BP Models

Build log for Dragon Imperial Series kit # 9040 with JR barrel, Armorscale MG34, and Aber PE engine deck screens.

Decided to go back a bit into the stash for one of the older DML kits that I've had for a while now. I'd held off on this one because DML had posted up in their catalogue that they were going to release an E/F kit but that seems to be on an indefinite hold...my pre-order has a date of June 2005 in terms of an indication of how long I've been waiting.

This kit is one of their older Imperial series reboxes of the Gunze Sangyo molds and has a lot of parts marked as "not for use" with some of the sprues coming from the StuG III kits (as marked on the sprues) and others used in later variants of the Pz III. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the indy track links are molded with open guide horns...I'd resigned myself to having to drill them out individually but that won't be necessary after all.

As an older DML offering, it has many of the hallmarks of this particular vintage of kits including sink marks, mold seams, etc. that all require their due attention to remove but nothing too outrageous. The idler wheels were slightly warped on the inner surfaces and required some heavier sanding attention to make decent and had some prominent ejector marks, indicating the molds may not have been aligned properly when this one was made. Definitely not up to "Smart Kit" status for sure!

After a couple of hours of work, I've completed one side of the suspension arms and the two idlers. Slow going but progress is progress and this type of thing is well suited to just an hour here and there in front of the TV when the mood strikes.

I've decided to approach this build log a little bit differently than I usually do and make it a true Step by Step (SBS) in the sense of taking photos and notes for each Step in the instruction sheet. So, that means stepping back just a little from my previous post.

One of the things that's readily apparent with this kit is that DML took the strategy of using existing molded parts and adding additional parts to "backdate" this kit to an E model. That means there are a lot of extra/un-used parts but also quite a bit of surgery, hole filling, modifications, etc. required as part of the build-up. This makes the kit a more interesting exercise than might be usually expected but also requires more care and attention to do the changes in the right spots!

Let's begin at the beginning...a very good place to start! Step 1 on this build directs you to assemble all the roadwheels, drive sprockets, idlers, and return rollers for both sides. This is done largely without incident but some care is required as the sprockets have multiple sprue connection points (5) on each half, the interior half also has a cross piece that has to be carefully removed to allow it to fit properly in Step 4. The return rollers also require care as they have 4 connection points on each half while the road wheels only have 2 for most with a couple also having 3 depending on where they sit on the sprue.

The roadwheel halves each have a mold seam on the tire, although not huge, it still required cleanup attention...12 halves per side meant by the time I was done, I had a nice cramp in my right hand from gripping the sander.



Step 2 is where I did some work during the week but needed more today to complete the other side. No real hangups here except that the instructions have parts B13/14 backwards in the callouts, all the other parts are correct for their respective sides. The suspension arms required some cleanup due to the prominent mold seam on each one but easily taken care of. Surgery to remove the first molded in return roller mount and replace it with a separate part in the correct position for an E is called for. The instructions give you placement directions down to a tenth of a milimeter...and since I don't have calipers or anything quite that sensitive, I used the old Mk. 1 eyeball and a straightedge to do the placement.

I also took a little care with the idler wheel mount (parts B16, B28, and A13/12) to allow the idler arm to be moveable/tensionable for later on when the track installation is done. Instructions tell you to glue it all down solid, but a little bit of care is all that's required to achieve this little extra benefit.

Also filled the extra hole on the hull with a little bit of Squadron white putty per the instructions as only one will be needed to take the fender mounting brackets later on.



Step 3 also requires more surgery as the rear hull plate has a later version molded on fitting that has to be removed and replaced with an included correct separate part, K19. Fairly easy to remove with sprue cutters and then sand down the remainder to take the replacement part.

The mufflers (A35/36) are molded as for a later model that would take a heat sheild and have two prominent holes in each as a result. These were filled and sanded as the E did not have the heat shield, just the bare mufflers. I also drilled out the exhaust pipes a little deeper as the molded part was too shallow for my taste.

The installation of the plate into the hull tub was a little tight, required some thin Testors liquid glue and a little fiddling to get it to fit properly. Finger pressure a little patience overcame this with no problem.



