SdKfz 11 and leFH 18 10.5

First written: December 10th, 2008 | Updated: June 29th, 2009

While doing the SdKfz 250/3 I became very fond of these half tracks. The 250 and 251 always appealed me but there are other HT’s that I never considered building.

While browsing my favorite WEB store (Blast Models) I found this one from AFV Club and I liked it a lot. The artillery piece is included in the same kit and all at a very nice price.

Having built the AFV Club Stuart I know that their kits are of excellent quality and parts fit. So I ordered it.

And as it happens many times, this kit got in front the other 100 waiting for their turn to be built.

I’m building it very fast and finding out what I already suspected. This is another excellent kit from AFV. In spite of the many pieces that compose the chassis (for example) the fit is amazing. There’s no need for adjusting the parts. I dry fit everything obsessively but this kit truly surprises me.

I’ll be posting pictures of the build, but the first ones will be of a almost built kit ready for painting. It was that fast. In 3 nights I made the bulk of the work and I’m now browsing the instruction sheet to see if I missed something.

I wholeheartedly recommend this kit .

Photos taken with Canon EOS 1D Mark III TrueVision lighting products

Building the gun

I’ve almost finished the gun. It’s a very detailed piece, with lots of small parts and a beautiful metal barrel and recoil damper. I compared it against a 1943 War Office manual and the details are spot on. The gun breech and firing mechanism are delicately reproduced and I can’t imagine how they could be more accurate.

Building the gun is not a complicated task, but removing the flash on some parts and assembling it all very carefully is a recomendation to follow. The final assembly will be done after painting the two main subassemblies – the gun itself and the support. If assembled completely it will be a difficult to paint because of the areas that will be out of reach.

Painting

This was probably the fastest build I ever did. From box to paint in just 8 hours.

I was eagerly anticipating the painting phase. I wanted to try color modulation. I don’t know how many times I’ve seen the DVD, and what I can say is that is not that difficult to achieve good results.

As long as we follow the basic rules – Where does the light come from? What color to add to do the shadows? What makes sense? – the results can be amazing. The end result has something that we can’t really define but in spite of having light and color highly exaggerated it looks incredibly good.

The next step was the application of oil washes. For the first time I used White Spirit and I have to say that the results are much better than using turpentine (artist grade refined). There is no smell and it dissolves the oils so much better that they are transformed in a hue. The accumulation by capillarity is much finer than with turpentine.

I noticed that it does not attack the gloss Vallejo varnish as turpentine does. It’s a winner. My future choice for sure.

The chipping consists in a first step with a lighter color and the scratches on top of those tiny marks. It’s a tedious process and it has to be done carefully. If not the chips start to look less random than they should. When I’m tired I stop. I tend to start giving less attention to the process after a while and the result is not as good.

I’m trying not to overdo it, and apply the chipping where it’s reasonable.

Gun finished (well, almost)

The only thing missing are the pigments. And of course an occasional chip that I didn’t do.

I’m very pleased with the result. I find myself looking at the gun and wondering how does color modulation work that well. For the first phase I decided to get a clear difference from light to shadow.

I grabbed the MIG DVD and watched it once more. The base colors do have a marked difference from light to shadow, but before knowing how the oils will blend things and create harmony I just wondered if I hadn’t go too far.

Well, I didn’t and now I know what to do. I just need that kind of certainty for the pigments but I’m going to wait for the HT to do it all in at the same time.

	Photos taken with Canon EOS 1D Mark III TrueVision lighting products

Tractor ready for paint

This is in fact a simple kit. It has it’s flaws but nothing that an average modeler can’t cope. An xacto and needle files are needed, especialli for the cargo compartment. Parts fit is not 100% precise, so some of the parts have to be encouraged to fit.

I may be saying this because I build all of my kts under a magnifying glass and everything seems big. But that may be the explanation why the build look so precise – I see them 2.5x bigger than you do

The tractor consists of 3 major parts – The chassis frame, the driver cabin and the cargo compartment. The chassis goes toghether very well and I had no complaint whatsoever.

The driver compartment needed some adjustment because the engine compartment sides were a little warped and the hood was "levitating". But now that I assembled all and under a coat of primer it looks like it is made of one piece. Love it!!

The cargo compartment is where I found the most complicated situations. The parts that assemble into a railguard were kind of distorted and it took me a while (hairdryer in hand) to convince it to stay straight. And in the end I found that all my effort was covered with another part. Anyway I know it’s correct now even if no one can see it.

The seats on the back are a very tight fit. Filing and cutting convinced them in to place, but it was a struggle. Now, only the details are missing and I guess that I can start applying the base coat tomorrow (eh eh eh)

Tractor painted

Painting the tractor didn’t take long. The usual steps of blck pre shading followed by the base color (DunkelGelb) very diluted and sprayed in a very fine mist. Then I used the base color darkened with DunkelBraun on the darker areas and finally the base color mixed with white for the highlights.

Some panels were then painted with a even lighter color to enhance the areas that portrude more or are more exposed to light..

Decals were then applied over a coat of gloss (to avoid the dreaded silvering effect) and again some gloss over decals and the whole model to protect them for the next phase. Oil washes.

Weathering

I’m not exactly the most adventurous guy when it comes to using pigments. I’m always afraid of ruining a good paint job, or to go overboard with making a model look worn and battered. I’ve seen so many deplorable examples that I really don’t want to do the same mistake.

With this in mind I decided to be a little "bolder" in using pigments. With the Mig DVD about pigments at hand, I decided to use the same technique in the tractor (apply pigments and blend with thinner). I was very proud of my efforts and decided to ask for opinions on a couple of forae.

Bad decision. I just got a couple of answers and both of them were – I can’t see the pigments…

Talk about valid input. I would expect something like: it’s too much or too little etc etc. But no…. they just don’t see the pigments. I suppose I’ll post a picture with the pigments bottle beside the model. That may help.

The last picture of the gallery clearly shows the pigments blended on the running gear and sides of the HT, but somehow these guys just missed it. And the two pictures were there, the before and after pigments pictures.

So, I decided to do what I think it’s correct and eventually ask in the end. There is no real advantage of asking for advice in these circumstances. It’s a pure waste of time.

There are little things I made to the vehicle to give it a weathered look

The windshield was masked with Tamiya  tape (template made in CAD and then cut by hand) and then lightly sprayed with Vallejo Iraqui sand (very diluted)

The metal plates that protect the fenders close to the doors were rubbed with a finger dipped in Gun Metal Mig pigment to simulate the exposed metal.

A few spots on the rear compartment sides done with old rust and sanderd rust Mig pigments, and the ever present rust streaks with oil paint.

The tractor is pretty much done. I’m still waiting for the resin tarp for it and then I’ll decide if I’m going to apply some wear to the top (behind the driver position) or just install the tarp an leave that as it is.

Finished

I completed the model after a couple of days (not 24h, just a couple of hours per day) of fiddling around with the MIG tarps. The front one was not a problem, but the rear tarp seems to have shrank when the resin cured and had to be "convinced" to fit properly. The solution was to remove resin from the inside in order to make it thinner an pliable. After a lot of dust and forcing it into place it was finally put in place with a few drops of ciano.

The weathering on the gun (pigments) was made to match the two and it’s now complete.

Hope you like it

Parts and materials used

AFV Club individual Link tracks (AF35044)
MIG Tarp and Wheels for SdKfz 11 (MP 35-006)
LifeColor Acrylics Paints
MIG Pigments (Europe Earth, Russian Earth, Gun Metal)
Resicast Lenses (3 mm – 1 unit)

Pictures

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