SIG 33 auf Pz.III (one of my fave ugly tanks)

[johnt]

Hi guys, I want to show you my current project: German ugly pillbox on tracks.


It's not a new kit and has some little challenges. Here you can see the really short, sometimes non-existant attachment bridges to the sprue, and note the idlers with injector pin block thingies between the spokes


Those injector pin blocks were removed, now to clean up the scars. Sometimes I make my own sanding sticks from wooden paddle-pop sticks with sandpaper glued on. This one here was carved down first into a flat wedge profile, then sanded smooth. Sandpaper was glued on with super glue; now I can clean up those attachment points inside the spokes.


This is another home made sanding stick with a convex part, came in handy for sanding off this unwanted raised line between protrusions.


Some more to follow shortly, see you soon.

[johnt]

Here is a little more. I thought I would use the Magic Tracks in the kit, in fact it's the first time I've ever used them. There are some SBS blogs on the net which I will use as a guide.

It will be easier if the wheels can stay on the axles by themselves without being glued, to do this I had to add some lengths of stretched sprue and plain sprue to the return rollers and drive sprocket:


To keep the unglued individual tracks from moving around, some double sided tape was stuck to my steel ruler and the tracks were put together on the tape. Then Tamiya Extra Thin was added to all the links.


I didn't leave them to dry, I (carefully) lifted the tracks off the tape almost immediately. They already had a good bond after only a 10 -20 seconds. They were placed round the drive sprocket first, then pressed with my fingers into shape taking care to achieve a natural looking sag. The instructions say 93 links per side which I used at first, but 3 extra links were needed which I added while the tracks were in place. A piece of sticky tape was placed over the unglued join, on the idler.


Here they are dry, and yet flexible enough to be removed from the drive sprocket.


I will leave the wheels and tracks unglued, hoping that the fenders don't make it hard to fit the tracks latter.

I really like how this tank looks, an armoured box on tracks:


Thanks for following along!
Cheers
JT

[bullardino]

Here I am, thanks for the clear explaination on magic track use

[spud]

Where did you get the ugly from...... i love this tank

Looking forward to it jt

[Deleted]

Good looking construction going on here JT .I like the sanding sticks idea

[ogrejohn]

Looking good JT!

[johnt]

You guys are quick! Thanks for looking in and for the feedback!

I love it too Spud, but it doesn't have muck sleekness or those sexy slanted sides your panther or T34 has. ;D I like em ugly.

Cheers
JT

[Hinksy]

Looking great,

I love these big slab-sided oddities like this and the Brummbar - they are a dream to weather.

You are definately off to a great start - excellent work on the tracks! Are you leaving them off the vehicle now to paint separately? Definately the best way imo.

I built this very same kit for a GB that Andy ran on FSM called Pz. III & variants. I actually built 3 kits for this GB - a main entry Pz. III N and 2 others (StuG III and this one) to help fill the gaps and get every variant done!

I have to say it wasn't the nicest of plastic to work with? I don't really know the crack with the whole Cyber-Hobby range other than they are old Dragon re-boxings I think? Very much Dragon but cheap and pretty basic. The plastic with these is very hard and very different to what I'm used to as I normally build fairly recent Smart kits and the odd Tamiya release. It built up ok but I'm going to back to it next year and give it a full whitewash - it's currently painted a plain Panzer Grey.

It's ok but needs a bit of attention to stand out on the tables at next years shows! I wish I'd paid more attention to that barrel - agghh that seam line is terrible!



I know Dragon have released a brand new kit of the SiG 33 now - that would be killer if built with Winterketten Friuls Something for the 2013 shopping list?

Keep us updated - I'll be real interested to see how this turns out!

Take care,

Ben

[bbd468]

Hey John, Lookin' forward to your build fella! I love the little tracked Pill box....kinda grew on me seeing Spuds a while back. Me wants one!

Gary

[wing_nut]

Looks great and the tracks are sweet.

[bigjohn]

I'm all over this one JT. Very nice work so far and waiting to see your magic touch on the rest of it!

[Deleted]

Great build buddy, I'll be tagging along too

[wbill76]

These are always fun to watch, so much 'canvas' to play with in that big box casemate. Looking forward to this one JT!

[wouter]

great to see your ugly one over here as well JT ;D

Really looking forward to this, always interested in a JT build ^^

Cheers

[406 Silverado]

She is an ugly tank, but great to test some weathering techniques.
Looking forward to the next update JT

[johnt]

Hi guys, been pretty slow getting this one done but the assembly is finished.

Thanks for the feedback fellas. Ben that looks sweet, the WW sounds good, that's what I'm doing with mine!

I decided to give her brass fenders from Aber, so i practiced some soldering on them. Unfortunately I annealed them first and the oxidation cause solder joints to be not so strong. Still a beginner with the brass work!


These joins were much better:


The little stuff was glued with superglue. Here she is with tracks and wheels just dry fitted for a pretty picture:






Next to pull it apart, clean and prime before the paint flies.

Thanks for looking, cheers
JT

[sollie]

woa. fast build man. Soldering looks like a million dollar to me, great work there. Going to look sweet in primer.
What f stop do you use when taking pic's ?

[johnt]

Hi Sollie, usually f16, on a tripod for a long exposure. Against a white background like that they are overexposed by about one stop as well.

Cheers mate!
JT

[bigjohn]

Stunning JT, Waitng for more

[Hinksy]

Great work - the fenders make a big difference!

How are you finding the plastic - difficult to work with isn't it. Very hard yet brittle - it doesn't cut with sprue snips, it snaps! The figures are great - I still have mine and I remember them darn idlers - I spent a good hour just getting the two idlers cleaned up to resemble something looking good!

Looking at this has reminded me about the plans for my SiG.

My work has really improved since I built mine a year or so ago (imo at least) so I'm probably going to treat myself to one of the new SiG's that have been released by Dragon. Now they look sweeeeet!

Some Winterketten Friuls should look killer.

Keep us posted - I'll be following with interest!

Ben

[bbd468]

WOW John, that is a beauty of a build! Well done man. You gonna paint the box art scheme?

Gary

[wbill76]

Nice to see this one moving along again JT! Very nice work on the PE.

[Deleted]

nice work indeed the etch makes all the difference

[johnt]

Hey guys thanks for following!

Hi Ben this was not the best kit as you say. Some of the really small parts were wrecked while trying to cut them from the sprue, I had to scratch new ones when this happened. One of the new ones with winterkettens would be sweet for sure!

Hi Gary, looking at panzergrey with a worn white wash.

The paint and weathering is my favourite part so I'll keep you posted!

Cheers
JT

[406 Silverado]

ooooo nice PE work there John. I can see the primer going on her soon eh.

[Mence]

Ugly, maybe but I think their really neat modelling subjects, great job!

[armorguy]

That's a nice riding bunker you've built there John, you make me want to buy one too, its look is pretty impressive. Thanks for sharing your experience on the track construction, this will be really helpful for many modellers (me for example, I always buys Friul tracks). I look forward to the painterisation of it !

[danb.]

I always love a JT project great looking tank and some bling to boot keep up the good work buddy

Dan B

[ogrejohn]

The PE sure does make a difference in this kit. Very nice work JT!

[Leon]

JT that is comming along nicely.love the pe work.