Finished - FAUN L 900 SD.ANH. 115 - Das Werk

[406 Silverado]

FAUN L 900 SD.ANH. 115

Das Werk

Build Review

After doing a quick In-Box review of this new kit from Das Werk, distributed by MBK-USA, It was time to see how good this kit is besides looking at sprues.

After studying the instructions and checking all the sprues and parts it was time to clip and clean parts. Assembly starts with the chassis, which makes sense, and this is pretty straight forward and all parts in the chassis rail assembly are nicely molded and parts location is clear in the instructions. This is going to be a big model judging by the chassis.

When cleaning the two air tank halves be sure not to remove the weld/flange on the one part halve thinking this is a mold seam.

With the chassis frame parts assembled we get an idea of the size of the model, nearly 11 inches in length.

Next up are the seven cargo bed supports and left and right steps.

Next comes the very long exhaust pipe. Location and fit is good and I didn't have any problems here.

Moving right along onto the rear suspension, lots of detailed parts here. The kit offers the option of three 'load' configurations relevant to the leaf springs; Unloaded,Neutral and Heavy. Since I plan on placing a tank on the vehicle I am going with the 'Heavy' option.
Here is where there was some confusion in regards to the numbering of the parts in relation to the type of leaf spring to use. The instructions call for parts A17 for the 'Heavy load option, when in it should be A16. Parts A17 should be used for the 'Unloaded' option and A15 for 'Neutral'.
Hopefully this will be rectified in the instructions by the time the kit is released in January 2019.

Once I had chosen the correct leaf springs I continued with the assembly of the suspension.

Moving along to the front suspension, steps 2.1, 2.2. Here I decided to drill holes and use styrene rod in order to make the wheels steerable without worrying about getting glue onto parts and making them unmovable. This will be kept loose until later when I decided the positioning of the wheels when placed in a dio or on a base, then I will glue them in the final position.

Stay tuned for the next build update coming soon.

[Leon]

Nice build review on the chassis Rob! Looking good.

[roland66]

Great start, the kit looks very good.

[406 Silverado]

Build Review cont..

With the Chassis components completed I turned to the wheels. I plan to leave the wheels off the model and mount then later on once most of the painting and weathering is well underway.

13-16
The wheels are hollow rubber but hard enough for sanding down mold seams without tearing the rubber. I used a sanding stick to gently sand off the center mold seam, this was followed by a gentle roughing of the rubber tires using worn out piece of abrasive pad. The roughening of the rubber removes the sheen and any mold release agents, and will allow the paint to adhere better.

With the wheels set aside for now I continued with assembly step 3.0 the drivers cab. No issues with part fit as most major parts are large. I decided that to ease in painting and weathering the cab I would not install the seat pads at this time, and the same for the dashboard and firewall.
The only problem I had was that while removing the stick shift (part C43) from the sprue it broke in two. This is a very small and fragile part so I expected this to happen. I replaced this part using a shovel handle from the spares box, cut and sanded down to size then glued in place.
Step 4.0 covers the Bonnet assembly which consists of five parts that fit good. Smaller detail parts are not added at this time. This works out great for me since I prefer to assemble all major parts to a model and then add the smaller more fragile parts later on so as not to damage the parts during assembly and handling the model.

Step Five is the assembly of the large stowage box and fuel tank. Again, detail and fit of the parts are good and no issues gluing them together. In this pic the parts to the box and tank removed from the sprue and ready for cleaning and assembly.

Next update will cover the cargo bed....stay tuned.

[joelsmith]

Thanks Bossman for the great build & review!

[406 Silverado]

Final build up of the Faun L 900

The cargo bed and side panels do have light wood grain texture but I want to enhance this so that once painted and weathered it will stand out more. To create wood grain I prefer to use an old number 11 knife blade and gently scribe the wood grain. For older, and splintered wood I scribe a bit deeper. The tracks of tanks will eventually splinter wood so I am replicating that on the Faun’s cargo bed.

Thinking ahead to the painting stage I decided I would make the side panels workable by drilling out the hinges and using small rod for the working hinges. I find it will be much easier to paint and weather both the cargo bed and side panels this way, or leave them off and paint them all as sub assemblies.

