Desperate Defense - Panzerkampfwagen 35H 734(f)

1
March 1, 2023
Here we are getting things started with part of the build. I really hadn't expected there to be an interior at all on a 1/72 tank so of course I had to show it off. Both in this picture and in the final model which will have its hatches and engine cover open.
2
March 1, 2023
All the pieces laid out. Not a fan of the separate fenders here. Some fitting issues as well that will come up as well. The gun is modelled as well even with a little tiny machine gun and drum magazine sort of like a DP-27. I did a bit of drilling on the barrel and exhaust, but I don't have an electric drill small enough to be willing to fully drill them out.
3
March 1, 2023
Here's sort of what it will look like complete. You can already see some of the fitting issues. The lines horizontal down the chassis are actually how the tank looks though.
4
March 1, 2023
Here's the planned layout. The miniart ruined building dominates the scene. I guess I did build it but it is quite large.
5
March 1, 2023
The parallelism with my last diorama.
6
March 1, 2023
You would not believe how hard it was to get these two to stick together properly. I dropped the tripod and it vanished into the carpet so I had to fashion one out of wire.
7
March 1, 2023
I skipped a bunch of steps on the base as usual. I used my razor and a ruler to outline the bricks. I then used a pencil to deepen the cuts and rolled it over with a ball of aluminum foil to make irregularities. I also cut out a handful of bricks. The sidewalk is a cut up donut box. The base is supposed to extend over the wooden edges but it looks pretty bad in the brick areas. Not sure what I'll do about that yet.
8
March 1, 2023
Plastered/sawdusted up. Looking good.
9
March 1, 2023
Everything painted. I am absolutely changing the borderline McDonald's color scheme for the building. The red is way too red and the yellow way too yellow. I also need to go back and use the sawdust mix on the plastic base of the building. I thought I could get away without it but clearly not.
10
March 1, 2023
The inside of the tank is primed up. This is an objectively awful photo but the chair is a green and the engine and mechanisms all metal colored. The tank was airbrushed a lighter grey.
11
March 1, 2023
All of the soldier and objects for the scene.
12
March 1, 2023
Red line at the bottom of the turret according to one of the paint schemes the box proposes... I'll have to upload a photo of the box.
13
March 1, 2023
Decals! Not done setting yet and they'll need another clear coat afterwards. Speaking of the clear coat I need to fix those awful gaps so I might do some puttying and hand paint those areas after the coat.
14
March 1, 2023
I'm not sure about the second cross on the turret. May still remove it. The left side is so awkwardly shaped for decals.
15
March 3, 2023
Ready for a second coat of paint over the filled and sanded areas and gloss. I am not a master of filling and sanding so it's still ugly, there are some areas where there's a clear cavity but at least there aren't any gaps.
16
March 3, 2023
I'm much better at the diorama side of things though. Fixing up the plastic base with some plaster and sawdust to match the rest of the diorama. I also cut some bricks from XPS and wood from some balsa shavings.
17
March 3, 2023
Made the bricks and wall much more reasonable. Still not satisfied with the bricks.
Also cleaned up the base some and got rid of a lot of the white spots I'd missed with paint.
18
March 3, 2023
Much better brick red now. Painted up the base as well, just need to vary the coloring on the new dirt a bit more then glue down some gravel/sand to it and it'll be good to go.
I keep forgetting to paint the bricks varying colors, they won't be staying all grey.
19
March 3, 2023
Reverse side.
20
March 3, 2023
The tank is 'fixed.' You can still pretty clearly see some of the issues with it but since the fenders will have tools etc. on them it won't be too noticeable in the end. I'm not submitting this to a contest or anything so I don't mind.
21
March 3, 2023
Decided to take a group photo of everything that will be added to the diorama. You can see what I meant about having a lot of tools for the fenders. Not all of them will be going on like the shovel, pickaxe, and hammer which will be on the ground. I have a lot of base coating to do.
22
March 5, 2023
Quick base update, stones and rocks scattered about. I started using some enamel wash on the base but the fumes got way to strong and I had to stop for the day and open a window. More updates tomorrow.
23
March 5, 2023
Here's the base with the wash completed plus the tank and some positions for all the tools. The RPM kit comes with more tools than could ever fit on the sides of this tiny tank (only needed two people for crew because of French military doctrine focused on preserving manpower). You can see how big the tankman is just compared to the size of the tank here. There's a cover for the engine here but I'm not putting it in until I'm going to glue it since it needs to flip upwards towards the rear of the tank and would get in the way.
24
March 5, 2023
Between this photo and the last I realized how messed up the mold lines still were with this figure and hit him with some fine sanding sticks. Normally mold lines are pretty easy to deal with but since Orion uses soft plastic I have a lot of trouble making them look nice without destroying the figure.
25
March 5, 2023
Next steps are to go in with the black Tamiya panel liner and accent the tank. Then I can start highlighting then weathering, put on the tracks, etc. Also need to reprime this tanker and get to painting all 8 or 9 of the figures in the model. I have something that I've ordered from Europe that I'm hoping will show up before the model is totally done, not going to say what it is yet though.
26
March 11, 2023
Here is the first step of me finishing up the tank, panel liner. The decals are going to be looking bad for a bit here but once I get the matte coat down they'll be looking better.
27
March 11, 2023
You can see how messed up the sides are from my filling attempt. I have more luggage for the tank that isn't painted up yet so that will be helping disguise my mistakes. I think in the movie "Routine Pleasures" by Jean-Pierre Gorin one of the modellers says something like that modelling is half work and half covering up your mistakes. That's how I'm feeling most of the time.
28
March 11, 2023
I think the treads look nice with the liner.
29
March 11, 2023
Here's a photo of my setup right before I did some splatter by dipping the brush lightly and then using the tweezers on them. My poor 8x12 cutting mat lol.
30
March 11, 2023
Weathering complete. I went way overboard on the chipping, some of those chips should all be 50% smaller but I suppose there's no going back now. Process was painting edges irregularly with Tamiya Hull Red, then MiG dark mud, MiG fresh mud, MiG rust streaks, and finally black and brown dry pigment to unify everything. I know I'm not the best at painting or weathering, but this will look good enough from a distance that I'm okay with it.

