toadwbg Posted April 12, 2013 Share Posted April 12, 2013 (edited) I always liked the look of the halftracks and had seen many built at shows. So I decided this would be a fun and easy way to ease into armor. I picked up this kit at Hobby Lobby with a 40% off coupon for about $14. The copy-write on this kit is 1973! The kit doesn't look bad off the sprues for a 40-year old kit, the mold seam lines are a little strong but otherwise no real flash and detail is good. I'm not worried about accuracy as I want to keep the build simple. The kit goes together pretty easily and i was ready to paint by my second sit-down session. Before painting I soaked the sub-assemblies in a Simple Green/Water mix, I don't know if they really needed it or not but since i wasn't doing any priming I thought it wise. I decided to go with a dark Panzer grey scheme for simplicity and used Tamiya XF-63, which is almost an EXACT match for the plastic. I also used a little XF-24 for some color variation (its a little lighter). I brushed on some Future as a gloss coat and than added a dark pin-wash of black oils later for recesses and than dry-brush of a medium grey to highlight areas. The dry-brushing also did a nice job of de-glossing the Future. I used some instrument decals and a data plate on the instrument panel. Putting the top to the bottom of the main assemblies was a little difficult. The parts are a bit warped due to age I suppose, so I had to use some aggressive clamping Time to let is sit overnight Edited April 12, 2013 by toadwbg Quote Link to post Share on other sites
toadwbg Posted April 12, 2013 Author Share Posted April 12, 2013 I plan on doing a lot of weathering post-build to make the overall panzer grey scheme look more visually interesting. I'll probably use pastels for dirt/dust and maybe do some overspray as well. I'll probably keep any "mud" light as I don't want it to overpower the model. Next step- TRACKS! I've NEVER done tracks before. How should I start by painting them? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
toadwbg Posted April 13, 2013 Author Share Posted April 13, 2013 Decided to basecoat the tracks with Tamiya Red Brown. Ill dry brush them next with some steel Those toothpicks came in handy for holding the tracks for painting. Much better than masking tape Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ro-Gar Hobbies Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 Looking good! I like the Tamiya halftracks as well, they might be old but they go together so well! For a relaxed build, they are better than DML's kits. Robert Quote Link to post Share on other sites
USMC6094 Posted April 19, 2013 Share Posted April 19, 2013 I have that same kit waiting in the wings as a straight from the box pleasure build, youre make'n good progress Quote Link to post Share on other sites
toadwbg Posted April 27, 2013 Author Share Posted April 27, 2013 (edited) Almost done. Decals, oil washes, pastel weathering, dry-brushin, and flat top coat applied. I tried to do a "medium" level of weathering and it turned out a hair light after the flat coat. My next armor kit ill go a little heavier. Edited April 27, 2013 by toadwbg Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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