Newsfeed

Steven Van Dyck
This project has taken a good start with the diorama build developing alongside the model. It will show the Dragon Sd.Kfz.7/2 armored version with Flak37 and Sd.Anhanger52, using the Royal Griffon set, Lion Roar barrel and Friul for the half-track. On the dio are the Plusmodel cathedral window and a yet to provide 1/35 large airplane fragment.

Neuling
Looking forward here ..........

Steven Van Dyck
All welcome. The engine is built with the help of 2 Griffon frets and some copper wiring to bend the tubes. I also added a frame to the dio. Some extra orders will enter the project next week.

Steven Van Dyck
The Plusmodel church ruin on the dio needs to have some duplicated elements. I eventually succeeded in making some copies with gum moulds. The RT glass-in-lead windows will fit in the windows and the RT church door will be mated to the door post. A priest figure and an English pilot will make an appearance later on.

Steven Van Dyck
The church wall keeps on growing as more plaster parts are cast. Each time a cardboard casing is made, then the original is covered in gum and pressed in the casing. It's removed carefully and then plaster is cast in the mould. Some corrections are made after unpacking the mould and then the part is glued to the wall. All of these walls are still kept as a dry-fit, to be able to work easier on the undeveloped side of the diorama. I got some laser printed carpentry for the roof that has come crashing down, these you can not find in a store but were provided by an architecture student.

Jv
Looking great and very interesting

Steven Van Dyck
Thanks! Today the two figures I have are made. The pilot is hiding himself against the wall inside the chapel, the priest tries to keep him out of view of the half-track crew. A sketch is added with the position and the scenery that is still missing for this, it will contain 3 small widows and a stepped entrance to the vault. I also spent a full day carving some spare PE fret remains into the metal tracery for the church door. Some Griffon shapes were really helpful after some drilling and cutting, mostly out of frets I had double. All of this remains dry-fit by now.

Steven Van Dyck
The half-track now got the roadwheels and a resin radiator cover that was slightly too small for the PE slats that came with the Griffon set. They would have worked with the kit radiator, but for some reason the Griffon one is not identical tot the kit one. A chapel is made for the fugitive pilot and a cardboard vault mould is concocted. I cast the plaster in it but maybe it's better if it stays witht the cardboard under it.

Steven Van Dyck
The Friul tracklinks are quite easy to finish, but the sprockets were supposed to have an axle and this is absent in Dragon with only a flange for the inner sprocket ring. Two 4mm brass tubes are used as an insert in the sprocket hubs and a 6mm hole is drilled in the transmission housing to allow for the rollers to align with the road wheels. The diorama chapel is plastered to eliminate the wood grain and to finish the vaulting.

Jv
Very nice work Steven thanks for sharing all the info and build pics
Looking forward to see more

Steven Van Dyck
Thanks, Jv. Today more of the small building is scratchbuilt out of styrene plates. I have removed the cardboard and completed the interior with plaster

Steven Van Dyck
With the Greenstuf "Bricks" rolling seal, a layer of clay is imprinted on the building and then the ornaments are inserted in the brickwork.

Mathias Decommere
Learning a lot from this high-skilled project! Thx for buildpics and congratulations allready.

Olivier
What a project !

Steven Van Dyck
Thank you, Mathias and Olivier. I'll try to keep up with your appraisal, today the roof is tiled and I cleaned up my toolbox to collect all the plastic nodes I needed for the pinnacle ornaments. I knew this would once come in handy, only I had to sort them out to get identical ones. The Trumpeter type abounded enough. The chapel got some embellishment out of a scrap 1/48 P-61 Double Wasp engine. Then the door was engraved and rivet punched. The bomber images show how I will try to copy a 1/72 wing surface to a 1/35 one (1/36 as the matter of fact, that will do fine if the wing is crashed). That Revell model I own since before I could paint and decal.

Steven Van Dyck
The bomber wing is now made rigid with styrene bulkheads and plastic tubes, after the skin is riveted with the Excel pinwheel. The glass for the chapel is inserted as a dry-fit.

Thomas Espe
Wow! 👀

Steven Van Dyck
Thanks, Thomas. To be fair, on the teaser the light of the kitchen only shines through.

