Italeri Demag D7 with Pak 38 and Dragon Pak 38 with Fallschirmjager (2008)

[Bill Plunk]

Build log for project combining Italeri kit #6383 Demag D7 w/ Pak 38 5cm, DML kit #6118 Pak 38 with Fallschirmjager, Eduard PE detail set #35586, and Model Kasten replacement sprockets and workable tracks set K-31.

[Bill Plunk]

The 1-ton towing tractor Sdkfz 10, or "Demag D7" as Italeri refers to it as, often got converted to other duties since its towing capacity was so small. One of those was a field modification to carry a 5.0cm Pak 38 and is a vehicle that's always fascinated me.

Work started in on the interior with Step 1 of the instructions calling for only a few parts to be installed. The Eduard detail set provides a wealth of detail upgrades for this area. The molded on crude details for the axle housing was removed and replaced with the Eduard items and the perforated guard housings for the transmission/final drive were also used to beef up the detail. The foot rest panels with treadplate were also added along with the driver's foot pedals. The shift levers and box were totally replaced and the heads of the levers were given a more 3-D look by dipping them in Gator Glue and letting it dry.



Next up was the instrument panel and dashboard. The molded on details on the Italeri part were completely removed with a #11 blade and sanded smooth and the Eduard parts used in their place. The Eduard set provided printed paper faces for the gauges and a couple slipped out of alignment slightly by accident when glued but once the dash is painted, won't look out of place. The grab-bar for the passenger seat was made out of brass rod and bent to shape in place of the kit part.



Step 2 deals with installing the interior tub into the lower hull and attaching the rear plate. Some rubber bands were required to get a good join and insure everything squared up properly. This was allowed to sit for about an hour or so before the bands were removed.



Step 3 installs the front wheel suspension and a lot of clean up of mold seams and ejector marks was necessary. The underside of the hull had 6 marks, 2 were sanded down since they were raised but the other 4 were filled with Squadron White putty and sanded down.



Step 4 installs the side boxes on the interior with the option to have them either in the raised or lowered position. I opted for the lowered and their crude details were removed with a knife and sanded smooth and the Eduard details used in their place. The left side received a signal paddle and brackets along with the two lifting handles while the right received a small map bin and the same handles.

Step 5 was very simple and installed the two front supports for the engine compartment hood.



Step 6 installed the hood halves along with the muffler/exhaust container on the left side and the storage box on the right. The prominent hinge points were sanded down in anticipation of fiting the add-on armor. The mount holes for the chunky kit-supplied latch handles were filled with putty and the Eduard handles used in their place. The molded on shovel bracket was also removed and the recessed mount point for the Notek light filled with putty and sanded smooth to blend it back into the fender. The Eduard parts for the light will be added later to avoid possible damage in handling.



Step 7 added the hood and side armor from the Eduard set as well as the protective shield for the driver. The large plate was glued in place with CA gel to insure a good strong bond as was the front grill-guard plate. The driver plate was installed in the hinge points and the hinges glued in place with Gator Glue to allow for proper positioning before the glue set up.

[Bill Plunk]

More progress continued as I stepped outside the instruction build order to deal with the details for the fenders and interior.

The fenders were installed first on either side and then the deep moulded in mount points for the braces were filled with putty and sanded down. The front panels and braces were added with the driver's side receiving a jerry can left over from a DML DAK Pz I kit in place of the Italeri item. The instructions incorrectly indicate that two cans should be installed in this rack when in fact it should only have the one. The rear panels and braces were also added with the rear storage locker getting some extra detail treatment via the Eduard set. All of the panels had ejector marks on the interior surfaces that were filled with putty and sanded down. The Eduard tread-plate sheet for the rear compartment was also installed to provide some much-needed raised detail since the Italeri part had an incorrect recessed pattern. The panels didn't line up quite square, so some slight putty work was required at the rear right side to fill a gap that resulted.

The lower hull suspension panels were also installed with the drive sprocket mount pins cut down to take the MK replacement hubs.

[Bill Plunk]

One of the things that I absolutely love about this project is the thoroughness with which the Eduard set deals with many of the different details. I've been working my way methodically through the various parts on the interior before working on the fenders to try to avoid too much rough handling, so the last part that needed installation was the two-handed saw behind the driver's seat. The Eduard set includes a very neat saw and holder, the saw is one part and the holder one part with multiple complex bends to get it into the desired shape. The clasp is a separate part that glues directly onto the face of the holder to complete the assembly. I glued the holder into place with Gator Grip glue in order to be able to position it just so as there aren't any guides on the plain faced kit part and the Eduard instructions offer only vague assistance in this regard.