Step 4 calls for all the running gear to be installed, but I usually leave this off to later in the build to allow easier access for painting and weathering. The drive housings were installed on both sides along with the protective covers on the shocks. The hull comes with molded in position lines for the escape hatches, these were sanded down and the hatches installed on both sides. I used a little bit of blue tac to mount the return rollers to take the photo, they have a very shallow post that fits into the mounts and, having built similar kits previously, know they are a pain to mount and set up straight...but that's a pain for later. All the wheels are dryfit and when mounted some minor adjustments will be required at that point to get them to sit nice and straight.



Step 5 is the track installation and that will be skipped until after painting, so tomorrow will begin the work on the upper hull with Step 6.

As promised, began work today with Step 6. This step begins the work on the upper hull and this has an amusing aspect to it in the sense that the upper hull is molded with the StuG III casemate supporting structure and layout in place and this step and Step 7 are designed to "paper over" this and restore the upper hull to a standard Pz III hull instead.

Some surgery is again required in the removal of some molded on rivets and raised locator lines on teh side hull panels and holes are required to be opened up on the right side hull for the visor port cover. This step also calls for an indentation on the rear hull area to be filled in, I cheated just a bit and did that for both sides at the same time.

There are two raised rectangular outlines on each hull side panel that the instructions don't mention, but these need to be sanded/removed as nothing gets installed there in any of the later instructions. Easy enough to overlook if not careful.

Right side:


Left side:


Step 7 continued the "paper" work with the installation of the hull top and also the bow plate for the gunner/driver position. The option is given to place the driver's visor in the open or closed position, I chose the open even though there's a big molded block behind it from the casemate, once painted, it won't be noticeable as such.

The hull top again requires some surgical removal of two lifting hooks at the corners. Once this is done some additional filling is required as there are two recessed slots to take the now non-existent hooks that shouldn't be there. Instructions say to cut, but not to fill, leaving it to you to make that observation on your own. Three holes also require opening to take the turret ring splash guard. The fit is pretty good, only required a little bit of adjustment to get all four sides and the top to sit square.

Since I'm using the Armorscale MG barrel, I installed that in this step instead of Step 8 and a good thing I did. The other side of the casemate structure blocks the port from the rear so once installed, I had to cut the barrel down considerably so the plate would fit. Not hard with the plate off, if I'd waited it would've been much more guess work on the proper length required.

Bow plate and MG


Hull top and fit



You'd never know there was a StuG III casemate lurking under there! I was a little suspect of the turret ring arrangement, so I cut off the turret bottom from Sprue O and tested it. Fits perfectly and rotates 360 with no problems at all, so the tolerances are just right!

Step 8 is a simple one...but not so easy. Some hooks are installed along with the turret guard and then....the lower and upper hulls are joined. Quite a bit of sanding and fine tuning was required on the fit to get them to play nice and even then had to call in some help. Took off the roadwheels to make it easier and put it in traction for about an hour.



After the bands came off, a little bit of touch-up putty was required at the front sides but other than that, came off well.



Step 9 reveals some more of the lineage on this particular kit and instruction set. This step requires more surger to remove several angle braces/stops on the engine deck access hatches and also installation of 3 more lifting hooks and a the 2 rear-most access hatches. It also directs the construction and installation of a 3-part smoke candle rack but doesn't include any smoke candles to go in them! I scrounged some from the spares bin from a Pz I-B build and they will serve. After painting, I'll install some fine chain I have to top them off. The thing that reveals the lineage of this kit is a sidebar diagram that directs placement of an optional vehicle number placard on the rear hull. In the diagram the rear layout is for a G or H model, not an E and this also carries over to the painting/decal section I noticed!



Last step for the day, Step 10, also looks simple enough, but has a hidden challenge. The intakes are installed along with their PE grills, I replaced these with a set from Aber with no problems at all. The challenge though comes in the innocuous installation of the front hull tow pintles. Each pintle has 2 parts and both parts have an ejector mark square in the middle of each outward facing side and required some creative filling and sanding to correct. They also don't fit the correct angle of the hull once installed and this in turn required some additional filling and sanding to take care of to finish off the day's activities.



Next weekend will see the prep work on the fenders and then on to the turret.

I had the day off work today and thought I'd make the most of it by spending some more time on this build.