With the side panels finished all that was left to do was assemble the stowage boxes, fenders and all the smaller detail parts. No issues with parts or their locations as the instructions are quite clear where everything goes. The only problem I had was that I broke one of the mirror brackets when removing the fragile parts from the sprue. This was easily remedied by drilling out the mount and using a piece of copper wire in place of the broken part, and to keep it uniform I replace the other bracket as well.
A few pics of the assembled Faun in prep for primer and painting once the trailer is built. I am leaving the wind screens till the very end so they don’t get scratched or damaged, and also masking and painting will be easier with them off the model.

Sd.Anh.115 Build

Moving onto the assembly of the Sd.Anh.115 trailer I started by tackling the wood grain as I did with the cargo bed of the Faun, but with more wear and tear. The ex-acto knife was used to replicate the wood grain on the main trailer bed and ramps.

Next up was the main trailer frame assembly, and no issues encountered so far.

Trailer frame and bed assembled and ready for assembly.

The main trailer assembly together. The two ramps are not glued in place yet so that I can paint them as separate sub assemblies, and also because I have not yet decided on a vehicle to use as a load for the trailer.

[406 Silverado]

Sd.Anh.115 build completed

The wheels received the same treatment as the Faun wheels, light sanding of the center mold seam followed by light roughening using a scouring pad. The wheels are not glued together at this point, just dry fitted and will be glued together after painting and weathering.
A test fit of the front bogie with wheels dry fitted.

More trailer parts added now and we can see here the added worn wood texturing. The ramps can be positioned for different loads, as well as in the loading configuration with the rear axle detached. I plan on having the trailer loaded with a vehicle so I have not glued the forward ramps at this time as I am not sure what type of vehicle to use on the trailer.

All major parts have been assembled with just some smaller parts left off the model that will be painted separate. As many you know me and my building and painting style, know that I don’t build 100% of the model and tend to leave certain parts till the end. For me this avoids any damage of smaller fragile parts, and also makes it much easier when it comes to painting and weathering.

With both truck and trailer assembled to a point that I can start priming and painting. Smaller parts or sub assemblies are set aside at this point so they aren’t lost, and as mentioned already, for ease in painting.
This is also a size comparison of the truck and trailer. At about eleven inches in length this is one big truck.

So with the build part finished but in sub assemblies and small details remaining to be added later, the model is ready for primer and painting. This is a nice kit of an early war German transport that was long overdue in 1/35 scale.
I found the instructions easy to follow with options for the various configurations clearly pointed out making assembly a breeze. There are however a few parts that are very fragile and could possibly break when removing from the sprue tree or cleaning of the parts. I did manage to break a couple of parts but they were easy to fix or scratch build, these being the stick shift and mirrors. So if you’re heavy handed like I am at times, take your time when removing the smaller fragile parts.

Overall the kit doesn’t have hundreds of parts so it does go together quick, and for me it was fun to build, especially since there aren’t a ton of roadwheels and tracks to assemble.

[Gordon Ferguson]

Very nice clean construction and very useful information ...... looking forward to receiving mine 😊

[406 Silverado]

Gordon you'll like this kit, it goes together quick and no part fit issues. You don't have a ton of tiny parts to clean and assemble, or a ton of wheels and track links lol.
I'll be posting some painting pics soon.

[Leon]

Looks great Rob! Really nice work on the wood grain.

[406 Silverado]

Thanks Leon. It will help later when painting the wood.

[406 Silverado]

Painting the Faun L 900

And so the fun part begins.

Starting out with a primer coat I opted for Vallejo 70.603 German Panzer Grey surface primer. This was applied in very light coats until a uniform finish was achieved.

After allowing the primer to dry and cure most of the day I then turned to the base Panzer Grey color. I usually never paint my German grey colors a blue-light blue tone and mainly do a dark grey color as this is close to the actual Panzer Grey, which is a really dark grey. The fad seams to be a lighter bluish grey color which looks ok but way to light for my taste.
So with this model I decided to add more blue to the Panzer Grey, but still keeping it somewhat dark in tone. Knowing that once the filters and other weathering is applied the darker base color will lighten considerably.

