BP Models

Due to Father's Day stuff and other things going on, paint work on the interior was delayed so I made the most of what time I did have available yesterday and today to work on the remaining gun details and get it ready for paint along with the rest of the vehicle.

Steps 30-32 deal with the gun shield and Step 33 has you install the shield onto the gun mount. I can understand where this might have some appeal but because of the way the shield support arms are installed and configured, I opted to do things slightly differently. I assembled the front part of the shield as called for in Step 30 and also added the sliding portion of the shield that moves with the gun barrel when it is elevated, installing parts F9-F10 directly to the recoil tray first and then lining them up on the sliding shield piece. The front part of the shield was then fixed into permanent position with the top braces before moving on.

I also made a correction to the front gun travel lock's open position. After checking references, I realized that the lock halves have no visible means of support when the lock isn't engaged and would sit flat and not the way Bronco shows them in the diagram in Step 33. Back in Step 29 Bronco neglected to identify part A19 (the left hand trigger lever) and just shows it magically installed with no call-out, so once I figured out what part it was and on what sprue, I added it as well to the gun.

Last but not least I completed Step 25's assembly of the crew seats and the foul weather cover support, opting to install the support in the 'down' position.






Next came the sides of the splinter shield. Instead of adding the side support bars to the shields, I installed them first to the sides of the gun mounts and let them set while the sides were dry-fit and then glued the sides permanently in place. I used some small amounts of putty to recreate the weld seams on the front joins to complete its assembly.





Just to round things out, I did a test fit with the mount into the hull to ensure the shields would clear the compartment sides.





Now there's truly nothing left but to paint the interior!

As promised, paint work was the order of the day for this latest round of progress. Figuring out when and how to paint things is important with this vehicle given its somewhat unique design characteristics with that mesh back end to the fighting compartment. I decided to go ahead and paint only the interior of the fighting compartment, the exterior of the mesh areas, and the gun and mount in this round. First up was the application of a primer coat by airbrush using MM Italian Dark Brown.



After that had dried, the base coat went on using the same 50/50 Dunkelgelb/Light Gray mix used earlier on the hull interior. The gun and mount are dry-fit only and will remain separate until the camo pattern is on to make it easier to avoid paint over-spray issues in the fighting compartment.



Since I already had the airbrush loaded up with primer and the DY mix at various points in the day, I took advantage of that and painted the road wheels. They were primered at the same time as the vehicle and then the rubber rims were airbrushed with MM enamel Gunmetal while still on the hubs. Once that had dried, I removed the outer rubber tire and used a circle template to mask the hub and avoid getting paint on the rim since they are too tight to tolerate any paint interference with the rubber rim going on. Hubs were airbrushed with the DY/LG mix and then the rubber rims put back in place.



Rounding out things, I worked on some of the fighting compartment interior details. The crew seat cushions were hand painted in a multi-step process. First a base coat of MM enamel Gunmetal was applied, then I dry-brushed several layers in the order of MM enamel Leather, some of the DY/LG mix, another Leather pass, and then a final very light layer of the original enamel Gunmetal. I also applied some Black artist pastels in a couple of spots to even things out a bit.

The kit-supplied gas mask containers were installed as well along with the jack block and holder. For the jack block, I added some wood grain texture to the block since Bronco molded it smooth using the point of a square needle file to score the plastic and then lightly sanded it down. The block was base coated with the DY/LG mix, then given a light wash of MM enamel Leather to bring out the grain texture.



The interior and gun will be allowed to thoroughly cure before moving on their weathering stages as the next step.

Started in on the fun part this round with the weathering work on the fighting compartment and the rear portion of the gun. As a foundation, I created some scuffs/chipping by stippling MM enamel Burnt Umber in various areas and then sealed that up with a coat of Future and allowed it to cure overnight before applying more weathering. First step involved a wash of MM enamel Raw Umber, then some dry-brushing of the 50-50 base-coat mix, then a second wash of MM enamel Raw Sienna, more dry-brushing of the base-coat mix, then a pin wash of MM enamel Burnt Umber, and a last very light dry-brushing of the base-coat mix where the pin wash had been applied to round things out. All those layers were then sealed together with an application of MM Lusterless Flat via rattle-can to remove the remaining Future gloss and unify everything together.