Today's efforts focused on the fenders and getting them joined up to the lower hull. What looks simple enough actually turned out to be a full day's adventure. Picking up where I'd left off with Step 11, more surgery was required to remove some molded in placement lines that don't apply. The instructions are a little vague but there are two molded squares that have to be removed, one immediately behind the first attachment bracket and the second midway between the second and third brackets. Installed the storage box, Notek light, secondary light, and rear convoy lights along with a replacement fire extinguisher from the spares bin that had more detail than the kit supplied item. The jack was left off deliberately for later placement. Since Step 12 is just more tools placement, I skipped that step for now except for filling in the 2 holes on the rear section as called for. This was a little tricky due to the molded treadplate pattern but not impossible to handle.



Step 13 is simple enough, just install the previously worked on fender along with the main headlights on the front hull and the towing pintles. In addition to these measures, I sanded down the inside surfaces front and back of the fenders as DML molded them with a bevel to simulate scale thickness but about 5 minutes with a sanding twig had it looking more uniform. The pic doesn't show it but I also filled and sanded in the square indent on the mudflap since the E didn't have this little feature, only solid flaps front and rear.



Step 14 required similar treatment to the other fender as in Step 12, this time requiring removal of a raised square behind the 2nd bracket and a rectangle a little behind the 3rd bracket. Mounted the siren and secondary light along with the rear brake light but held off mounting the antenna holder to insure the alignment with the hull mount and post was correct. The fender has molded in placement squares for the "feet" of the holder but these are not in the correct position as I quickly discovered, hence the reason for holding off until the next step. I did go ahead and mount the fender to the hull even though that's not called for until Step 15. Tools were also deliberately left off for later installation. Same as with the other side, filled and sanded in the circular indent to match the effort down with the square side to provide smooth mudflaps to go with this variant.



I also took the opportunity to rectify a previous error when I filled in the holes on the muffler. Turns out they are supposed to be there as reinforcing tubes to prevent crush damage, so a few twists of a small drillbit and back good as new!

Rear mudflap work:



Step 15 is very simple...attach the fender (already done) and install the antenna mount and base. I first glued in place the base to the hull and then dryfit the mount arm. Next came the tricky alignment and installation of the support tray onto the fender in the correct position. Once that was done and everything lined up properly, I removed the mount and clipped off the molded on portion with sprue cutters. Drilled out a hole in the clean mount to about 2 mm and then cut a piece of brass rod more to scale size for the antenna and glued it in place with some CA gel. The length was just a bit too long, trimmed it down again with side cutters and voila!

I had grand visions today of completing all the remaining construction work around the turret and getting ready to paint, but such was not to be. Best laid plans...

Step 16 begins the work with the turret and is straightforward. The turret top and bottom are to be joined along with the front plate and the frames for the side hatces installed as well. The turret halves fit together very well with only some very minor gaps at the cheek angles that just required a little extra pressure and some fine sanding to fix, nothing major at all. The front plate also fit well and things were going smoothly until I realized that one of the O12 pieces had been incompletely molded. There are 2 identical parts, one for each side, but only one piece had all 4 of the hinge points molded, while the other was missing one top and one bottom. Very strange indeed and I haven't yet figured out how I'm going to deal with that but will think of something by the time I get to Step 20 (not today!).

The missing hinges:



And what it should look like:



I also filled in the ventilator mounting holes for the later variants as required, straight putty and sanding work. Step 17 calls for installation of the main gun and MG housing along with two side mount plates for it to elevate properly. This required some delicate "3-handed" type of maneuvering to get it installed properly, particularly as the pivot points are very close to the contact surface with the turret face and it's very easy to get glue in there accidentally. I replaced the kit grab handles with some brass rod and intalled the signal flag port, last remaining items were parts E15, the front turret lifting hooks. Like many of the parts on the E sprue, these had a lot of flash and while they are supposed to be hooks, they are molded solid. I drilled them out with a pin vise and then carefully cut away the base portion with the tip of a #11 blade under the magnifying lamp I have mounted to the desk.

Pre-drilling and surgery:



Post-surgery:



Also cleaned up the glue blobs in the above pics with a sanding twig and that was that for Step 17.



Step 18 is where my nightmare began. This step calls for installation of various details on the turret such as the gunner's port, the side viewports, rainguards, and the commander's cupola. I started in with the cupola first and decided to go with the option of leaving the view slots in the open position. I originally was only going to open one and leave the rest closed but changed my mind and went for them all in the open position...little knowing just how ominous this decision would be!