You can also see the installed base mount for the Pak38 which was glued in place simply enough using regular glue.



Next up I started in on the fender detail, deciding to begin at the rear and work my way forward. First I trimmed away the rubber mud flaps from the rear mudguards as these will be replaced with the Eduard items but I can't do that until the suspension is installed since there isn't enough clearance right now for them to be in place. The Eduard parts were used to replace the inaccurate license plate frame and the base of the kit mounts were glued into place and then cut down with sprue cutters to fill the square notches in the fenders. Some Squadron White putty was needed to smooth this down on both sides. On the left hand side, I cut off the Notek convoy light from the Italeri part and sanded down the backside to allow it to match up to the Eduard mount part. On the right hand side, the same thing was done with the brake light, using the Eduard part for the light face since the Italeri part just had a featureless round hole.

The canvas crew compartment cover was also installed along with the spare wheel mount. Placement of the mount is critical to allow for proper clearance of the tire in relation to the canvas cover, so some test-fitting was necessary before committing to the glue.



The Pak38 ammo cans were also installed on both fenders. Each one had a small sink mark on the rear cap, so a little putty was necessary there to correct. The Eduard buckled straps were attached and the cans glued in place on each fender.

The small "hook" mount on the compartment side that would've taken the Italeri hook part for the cover frames was filled with putty and the Eduard clasps used instead. These were a tricky assembly since it involved three different parts, so these were actually fitted to the erector frames before the cover was installed and then were adjusted into place and glued down afterwards. A small wing nut was glued into the lock eye to complete the 3 part assembly.



Rounding out the day's activity, I used a circle template to cut out a circle of 0.5mm sheet styrene as a means to blank off the open backside of the spare tire. The circle was cut slightly larger than the opening and the circle glued down with liquid glue. Once the glue was dry, I first trimmed down the excess with a #11 blade and then carefully sanded down the edge to blend it in with the tire itself. The hole in the middle was opened up to allow the hub to poke through since this is how the tire will mount to the frame on the hull rear.



Next up will be moving along the fenders and completing the rest of the detail there.

[Bill Plunk]

More progress today in the detail department. I scrounged around in my spares bin and found some DML tools that didn't have the clamps molded in place to use instead of the Italeri items. I also found a pre-formed brass shovel holder left over from a Tiger I build and pressed it into service. The only Italeri tool part I didn't have a suitable replacement for was the pick-axe, so it received some special attention, more on that in a bit.

Work began on the driver's side with the Italeri part for the mirror mount and turn indicator modified to take the Eduard supplied parts. The Italeri mount was retained while the rectangular blob was removed with sprue cutters and the Eduard parts constructed and attached in their place. I used an 8mm length of brass rod bent to shape for the mirror mount and used a micro drill bit to slightly drill out a hole for it to mount into. The Eduard mirror face was then glued on the brass rod with CA gel.

The shovel and wire cutters were installed after much dry-fitting of the clamp parts to insure they would fit properly. It's a very tight space with no real margin of error and the clamps are all multiple-parts, so it was slow going but eventually everything wound up where it belonged. The Eduard bracket for the Notek light was also installed and the Italeri part modified to just use the base and hood for the light itself.



The passenger side came next and this one was also tricky since it involved several parts, some of them shared, to mount both the axe and the pick-axe. I also used a spare DML fire extinguisher since the Eduard instructions wanted something built out of tube styrene and the Italeri kit doesn't provide anything at all. The Italeri pick-axe needed to be modified to fit the Eduard holders in terms of the handle diameter as well as the length of the spade end of the axe head. The handle was carefully sanded down with a sanding stick and the spade end trimmed down to size with sprue cutters. The searchlight is left hollowed-out for now, a lens will be added later on after painting in the form of some clear epoxy.



The next pic is going to make it look like "a miracle occurred" in terms of the Pak 38 being already built and partially painted. The reality is that I had built and begun painting on this part of the project a long time ago for a railroad diorama project but ended up not using it...so it has sat in the box patiently waiting its turn for this build.

Very little modification was required for it to fit since the full mount of the normal towed version is used and it's just plopped in place on the mount pegs of the square block. All that was needed was for me to remove the trail arms and the lower portion of the splinter shield from the towed version and trim back the mount arms for that lower portion and voila! it fit. It's only dry-fit now as there's still quite a bit of detail painting that will take place both on the interior and the gun itself, so it's better if I can deal with the gun separate first before final installation.



Next up will be cleaning up the road wheels and dealing with the MK sprockets and tracks, getting closer to the paint stage.