You can see the spotlight on the right which broke off for maybe the 3rd or 4th time so far. Very fragile connection there.
31
March 11, 2023
You can kind of see what I was trying to do with the rust here, I figured that since this tank had been in service or at least storage since 1940 it would probably be a bit worse for the wear especially if it wase out in the rain.
32
March 11, 2023
The engine compartment is still one of my favorite bits here.
33
March 11, 2023
Gah those chips on the driver's door look terrible. I started off okay and got sloppy I think.
34
March 11, 2023
Last pic for now, I highlighted the treads with citadel stormhost silver and then went over with the brown pigment for a nice silvery contrast.
35
March 12, 2023
Cleaned it up a lot. I took the base color and painted over a lot of the chips I'd made, only keeping the ones that have the rust streaks and a handful of others. The phone camera can't pick it up too well but I also did a lot of work with an enamel thinner to clean up the panel liner and the mud washes I'd done and I think it's looking a lot nicer, especially on the turret. It's going to keep looking not amazing because of the extra shiny decals, the matte coat will hopefully sort that out.
36
March 12, 2023
You can really see how much wash I took away on the front view here if you compare it to photo 31. The ground isn't wet in the dio so there's no reason it should have excessive mud splatter, just some dust and dirt buildup.
37
March 12, 2023
I'm a fan of how the washes look underneath the spare wheel.
38
March 12, 2023
And here's the extra figure I mentioned earlier that I had to get from Europe. This cat is going to be on top of the ruined building, just got done priming it along with everything else so I'm pretty much just down to painting up all the people and objects not yet in the dio.
39
March 13, 2023
Quick update, painted up all the misc. items. Not sure where they're going to be yet so they might not all appear.
The folded flag is a bit awkward, it wasn't meant to be a flag initially but it looks alright.
40
March 13, 2023
Here's the cat. I was pretty excited to paint this up, I just did calico because that's easy to do.
41
March 13, 2023
This will be where the cat will be hanging out, above the fray I suppose. I need to get to painting up all of the figures next.
42
March 16, 2023
Painted up the figures, not winning any awards in this category. Both for the painting and the photos. I'll get some better photos when I give them their wash and start putting everything together in the dio.
43
March 16, 2023
The mg operator on his belly is the only Tamiya model here and the difference in quality is remarkable. The two guys on the right are supposed to be supporting each other but I haven't attached them together yet.
44
March 16, 2023
You can see the "soldiers" here all have the black armband with the red outline. That's the volkssturm armband that was pretty much the only piece of uniform for the late war nazi militias.
45
March 18, 2023
And it's done, here's a quick photo gallery of the tank before I glued it in. I guess the matte coat didn't make the decal edges pop out less. I think I'll need to watch a youtube vid on making them look nice maybe.
46
March 18, 2023
Folded up flag on the tank side, that and the bullet casings you'll see in the diorama were inspired by Neil Patrick's matchbox dio he just completed.
47
March 18, 2023
48
March 18, 2023
The interior detail is cool but very hard to see normally.
49
March 18, 2023
50
March 18, 2023
51
March 18, 2023
Very proud of the gloss on the spotlight there.
52
March 18, 2023
Took a few pics of the diorama before the tank got glued in.
53
March 18, 2023
54
March 18, 2023
55
March 18, 2023
56
March 18, 2023
This is definitely the best angle, the man sitting on the tank is having a moment of solitude despite the chaos unfolding around him.
57
March 18, 2023
The mg and rifle are covering this poor guy going out to lay mines.
58
March 18, 2023
The cat and the injured man are wisely making their retreat.
59
March 18, 2023
60
March 18, 2023
Sort of a top down. Everything around the ruined building is a bit more red because of all the brick dust that would be around there.
61
March 18, 2023
The tank commander is evidently not impressed by the show of nationalistic fervor. He's a bit more of a realist I suppose.
62
March 18, 2023
Detail on the sniper, he's fired a couple shots but the fighting hasn't fully started yet.
63
March 18, 2023
I bet he wishes there was a bit more grass, and that there was someone to change the belts and swap barrels too.
64
March 18, 2023
Another look at the crew.
65
March 18, 2023
And here it is next to my last dio. They are both rectangular but I messed up which edges matched so they don't line up 🙁 I'm not sure what I'd call the pair of them. They're both on the defense but the Soviets actually made it out of the Siege of Leningrad while the Germans got completely swept up. Maybe just "Defensive Posture."
66
March 18, 2023
They do line up when they aren't facing each other.
67
March 18, 2023
Looks better like this.

