Bronco Panzerkampfwagen I Ausf. F (VK 18.01)

[Deleted]

looks nice great that it has an interior too

[wbill76]

Thanks Pete! The inclusion of the interior was the main reason I opted for it over the Hobby Boss offering to be honest. Just couldn't resist!

[Deleted]

It is a good thing you have the Bronco kit and not the hobby boss, The Bronco is so far i can see the most correct one. I have the old kit from Alan and the hobby boss one witch I started to built and put it aside because to many errors. Even the Alan kit is more correct and better.

Eddy

[wbill76]

Mar 25, 2014 16:25:10 GMT -5 @eddy said:

It is a good thing you have the Bronco kit and not the hobby boss, The Bronco is so far i can see the most correct one. I have the old kit from Alan and the hobby boss one witch I started to built and put it aside because to many errors. Even the Alan kit is more correct and better.

Eddy

That's saying something when an Alan kit is better than a new release kit!

[danb.]

Great work Bill looking good fella

Dan B

[Leon]

Off and running Bill..Looking forward to seeing this come together.

[Deleted]

Bronco is putting out some mighty fine detailed kits . Look great Bill .

[wbill76]

Dan, Leon, Carl, thanks a bunch! Glad to have you along.

[thug626]

Mar 25, 2014 16:25:10 GMT -5 @eddy said:

It is a good thing you have the Bronco kit and not the hobby boss, The Bronco is so far i can see the most correct one. I have the old kit from Alan and the hobby boss one witch I started to built and put it aside because to many errors. Even the Alan kit is more correct and better.

Eddy

That's not just a statement. It's an indictment.

Dave

[detailfreak]

Great looking build there wbill Bronco seems to be an up and coming player in this game of kits,to bad about the HobbyBoss offering though.I have a good start on the HobbyBoss 222 and its so far been pretty good.Gotta love that interior detail and the workable hatches.

[wbill76]

Mar 28, 2014 10:08:28 GMT -5 detailfreak said:

Great looking build there wbill Bronco seems to be an up and coming player in this game of kits,to bad about the HobbyBoss offering though.I have a good start on the HobbyBoss 222 and its so far been pretty good.Gotta love that interior detail and the workable hatches.

I agree Greg, having the hatches end up being fully workable was a very nice touch IMHO. Even if it did require an almost contortionist effort to get them assembled and installed!

[wbill76]

Managed to get in some time on the interior bits and details on this pocket-Tiger. Bronco follows their usual penchant for tiny parts and there's a lot going on inside this little guy. First up were the 22 'standard' Gurtsack ammunition bags plus 2 'in use' bags for the twin MGs in the turret. These had 2 or 3 sprue contact points each that had to be cleaned up so was a case of '22 Gurtsacks on the sprue, 22 Gurtsacks on the sprue...cut one free and clean it up, 21 Gurtascks on the sprue!' type of effort. Worth it though as they have very nice molded details and will be painted with the AB when the time comes to avoid smothering some of the finer details.



Next up were all the other different interior gear items that need to be painted/detailed separately before installation. The FE, the spare barrels case, the First Aid kit, crew mess kits and canteens (and also the gas mask containers, which I noticed I forgot while taking this pic!), the MP40 ammo case, the flare pistol and flare round holder, and the 'Gedore' tool box that goes on the compartment floor.



Little guy needs its comms gear as well, so the radio receiver and transmitter were assembled (special note, the back is hollow so if you plan to show the right side escape hatch open, this will need to be blanked off), and some holes drilled out with a #76 finger drill to take some wiring later on. Power transformer boxes and intercom box for the driver were also assembled and drilled out where appropriate.



Also took care of some other small details like the small box on the left side below the escape hatch and I assembled the driver's front hull plate. The gauge panel mounts underneath it but I'm keeping it separate for now to make it easier to detail/paint and also to be sure it's lined up properly since it has to fit just so between the transmission housing and the hull glacis plate. The hull roof plate was also prepped for paint although most of it won't be seen of course once installed in position.



