June 17, 20215 yr #1 Hey everyone; Just started on my next diorama. It'll be busy but hopefully not overly big. I've started with the Pz III that I purchased from Cutiger (Kat). Its a Tamiya kit that was supposed to be operational. Well I purchased AM parts like tracks by Modelkasten (they're excellent); I also got PE from Eduard (I'm not using all the PE. It's too time consuming) and I got a metal 50mm barrel from Aber which I had to do some serious kitbashing since it was supposed to be for a Dragon Pz III. It's received its initial Dark Yellow base paint and I'll be painting the PE parts and other components soon. BTW this tank will also have turret and hull schurzen. Enjoy. Semper Fi. Manny
June 17, 20215 yr #3 Me too! The metal barrel and the PE parts really enhance the Tamiya kit, well done so far!
June 22, 20215 yr Author #5 Hey, I'm back at work. I gave the Pz III a free hand camouflage. Next thing is a oil pin wash, another wash to dampen down the camo and then some weathering. Then hopefully the decals will go on along with any tweaking that it will need. Semper Fi. Manny
June 28, 20215 yr Author #8 Lars & Dennis, thanks for the comments. Well the Pz III is basically finished. I love pictures because they show things that you might have missed. So I'll have some tweaking to do, but not a lot. Its received its weathering and some battle damage which I did with oils and pigments. The balkenkreuz's are transfers from Archer Fine Transfers but the division markings and numbers are decals. Lars I've found out that the hull skirts are easier to put on than the turret ones. I'll add the figures later. As always all comments and critiques are greatly appreciated. Enjoy! P.S. Next in the diorama is a Pz II Luchs. Semper Fi Manny
June 28, 20215 yr #9 Manny, I remember these turret skirts very well... You did a top job on this Panzer III. Decals have no shine. Excellent camo pattern, very decent and realistic weathering. I like your Pz III very much, well done! Looking forward to see the next steps of your dio.
July 14, 20215 yr Author #11 Well I finally started my Pz II Luchs after a very nice July 4th weekend. So the Pz II Luchs is from ICM. I like the fact that this kit comes with plastic individual track links that are very nice. I added an AM 20mm gun and I'll be adding PE wire mesh on the inside of the intake vents. Besides that this should be a straight build kit. So here are some WIP pics. The tracks are on and they've received their preliminary weathering and will receive more later. Remember that all comments and critiques are greatly appreciated. P.S. Dennis be advised that my nephew is in Marine Corps boot camp at Parris Island and begins 'The Crucible' on Thursday. Semper Fi. Manny.
July 14, 20215 yr #14 I haven´t built a Luchs myself yet, your´s is looking great so far. Seems to be a interesting kit. Very realistic tracks, well done.
July 23, 20214 yr Author #15 Hey everyone; I have some more WIP pics. I'm not too thrilled with some of the fit of this kit, but I got it to go together. This is just the "clean" hull; I still have to weather it. I also had to scratchbuild/kitbash some parts. Enjoy. Semper Fi. Manny
July 27, 20214 yr Author #18 Hello everyone! I finally finished the Pz II Luchs. More than likely it will get some soot weathering for the exhaust grill. But I'm quite happy with this piece. I did have to scratchbuild/kitbash some things but it turned out OK. FYI, just like the Pz III, the figures come later. lol Remember that all comments and critiques are greatly appreciated. Semper Fi. Manny
July 28, 20214 yr #21 Wonderfull looking Luchs. Manny, you did an excellent paint job. As usual with very realistic weathering. Please let me note one minor thing. The jacks were painted with the same base colors as the vehicles. In this case a sand yellow painted jack would look much more realistic. As I said before great tank, thanks for sharing it here. Lars
July 29, 20214 yr Author #22 7 hours ago, Proud Kraut said: Wonderfull looking Luchs. Manny, you did an excellent paint job. As usual with very realistic weathering. Please let me note one minor thing. The jacks were painted with the same base colors as the vehicles. In this case a sand yellow painted jack would look much more realistic. As I said before great tank, thanks for sharing it here. Lars Hey All, thanks for the comments. Lars, thank you for the update on the jack. I'll tweak it later but in a way that the steel shows thru as if the jack has been used and worn. Thanks again. Well after the Pz II & III I decided that instead of going with the standard Tamiya Pak 40, that I'd try my hand at the AFV Club Pak 40. I hope I don't regret it. Besides I've also gotten the old Warriors SS Pak 40 resin figures. Wish me luck. Semper Fi. Manny
July 30, 20214 yr #23 I wasn´t aware of this AFV Club Pak 40. Looks like this is an intersting kit. Looking forward to see some WIP pictures again. Lars
August 9, 20214 yr Author #24 Hey All Well I wasn't completely aware of what kind of rabbit hole I'd be going down once I started this Pak 40 from AFV Club. My suggestion is that if you are going to build one of these, stick with the "simpler" Tamiya kit. Like the white rabbit and Alice I've already ventured down the rabbit hole. So here are some WIP photos. This is an excellent kit; but I believe it just has a lot of extra (small pieces) components that need to be put together that I find unnecessary to make this kit "enjoyable" to build. But the gauntlet has been tossed. I finished the gun and shields but I found the extremely small shield bolts an unnecessary build. But at least its coming along. I've begun the undercarriage. As always all comments and critiques are greatly appreciated. Semper Fi. Manny
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