[Bill Plunk]

Managed to get quite a bit done this weekend but didn't post up anything yesterday so this update spans both days.

The next area for attention was the running gear and tracks. I removed all the wheels from the sprues and only assembled the halves for the intermediate wheels, leaving the others separate for painting and installation later. The MK white-metal sprockets were used in place of the kit parts, these were carefully assembled with pliers and CA glue since the metal is soft but some force is needed to get the outer face to sit properly into the spokes of the inner hub.

I also added the missing valve stems for the three road tires using some styrene rod cut to size and glued into the provided holes in the rims.



Next up were the MK tracks. The assembly on these is straightforward and no jig is required, just trap the pins of one link into the next and secure in place with the cap block, just like the real thing. The set comes 3 links to a sprue along with the blocks and each link has 3 connection points while the blocks have 2 each to clean-up. The instructions call for 43 links per track run for the D7 and test fits revealed this to be the right number although it raised another problem, more on that in just a moment.



The problem raised by the number of links has to to with the spacing of the suspension as molded into the lower hull by Italeri. 42 links is too short and 43 links creates a lot of sag...so the solution was to remove the molded on idler mount and replace it. Fortunately, even though the MK instructions don't mention it, on the D7 sprue there are 2 replacement swing arms provided. I removed the molded on idler mount with sprue cutters and sanded it down, then drilled out a mount hole with a Dremel bit. The mount is only dry-fit for now, the actual placement will be determined when I mount the suspension.



Now it was time to get to painting, so all of the wheel mount points were protected with blue-tack poster putty as were the instrument faces inside the open cab. All paints mentioned are Model Master enamels unless otherwise mentioned. A primer coat of Italian Dark Brown was applied first. I prefer this color as a primer color because it goes on smooth and adheres well and provides a sure-fire way to guarantee there isn't any unpainted plastic hanging around. It also serves as a good check on the putty work, some of which needed some touch-up, before the base coat was applied.



The base coat came next, Panzer Schwarzgrau, since I decided to finish this one in a winter whitewash after seeing a photo in Spielberger's Half tracked Vehicles in the German Army.



The road wheels also received some attention. The rubber portions were painted first with Gunmetal and then a circle template used to paint the hubs with the Panzer Schwarzgrau. Normally I would use Flat Black, but this time out tried something new and I think I like the Gunmetal look better as it has a slight grayish tint to it vs. the pure black.



Next came the white wash coat. I used Light Gray instead of Flat White as the white tends to be too stark. The white wash was applied to the exterior of the vehicle in multiple thin passes to build it up and then any over spray into the interior cleaned up with the Panzer Schwarzgrau. I also applied a mist coat of heavily thinned Panzer Schwarzgrau over the entire model, holding it about 12" away from the airbrush and spraying in quick overall passes. This is just a foundation, more work is still to come in the weathering stages.



The remainder of the day went towards working on the details, particularly the interior. The cab area was weathered with some dry brushed Steel and a wash of Burnt Umber applied, although most of that is hidden under the dash. The steering wheel was painted with Aircraft Interior Black and installed and the various gear shift levers, hand brake, etc. were similarly detailed. The crew seats were painted first with Leather and then dry brushed first with my home-made mix of "wood" color followed by dry brushed Gunmetal to simulate their wear.

The rear fighting compartment also received some weathering attention, particularly on the floor. The tread-plate was dry brushed with Steel then given a wash of Burnt Umber with additional Burnt Umber dry brushed over that to round out its look.

The tools on the front fenders were also detailed and painted as were the straps on the ammo cans on the rear fenders. I started in on the canvas cover but haven't finished work on that just yet.



More work still to go, but making progress!

[Bill Plunk]

Managed to get some time in today on this project, spending most of the effort on fine-tuning the white wash look. I started out by dry brushing Panzer Schwarzgrau over all of the white washed surfaces, attacking the Light Gray to varying degrees depending on the location in question. Then I counter dry brushed some Light Gray over the same areas to get it to this stage. The fender areas in particular received the heaviest attention as it stands to reason these are the areas that would receive the highest wear from the crew entering/exiting and also crewing the Pak 38.



I also gave the rear hull some additional attention. The canvas cover took the most effort with the Afrika Braun base coat applied earlier given an overall wash of Panzer Schwarzgrau followed by alternating dry brushed coats of Field Drab and an 80/20 mix of Russian Armor Green/Deep Yellow as well as light dry brushing of Afrika Braun to bring back some of the highlights. The canvas cover is still a work in progress as it will receive more treatment once I've sealed everything with a coat of Future since the enamel coats at this stage are still somewhat vulnerable to heavy treatment.

