Tamiya 1/48th Panther and Wargaming vehicle roundup

Just some wargaming tat ……..

A mix of 1/48th (Mostly Tamiya) vehicles completed for wargaming use and now mainly being used for Bolt Action. Various styles but primarily all in my older and darker finish. Just posted for a bit of fun but it makes me want to pick up and paint a few more, especially now I can improve on some things. Heck maybe even push them around over the fur table as well 🙂

Its probably easier just to list those that aren’t Tamiya ….. so all are Tamiya except;
– The Wespe and Opel Maultier are Bandai
– The Opel Blitz’s’ are some unknown Chinese diecast off E-Bay
– The lone M4A3 76(W) Sherman is from Hobbyboss
– There’s a Skybow Tiger1 late
– And the 3 SdKfz251 SPWs are from WGNZ, the only vehicles (along with the Blitz’s)
that aren’t really kits (just 12 parts)

cheers
Brent

M26E4 Super Pershing – Tamiya conversion for Bolt Action

Super Pershing finished …

Got a few finished pics to post over the next day or so and here’s the first of them – the 1/48th Super Pershing Tamiya conversion. Pretty happy with how it finished up, damn difficult to photograph though with that bloody great gun! 🙂

And a bit of spiel, Tamiya base kit, Blackdog stowage, scratch built gun and armour package. The stowage was nestled down onto the back deck (a pet hate is “floating” resin stowage) using the Dremel and a layer of greeenstuff. The amour plate was guesstimated using ref pics of both the real thing and other models and the gun was made using a piece of sprue, trimmed to length and with a tapered breech end piece and the original Tamiya muzzle brake at the business end. Finished as usual mostly with GW acrylics over an enamel primer base. The big star on the turret is handpainted and the rest of the markings (ficticous) are from the Tamiya kit.

It’s now on it’s way to it’s new home and should make an appearance in a tournament game of Bolt Action over Easter weekend.

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Tamiya 1/48th Super Pershing conversion – triple project wip6

Base camouflage on …

The “Beast” has it’s black camouflage is now on and she’s ready for the fun stuff – lining, streaking and weathering. After the tedious job of painting the tracks though …. oh my aching brushes 🙂

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Tamiya 1/48th Pershing – Super Pershing triple project wip5

Primer paint on ….

Added some Blackdog stowage and sprayed an enamel primer coat (Tamyia OD rattlecan). The stowage needed some work to get it to fit and I added green stuff “tarps” as a base to each piece to get them to sit down with the usual problem of rigid resin stowage.

Next steps are to mix up my preferred shade of acrylic OD (GW Catachen Green and Vallejo OD) and brush on the base paint ….

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Tamiya 1/48th Pershing – Super Pershing triple project wip4

Spaced armour completed ….

Finished the additional spaced armour package today plus most of the other Tamiya details. Top hatch and aerial mounts will go on after base paint has been laid on.

Not much to say about the process, I used a few basic tools, tech drawing dividers, steel ruler and the always efficient eyeball. I basically guesstimated the sizes and dimensions using photo refs on the pc, my 20mm conversion and the Hobby Boss 1/35th kit. The hydraulic balance cylinders have been fudged a bit as at the end of the day this is for gaming not competition (like I’ve ever done a competition model lol).

Enjoy

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Tamiya 1/48th Pershing – Super Pershing triple project wip3

Turret mods ….

Finished the turret mods required to match the Pilot vehicle.

– Trimmed down the track guards. No idea why they narrowed them but it does add some extra cool.
– Smoothed down the indentation where the pistol post is glued, not fitted to the trial turret.
– Replaced the oval loaders hatch with a big split hatch (left over from a Hobby Boss Sherman.
– Made a turret rear bustle counterweight out of scrap resin and plasticard.
– Made an extended gun barrel for the T15E1 L/73 90mm.

Next it’s onto the front spaced armour, which was actually 30mm boiler plate so leaning more towards the spaced and less towards the armour side of things.

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Tamiya 1/48th Pershing – Super Pershing triple project wip2

Tamiya 1/48th Pershing, Hobby Boss 1/35 Super Pershing ….

Work begins on the 1/48th Super Pershing conversion beginning with the lower hull. Like all 1/48th Tamiya kits (those that I’ve built anyway) assembly is very straight forward. The only slight hassle involves the fitting of the plastic out hull parts to the metal hull monocoque. Super glue is required here and is unforgiving due to it’s rapid set time. Superglue gel should really be used here … or better yet lets hope all new Tamiya kits have plastic hulls.

Anyway fit of parts is good so far and with no issues. The Link and Length tracks fit well although this is the step where most care is required ….