I can't believe it took me exactly a month to complete this, it just feels too perfect somehow. I'll upload a teaser of what I'm working on next in a bit but don't expect any real updates for a while. Thanks for reading!

Kommentarer

32 1 March 2023, 03:38

Finn
Will follow

1 March 2023, 09:50

JC
Great! Won't have time today but I should have an update tomorrow.

1 March 2023, 22:46

Mona
watching 👀 with great interest

5 March 2023, 02:23

Neil Patrick
Looking great already! I never saw an RPM kit built before so thanks also for showing us what a nice model this is. 🙂

5 March 2023, 09:36

JC
Thank you Mona and Neil! Just posted some new pictures. RPM does seem to have a lot of nice early war French, Polish, and German tanks to build. I chose this kit not knowing anything about the company but wanted a captured H35/39 and didn't want to have to deal with buying a separate decal sheet and have been very impressed. The kit also comes with the H39's longer gun, a different commander cupola, and a tail like the FT-17's which also appeared on this tank, but I chose not to add it since it would take up a lot of space.

5 March 2023, 19:36

Neil Patrick
Thank you very much for this extra information JC. I also had not seen the Orion resin figures before, but thought they looked great, so went online shopping for some. None to buy anywhere I could find. Just hundreds of boxes of polythene figs. Drives me nuts that that soft, bendy and unworkable figures in 1/72 are available for just about every war ever fought since about 2000BC, but almost no-one sees fit to make them in hard plastic or resin. Honorable exception for Preiser, but even these are hard to find and expensive. Grumbles over, I think your dio is looking great! 🙂

5 March 2023, 21:01

JC
Thanks, appreciate it. Speaking of polythene problems, one of my friends bought a box of landsknechts where their lances were all drooping about 20 degrees down. It was pretty funny at the time but now it's just a waste of plastic unfortunately. Thankfully WW2 soldiers don't have any lances to ruin their sculpts with lol.

5 March 2023, 22:55

Neil Patrick
Haha. Yes I guess medieval and ancient modellers must be even more frustrated!

5 March 2023, 23:02

JC
After thinking about it some I'm going to go back and redo the weathering as best I can, just looking at some of the other models and dioramas here on the site made me dissatisfied with the quality of my work.

11 March 2023, 04:28

Łukasz Gliński
Impressive work on that dio 👍

13 March 2023, 09:58

JC
Thanks Łukasz, definitely feeling better about the dio than the model at this point lol. Everything will look nice (or even better) once I start putting it all together I think.

13 March 2023, 22:03

Łukasz Gliński
First to Fight released such Hotchkiss lately I think, but it would be much harder to open it up, usually the hull is a single piece in their kits.
Keep it up 👍

13 March 2023, 22:07

JC
Hoping to finish it this week 🤞

14 March 2023, 03:24

Neil Patrick
Coming along nicely JC! Those animals look very nice!

14 March 2023, 14:21

JC
I agree they're definitely good quality. I'm going to be putting 1 or 2 animals in my next few dioramas to add some more flavor.

15 March 2023, 21:55

Rui S
Great Dio 👍

20 March 2023, 00:37

Neil Patrick
The paired dios look great next to each other JC.. Looking forward to seeing your next one!

20 March 2023, 00:47

JC
Thank you Rui and Neil 😄 I've gotten started on my next diorama but it's going to be a while before I really get anywhere with it, a lot of building to do and I'm still figuring out if the layout will even work.

20 March 2023, 03:47

Łukasz Gliński
It turned out great, looking much better than WiP pics 👍

20 March 2023, 10:19

JC
Thanks, and I have to agree Łukasz, it definitely looked pretty rough for a little bit there.

20 March 2023, 21:37

Album info

The out-of-date Hotchkiss H35, it's crew, and a group of volkssturm await an impending Allied attack in a German town near the Rhine.

Desperate Defense - Panzerkampfwagen 35H 734(f)

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1:72

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1:72 Panzerkampfwagen 38H 735(f) (RPM 72220)

1:72 German Panzer Soldiers Set 2 (Orion/Haron ORI 72047)

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