Sd.Kfz. 250/3 by David Blankenship

 Tamiya's 1979 release of the Sd.Kfz. 250/3 in the markings of a Grossdeutschland vehicle. Painted with Mig Ammo acrylics and weathered with oils and pigments. 

Tiger I by David Blankenship

 This is Tamiya's original boxing of a 1/35th Tiger 1 I purchased in 1975 for $3.74 as a close-out at KMart (yes, they used to carry the latest models.)  Shortly after I bought it,  I assembled and painted the kit with Tamiya (?)  dunkelgelb and weathered it with a bit of dry brushing.  The model sat on the shelf where it somehow managed to survive for the past 49 years.  Modeling techniques and my skill level, have improved a lot in the intervening 5 decades so I decided to pull it off the shelf, clean the 1/32nd of an inch of dust off it and see what I could do to bring it closer to today's standards.

I started by removing a section of side shirts, denting the rest, and adding some battle damage to the exhaust covers.  This was followed by airbrushing a red-brown and dark green camo scheme and covering that with the "ambush scheme" of dots.   Finally, a cable from the spares box was added to the left side of the hull to replace the molded cable that was sanded off. That was about it for the modifications to the kit. 

                                       

It then received the standard treatment of airbrushed enamel filters, oil pin washes, pigments for mud build-up, and diluted Tamiya Buff for weathering.

The vinyl tracks were glued to the tops of the road wheels to give them a little sag and were weathered with pigments.

All-in-all, it was a relaxing bit of modeling and a welcome break from the, what seems like , one-thousand-piece Takom Panther A with full interior kit I started months ago.

Sd.Kfz. 251/8 Ausf.A Krankenpanzerwagen by Dave Blankenship

 Another completion in the German ambulance collection I'm putting together: the ICM Sd.Kfz. 251/8 in Afrika Korps markings.  I have built several ICM armor and soft skin vehicles and found this one typical in being highly detailed (if a bit over-engineered in areas) and generally (more on that later) an enjoyable build if you take your time in the construction.   

The vehicle was painted with Tamiya XF-92 Yellow Brown (DAK 1941.)   Weathering consisted of a sprayed-on filter of burnt umber oil paint, a pin wash of a heavier mixture of the same paint, chipping with Tamiya German Gray, and light dustings of Tamiya Buff.  

The Bedouin figure and camel are from the Masterbox "Commonwealth AFV Crew" set and were painted with Vallejo and Model Color acrylics.  I didn't put much time into painting the saddlecloth (which can be highly ornate) so may redo it someday

 Probably the fiddliest part of the whole build was installing the upper stretcher you can see in the above photo. To say it was frustrating is an understatement. After fiddling with it for an hour I almost said the heck with it (my language was a bit more colorful than that.) Instead, I set it aside for the night and tried again the next day and successfully pulled it off after coming close to giving up again. As an aside, when I did research prior to the build, I found one build review online. After I flailed around with the "stretcher", I went back to the article and noticed that the author hadn't installed the top bunk. I suppose his level of masochism didn't match mine. 

The kit didn't contain a canvas cover, but the vehicle screamed for one, so I resigned myself to fashioning one from epoxy putty. I was getting the Apoxie Sculpt out of the drawer when one of those eureka moments occurred. I thought to look through the pile of a dozen Sd.Kfz.251's in the stash and found one in a Dragon kit...and it fit the ICM kit perfectly! 

The German figure is a simple conversion I did years ago but don't remember the source of the parts other than the head which is a resin Warriors piece.

So, that makes eight WWII German ambulances finished, one work-in-progress, two more in the stash, and two conversions to finish someday. And, to add insult to injury, I recently learned that ICM is releasing another ambulance kit I won't be able to resist buying. 

Sd.Kfz. 251/8 Ambulance Work-in-progress by Dave Blankenship

 Here are a couple "in-progress" shots of the new ICM Sd.Kfz. 251/8 Ambulance. Look for the completed model placed in a small vignette very soon.

