Next up is the Sd.Kfz.251/1 Ausf.D

Dragon follows their Ausf.C with an Ausf.D



While the lower hull looks the same, it's a completely new piece.



The upper hull is also new, it shares a few interior pieces with the Ausf.D



The running gear is also the same.





The tracks are identical, here is a view of the inner side of the tracks.



Dragon has included a piece of wire for the antenna, along with the same photo-etch gun shield.



Markings are included for 11 different Ausf.D's.

Dragon Sd.Kfz. 251 Ausf. C

The next kit in my buying spree is the Sd.Kfz.251 C. I've already got a couple of Hasegawa 251's, but I must say that the Dragon kits look superior. Fortunately the Hasegawa 251's are different marks, and they aren't bad either. It's just Dragon's look nicer. Hopefully they will fit as well as they look.



The lower hull is nicely molded, with good surface detail.



The upper hull is also nicely done with lots of interior detail.



The suspension and running gear look great. This time Dragon used their slide mold technology in an intelligent way, making assembly of the running gear much easier, without sacrificing detail.






The tracks are made of Dragons glueable DS styrene. The detail is pretty good, and finally they are nice and straight.



A small photo-etch fret is included with a gun shield



Two good sized decal sheets come with the kit, and provides markings for 7 different 251's, and enough numbers to customize the markings even further. Those license plates are going to be fun.

...and then there was three

The Dragon T-34/76 model 1942 is the next in box preview of the day. There are a lot of new parts that make it different from the first 2 releases of the T-34/76. This builds into a T-34 model 1942, built at Factory 183 in the winter - spring of 1942. Although, I think all you have to do is sand off the rivets on the front top and bottom of the hull parts to make a summer 1942 T-34.



The lower hull looks to be unchanged.



Here's were the changes begin. The upper hull is completely new



The early style hexagonal turret is also new. It comes with two turret roofs, but the only difference being the location of the periscope on the roof.





The gun and manlet are all new.



The wheels are a mixed blessing. The good part is there are finally two new style road wheels. The bas news Dragon decided to use their slide mold technology so you don't have to glue wheels haves together. Unfortunately you'll need to drill out 10 holes in each steel rimmed road wheel, and 12 holes in the rubber rimmed ones! It would have been much easier to glue them together.



Tracks are all new, and in the glueable DS styrene. They are reasonably straight, and the detail looks pretty good. I wish they would go link and length though (like in their Elephant kit).



They give you an extra length of cable, and the photo-etch screen, which I've heard still doesn't fit



and finally another nice decal sheet with marking for 6 different tanks.



All in all another nice kit. This is the last Dragon T-34 [for now] I havent gotten their T-34/85 yet.

Next Up in the in box preview parade....

...is the Dragon T-34/76 model 1941. Dragon tweaked their models a bit corrected a few mistakes that were in the model 1940 issue, and added new "DS" styrene tracks (there glueable). This builds up to a T-34 model 1942 built at Plant 183 in the spring of 1941.



The lower hull looks to be the same as the model 1940.



The upper hull looks the same also.



They corrected the engine panel that was missing on the model 1940.



The turret hatch and gun details are new, and reflect the changes for a model 1941.



The wheels are the same also.



The new "DS" tracks are a big improvement over the ones in the model 1940. They have a little sharper detail, and aren't as wavy (they aren't exactly straight either).



The same cable material and photo-etch are included. Though I still don't know if it fits.



Another nice decal sheet, this one is more useful. I understand they relied on the old Squadron "T-34 in Action" book, and some of the marking might not be accurate for this mark. I'll have to dig it out of my library and see.

Jadar delivers

Sorry for the long delay in posting anything, but I just haven't had the time or inclination to model or blog. My "care package" arrived from Jadar on monday, full of goodies, including some stuff for Tiger 100.

Here is Aber's jewell like early 88mm kwk36 gun barrel. It's georgeous and will be a nice addition to the model.



Next are three pictures of Part's Pz.Kpfw.VI Tiger Ausf.H set (P72-092). I already have Eduard set, but prefer the Part sets due to their level of detail. The engine intake screens are much nicer.







I'm still waiting fof the book from Aviapress, they shipped on a slow boat I guess, but I can resume work on Tiger 100 now.

Sorry it's been a while!

First an M10 update. I won "Best of Show" at my local IPMS's monthly contest. It's just a small contest, and club members vote on it, rather than IPMS or AMPS style judging, but it was nice to see how much others liked it.