Next up was the turret. Due to the size of the fully-detailed MGs, you have to install the base of the mantlet into the turret front and then install the MGs from behind through the base and into the mantlet. That's going to be real fun I can tell, but will deal with that later. Mounts and mantlet base were installed so that the guns can elevate. The fit is kind of loose so I suspect that I will be gluing that in place later on once the weight of the guns is added and the external mantlet installed. External mantlet portion was prepped for paint on its inner surface since some of it will still be visible through the open commander's hatch and I don't want bare plastic peeking in around the edges inside. Last but not least, the turret base was prepped for paint as well to round things out.



So that means next up is flinging some paint on the interior!

[Tojo72]

Really tiny Bill,hope we can get a good look at that interior after you close everything up

[wbill76]

Only if you pop the turret off or crane your neck through the escape hatch. I'm thinking I will set this up so it can be displayed with the turret off so you can see all that pretty detail.

[TRM]

Awesome looking works to this one Bill!! Lovely clean work as usual!! Keep it going!!

[wbill76]

Thanks T! I had to use some small zip-lock bags to ensure I didn't lose any of those little bits between now and when I can actually paint them.

[deafpanzer]

GOSH! So many small parts for the interior! This is something I would love to make the interior more visible for anybody to see. Looking great!

p.s. Your avatar looks so familiar. I think I saw something today in Florida.

[wbill76]

Apr 6, 2014 20:54:59 GMT -5 deafpanzer said:

GOSH! So many small parts for the interior! This is something I would love to make the interior more visible for anybody to see. Looking great!

p.s. Your avatar looks so familiar. I think I saw something today in Florida.

Thanks Andy! You may need to raise the issue with your hotel of choice though...if you're seeing one of those rolling around, you've got something pretty strong in your drink.

[afvfan]

Great progress report there, Bill. I hate times like this where there doesn't really seem to be a lot of forward motion, but you know you just put a fair number of hours into it!

[bullardino]

Nice progress, all those details will looks great, at least the one that will be in sight

[wbill76]

Very true Bob, there's a lot of parts in those shots and the good news is that the vast majority of the kit parts are actually on the interior...so once it's done, it will go pretty fast!

Lui, yeah, I hear you there! The 'open' Gurtsacks that go with the turret guns actually have the MG bullets molded into their tops too...although you will never see them once they are installed!

[thug626]

Lots of wee parts as per Bronco. I love it!

Dave

[wbill76]

Thanks Dave! Definitely a lot packed into this little guy for sure.

[deafpanzer]

I smell an update coming up in 19 hours if I am correct... can't wait! LOL

[wbill76]

Apr 12, 2014 22:06:24 GMT -5 deafpanzer said:

I smell an update coming up in 19 hours if I am correct... can't wait! LOL

All depends Andy. I have a feeling today's going to be a very busy day with the latest news.

[wbill76]

For those looking for their regular Sunday-fix on this build, you can see the latest update over on the new home at MHISC here: myhobbyinfo.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=115&start=20

See you there!

[wbill76]

While the last update dealt with the interior parts, today's efforts focused on the workable tracks. Bronco provides an excellent set of workable tracks in the kit, so no need to resort to my usual trusty MK replacement strategy. The kit calls for 66 links per side but until I get the hull built and suspension in place, I only worked on 60 links to be safe. The pins for the links are molded a little funny...to save on total sprue space I guess, some of the pins are separate along the sides of the sprue while the middle run has pins in a double set. The tracks are handed, so it's important to keep track of which pins are which. Using the kit-provided jig, I assembled the runs one link at a time, cutting the pins free of the sprues and using the nub as a 'handle' to insert the pins then cutting it away after the glue had started to set on the head of the pin.



120 links later, we have two nice workable runs to play with in the future.



May not look like much, but this is a major step in the construction 95% complete until the suspension is available to test the number needed for the right sag/tension arrangement.

[wbill76]

In the spirit of making lemonade out of lemons, since I had some unexpected free time today, I decided to put in some more on the Pz I. I couldn't be sure of enough time for painting so decided to work on the road wheels and other running gear instead.