I scrounged around in the spares bin and pulled out the armored glass blocks that had come with my DML IV-E that I didn't use and decided they'd do perfectly for this situation. Test fit revealed that they were about 1/3 too large to fit so a lot of sanding, fitting, sanding, etc. was needed for each of the 5 blocks as I was afraid of shattering or cracking them if I used a knife or sprue cutters to trim them down. After all this back and forth, got them down to the right size and glued the two halves of the drum together, parts K1 and K2, without any trouble. I've read on several occasions that armored glass due to the thickness had a greenish tint to it so a quick trip to the LHS and I had some Tamiya Clear Green for the job and applied a coat with a small pointed detail brush.



Once dry, I used some Windex and water to tone down the effect and get an even more transparent look so it was more of a tinting than a solid coat.



Now the real fun began in fitting parts J7 and J6 for the armored housings/shutters. There are 5 of each required (although 6 are molded) and J6 go around the base of the cupola and J7 slide up/down depending on whether you position them open or closed. The installation is complex, requiring all 5 of the J6 to fit together and conform to the base of the cupola at the same time that all 5 of the J7 match up and can "nest" inside the J6. Sounds easy enough right? I thought so too...and merrily started installing them one set at a time, carefully aligning them as a pair and then moving on to the next set. It quickly became apparent that the parts were not quite molded correctly...it turns out that the J7 parts are just a bit too long to fit correctly all around the top and, to compound things, the J6 parts are molded correctly for the bottom fitting but don't meet up properly along the top edges to each other! The J7 fit problem was corrected by carefully trimming and fitting the final shutter to provide the right circular arrangement. The J6 fit problem was more difficult as their meeting points are supposed to be solid and flush to each other. This required a lot of putty and sanding work to correct, but in the end, it worked out.



Deciding that this battle was enough for one day, I finished up with the little details, removing a lot of flash from the view ports and installing the bullet guards and rain guards in the process as well. Also dryfit the cupola for photo purposes but haven't glued it in yet due to the masking requirements on the glass before painting.



Tomorrow will have its own challenges with the missing hinges and main armament installation, so more fun ahead! Definitely heading down the homestretch though, only 4 more build steps remain.

Picking up where I left off yesterday, work continued with Step 19. This step is very simple, it calls for a small slot on the rear of the turret that would take the later variant storage box to be fillled in, easily done. It also calls for the installation of the pistol ports, both of which came from the E sprue so had a nice aura of flash around the desired parts. Last but not last, two more lifting hooks, this time from the O sprue, are installed as well. Both were molded solid and received the same drillout surgery treatment as the front set to make them into actual hooks.



Step 20 calls for the installation of the side hatch doors and these are handed so you have to make sure you install the correct set on the respective sides. The fit on these is not quite correct, requiring some delicate sanding on the hinge points as well as the overlap to get them to fit together snugly without bowing outward. The time came to deal with the right side missing hinge points and I looked around on the different sprues until I found a nice pair of attachment points that were carefully removed and pressed into service. The hatches do come with some nicely molded interior face details but since the rest of the turret is vacant, there's no point in leaving them open unless including an AM interior, so they were closed up.



Once they'd set up, I removed the excess length with the sprue cutters and then sanded to shape to at least resemble the missiong points on either side. Also installed the door stops on either side and this Step was over!



Step 22 involves the installation of the 3.7cm main gun along with the twin MG34s. Both the MG barrels are molded separately with very nice detail but have solid muzzles so some attention from the pin vise is called for to hollow them out properly. The main gun housing, Part K6, has a molded in post to take the kit supplied barrel but since I'm replacing that with the JR aluminum barrel, this needed to be shaved down and a hole drilled in it's place to take the mounting pin on the JR. Since K6 has a hollow center, only a few twists were required and some CA gel did the trick to secure the replacement. K6 fit perfectly to the mantlet base but the weight of the barrel meant that the free movement on the elevation wouldn't function properly, as the "reach for the sky" angle demonstrates.