To help lighten the base color and also bring out some of the finer details I went the old school route and did some light dry brushing. To blend things I then applied a very light filter of the base color.

The model was set aside to allow the paint, filter and dry brushing to fully cure 24 hours. Before I could do anything else on the exterior of the model i needed to work on the interior of the cab. The seats were painted an dark greenish color, decals added to the dashboard and some light dusting of the floor.

For the cargo bed and side panels I want to go with a worn look to show the vehicle has been in service for a few years. The starting phase of creating worn painted wood starts with a few basic colors. These various tones were lightly dry brushed to bring out the wood grain, and then slightly more pressure to replicate the worn down paint and wood color.

With the cab interior finished, other than painting and adding the steering wheel, I next applied the decals the exterior of the model. The decals are very thin and went on without any issues.

Knowing that creating all the wood effects will take some time I decided to add more effects on the cargo bed before I started any weathering on the bonnet and cab exterior. This time I used a fine tipped paint brush and the same colors used for dry brushing and picked out some of the wood grain and the chewed up wood.
Next came a light wash in some areas using Game Ink 72.091 Sepia color. A second light wash was then only applied to certain areas so as to vary the aging effects on the wood.

After airbrushing a light dust coat on the cab,cargo bed and chassis it was time to start some weathering, mainly chipping. I used the same light Pale Blue Grey color that I used for the dry brushing to add light chipping, scratches etc. Chocolate Brown was then used for the darker chipping.
When I weather my models I always build up effects in layers and staying with the natural process of wear and tear and weathering that occurs in real life.

More weathering the next update....

[joelsmith]

Looking real good Rob! You going to load it up or, leave it empty?

[406 Silverado]

I plan on loading both, just haven't decided on what tanks to use lol

[Gordon Ferguson]

Impressive painting , especially like the wood bed ....... always struggled to to get close to the look you have achieved

[thechaos]

Great work on the wood.

[Leon]

Paint and wood grain effects look great Rob!

[406 Silverado]

Cheers fellas. Moving right along on this project, and having fun with it.

[406 Silverado]

Sd.Anh.115 Painting and Weathering

As with the Faun I started with surface primer, Black and Panzer Grey from Vallejo.

Next came the base Panzer grey color, same as the Faun but with a bit more light blue tone to it.

To bring out details and also lighten the base color a bit I used the lighter Pale Blue to dry brush the trailer.

A couple of light washes on the wood areas using Sepia and Black model wash.
Once dry I began the process of replicating a worn paint and wood effects.

Working on the wood areas and also some chipping effects on the metal areas.

Most of the wood effects done and a start on the forward ramps. These pics give you an idea of where I'm going with this lol.

Update coming soon...

[Tobi]

Like some already said, the wood looks great.

[406 Silverado]

Thanks Tobi. Just the beginnings stages of the wood.

[ossie262]

Hi Rob

great build and paint job so far can't wait to see it finished

[rbaer]

Aside from very interesting paint effects, this looks like a really fun Faun.
Sorry.

[406 Silverado]

Sorry for the lack of posts the past week. Both truck and trailer are done and I'm working on a couple of vehicles to use as payload for the two. I won't be posting the sbs of the final painting and weathering or of the payload since I will be working on an article of this model for a magazine, but here are a few teaser pics for now.

[Leon]

That is really awesome looking Rob!

[wbill76]

Impressive work as usual Rob, look like it's ready to hit the road!

[adt70hk]

Very nicely solve as always.

ATB

Andrew

[dupes]

Two weeks? Dang, Rob - you're getting speedy!

Dec 22, 2018 17:07:13 GMT -5 406 Silverado said:

Just the beginnings stages of the wood.

That's what she said?

[bbrowniii]

WOW Rob. Really went to work on that one and cranked it out, eh?

Nicely done. Will have to keep my eyes peeled for that article!

[reserve]

Pretty slick brother your artistry with the paint never ceases to wow me

Regards,
Mark