Steven Van Dyck
The wing is now closed down and polished at the seam. Now I'm trying to make the cowling sheet metal, this is a daunting piece to scratch.

Villiers de Vos
Impressive scratch build skills. Very nice.

Michael Kohl
gonna watch that.

Steven Van Dyck
You're welcome, guys. Today the Sd. Anh. was built and I also try to make the fairing for the plane engine. The PE for the Anhanger is not well chosen, I'd rather have some more visible parts be replaced.

Steven Van Dyck
With the addition of a step, all elements were ready to be fixed to the dio. Some plasterwork was sculpted to look chipped off. After the fixing with about half a litre of plaster, the wall seemed to tilt back, I will probably correct this though it's very sturdy now. I only kept the little building loose to paint it. The engine nacelle is now partly plated.

Steven Van Dyck
I got the angle of the plaster wall right now. A partition is made between the two levels on the dio, using the perforated plate and some square sprue I got from the spares. The space behind will be filled up with plaster.

Steven Van Dyck
I built the Anhanger jerrycans with their PE core. I also scratched the cowling plates for the wing, but am still lacking a Merlin engine. I was nlow looking if I couldn't find a Meteor, because it would be in 1/35. I also fould a great addition to the churchyard, Maim's gravestone set. I'm still planning to change the rather bland RIP inscriptions.

Olivier
Your thirst for details is impressive...

Steven Van Dyck
I hope that it is met with scrutiny here, Olivier, so I like to take the time to add details. Today the cabin is detailed with a poseable driver seat and a new dashboard with plastic film.

Steven Van Dyck
The hatches in the cabin are replaced with PE. Dragon had some of its own, but Griffon is even replacing the rails that were molded flat. Then the door grips were bent in the PE shaped channel you get on the fret. I glued the top together but it can be removed still.

Steven Van Dyck
The spare wheelspace is entirely replaced with brass plating. Some parts are wire that is to be turned to a spring. The spare wheel will have to be inserted later on. The alternative mesh is now made, I guess it's another 200 parts painstakingly connected with as little glue as possible.

Villiers de Vos
Amazing techniques and skill.

Erik Off
I love such detailed build reports.
You have great ideas, e.g. using the sprues as decoration for the churchroof. 👍

By the way, in 15 minutes I'll be on my way to Belgium - Mol. 😄

Pepe
Oooooooooooooooole!!!!!!!

Steven Van Dyck
Welcome Pepe! Now the gun platform got its PE sides. Takes a while to bend and glue but the result can speak.

Villiers de Vos
Taking shape nicely

Rui S
Almost no plastic 😄. Great PE work as always 👍

Steven Van Dyck
Thanks, Rui. The amount of plastic will scarcely increase during the next steps. Two ladders are added to the rear. This requires drillng 8 goles through a crushed brass thread. Then a large amount of microscopic metal parts is assembled to the 37mm gun. The Lionroar barrel is a bit longer than the plastic one.

Steven Van Dyck
The gun is assembled with a myriad of PE particles. It all fits together very well and the build is assisted by the extremely detailed Griffon instructions. Now only the splinter shield remains to be completed in thransport mode.

Villiers de Vos
Coming along nicely. Phenomenal.

Steven Van Dyck
Thanks Villiers. The rest of the shield, the front armor plate and the ammo clips are constructed.

Steven Van Dyck
Now the different types of ammo crates are processed. The grenades remain loose to be able to paint the interior.

Pepe
Oooooooooooooooole!!!!!!!!

Steven Van Dyck
Gracias, Pepe. Now the tools and the rifle racks are added.

Steven Van Dyck
The project has lagged a bit, but I decided to make the half-track in a showcase participate in the Naked Model class of the Scaleworld contest today. It was a good idea, the showcase won gold in that class.

Olivier
Hurrah !

Pietro De Angelis
WOW!

Steven Van Dyck
Sorry for mor than a year of Rundfunk silence, but now the Dark Yellow is finally painted on. For the Half Track I used Gunze 304 and for the cart I took the lighter version. The Track was put in Mig Track Blackener for two days, that's now diluted in water and drying.

