Dragon Imperial Pzbflswg III Ausf K

[deafpanzer]

Modelfreak- Love your profile name! Thanks for stopping by!

Guys- Finally my panzer has been primed. While I was having it prepped for priming, I realized I forgot to add a special feature to the turret hatch rarely seen and it was used for command tanks only. It was meant to hold beer of course! ;D Actually I think it held maps and messages?



Here it is... primed with Mr Surfacer 1200 thinned with its own thinner.


It helps me find places that needs to be addressed like the spot on side of the barrel...


Good news... my boys are gone for a week long camp. Bad news... my wife is still here but she has a new puzzle so it should keep her distracted.

[spud]

why fix what looks like battle damage???

[deafpanzer]

Thanks guys! Didn't have battle damages in mind as I figured being a command tank, it didn't see a lot of action because it stayed in the rear. But you are right... just little battle damage won't hurt. LOL Really appreciate your feedback and I will move on to the painting stage.

[spud]

Good man

[Deleted]

Nice detail Andy, a bit of battle damage would be about right, I read that these command tanks were often caught out in the heat of battle and when they were they we're targeted aggressively, cut of the head... So to speak!

[deafpanzer]

Excellent thought... remembering the movie 'Enemy at the Gates' and reading books that Russkies often targeted German commanding officers. Thanks again!

[deafpanzer]

Hey buddy! Yes, Mr Surfacer is very good at hiding seams or tiny holes... just spray few coats and it is done. For bigger gaps, Mr Surfacer 500 may do the job depending on the size and depth.

The only thing I don't like about Mr Surfacer, it is harder to clean and it uses a lot of Lacquer thinner. I brought couple of Vallejo acrylic primer recently and I want to see how they work. If they are that good, then I will replace enamel with acrylic for everything.

And believe me I am missing real Buffalo wings. Nothing around here in Indiana!

[wbill76]

Nice job on the commander's cup holder Andy! Looks good with the primer on, sounds like you're going to be able to crank on this baby over the next week!

[TRM]

Looking great Andy! Good seeing the primer down on this!!

[deafpanzer]

Bill- Thanks! No bench time tonight... had companies over for dinner. So aiming for a lot of bench time tomorrow nite!

TRM- Thanks! Sometimes I wish I can just keep all builds in its primer stage. ;D

[bbd468]

Hey Andy,

Sweet!!! Primer means paint soon! She's a damn fine build Andy, and im looking forward to you paint job.

I have a big bottle of the Vallejo surface primer #74601. Thats got to be the worst primer ive ever used. I use Tamiya grey surface primer thinned with Klean Strip Lacquer thinner and that stuff is awesome. Lays down silky smooth and bites into the plastic nicely. I heard so much about the Vallejo i thought id try it. I had ran out of the Tamiya so i got a big bottle of the Vallejo and in my experience it did not deliver any positive results. It sprays terrible and after drying for several days it peeled the first time i had to fix a couple areas. I thought i may have gotten a bad batch but had a coupkle PM's on another site at the time that they had similar problems.

I guess im telling you this so to be careful and test it on something first as i made a cardinal sin and tried it right out the bottle first on my staghound which i wound up having to sand and completely reprime it with Tamiya.

I have also used the Mr. surfacer in the past as well and had similar results with the Tamiya i use now if you ever want to try it.

If anyone reads this and wants the Vallejo primer, ill send it to you. I tried to give it to my nephew and he didnt want it. ;D

Sorry Andy, i kinda went on a rant. ;D

Gary

[deafpanzer]

Gary- Hey man! Thanks for the nice words!

WOW, glad to hear about your experience using Vallejo primer. So far I have seen mixed reviews so it is not the best out there. Glad I didn't buy the large bottle... I got two smaller bottles... Dark Green and Black I think. I will try one day but probably not on armor... maybe figures cause it will be easier to fix if it doesn't work out.

Always good hearing from you!

[spud]

I have that grey primer and out of the 3 i have its the worst one i mainly use black and the red brown one and they are great the grey one goes on like the surface is oily and it just messes up the paint, so Avoid that one,

But if i was to pick one out of the 3 them Black is the best one.

[deafpanzer]

Spud- You had me worried because I couldn't remember which Vallejo primer I brought at the show. LOL Looks like I will be OK... I got black, panzer grey and red brown. I still need to try them... thanks again for your input!!!



Looks like Photobucket is having maintenance issues that I can not post pictures of my painted Pz III.

