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Posted by huib on 23 Nov 2018, 13:10

Thanks, BB!

Beano Boy wrote:and the gun that I had fetched down from my railway room.

Ah, that is the Zvezda 20mm Flak. A very nice model. I used it earlier in this model.


Beano Boy wrote:I guess they also mounted the 4 gun version of the weapon too on these as they did on the half tractor versions that once pulled the famous 88`s around?

Yes, there was only one protype made. I built this model recently.
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huib  Netherlands
 
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Posted by huib on 23 Nov 2018, 13:18

Thank you very much for your kind comments, guys!

Peter wrote:Have a beer!

Thanks, Peter! I took one and it tasted very well! :yeah:

Susofrick wrote:I can't help it, but I always think of IKEA when I see the title of this topic (möbel=furniture in Swedish )

:-D :yeah: That is not so strange as it means the same in German. The vehicle got this nickname because its boxy appearance resembled the looks of a furniture truck.

Wiking wrote:how much (boring) work is done with all this brown and green bows and curves

To be honest it was not boring at all. I always like painting the camouflage patterns. Painting the shields was easy, but it was difficult to get a similar pattern on the rest of the vehicle with all its nooks and crannies.
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huib  Netherlands
 
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Posted by huib on 23 Nov 2018, 13:30

Thanks, Steve!

Decals

A small step: After two layers of gloss cote, I applied a few decals.

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Only crosses and vehicle numbers on the side shields of the vehicle.

And now it is time for weathering!
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huib  Netherlands
 
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Posted by huib on 25 Nov 2018, 10:24

Weathering

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Weathering started with a filter of yellow ochre oils. When it was dry and covered with a new gloss cote, I applied a point wash with dark brown oils. After that drybrushing with the base colour (Humbrol 94) to further fade and blend in the camouflage pattern and the decals. And after that a drybrush with a very light sand colour (Humbrol 121) to create highlights on the model.

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Next step was to apply mud to the bottom and sides of the hull, using four colours of brown and khaki.

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I finished weathering with some chipping using a pencil, and two layers of matt varnish.

To compare, a side shield before and after weathering:
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Before

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After
The effect of the filter and drybrushing in order to fade and blend in the camouflage pattern and the decals is imminent.

And now for some wheels!
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huib  Netherlands
 
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Posted by huib on 27 Nov 2018, 10:57

Wheels

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All wheels were painted on the sprue....

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.....and weathered: wash, drybrush, mud and a bit of chipping.

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All wheels constructed.

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And glued in position. The attachment points to he sprue are camouflaged with paint and a drybrush.

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Ready to receive some tracks!
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huib  Netherlands
 
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Posted by huib on 29 Nov 2018, 11:39

Tracks

To continue with the tracks:

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The Hasegawa rubber band tracks are very soft and elastic. I have good experiences with these tracks, as they make an easy and tight fit around the wheels. On the other hand detail of the tracks is not very good, but I can live with that.

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After some painting and weathering.

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The track ends connected with CA glue and a hot screwdriver.

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Fit was very easy and tight. Quite a relieve compared to the old Esci and Airfix rubber band tracks.

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On it's own feet now. Let's finish this model now.
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huib  Netherlands
 
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