Steven Van Dyck
I selected a team for the half-track out of my second-hand collection. I bought these without box-art cover, but I recognize some Panzergrenadiers and Joachim Peiper. Another guy just eats his goulash and I even found a driver, though he needs to bend his head to fit in this cramped cabin.

Mr James
This is next level scratch building and detailed kit construction. I've only seen this level of dedication once before on this site and its truly awe inspiring. Fantastic work Steven.

Doubtingmango
Just saw this for the first time. Absolutely spellbound! Can't thank you enough for sharing all this work

Villiers de Vos
Very nice progress.

Steven Van Dyck
Thanks for the nice words. Some of the stuff in this topic I never tried out before, so I'm glad it's being appreciated.

I did some painting yesterday but the compressor didn't shut the valve any more. It kept on running constantly and was probably running hot, so I went for a new one. The figures got some paint and also the engine and the seats. More details are to follow.

Joachim P.
Hello, Steven, my hats off to your eye for detail and perfect looking results from. It's a school right here!!!

Steven Van Dyck
Thanks, Joachim. But the teacher still gets a lot to learn, too. Today I got a great announcement, there will be a state of the art Fischkopp Models Merlin engine on the diorama, and my engine will be underscale for the intended 1/32 Border/GWH Lancasters because it was one of the prototypes. So it will be near to 1/35 (picture of the product page! Mine is still traveling). I also installed the half-track engine and the driver, but I had to remove the hood once because my prefab PE grilles did not match the firewall. When the cabin roof was mounted, the loading bay flaps did not match the eyes for the locking bars, so these too had to be moved. All should be ready for the next camo colours. Included in this update are also a few pictures of the plane wing that is primed black, and the chapel that got some of the leftovers form the airbrushing last months.

Joachim P.
Hello, Steven, thank you for your reply. To me it is pretty simple, scale modelling and composing a diorama varies, put in music relation, from a commercial jingle to a full symphony, and it is a composition like yours, that I see and instantly feel motivated to evolve and to take more time for the result. Since I am still a newbie around here, I strawl around the news feed and quite often, I am deeply impressed, and hungry to steal with my eyes, to widen my own palette, to give my own love for it a new and more inspired state. When I think back to my first kit, a Revell Huey, that I was given when I was 8 (1983), there was no Vallejo, I haven´t seen Tamiya or whatsoever, I had Revell enamel paint tins and a thick-brushed Revell cement bottle, and after decades without scale- modelling, today I am still stunned, how many product pallettes are available and how awesome the options to choose from are. It is great to be here on scalemates, and to make contact to very passionated "musicians" around here. Have a nice weekend and again hats off to your concept and work.

Steven Van Dyck
Thanks for your poetic transcription of our delightful hobby, Joachim. I revel in people giving their opinions about the models. Today the update is about the camo of the half-track. You see pictures of it firs in the German Light Camo green. I had already finished this when I discovered I actually used chromate green which is lighter of color, so I shadowed the camo in the real Vallejo Camo green. Then the brown came on with later a darker brown as shadow. The spraying didn't go as smooth as the Gunze paint, maybe it's because of the heat over here.

Steven Van Dyck
The rubber is now painted on the tracks, the roadwheels and the sprockets with a pencil. Then the tracks are installed, there was no glue needed for any of the components. I will spraypaint the front wheels.

Steven Van Dyck
Gloss varnish is applied to the vehicle after the Anhanger is painted in two colors. I thought it would look better if I didn't add green to that. I compared my Fischkopp Merlin engine to a picture of the real thing and it's very realistic. But this is a prototype he printed a bit too small, so it's ideal for my 1/35 dio. Thanks again to him for willing to sell me this.

Villiers de Vos
Coming along nicely.

Steven Van Dyck
A rearrangement is done in the gravestone section of the dio. Also the walls needed to be reinforced with plugs as the plaster tended to spall from the underlying wood. The removed elements of the graveyard will return in a new more angular layout.

Villiers de Vos
Fantastic work so far and attention to detail.

Pietro De Angelis
Impressive work,
i can only imagine the final result... congrats!

