Haunebu to the Moon, 75th anniversary (1945-2020)

With this kit, you can save a lot of filling work by gluing with precision. Lego parts help to keep everything aligned. 

(Elektro-)Kettenkrad modified to hold two astronauts and their life support equipment. Tracks are not glued on right now, will be painted separately. Figures require quite a bit of modification to sit convincingly (note right arm of driver, work in progress). 

Driver sits true, fitting posture for driving upwards (and the only way this will work without making a new right arm from scratch). I kept the left arm in a relaxed posture to save on work 🙂 but don't tell anyone! 

Kettenkrad with first layer of primer (Games Workshop). Figures are just watching the show. 

Figure fitting. All figures have been modified in posture one way or the other. This is the first time I am working with soft plastic figures, and it's a pain. But with patience, it is manageable. 

Figures are made of soft plastic; flash can be removed (1) with a sharp knife, (2) with a piece of wire heated by a flame. Smoothing by heat feels more like pottery than plastic modeling 🙂 but works surprisingly well. 

ElektroSchwimmwagen gets an improved screw. Kit part (right), punched-out parts to build screw (left), result (centre). 

ElektroSchwimmwagen is ready for primer. Cabin modified to fit astronauts and life support equipment, already primed, pre-painted Panzergrau, and dry-brushed before assembling upper & lower half; not easy to get in there when everything is assembled. Note modified screw assembly. 

ElektroSchwimmwagen and ElektroKettenkrad ready to go. Crew still in paintshop 🙂
Color is Tamiya German Grey XF-63, i.e. the vehicles are not as blue-ish in reality as they look here. Drybrushed with Neutral Grey XF-53, weathered with light grey pastels. Tires are NATO Black XF-69. Wood parts are Desert Sand XF-69 overpainted with Burnt Umber oil paint streaks. Tracks are Flat Black XF-1 with some thinned Burnt Siena and highlighted with a soft pencil.
Lights have been drilled out, painted chrome silver, and filled with Solid Water.
And: macro photographs are merciless. 0_0  

Figures took a few tries to get acceptable, that soft plastic is a pain. Any contact with any hard object may well reveal the (white) plastic, scratched right through the primer. I had to reattach arms 3 times, since the glue would only take limited load. Will try a different painting approach with the remaining 3 figures, but for now I call it a day and continue with the saucer - finally! 🙂 

Decals on life support equipment have been magnanimously donated by Mr. Gabreski personally (Techmod 72103S, P-47M kill markings). Shoulder decals are from Printscale 71-159 (Mosquito kill markings).