The gun received slightly different treatment. I hand detailed all the various parts such as the breech lever, the gunner's and loader's triggers, the breech block, the sight, and the control wheel knobs and then it too was given a coat of Future on the inside portions only since there's more paint work to be done on the exterior pieces later. The gunner's sight was molded solid on both ends so I used a pin vise and micro-drill bits to open up both their faces for added detail. Chipping/scuffing was done with the same stippled Burnt Umber approach prior to the Future and then post-Future a wash of Raw Umber added followed by careful dry-brushing of the 50-50 base-coat mix to create the weathering. That was all sealed up with a dose of the MM Lusterless Flat at the same time as the fighting compartment.





And just to be sure it all 'looks right' together, here's a top-down shot showing the gun in position along with the weathered fighting compartment.



Next up will be spending some time on the MK workable tracks, need to get them squared away and fitted properly before finishing up the hull details and getting it painted.

Spent a good deal of time with the Marder in the paint booth today but before we get to that, there were some small little details on the hull that needed tending to. They included the large fighting compartment lifting eyes (H9) and the tiny tie-down loops in PE (P33). There are 16 of the PE loops that go around the top of the compartment and these were glued in place using liquid glue and Bronco's conveniently molded locater holes. These are quite delicate and Bronco provides 6 extras on the PE fret as back-ups just in case. I also added the spare track holder to the hull nose to round things out.



With that out of the way, it was time to finish the hull painting. I masked offer the interior on the compartment and the gun with blue painter's tape and set to work with the airbrush. Primer coat of MM Italian Dark Brown followed by the base coat of 50/50 MM Light Gray/Panzer Dunkelgelb did the trick.



The camo pattern came next. I used MM Khaki for the green portions first then added the red-brown using a 50/50 mix of MM Leather/Military Brown. After correcting for a little over-spray here and there, a mist coat using heavily thinned base coat was applied to tie the scheme together.







While that sits and cures up, work will continue on the tracks and other remaining equipment details.

Another productive round at the workbench to report as the Marder II D gets closer to the finish line. After letting the camo work sit for a bit, I decided to hit it one more time with another mist coat pass of the base coat to soften things a bit more and provide some additional fading.



Then it was time to have some fun with the lower hull and suspension. I added some wear to the lower hull by stippling some MM enamel Burnt Umber and then dry-brushing the base coat back over it. The sprockets and idlers had their contact surfaces treated with MM non-buffing Metalizer Steel and lightly dry-brushed with Burnt Umber. Since the road wheels are such a prominent feature on this vehicle, I gave them a coat of Future and then applied a wash of MM enamel Raw Umber followed by a dry-brush treatment with the base coat to bring out their detail. Sprockets and idlers are only dry-fit at this point and more weathering will come later with the pigment process.



Over the course of the last couple of weeks I'd been putting time in on the MK workable tracks as well. This set has the links molded individually with 4 contact points to clean up and the pins molded two to a 'handle'. Using the handy MK-supplied jig, runs of 10 links were assembled to create the full track runs. Both the MK instructions and the Bronco instructions indicate 94 links as the recommended total and to be on the safe side I stopped at 92 links before doing a test-fit.



As it turned out, even 92 links was too long even with the idler at its maximum position. I ended up needing only 89 links on the left side and 90 links on the right side. I checked to make sure there wasn't a size difference between the MK links and the Bronco links and both are exactly the same size...so no idea where the discrepancy comes from.





MK set had 20 links left over so I used 10 to create the spare track run for the front.



Tracks were dismounted and then given an airbrush coat using MM enamel Burnt Umber as the foundation. Once that cures, more work will be done to finish them up.



Next up will be working on the remaining details and getting them installed.