Steven Van Dyck
Thanks, today the floor has been tiled with the Trumpeter engraver. The window profiles have been completed and the decorated wall for the churchyard is rearranged in a rectangle. The old components could be reused.

S M
This is so ambitious project! Following!

Steven Van Dyck
Thanks, SM! The ruins are now painted using Vallejo primers and colors. I use vivid colors and then tone down to get depth. The earth colors will be "grassed".

John
What ? No June or August !

Martin Oostrom
I now have to live with that failure for the rest of my life. 2023 is ruined forever
🤪

Bill Newcomer
Dude! You need to build faster!

OK you made me look at my damage. I bought 33 kits this year. AYE, Yi Yi!

Spanjaard
you can still order some more to compensate for June and Augist LOL!!!

John
Now I had to look at mine, 31 kits this year. One regional show and IPMS/USA in 2024 so I'm thinking dozens more in 2024. Happy New Year and Modeling in '24

bossy122
I find it better not to pay attention. I just added 5 more and haven't finished a damn thing in forever. Is there a way to see what all got added to the stash in THE STASH?

Ellis Smith
Woah I need to buy more kits to keep up with you lot, mines a very small stash by comparison.

Martin Oostrom
Welcome, my fellow addicts 😄

Bossy, if you add the date bought and the price when adding a kit to your stash, you get two 'benefits'...
1) Your projects show a total cost 🙁
2) In the stash, on the right in blue, you see a date in a blue bar, that's your date bought/sold.

bossy122
Yes, I noticed the dates. Looks like I acquired 29 kits and only finished 4, none of which were started this year. Awful.

Spanjaard
good i have never added those details 😄

Pepe
😲

Bill Newcomer
Martin, the date method is how I determined my count for this year. I am generally pretty good at adding inventory. Cost? I don't want to know. Especially since I have purchased a lot of paint this year.

Martin Oostrom
Bill, Paints are priceless to me! I love the Molotow stuff, but at €29 for 30ml, thats too much. I'll wait for a discount somewhere.
I know that a €50 kit needs about €10-25 in aftermarket stuff and paint.

Bill Newcomer
Have you tried Green Stuff World Chrome?

Martin Oostrom
Nope. I did a quick google search and we have one supplier over here and 17ml costs €7,99 with another €7,50 for shipping.
Alclad is cheaper, but oh so fiddly to get just right. Que the Molotow!

Jv
I missed this post
Yes you should do this
I am always interested in stach albums
Always interesting to see what others get
Sometimes I see kits I haven seen before
I also.love to see what people wish for here its a good way to keep up with coming kits
You sure got some nice kits in the last year
I few I would be happy to have in my stach to

Martin Oostrom
Most of them were bought on Dutch eBay. To prevent more purchases I deleted the app from my phone 😁
No more temptation!

Jv
Lol not sure that would help me much
Just got another 8 models today

Bozzer
Mate, I noticed that you have the AMT Allied Van Lines kit? I'd love a scan of those decals, before you get around to using them.

bughunter
Martin, have you ordered also a new cabinet? Many of the new kits will merge into huge models so I guess you will need a lot of space for the finished ones.

Bozzer
Bughunter, I believe that he's ordered a barn, from IKEA! 😉

bossy122
Now I don't feel so bad about my purchases this year. : )

Spanjaard
i so not feel bad.... about not adding the dates, so I can not even count 😄 😄

Martin Oostrom
Hey! This was all in 2023. I'm a changed man now 🤔

Spanjaard
you do not keep track anymore? 😄

Bozzer
Spanjaard, sometimes it's best, not to keep track 😉

Spanjaard
indeed!!!! 😄

Urban Gardini
Well I for sure don't keep track and that's damn good as my inflow of kits is unhealthy and I've not finished a kit since 2019. Started many but get them done is difficult for some reason. But it's too easy to buy kits...

Ben M
Kit acquisition syndrome!

Ben M
Could you mount an X-wing fuselage and wings on one of those trailers… like it's being transported.

[img1]

Steven Van Dyck
The frame is constructed in the first building step. It's a bit complicated to analyse, but you have to get through this to get all the components ready to fit between the profiles.

Lenny Li
Looks fun with all those PE sheets!

Neuling
Looking forward here ..........