Final construction in Step 23 is the installation of a single piece, K5, as the armored mantlet cover. It had molded in cross braces between each of the three openings and a little care here insures the connection points are removed without damaging the outline. Test fit against the turret face revealed that there are two little pins on each side that need to be removed to get the proper snug fit, these were shaved off with the knife point and the cover secured in place with some liquid glue and finger pressure at the edges and center. Held for about 60 seconds, and voila! I also took this opportunity to fix the main gun in the desired position by putting a small amount of liquid glue in the hinge points from inside the turret. Let that "grab" and then held it at the desired angle and supporting it underneath with a paint bottle until it set up enough to stand on its own.

Major construction had reached its end as this was the last step in the instruction sheet before painting and marking.





Since the day was only half gone and the weather was nice, I decided to move ahead with the pre-paint prep work. Mainly this involves taking off all the roadwheels, checking various areas one more time to make sure no more putty or seam filling/sanding work is required, and of course masking off the cupola windows. I keep a big wad of blue poster putty on my workbench for these types of things and, using a toothpick, carefully maneuvered small rolled pieces over each window. The beauty of the blue-tac is that it will remain tacky even after painting so getting it back out again is mainly a case of just sticking a clean blob on the end of another toothpick and removing it that way as it sticks very well to itself. I also mounted all the wheels, sprockets, idlers, return rollers on toothpicks with blue-tac for easier handling (it also keeps the glue points free of paint for later installation) and stuck them in styrofoam for handy reach later on. Since this kit has an unusual mount scheme for the sprockets, those surfaces were also covered with blue tac to save having to scrape a lot of paint off later on. Last but not least, turret is jammed onto the end of a cardboard toilet paper tube for the same purpose and it's off to the spraybooth!



My painting strategy is fairly straightforward. I always prime with MM Flat Black because it provides a perfect contrast with the light gray plastic, insuring every surface is primed. The Flat Black also dries fairly quickly and provides a nice surface for additional painting IMHO. It also will reveal any problems such as shrunken putty or missed seams pretty well (as will any primer) and a couple were found and identified and dealt with accordingly.



Once that was taken care of, the next step involved putting down a coat of MM Rust over the Flat Black. This is the first step in producing color variation as it retains the shadows from the Flat Black but is applied unevenly as mist coats to provide depth over which I'll spray the next layer of Panzer Schwarzgrau and then work in lightened coats from there depending. Enamel paints have a tendency to sink and blend into each other as they cure, so as this happens the Rust will take on a deeper tone with the underlying Flat Black. For now, time has run out and it will sit at this stage until next weekend when I get more time at the bench.

I've always been a big fan of indy track links and today's effort turned towards the track installation called for back in Step 4 that I'd skipped. I was happy when I first opened up this kit to see that DML had molded the guidehorns open as I'd been fully prepared to drill and sand them out on my own but would be spared that. Thank god for that because the amount of work/cleanup required on them was heavy enough without adding this on top as I discovered today.

The kit includes 6 sprues, labelled G, with 40 links on each sprue. DML's pretty good about providing extras and the Pz III kits usually have a good 20 spares per side more or less. Since I try to keep spare links on their sprues for easier handling in the spares bin, the first side is always 1/2 of the amount supplied then whatever's left over are the "spare" count and I'll only remove enough of the remaining links plus the extras from the first track run to make up the second.

Here's where the day started:



Each of the links has 3 sprue attachment points and these are fairly delicate with very little sprue tension. Links were removed and put in a glass bowl until I had all 120 off the trees, 3 of which turned out to be split with only the sprues holding them together and once cut, promptly fell apart.

Once I started in cleaning up the individual links, it became apparent what the limitations of older mold technology means when attempting to mold the guide horns as open/hollow items but DML at least tried their best considering this is now a 10 year old kit, but it's not nearly the same as today's "Magic" tracks for sure. Most of the links had some small amounts of flash in various places and in some of the links, the open horns were incompletely molded requiring attention with a pin vise and needle file to restore. Each link also had a single sink mark on one side of the guidehorn, half on the right, half on the left depending on their position on the sprue, which is odd as I'm used to their always being 2 on each link. Some were deeper than others, and 4 were so deep that there was actually a small hole that went all the way through the link itself. This upped the "casualty" count so far to 7, leaving 113 links for the first track run in service.

After about 4-5 hours of effort, here's where I ended up for the day...