The spare tire was also mounted and the green lenses of the Notek light created with Tamiya Acrylic Clear Green and the lenses of the brake light done with Tamiya Acrylic Clear Red.



Next up will be installation of the suspension and tracks.

[Bill Plunk]

One of the trickiest elements of the whole build, the suspension and tracks, were completed today. I say trickiest because of the crucial need for everything to sit right in relation to both the individual sides and the vehicle as a whole. Not to mention the added variables thrown in with the workable tracks and needing to position the idler just so as well!

I started out first by dry-brushing Light Gray on the sprocket faces and outer most wheels as well as the idler. The reference photo I'm working off of shows that only these were given a white wash treatment, which makes sense given the position and wear that the inner wheels would receive and the difficulty in getting them properly white washed. The sprockets were then installed using CA gel along with the inner most wheels first. The intermediate wheels came next followed by the outermost wheels with the exception of the final wheels that traps the idler. I did this with both sides and tripled checked for a level fit and set things off to the side to dry up nice and solid.

While that was going on, I painted up the tracks with a base coat of Model Master Non-Buffing Metalizer Gunmetal and then dry brushed Steel on their metal faces. A wash of Raw Umber was applied to tone down the Steel and the tracks were ready for installation. The idlers were mounted along with the final wheel and positioned at the desired angle for the right amount of sag and the tracks installed. The front wheels were also installed at the same time to insure a level set all around. Once satisfied with that, I carefully applied some liquid glue to the wheels to secure the tracks in place permanently.

I also addressed the detail of the exhaust pipe, base coating it with the same Metalizer Gunmetal followed by a wash of Rust and a light dusting of black artist pastels for its look.



With the wheels all in place, it was now time to add the mud flaps to the rear fenders. The Eduard items were used for this and glued in place with CA gel to the underside of the fenders. They were painted with enamel Gunmetal and the reflectors painted with Tamiya Clear Red. The lone decal marking to be used on this kit was applied in the form of the rear license plate. Oddly enough the Eduard license plate dimensions aren't the same as the Italeri decal, so some careful trimming and use of Walther's Solvaset was needed to get it squared away.



Rounding out the day's activity, I gave the wood handles on the pioneer tools some more attention using some Burnt Umber artist pastels to deepen their look a bit and add some more variation.



Now all that's left is a sealing coat and the weathering process will begin to bring things down the home-stretch.

[Bill Plunk]

The weathering process started today, the first step was to apply an overall coat of Future as an acrylic barrier to protect the underlying enamel coats. I applied this by airbrush and set it off to the side for a couple of hours to let it thoroughly dry. The first step was to apply a 90/10 Thinner/Raw Umber wash to all the exterior surfaces of the vehicle with a round sable brush. I went back over the wash with a fine pointed brush and clean thinner and adjusted where needed before moving on to the next step.



The next step was the application of a pin wash of Burnt Umber to all the raised detail and panel lines. I used a fine point detail brush for this and worked carefully from the front and down one side and back up the other. As with the Raw Umber wash the pin wash was also adjusted where needed with clean thinner.



Satisfied with the outcome, I sprayed a dull coat using Testors Lusterless Flat in the spray can and let that dry thoroughly over the course of an hour or so before continuing on. With the dull coat applied, the finish once again had some "tooth" to it that had been lost with the Future coat and I gave some attention to the Pak as the next step. I dry brushed some 80/20 Panzer Schwarzgrau/Light Gray to all the raised surfaces and the gun breech to accentuate things and provide a contrast to the Burnt Umber pin wash. The left side portion of the gun shield came undone in this step, but that's something I easily corrected a bit later on.



Attention now turned to the lower hull, tracks, and suspension. I mixed up a roughly 50-50 mix of Mig Pigments Russian Earth and Dark Mud as a dry powder first then added water and applied it as a wet mixture with a large sable brush to the desired surfaces. This was allowed to air-dry over the course of a couple of hours to get it to this state.



Even though it looks like a mess at first, the next steps are to remove almost all of the excess and fine tune it to the desired look. First the bulk of the excess is removed using stiff bristled brushes (I wear a dust mask during this step to avoid inhaling the fine pigment powder that results) to vigorously scrub the different surfaces. Next I use q-tips, alternating between a dry and moistened end, to further remove and adjust the pigments, blending them in to the underlying coats in the process.



I'm going to let this sit overnight and look it over with "fresh" eyes tomorrow to see what additional adjustments are needed before this one wraps up completely and is declared "done".

[Bill Plunk]

After just a little bit of fine-tuning here and there, this one is completed.