Lots of great progress to report for this weekend's bench efforts with the focus put on the remaining hull details in particular. All the tools were hand painted and detailed and installed in their various locations at the front of the hull and on the rear mesh screen of the fighting compartment. Curiously, the Bronco PE fret only provides 4 handles for the tools that go on the front fenders and none for the tools that go on the rear...the omission is also there in the instruction sheet, the tools are clearly shown assembled and installed sans handles...so I used some extras from a Griffon PE clamp set for those tools to make up for it.

I also added a little bit of visual interest by creating a different shade of the Panzer Dunkelgelb/Light Gray combo and used this on the jack and fire extinguisher. Since this type of gear was manufactured separately from the vehicle and added at the final stages before the vehicle was shipped out, you wouldn't expect a 100% match so they got the slightly different (and darker) treatment to reflect that.

Last but not least, the spare track run was detailed up and installed in place in the rack on the hull nose.





Other rear hull details were picked out as well. I used Tamiya Clear Green for the Notek convoy light lenses and Tamiya Clear Red over some MM non-buffing Metalizer Steel for the brake lights. The visible parts of the exhaust system were also detailed although they are all but hidden away in various places.



Tracks also received some attention. I dry-brushed enamel MM Steel and then followed that with a wash of enamel Raw Umber to prep these for the pigment weathering to come later.



With the details squared away, a coat of Future via airbrush sealed everything in and was allowed to dry for an hour before the decals were added. Markings are simple for this scheme and vehicle, just crosses and small white numbers on either side of the fighting compartment. Decals were treated with Solvaset to ensure they snugged down with no silvering and then a 2nd coat of Future applied to seal them in and protect against the weathering to come.



Coming down the home stretch now on this one, not a whole lot left to do to get 'er done!

Felt good to get back to work on this project over the weekend and make some more progress with it. This round of effort focused on the weathering with the first step involving the application of an overall wash of thinned MM enamel Raw Umber with a round 000 sable brush. This step inevitably darkens the finish but it's meant as a foundation step only for what's to come.



That next step in the process is the application of dot filters. Using small pointed brushes, dots of MM enamel Flat White, Raw Sienna, and the 50/50 Light Gray/Panzer DY mix used earlier were applied to small sections of the vehicle at a time. Using a square-tip blender brush lightly dampened with thinner and repeated strokes, the dots are blended together until they virtually disappear, creating a filter and streaking effect in the process.



Because the enamel paints will start to dry fairly quickly, it's necessary to work in small sections at a time and plan the directionality as you move around the vehicle. Lots of thinner is involved, so I wear a breather mask throughout the process, and after a couple of hours, the process is complete.



I let that sit overnight and then went to work on a pin wash using MM enamel Burnt Umber. The Bronco kit has some very nicely molded fine details like the slotted screws on the fighting compartment exterior that I wanted to accentuate, so a 10/0 pointed brush was used to pick them out with the pin wash. Excess wash was cleaned up using the same pointed brush and clean thinner where needed.





This will also get a chance to sit for a little bit so I can come back to it with fresh eyes and make any necessary adjustments before the flat coat will be applied and the pigment weathering process begin.

Managed to get in the most bench time in a single weekend in a long time and made the most of it with the remaining steps on the Marder II D. After making some minor adjustments here and there to last week's efforts, a sealing coat of Testors MM Lusterless Flat was applied via rattle can.



While that was drying in the spray booth, I applied pigment weathering to the tracks using MIG Dry Mud. This was applied as a wet mixture using tap water as the carrier with a drop of liquid dish washing soap added to break the surface tension. The mixture was left to air dry and then excess pigment removed using a series of stiff bristled brushes until I had the look I wanted.



Next came pigments for the hull, using the same wet approach but with MIG Dark Mud as the pigment of choice.



After air drying, it was attacked with stiff bristled brushes along with wet and dry cotton swabs to get the final result.



Then it was time to fit the tracks to both sides and fix the sprockets and idlers in position once the track tension was adjusted to the proper settings.





The gun was permanently fixed into position once all the handling of the lower hull was complete and the radio antenna and mount added using an RB 2m brass antenna rod in place of the kit part.



Then it was off to the photo booth for the final walk-around shots.

This build project is featured in the FineScale Modeler July 2014 issue: