The engine is quite detailed and it’s a shame that it will mostly be covered up. I intend to leave the engine access hatch open so some of the engine can be seen.
The plastic is quite brittle and I snapped one of the door handles, it was easier to make a new handle out of brass rod than try and fix the handle back together.
Parts that needed to be bonded after painting were covered in Maskol, this can easily be removed later on.
The chassis build is quite detailed. Though I was going to leave the wheels off until after painting, I fitted them to ensure that all the wheels were aligned for camber and toe-in/toe-out, whilst it was possible to move the wheel hubs. The alignment of the wheels is critical so do take a lot of care at this stage.
At this point the upper deck and engine were test fitted and I discovered that the instructions for fitting the engine are wrong. The engine location point doesn’t match the shape on the bottom of the engine. By trying to fit the engine according to the instructions, it won’t line up with the reduction gearbox in the floor plate. Also when dry fitting the hull floor it became obvious that it interferes with the incorrectly positioned engine. By using the notch to one side of the centre line, the engine lines up with the reduction gearbox and the lower hull fits as well.
The chassis, and lower hull sides were primed with AK 3rd Gen primer (thinned 3 paint to 1 thinners)
The interior painting does get quite complex. Unlike most tanks, where you build then paint; half-tracks and armoured cars with this type of angled hull shape will need a lot of parts painting prior to assembly. In this case you will need to paint the interior; consisting of hull floor, lower sides, front and rear bulkheads, upper hull and internal components/accessories prior to final assembly.
The next painting session involved painting the chassis in German Grey, the lower hull in Primer Red and priming the Upper Hull and smaller parts. The engine is being painted in a Satin German Grey.
Masking is applied before painting the inner upper hull and lower hull sides.
With the majority of the hull interior hull painted, the internal accessories were also painted prior to fitting all the hull sections together.
The painting guide for the right hand and left hand lower hull is wrong. On the left hand side it has Red Primer right at the front, Ivory in the driving compartment and German Grey in the rear open compartment. However on the right hand side it is showing German Grey in the front and Ivory in the open rear compartment and Red Primer at the rear.
The painting guide for the interior of the upper hull is also incorrect. It has mixed up the hull aperture and the roof of the driving compartment, showing the hull aperture as solid and the roof of the driving compartment as a void. It also omits other colours that should be on the interior of the upper hull.
Generally with German AFV’s any hatches which open out from the crew area would have the same colour as outside, i.e. German Grey/Camo, so they would not stand out and disrupt the camouflage effect. Internal areas would be painted in Elfenbein (Ivory) to aid visibility. Areas such as engine compartments were generally left in red primer. The interior of the vehicle has been painted in later interior colours, it may have been more appropriate to have used earlier primer colour for the 247.
All the interior has been fitted with the hairspray technique being used to give a paint-worn finish on the floor and interior hull sides. The seats had a very thin dark brown wash applied to simulate a bit of wear. The engine muffler had two different rust pigments applied over a dark brown base.
Ask a question or add feedback:
You must be logged in to post a comment.