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Hobby Boss 1/35 Super Pershing “Pilot Model”

Managed to get in a little work on the Tamiya kits bigger brother. Not much progress yet but so far the fit of parts is good with no issues.

Tamiya 1/48th Pershing – Super Pershing triple project

Pershing Madness . . .

Another project starter primarily to convert a Tamiya 1/48th Pershing into a Super Pershing replica for gaming use but I thought I’d make a start on building the 1/35th Hobby Boss Super Pershing from the stash at the same time … then of course there are the 4x 20mm Super Pershings that are already partially built.

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Just like the smell of a new book, new kit boxes hold so much promise ….

M10 GMC – Tamiya 1/48th

Tamiya 1/48th 3inch GMC M10, just finished and still warm …..

Actually it’s mostly true as I did just finish it. A nice quick build project finsihed just in time for my brother to take it with him to deliver it to a friend at the Salute 2014 show in London in April. In terms of a quick build if you’ve never tried a Tamiya 1/48th kits you don’t know what you’re missing. They’re no stress builds, practically shake n bake in an evening. This took about 4hours to assemble although I have done a few before …..

Painting took a little longer lol As usual though it’s brush painted with GW acyrlics over a Humbrol enamel base/primer. I added black camo as a bit of a change. Crew figs are from Gasoline and were fitted as supplied with no mods needed.

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Marder III Panzerjager 38(t) 7.62cm(r) – Tamiya 1/48th

Another piece bound for the wargaming table, not ours lol as it’s well on it’s way to it’s new owner. Anyway it’s Tamiya 1/48th early MarderIII fitted with the captured Soviet ZiS-3 76.2mm AT gun. A straight OOB build, a really well detailed and easy to assemble kit. Finished with …. yes … the same as all my other stuff, brush painted GW acyrlics over an enamel base coat.

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And a few “wip” pics …..

The base is first sprayed with Tamiya rattlecan yellow. Then it’s brybrushed overall with GW desert yellow (almost a perfect match for Humbrol 83 which is on of the best “Dunkelgelb” shades imo). Panels and edges are lightened with white progressively added to the yellow.

Base camo is stippled on and lightly blended. Tracks and details blocked in.

From then on it’s basic weathering, pin washes, some post shading with thinned GWs and rain streaking. Next is chipping, and decals. I brush on Humbrol gloss where the decals are to go, fit them when dry then the gloss gets toned out when the matt varnish is sprayed on at the last step.

Finally it’s pigments for lower hull and tracks and then spray can varnish.

Tiger II Ausf.D Nachtjager – Project ’46 1/48 Tamiya conversion

Current wip of my 1/48th version of the TigerIID. Added details include MR-Models IR System – drivers and commander/gunners slaved IR sight and rear battery box, tool clamps, tow cable mounts, additional armoured radio pod for the Panzerbefehlswagen (command tank) upgrade, turret track mounts (early 2 link track), rear engine decking splinter armour, fuel tank breathers/overflow pipes, turret hatch handles and pistol port chain, exhaust flammenvernichters and top mounted deflectors. I also added a gun breach from an old Bandai Elefant, pretty rough and just something to see through the hatch. If I’d had access to some 88 shells I’d have knocked up some racks to fill the rear of the turret. Anyway it now awaits it’s camo ……

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SdKfz 222 – Tamiya 1/48th

Part of a few other commission vehicles finished over xmas, this is the Tamiya/ICM 1/48th SdKfz222 A/c. Built OOB except for the tow rope and aerial. The commander figure is from the Tamiya Panzer Grenadier boxed set. Brush finished with GW acrylics over enamel primer and detailed with both MIG and homemade pigments. A nice simple kit which would detail up nicely with a little work, in particular the vision blocks are very poor and really should be replaced. Throw on the Blackdog stowage set though and it’d look pretty swish …….

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Sturmgeschutz Ausf.G – Tamiya 1/48th Stug III

Starting to catch up with the pic processing of things I’ve finished over xmas now that I have a working pc again. So heres a couple of wargaming Tamiya Stugs built OOB except for the addition of Black Dog stowage, some MGs from the Tamiya Panzer Grenadier figure boxed set and a little fender and side skirt damage. Brush painted with GW acylics over an enamel primer.

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1/48th Hobbyboss Shermans (and other wips) – 7

A little more progress, at the stage with the Shermans of deciding on final camo and weathering. Went a bit further on a test vehicle adding disruptive black and starting the basic fading. The other projects, Dragon 1/72nd Jagdpanzers and Tamiya 1/48th Stugs are alos at the camo selection stage …..