This is the first time that I can honestly say that I spent an entire day working on a build without ever glueing a single piece together or painting something. Now that I've had the first set experience, I think I'll take advantage of TV time throughout this week to work on the rest, trying to do it in one sitting proved very tiring on the hands as well as the mind.

With the progress made yesterday, today was all about the details. First up were all the pioneer tools with the biggest decision being which of the kit supplied jacks to use. Due to the "alphabet soup" of kit sprues there were no less than three different jacks with varying degrees of detail included in the box. The instructions tell you to use A41 but this had two problems...first being a nice sunken depression in the very middle of the body and second being soft on detail. The second one was for the StuG sprues and it wouldn't fit properly on the fender along with the fire extinguisher so that meant the 3rd choice was it. It was on the Pz III J sprue and had the best level of detail and the right dimensions to fit in the designated spot on the fender, so it got the nod. I've no idea if it's the "correct" jack type for an E, but it was the best of the lot.

There were some duplicates for some of the other tools as well but they were all of about equal quality so the rest were used as indicated in the instructions. The usual cleanup of mold seams and sprue points and a quick check before painting to make sure everything fit in the right spots was in order.





I started by painting all the metal areas with Metalizer Gunmetal, then drybrushed a little Steel in desired places. Used the 90/10 Gray mix from earlier to paint the clamps/attachment points and drybrushed a very little bit of the 80/20 mix over that to get it to more closely match the rest of the vehicle. Final step was to paint my own mixture of "wood" (secret recipe aka I mixed up a bunch of colors in inexact ratios until I had the color I wanted and didn't write any of it down while tinkering!), and then install. I also took the opportunity to detail paint both the hull and turret MGs.





A few more details were also taken care of such as painting some Tamiya Clear Red in the tail-light and Clear Smoke in the blackout light, painting and weathering the mufflers, and drybrushing a little more Steel on the high points of the tracks. Also painted some Silver from the old trusty 1/4 oz. Testors bottle inside the little headlights on the front since I'd neglected that earlier.



Once all that was taken care of, it was time to apply the sealing coat of Future. I do this with a wide bore nozzle (the orange tip) on my Aztek at 20 psi and do light mist coats to seal everything up without creating a thick layer. Future sprays perfect right out of the bottle, only takes a few minutes, and leaves a pleasant, slightly fruity odor in the garage in the process.



I used to be a Future skeptic until I actually used the stuff...it does wonders both for decal application and weathering with washes. A little bit goes a very long way and it's incredibly durable with a quick cure time. Air dries to the touch in about 15 minutes and, at least in my environment, cures up nicely within just a couple of hours although typically I will leave it at least overnight before doing any heavy work with it.

Final step for the day aimed at the decals. I'd decided a while back that I would do the kit suggested markings of a unit (so it claims, no idea if it's 100% accurate) in the 3rd Pz Regiment, 2nd Pz Division, Greece 1941. The reason the markings appealed to me was the big ol' White Spade plastered on the rear of the turret because it's definitely not something you see much of, especially on later war vehicles, so onward and upward. The decals are the older DML style and somewhat thick as a result. A couple of weeks back I'd picked up a bottle of Walther's Solvaset and thought I'd give it a whirl. Normally I'd use the Testor's brand Decal Sol but I've not been too happy with it lately, especially with older decals, so the switch was made. The bottle recommends testing the Solvaset on a spare decal first to make sure it's not too hot, I followed this caution and had no problems with the test subject and set to work on the numerous decals called for. I was very, very impressed with how the solution works. With the Testor stuff it always took a lot of poking/prodding to get decals to lay down and not develop air bubbles. The Solvaset directions specifically warn against doing this but instead to let the solution evaporate on its own and do its job undisturbed. Worked like a charm with just a couple small touchup applications needed for some of the smaller decals.



Biggest challenge of the night and strongest test of my patience was the "White Spade" for the rear turret. I didn't realize when I chose this that the spade had to go over the left side pistol port...a very complex surface and one that I wouldn't have even dreamed of with the Testors. I put the decal on the surface, carefully used the bottle cap brush to apply some Solvaset underneath the decal and also on its surface, and then patiently watched it go to work. In hindsight, I wish I'd taken a couple of the "in progress" shots because it was, to me, unbelievable how it did it.