Hotchkiss H-35/38 by David Blankenship

This is the Hobby Boss H-35/38 built out of the box. With the fall of France in the summer of 1940, the Germans were in possession of a large number of French vehicles. Most of these Beutepanzers, like this Hotchkiss H35/38, were obsolescent at this point and not fit for front line duties. Some were pressed into service as police and anti-partisan vehicles, ammunition carriers, and many Hotchkiss chassis were converted to self-propelled 75 and 105mm guns and put back into the fight soldiering on until the end of the war. 

The kit was painted with Ammo by MIG acrylics and weathered with oil washes and dry pigments. Weathering was kept to minimum because contemporary photos show that the vehicle was in relatively good condition.

The figure is from the Squadron/Warriors line and is a nicely sculpted piece. It was painted with  Vallejo Model Color acrylics.

 

Panzerwerfer 42 auf Maultier Sd.Kfz 4/1 by David Blankenship

This is Italeri's 1994 release of the 15cm Panzerwerfer 42 in the markings of a vehicle captured by a  Free French armored unit (1er Groupe Mobile de Reconnaissance/Groupe F.F.I. Besnier)  which was part of the US/French force laying siege to German forces that remained in Lorient and St. Nazaire after most Germans were pushed out of Northern France following the D-Day landings. 

The model was built pretty much out of the box, painted with AMMO by Mig paints, and weathered with oils.

The markings are from Kagero's mini TOPCOLORS 39 Captured Panzers: German Vehicles in Allied Service.  If you can find a copy, Dave highly recommends the book for a slightly different way to finish your German armor. 

 

Sd.Kfz. 124 Wespe by David Blankenship

This is Alan's 1/35th scale Wespe released back in 1996.  Dave did a quick "out of the box" build of the kit in '96 and sat it on the shelf where it collected dust until just recently. It was a very basic kit but the only game in town until Tamiya released theirs a short while later.  Thinking it could be improved, he recently cleaned if off, repainted, weathered, and added details to bring it up to a little higher standard.

 

 

Sturmgeschütz Sdkfz. 167 (StuG IV) by David Blankenship

 This is an attempt to bring Academy's 1987 boxing of the StuG 4 somewhat up to current standards of kit design without the addition of any aftermarket photoetch or parts. The kit's plastic armor side-skirts and hangers were thinned to prototypical dimensions, cut into sections, and hung. Fenders fashioned from thin aluminum and bent to make the vehicle appear like it had experienced some heavy use replaced the kit's. The supplied "rubber-band" tracks were cleaned up and painted for as realistic a look as possible.  The model was painted with a custom mix of Tamiya acrylics for a match to late-war Dunkelgelb.  

So, what started as a simple out-of-the-box build as a break from the 1,000 piece kits that are common these days, turned into something more involved but was a satisfying project that wasn't overly time consuming.

Sd.Kfz. 7/2 Armored Cab Flak 37 by David Blankenship

Dave picked up this 1989 boxing of Tamiya's Sd.Kfz. 7/2 years ago for $8.00 at a model contest, built it out-of-the-box, painted it in overall dunkelgelb, and put it on the shelf where it languished for years. He thought it would be a good victim to try some weathering techniques on, so pulled out the can of hair spray and went to work to replicate a winter whitewashed vehicle.  Tamiya paints were used for the base and distemper coats.

 

 

KV-II by David Blankenship

 This is an out-of-the-box build of the 1975 boxing of Tamiya's KV-II.  It was painted with Tamiya paints and lightly weathered since many of these behemoths saw little action, being knocked out or abandoned due to mechanical issues shortly after leaving the factory.

 

Marder II by Dave Blankenship

 Tamiya's 1971 boxing of the Marder II was build out-of-the-box as a relaxing break from a 1,000 piece Meng Panther with full interior. The model was painted with Tamiya acrylics and was lightly weathered. It placed first in the "Out-of-Box" armor category at the November, 2021 Cleveland IPMS show.