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Project ’46 1/35th Jagdpanther – 4

Just a quickie, slapped some paint on the IR gear, more for my own interest than anything productive ….. and yeah I know, green lenses. Wasn’t sure how dark to tint them and wanted something arty, this is a “what if fantasy” project. And yeah, I know they should be dark/black with just a hint of red …..

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Project ’46 1/35th Jagdpanther – 3

A little more progress made tonight. Filled in the mounting holes on the superstructure for the tool racks and fittings and sanded smooth. Assembled the IR units and trial fitted them. They still have PE to be added, wiring looms, a rain and light shield extension for the drivers visor and a few fittings for the MG42 mounting. And there’s a rumour that the PE parts shown in the post below are about to be ordered to add some bling ….

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Project ’46 1/35th Jagdpanther – 2

Finished the basic assembly today. Now to decide whether to bother with PE or just add the tool racks and paint it. What I’d like to do is get a PE set with the late stowage bin on the upper rear hull and relocate the tools from the hull sides. If I do that I’ll need to fill in all the mounting indentations on the superstructure so it’s really a go-no go descision ….. grrrrr why are PE sets soooooo expensive! Of course I still have the infrared set to fit yet …

And below are the PE sets I’d like to fit …….. which will cost more than the two donor kits combined! Oh god, now I’m going to digress into a mini rant. I just realised why I don’t “do” much 1/35th. It’s because of the damn cost. The kits themselves aren’t tooo bad, although I don’t buy them at the LHS. But if I purchased the two donor kits at the LHS and put on metal tracks, and a metal gun barrel, a couple of Alpine crew members, a 2-station IR kit and the three PE sets I’ve highlighted below there wouldn’t be much change out of $500 large …. and people (including myself) complain about GW prices! At least there isn’t all that “must have” aftermarket stuff for them, without which no one will look at your kit in the “serious” modelling fraternity. Mention that your build is OOB (out of the box) and it’s the kiss of death in a forum, unless of course you have the scratch building skills and the three weeks to make it all yourself. Anyway, back to the PE bits that I “must have” …..

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And here’s how she looks at present …. almost there.

Project ’46 1/35th Jagdpanther Ausf F mit Infrarot-Nachtsichtgerat

Well …… for someone that doesn’t model 1/35th there is an awful lot of suspiciously large kit-building going on. As I’ve decided to model for myself on weekends and I’ve been good and completed two assembly projects the week, 3x 1/48th Shermans and 3x 1/72nd Jagdpanzer IVs (both groups will be put up for sale when completed), I started another spur-of-the-moment project today.

I’ve always wanted to build a ’46 version of the Jagdpanther with steel wheels, late exhausts and infrared equipment, something in-between the late/last production models and the fantasy x-tanks. In a perfect world this would have been a 1/72nd project but as I had the nescesary doner kits on hand in 1/35th scale and I was also looking for some large scale painting practise before working on the Hummel/FSV, it seemed like a good idea at the time …..

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Construction so far has been a breeze. It was interesting to work on a big Tamiya after assembling Hobbyboss and both small and big Dragon kits. Tamiya often gets a slagging in the model fraternity but for my money their engineering (fit of parts, flash level, ease of assembly) is usually first class. When I began this morning I was really only going to see how feasable fitting the late steel road wheels from the Sturmtiger kit would be to the Jagdpanther chassis but, it all went so well so I boxed on with assemebly.

I had to perform some mild surgery to mate the Tiger road wheels to the J-panther. I used the Tiger torsion bars to ensure the road wheels sat square and shortened them to seat them properly into the JP hull. The JP front final drive housing armoured deflector, had to be cut back top and bottom to fit the Tiger final drive housing properly, again this was chosen to ensure correct alignment of drive sprocket and road wheels. The rear idler arm required a bit of filling again just to align the idler correctly with the track centre line.

You also really get a sense of just how big the 8.8cm L/71 is when you see it with the breach outside the tank! Next …. the indy tracks, the only bit I wasn’t keen on.

Ahhhh, Turns out I needn’t have worried, There’s only about 200 links req in all. Surprisingly they went together fine and look pretty good too I think. I managed to get good aligment and a representative sag ……. and I do so love a good track sag. So next is to add the rest of the kit bits, and as I’ve decided I want to add PE rear stowage bins and maybe gun cleaning tube and tool fittings, I’ll have to order some and wait for them to arrive …..

11th Armd Shermans – 1/48th

A group of Tamiya 1/48th Shermans and an M10 with a basic (not accuarate but ok for the gaming table) Achilles conversion, nothing fancy simply a brass 17pdt Barrel. The group was completed for a friend some time ago … an oldie but still a goodie.