Here's the end result.



And a closeup.



The photo doesn't do it enough justice but that's the best shot I could get. Once it's weathered, it will show up more clearly, but the decal has literally shrunk down perfectly around the port, even so far as to show the indentation on the small peak point itself. Now I'd like to claim credit for this but in truth, all I had to do was be patient and gently reapply a little solution in various spots as it laid itself down and there you have it.

The decals will set up overnight and tomorrow I'll give it a quick additional Future sealing coat to protect the decals themselves and then next weekend will commence the weathering.

I was eager today to get to work on the final stages of this build with the weathering and was able to make some good progress despite having contracted a cold earlier this week. I promise that no "natural additives" made their way into the finish.

First step was to apply another coat of Future over the decals with the AB and let that set up for an hour or so and then the real work of the day began.

I always start out my approach to weathering with a pin wash, and use a 3/0 detail brush for this purpose. The Future gives a very nice glossy surface for this and has the added advantage of being very forgiving if too much wash gets in places that you don't want it to be. I keep a bottle with some clean thinner handy for this sort of thing and will as needed use it along with a paper towel edge or the brush to pick up or redo as I go along. The pin wash in this case consists of a 90/10 thinner/paint mix of MM enamel Burnt Umber. I apply this around all the raised detail, into the weld seams, etc. to create some depth and shadows. It's a slow process and I will frequently clean the brush, reshake/mix the wash to keep it consistent, and in extended sessions, even add some more thinner into the bottle to replace what's evaporated from the open container. The key here is that the pin wash is meant to deepen the overall finish and enhance the 3-D look. After a couple of hours of back and forth, the result:



The wash was applied to the upper and lower hull areas and roadwheels although this is the last step they will share in common in that regard.

Next step involved adding the chains to the smoke candle rack on the rear hull. I used 47 link-per-inch chain that I'd purchased from a seller on e-bay, it was advertised as railroad logging chain for one of the smaller train scales, but it works very well for this purpose IMHO. I'd held off adding them until now because I didn't want to run the risk of knocking them off from handling. On they went with just a little bit of touchup required as the pic shows on the final couple of links due to the struggle of cutting them. I used a couple of reference photos from the archive at UllsteinBild to determine the chain length, they had a couple of very nice photos of the rear hull on an F that were perfect.



Next step was very straightforward, sprayed Testors Dullcote in the rattlecan to remove the shine from the Future and to provide a good surface for drybrushing. I also, finally, was able to remove the blue-tack masks from the cupola, this required some careful work with a toothpick but it all came out eventually revealing the view ports just as I'd left them before painting started. I did have to touch up the areas below the glass that were still bare plastic but that was easily taken care of with a small pointed brush and some steady hands. The cupola had been held in place with some of the same blue tac in anticipation of just this type of activity and once all done, glued into place.



Just as the purpose of the pin wash was to deepen and create shadows, the purpose of the drybrushing is aimed at creating highlights and raised areas to further add to the 3-D of the finish. Just like the pin wash, this is a slow and lengthy process using the same 3/0 detail brush to provide more control. For this kind of drybrushing, I will only touch the tip into the paint and will use a paper towel to blot it away so that there's only a very small amount of paint on the brush at any one time. The 90/10 Light Gray mix from earlier in the painting process is again brought into service for this task and is drybrushed over all the raised detail and angled areas.



In the pic you'll see that some of the drybrushed areas seem stark in comparison to the rest of the paintwork and this is due to the fact that the paint is still "fresh" as opposed to having cured. In the past I would immediately seal up a drybrush effort under the assumption that it was dry and therefore done but I've found that if left overnight it will actually cure and blend in more to the Dullcote with a more subtle contrast. I'll check it in the morning and if some of the areas are still too light then some selective counter-drybrushing with the base Panzer Schwarzgrau will bring it back into balance.

I also weathered up the wood handles on the tools and the jack block with some pastels and corrected my earlier mistake (which I didn't catch until doing the wash) of having somehow mounted the shovel backwards on the right fender. It's a real head-scratcher how I managed that and I remember thinking at the time that it was an unusal arrangement but didn't think twice about carrying it forward.

Tomorrow will focus on weathering the tracks and lower hull/suspension with some dust/dirt pigments as the final task barring anything unforseen that is.