[spud]

nope i have access to my pics. and yer welcome

[deafpanzer]

Guys- Photobucket is finally up and running as it was down for maintenance since last night.

As planned, I had my panzer painted using AK Interactive color modulation set...



At first I wasn't pleased but finally I got better handle of it. Looks like each paint requires different amount of thinner to make it flow well as darker paint needed more thinner? Here it is...







At end I am very pleased with the modulation set and it will get better over time as my experience builds up. I still haven't used last two lighter paints as I will use brush instead for the highest points.

[spud]

looks dam good to me Andy

[deafpanzer]

LOL! Thanks Spud... appreciate you tagging along.

[bbd468]

Hey Andy,

That looks fabulous dude! I love the color variations without going full modulation. Pretty bad arse!

Gary

[bigjohn]

I agree with them other fellas Andy. Looks pretty awesome to me.

[deafpanzer]

Gary- Thanks bro! Spanked that arse real good did I? LOL Glad you liked... I am too chicken to use all six but right now it looks just right to me. I took a good look at the picture of Ausf K that I am building after and it still has very dark grey look.

Bigjohn- Always great hearing from you buddy! Maybe you can see it at Indy show as it is only two hours away. ;D Thanks again! We are sending you rain... we finally got some today here.

[wbill76]

Nicely done Andy, looks good with paint on!

[bigjohn]

Thanks for the rain Andy, It freaking poured here!!!

Dude, I will defenatly come to Indy. Just send me a reminder with the show dates!

[deafpanzer]

Bill- Thanks bro! Glad it came out... I was tempted to spray dark brown spots on it but of course not this time. Itchin' to do one of early WWII camo... ;D

Bigjohn- Always happy to help you with rain. LOL It was crazy but we were happy to get some. Sure, I will let you know about the date... checked the club site and it hasn't announced the date.

[406 Silverado]

Nice work Andy, and good to finally see some paint on this one. It does take getting used to the CM paint sets. All the darker shadow colors will usually require some thinning. The lighter color are great as is and brush well.

[wouter]

Nice work on the CM Andy, suits the panzer well. I got the same set and sprayed it unthinned on my NachtPanther...lot's of overspray...I should have thinned it as well. Yours looks very tidy though. Lookin' forward to some weatherizing!

Cheers

[robbo]

Seem to have missed this one Andy which is a shame as it looks stunning mate, just love a little panzer

[deafpanzer]

Rob- Thanks boss! Yeah, halfway I finally started to like it after finding the right balance. Please do feel free to send over extra CM sets... LOL

Wouter- LOL Same here... on the bottle it said 'Airbrush' and there was no instructions adding thinner or anything. So that's why my initial experience wasn't pleasant. That's something Rob can share with AK gang about editing the instructions on the bottles or box itself.

Thanks! Hope to have it weatherized soon! Drink any Tuborg recently? ;D

Boo- Thanks mate! Appreciate you dropping by!

Ian- Good hearing from you! Glad you found your way over here. Hope you like your new job... thanks for the nice words.

[wouter]

I [glow=red,2,300]don't[/glow] drink Tuborg mate ;D.
I must say though, my first panzergrey Modulation set didn't work properly and the guys at AK took care and set me a new set for free, so ace service in any case. But it would be nice that they mention you need to thin them. I heard some people state it can be AB'd out of the bottle but as you mentioned, that doesn't work out great...

Cheers

[Hinksy]

Ahhh man!

That is looking sweeeeeeeeeeeeeet Andy!

I must try this colour modulation lark - I know the principles behind it and think it could be done well with practice.

I'm probably not going to buy a kit but simply apply the basecoat and work out the best colour to lighten it with and look at where shadows and light spots would be needed. I have a magazine article to go with my Firefly (my new Firefly from Simon arrived today - along with my new airbrush and compressor )and the author simply basecoated it Dark Green then used Tamiya OD and XF-21 'Sky' to lighten it. It worked wonders and I do think I could do it

That top view of the Panzer looks really good. Can't wait to see more buddy!

As for the airbrush/compressor set - I've bought the same one that I have already. My old compressor isn't too happy but it's had a lot of use and the airbrush worked out a hell of a lot cheaper if you buy them as a set - hoses, moisture trap, gravity feed, pressure guage, dual action, 0.3mm - perfect for my uses and the right price too. I'll be looking at an Iwata ? in the new year.

Keep the updates coming!

Ben