Steven Van Dyck
All welcome, I now assembled the front and 4th axles. All are movable in a steering position, but as usual you have to decide and then fix everything. Also I found that one set of wheels is not parallel, so I cut the steering arm and added a millimeter of sprue roundel. Does this not appear if they test-fit these kits, or did I make a build error?

Steven Van Dyck
All 4 axles are now added to the frame, together with the shock absorbers that I had to shorten a bit at the front axle. The torsion bars are fixed at one side so I can remove the air bellows for painting.

Steven Van Dyck
The fuel tank hoops and steps are now replaced with PE. The steps are quite hard to bend in the right order and no dimensions or angles are given to mount them.

Steven Van Dyck
The radiator is now detailed with the Voyager silver mesh. You only see the front side now, it's on both sides. When it was assembled I realised that the air horns also need a PE part. There is some warping in the sump and the top cover, I hope it isn't evident looking through the front grille later on. The air tanks must be stripped like the fuel tanks, but you get equal lengths of PE strips to attach two kinds of tank. Therefore I clipped 4 of them and redrilled the hole on the end. The assembly with the 2 tanks and the container is suspended on a single PE part that I had first bent the wrong direction, I hope it doesn't get fatigued.

Steven Van Dyck
I started the interior with some colored PE from Eduard. The Black Dog figures are assembled and also a Maim figure and two Legend armament sets were added to the project. But the Maim gunner appeared to have a large backpack, so I don't know he's feasible.

Steven Van Dyck
Continuing the interior with the seats. Also the fenders are completed, it's very important to align the bent beams that sometimes are replaced woth Voyager assemblies. It's preferable to use that, the replacements are sturdier than the originals.

Steven Van Dyck
The cabin exterior is done using some original kit PE and clearparts, but both have problems. The clearparts are not calibrated and have distortion because of this. I will be replacing the large parts with plexiglass. The kit PE is wobbly because it's not thick enough., I even had to hammer it quite a while. Then I found out Voyager does replace half of the protection kit, but not the large parts behind the doors. At least half of the creases are removed then. But Voyager messed up at the hood closing strip, providing two identical parts in stead of mirrored ones. This could be remedied with some re-riveting.

Steven Van Dyck
The pVoyager photo etch cabin roof is constructed with all its nightmarish embossing deformities corrected, the badly fitting airco module that was mosly bent the wrong way around so it broke at one instance. I replaced the 3 largest clearparts with a piece of Trumpeter 1/350 airplane set transparent box cover, that has the right thickness to be able to sand the corner roundings in it. The air purifier system is not installed completely, because that would impede the clearpart masking. So now it's down to interior painting.

gorby
Looks amazing so far!
I'm also amazed at the number of projects you have on the go and still manage to achieve such remarkable results.

Steven Van Dyck
Thanks Gorby, this was now put to wait for the Essex carriers, but as these are awaiting some last details it can go ahead now. The NATO green interior is painted after the appliance of the Eduard masking set. This replaces the kit masking set and has a cool black film, but still needs some trimming on the outside masks of the smaller windows.

Steven Van Dyck
The truck cabin is now finished with the Eduard safety straps. While fixing the roof I noticed that a small strip should pass over the rear to make the internal frame fit to the rivets in the PE.

Steven Van Dyck
The hood is dry-fit on the frame and it seemed that one fender had to be rearranged. I prepared the PE for the rear view mirrors that are quite complicated. I also built the Gecko Models pallet truck as a dio element. It's a very fine kit, there is only one pallet contrary to the image with the 4 pallets on the truck.

Steven Van Dyck
I added the Italeri 20ft container to the project as one of these is clearly visible on the Tankograd pictures. I got it from the store next door. I might cjt up the container to get a better composition on the dio and like that I can get 2 out of 1.

Guy Rump
Following. 👍

Steven Van Dyck
Welcome. I assembled the container in a few hours, an easy process if you wanted to show it closed down. But the option with open doors is incorrect and needs some changes to the locking system. I had done this with the right door, but it would make no sense to have the pallet loader blocked by the left door so I have to change that one too. I made a sketch of the design for the dio, though the cut might be more oblique to gain some volume.