Now on to the Tiger I. I don't have any pictures to post at the moment. I stumbled across another picture of Tiger 100 taken while it was on display in Moscow. This picture is shot from above and behind and clearly shows that engine deck and top of the turret. I based my top of Tiger 100 on a Tom Jentz's Tiger I Modification list as wheel as a friends copy of Germany's Tiger Tanks D.W. to Tiger I: Design, Production & Modifications. Well, I got the engine deck wrong, and need to re-do it. The picture clearly shows that the opening for the air cleaners is there, and not sealed over. You can also see that there are FOD screens on the air intakes. I've gone ahead and order the book "the pictue" came from (along with several other books). Hopefully it won't take to long to ship from Avia Press in Russia. There are a lot of other details I want to check out, hopefully the pictures in the book are sharper than the ones on their web site. I've also refered to David Byrden's excellent Tiger I site.

I've also order a care package from Jadar in Poland. Among other things I've ordered the Aber 8,8cm KwK 36 gun and the Part Tiger I Ausf.H photo etch set, along with a few other thing. ;)

Here's a list of modifications I've come up with to build an "accurate" Tiger 100, after it was captured by the Russians.

The Turret

• Assymetrical Turret - I'm seriously debating this.


• Storage bin on right side of turret.


• Straps for bin lost from the right side of the turret.


• Smoke mortars - three on the left, two on the right.


• Lug and four pads for missing rear turret basket.


• Armored air intake on top of turret.


• Welded prop for the Commander's hatch.


• Sun shade over gunners sight.


• Elephant and ",100" decal.


• Early style gunner / loaders hatch
  

The Chassis

• Mirrored Tracks - I might pass on this one, but I have sanded off the ice cleats.


• sand off all tools and tool mounts.


• Early style front fenders.


• Spare track rack on front of tank.


• Wing nuts on hull machine gun mount (for water-proof cover).


• Drivers side periscope holes above the armored site (partially covered by armoured site).


• Horse shoe.


• Small elephant emblem on upper right corner of front glaciss.


• Headlight brackets and wire fittings


• German crosses on chassis sides.


• Spare antenna holder along top right rear of chassis.


• Prominent weld marks on the chassis sides.


• Early style exhausts eith flapper vlaves.


• Large antenna mount on right rear glaciss.


• Rear fender brackets.


• Add tie-down fittings for missing tools to the rear glaciss (the locations are different from the molded on tools).


• Air intake screens.
  

It also looks like there are some brackets for the missing tow cables, and there are a few other details I hope to be able to see ones the book arrives from Avia Press. I plan on going to the IPMS-USA Region II convention in Hagerstown, MD this weekend. So I might not be able to do another update till next week. So that's all for now folks; I hope to have some more pictures up soon.

Details, details...

Here are some masters that I've made for the Tigers radiators, and fuel tanks. I've made a rubber mold, and cast the parts. I don't plan on opening up the access panels on the engine deck, but there would be a gaping black hole into thase grates, and the tank would just look incomplete if they weren't there. Anyway, I plan on doing another Tiger, that's in the middle of an engine change, so the detail will come in handy.

I'm also toying with making my own photo-etched parts, and have started making artwork.




Here's the artwork for the turret, I manipulated a picture in photoshop to get the mamoth artwork. I still need to make the number "100," and the German crosses. Fortunately I have an Alps printer, and can print my own white decals.

Is any body still there?

Sorry for not posting in so long, but we went on another camping trip, and I got busy with other summer things. Consequently I haven't spent much time modeling. My trusty old Sony F707 has started to get a little flaky so I decided it was time to get a new camera. I wanted to go with a digital SLR, and I read that the Olympus E-300 Evolt had an adapter that would let you use old OM mount Zuiko lenses. Well I'm an old Olympus OM-2 user, and have a bunch of OM lenses, so I decided to go with the Evolt.

I've done a little more tweaking to the M10 diorama base, adding some boards and rubble after a suggestion from a kind soul on Missing-Lynx. The pictures were taken with the E-300. A digital SLR is much more complicated to use! The close-up of the soldier was taken with a 5+ diopter close-up lense. I've also updated my P-40 kit for my clubs build the same kit contest. So go take a look if your interested in things other than armor.

Reference Material Part 1

I have never been a major fan of German Armor, and I prefer Allied subjects. Unfortunately, most of the major companies (Revell, Dragon, ect.) produce mostly German AFV's in their WWII lines. Thankfully this is starting to change; more and more Allied AFV's are being produced (to tell you the truth I think it's bcause they are running out of German AFV's to kit). I'm not a big fan of the Tiger either, it's too square and boxy. So why have I chosen the Tiger as my next subject? Well it's this picture.



I stumbled across it a few years back and it really caught my eye. I plan to base my next braille scale diorama on it. It will have the group of Russian officers (including Marshal Zhukov I believe) walking past the captured Tiger tank. The tank is quite unique for a Tiger. It was part of the first production run of Tigers, and was sent off to Russia as part of the 501. It was captured in Leningrad, and finished off the war as a war trophy. The tank has many unique features, and I've been able to accumulate pictures of all four sides, which have proved to be very helpful.