First up were the sprockets and idlers. The front half of the sprocket as very delicate contact points and no real positive locater aids other than getting the teeth lined up properly, so you have to be careful with it. I glued them together and used the track runs assembled earlier to help 'hold' the halves in the right alignment with each other until the glue had set up. I also made a slight modification to the final drive housings in the form of a length of styrene rod glued over the sprocket mount pin to 'trap' it in place and leave it able to rotate freely later on. The idlers went together without any issues.



Then it was time to deal with the road wheels. At first the instruction diagram in Step 9 is a little confusing as it seems to indicate that you need to build two different types of the 'paired' wheels but in reality they are all the same, just Bronco used some slightly different parts numbers I guess due to the way the sprues were laid out. In the end you get the 6 paired road wheels you need, 3 per side, and that's what counts! The two interleaved wheels per side had their halves cleaned up but left unassembled now so they can be painted and installed later once the suspension gets installed.



Have to seize the opportunities that come your way even if unexpected!

[wbill76]

I suppose it's fitting that on Easter Sunday some paint was allowed to fly!

Spent the day working on the bulk interior painting to get things ready to move into the detail and assembly stage for that area. First up was an airbrush treatment of Model Master enamel Panzer Interior Buff to all the applicable hull areas and units. Because I hate to scrape paint, I used a combination of masking tape and poster blue-tack putty to mask off the hull floor and side joins to make life a little easier when the hull comes together down the road.



Ordinarily it's not worth the trouble to airbrush small detail parts but since the interior has so many, I decided this time around that the airbrush would be the better method vs. hand painting. The compartment floor was airbrushed with a custom mix of 'primer red' that I keep around but don't quite remember the exact mix ratio on...I do know it contains Insignia Red, Flat Black, and a touch of Light Gray...and a little bit goes a long way!

Radio received some Gunship Gray, the seat mounts and other odd bits of gear were airbrushed with Khaki. The Gurtsacks and crew canteens are largely made of cloth or have cloth covers so I used a different shade for them, trying out some Faded Olive Drab as their base color, and have to say I was happy with the shade tone that produces.



This will all get the chance to cure before the next round of detail painting and the weathering process begins on the interior. Hope everyone had a Happy Easter!

[wbill76]

The devil's always in the details and that's where this session's attention focused on. Continuing on from last week, I went to work hand detailing all the various bits of gear that go into the fighting compartment interior. First up were the 24 ammo sacks, the MP40 ammo pouch, the canteens, mess tins, and the first aid box for the floor. Bronco provides some excellent molded-in 'cloth' detail to the ammo sacks so I dry-brushed some of my 50-50 Light Gray/Panzer Dunkelgelb custom mix that I keep around for three-tone camo to highlight and add some depth to them.



Now comes the tricky part, getting all the stuff to install just right in all the different spots! I started with the rear firewall as it's the most densely populated spot and also interacts with stuff on the floor and the hull sides. I found that working from the bottom up was the best way to go and did the right side first, checking alignment with things on the floor and the hull side as I added each row of items.



That of course meant that I also worked on the hull sides at the same time. First up was the driver's side. Ammo sacks and canteen were installed along with the hand-detailed flare gun, flare cartridges and box, and driver's intercom box and headphones. I added the wiring for the intercom using 0.5mm solder installed in the hole I'd drilled out previously with some CA gel.



Opposite site received ammo sacks and canteen, gas mask containers, and the radio power transformer units.



With the firewall squared away, I also added the wiring details to the radios with 0.5mm solder wire and installed it in position along with the spare MG13 barrels case.



Floor received some weathering attention with a light wash of Raw Sienna applied to simulate some dirt accumulation. Virtually all of this will disappear once the drive-train is installed along with the commander's seat but enough will show through to add some color variety. I also installed the small tool box and first-aid kit along with the driver's seat and track control levers.



Rounding out the day's activities, the commander's seat was detailed along with the driver's instrument panel and periscope view sights.



There's still more to do weathering-wise before the interior is ready to be assembled but it's definitely closer to 'the day' than it was before!