General Rockets Flakpanzer

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general rocket
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General Rockets Flakpanzer

Post by general rocket »

my build will be a Flak Panzer Geppard, using the Revell Leopard 1A5 and Matador conversion kit.
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general rocket
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Re: General Rockets Flakpanzer

Post by general rocket »

First up, the obligatory box and sprue shots.
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And how the finished article looks.
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The conversion kit.
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Now on to the less easy bit.
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general rocket
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Re: General Rockets Flakpanzer

Post by general rocket »

The progress so far, after one week.
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Not a great deal to show for a weeks work, when I see that some of you have nearly finished already.
The sprue's that have been painted, with main source material.
First off, I painted the wheels, the green is Citadel's Knarloc Green, this alongside Humbrol Matt 62, are what I have found to be closest to the modern German colours.
Tyres where painted with Model Color Black Grey.
Tracks where given a base coat of Matt Black, Then a coat of Hiumbrol Matt 62 Leather, because it most closely matches the colour of the metal parts on photographs that I studied for comparison. Finally, the Black Grey was used for the rubber blocks on the tracks.
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The hull was painted in Knarloc Green, the wheel wells then given a coat of Tamiya XF-13 JA Green to give depth. Details where the picked out with Knarloc Green and white for the suspension sliders. Since all these parts will be covered by wheels and skirts, and unseeable, I was not to worried about strict accuracy.
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So far the only thing that I have done to the turret (pictured with detail notes) is to glue the lifting lugs into place. During which I managed to knock a small notch into the targeting radar well, a bit of filler should repair this.
I did notice that the top front of the turret should be slightly inclined, but isn't. It's not my intention to do anything to correct this as it isn't really noticeable and the gap between the radar well and the top of the turret is to small.
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Re: General Rockets Flakpanzer

Post by jelly071 »

Nice Start
Thanks Mike
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Love an old kit
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general rocket
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Re: General Rockets Flakpanzer

Post by general rocket »

The prologue. (Sorry, I came over all Frankie Howard). The progress.
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The addition of the tracks.
Personally I prefer the elastic band type of tracks rather than the sort we have here, with the individual links, but it's the sort that are included, so that's the type we use. Originally I was going to leave the top tracks off as I intend to fit the side skirts and they will not be visible. But a dry test fit of the parts indicated that there may be a problem with fitting the skirts to the replacement upper hull, so I have fitted the tracks to prevent possible later problems if this turns out to be the case.
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Fitting the upper track parts at this point is not easy. I have been following the instructions included with the Revell Leopard 1A5, but I would recommend anyone else building this kit to leave stage 1 till after stage 10, it will make your life a lot easier.
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This is the stage that I have reached, joining the 2 halves of the hull and the rear plate together, using the recommended Super Glue. and as I write this, am now waiting for it to cure.
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I have put a bit of filler in the gap that I managed to create in the front of the turret while cleaning the Super Glue from the base of the lifting lug. I also placed some on the edge of the hatch on the top of the turret as this was not properly formed, I will shape this as soon as it is cured.
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Ian
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Re: General Rockets Flakpanzer

Post by Ian »

Great progress and I'm looking forward to seeing this one complete. I like the Gepard. It's a good looking vehicle.
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general rocket
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Re: General Rockets Flakpanzer

Post by general rocket »

I agree totally, I've always had a soft spot for it.
An odd thought, a cuddly tank! :???:
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general rocket
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Re: General Rockets Flakpanzer

Post by general rocket »

The result of the weeks modeling.
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The hull is all but complete having been painted and decaled, just needs a few of the attachment added, front towing loops, rear mounted shield, mirrors etc. With just a little filler needed at the front and rear.
The paints used being, green, Citadel's Knarloc Green, the black Humbrol acrylic and Humbrol enamel Matt 62. The green and black went on nicely, while the brown dried very patchily no matter how carefully or often I mixed it. For any more modern German military vehicles I build, I think I will seek out a Model Color equivalent and give that a try.
The varnish used was Model Color Matt Varnish. This was the first time I have used this varnish and I found it vastly superior to the Humbrol Matt Varnish that I have been using despite my lack of satisfaction with the product.
Decals where taken from the Leopard donor kit.
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The turret has of course, been painted in the same colour as the hull, with the radar wells given a thin coat of Tamiya XF-13 JA Green to give depth.
The aerial mounting points have been drilled to accept the antennae, which will be a couple of piece's of wire cut to length.
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Targeting radar (not shown) search radar and gun mounts are all painted and awaiting weathering and fitting.

Any comments welcome.
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Ian
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Re: General Rockets Flakpanzer

Post by Ian »

That's a great weeks work.
All you need to do now is to post bigger pictures! We like BIG pictures.
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general rocket
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Re: General Rockets Flakpanzer

Post by general rocket »

I did try to re-size them to something far more sensible, as pictures this size do tend to make even small faults very big (as you see). but no matter what I did on Photo-Bucklet, they keep showing the original un-resized and un-cropped pictures here, despite thefact that Photo-Bucket display the re-sized and cropped pictures that replaced the originals in the album.
Any suggestions?
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Ian
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Re: General Rockets Flakpanzer

Post by Ian »

I don't bother resizing on photobucket as whatever I upload it automatically sizes my pics down the the size I post on here.
Upload a pic and just post it without doing anything to it. See how it comes out.
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general rocket
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Re: General Rockets Flakpanzer

Post by general rocket »

I'll give it a try with the next set.
T.V.M.
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general rocket
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Re: General Rockets Flakpanzer

Post by general rocket »

All but finished.
The reason for these pictures being that faults, mistakes and inaccuracies are often easier to spot on photographs than by holding the model in your hand. Using the same principle, artists will tell you that if you view a painting in a mirror, mistakes become more obvious.

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The hull being finished, with all the final attachments added and touching up done, I had the brilliant idea of carving up the rear hull plate from the donor kit to get the little black and white shield that is missing from the Matador rear plate. So I carefully carved, filed and painted. Glue carefully applied the shield flew from my pudgy fingers like a stone from a sling.
If I ever re-find it, I will fit the thing.

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Nothing clever done to the turret other than the beacon on top. I cut off the upper part of the beacon and replaced it with a piece of clear plastic that I painted with Tamiya Clear Orange. The top of the beacon appeared correct before I attached it, but as you see, it isn't as flat as it should be. The stem is rather delicate so it will have to stay that way, unless any of you have any suggestions.
This was my first resin kit and so was using the recommended Super-Glue (Cyanoacrylate). Some of the components did not like this and I knocked off the search radar dish a couple of times, as well as the one smoke dis-charger. A change to Super-Glue Gel seems to have alleviated the problem that in the case of the Radar may have been ay least partly down to inadequate preparation on my part(failing to ensure both mating faces where properly flat).
The guns have not as yet been permanently fitted as they are slightly warped, and my attempts to straighten them in the recommended manner, by heating the part with hot water or hair-drier, dressing straight, and re-curing in cold water, where not successful, so I must try again.
Weathering was done by dry-brushing with Humbrol 121 matt Pale Stone.
Using these pictures I have spotted a couple of other issues.

Comments welcome.
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lancfan
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Re: General Rockets Flakpanzer

Post by lancfan »

I usually resize my pictures to 700 wide (but have occasionally used 850 wide) before uploading to photobucket, they always display to the correct size. The Flakpanzer is looking good, can't wait to see it finished. :grin:

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general rocket
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Re: General Rockets Flakpanzer

Post by general rocket »

I did try to resize to 320 wide, you can see how successful that was!
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