Zvezda 1/72 20mm Flak38 AA Gun - Part 2

I feel a little mean just posting this meagre piece up, but it does emphasise just how quick it is to build this kit...

Ta-da! And it was done. The little Zvezda Flak 38 went together in minutes, and there weren't any issues. Well, unless you count my inability to handle tiny parts without breaking them that is!

If I have any criticism (and this is sort of similar to my niggle about their Bofors model) it is that you cannot elevate or depress the gun, it's in a fixed position. Other than that though, a nice little kit with a reasonable amount of detail.

One thing, though, in future I may start priming intricate little kits like this on the sprue before I put them together. Priming the model now it's together will be a little challenging, with all its nooks and crannies.

Flak 38 in Transportation Mode
As with my Bofors AA gun, under the Rapid Fire war game rules, I should really make a version of this model to represent the gun in its transportation mode (towed configuration). As mentioned in the first part of this project journal, the Zvezda kit does not come with the wheeled carriage to represent it 'mobile', so I had to source this. Luckily, I already had this model as part of a separate purchase I had made...

The above photo shows the Altaya Flak 38 that came with their Steyr 1500 light truck, a happy coincidence (I bought the Steyr for use as a command vehicle). The model is a wee bit rough round the edges but should clean up well enough for my use.

One noticeable difference between the Altaya and my Zvezda Flak 38 is the inclusion of a gunners shield just in front of the reflector sight. This may be a because the Altaya model is based on a later variant of the AA gun, in any case, it's easy enough to remove.

Next: Modelling the crew and priming the guns.

Thar be Monsters!

I had nice surprise this morning, one of my belated Christmas presents arrived, a Deagostini 1/72 Combat Tank Collection Schwerer Zugkraftwagen 18 t Sd.Kfz. 9 'FAMO'!

This amazing vehicle was the heaviest half-track produced by the Germans during WW2. It was a prime mover, principally dragging around their larger artillery but it later found a new role as a recovery vehicle for another monster - the Tiger I.

It is as a recovery vehicle that this model interests me, as the Finns purchased a couple of examples from the Germans late in the war as they were desperately short of this sort of extreme pulling power. The Finns relied heavily on captured heavy tanks, as they had no tank manufacture of their own, so being able to recover damaged or abandoned tanks off the field was of major importance to them.

But the sheer size of these astonishing vehicles isn't obvious until you see them compared to a 'normal' sized truck...

The giant FAMO compared to a Ford V3000 medium truck of the same period!

The size difference between the Famo and conventional medium trucks of the time is astounding. When you look at the above picture you do find yourself wondering if both vehicles are of the same scale. They are, 1/72.

Sadly, one of the only photos of the Famo in Finnish service during the Continuation War (1941-44) is this half-caught 'photo bomb'...

It does show an interesting 'tiger stripe' camo pattern, though. But does leave me wondering what the two colours are. It's very likely that one of the colours is the colour that the Famo was painted when it left it's German factory (either Field Gray or 'Dunkelgelb'), but what the second colour might be is anyone's' guess (possibly Finnish Brown or Moss Green).

Incidentally, the back end of the other truck you can see in the photo is very likely the other German purchase the Finns made for their recovery operations, a Bussing NAG 4500A w/ Bilstein 3T crane...

This was another Teutonic monster, a 4.5 tone 4x4 truck which - like the Famo - dwarfed other vehicles. I actually bought a die cast model of this as well and here are the models compared...

I had it in mind to convert the Bussing NAG into the recovery version with crane (the real version of which was capable of lifting 3 tons).

These stunning vehicles would make a smashing addition to my Finnish collection (although they aren't actually needed to fulfil the Rapid Fire wargame rules that I'm using as a guide to my collection). And I can't resist adding this last photo (source unknown) just to illustrate the sheer unbelievable size of these mighty beasts...

Altaya 1/72 T-50, Finnish conversion complete

Phew, just finished this before going back to work tomorrow!

T-50 - so close, but no cigar!

Had to share out my holiday time this week, so my plan to get my T-50 complete by today didn't come to pass. But I gave it a good go, and in the end I missed my own target by just a smidgen...

So, close...But still some final touches to do.

Another reason this model is 'so close' but doesn't quite hit the mark is probably the authenticity. But I get the feeling that will always be the case with all my Finnish projects. So few of the models I intend to include in my collection have reliable, certified original reference examples to go by.

Still, what is perhaps just as important for a wargame collection, like this one, is that I am quite happy with the colour scheme I have produced in the end. If nothing else, I think it's quite attractive! (Forgive my self-congratulation.)

This 3-colour scheme will be the standard which I will be applying to all my other Finnish tanks (though the exact pattern of the camo will vary). It's sort of a case that I have nailed my colours to the post and that's that!

A final note on diecast conversions
In the end I think I got away with this conversion, that was mainly due to the good job that Altaya made of their interpretation of the Soviet T-50 light tank in the first place. Though I'm still not happy with the bend tracks!

It makes me tempted to have a go and try and convert the remaining Altaya models I have for this project (such as my KV-1, T-34/75 and T-28). But I will have to take into consideration the complexity of the work and the thickness of teh diecast metal which will need to be modified. The T-34, in particular, seems like it would be a little bit of a nightmare and I may still replace this with a plastic kit (as there are panty of plastic versions available - I have two in my stash).

Altaya 1/72 T-50 - Part 8

Painting the 'elastic band' tracks
Now onto the fiddly 'elastic band' tracks of the Altaya model. To be fair, these vinyl tracks are probably better than some of the older Airfix tracks that I remember from modelling as a kid. Altaya have managed to get quite a delicate pattern on reasonably thin band of soft plastic.

I wasn't happy with the vinyl tracks I painted for my RSO tractor, so I thought I'd do a bit more work with weathering powders to make the effect a little less bland. I began with a black primer, then a wash of Vallejo's Rust followed by a dusting of Vallejo's Green Earth pigment.

This turned out a little too light and patchy for my taste (which only became apparent once the first layer of pigment - mixed with MIG's Pigment Fixer - dried) so then I applied a light overall dusting of Humbrol's Dark Earth weathering powder. Just to tone things down a little and unify the effect...

So, now I have a more even rusty, muddy colour across the tracks. But, it's a bit 'flat' looking so it needs some shadow and highlighting now, to finish it off.

I'll conclude this post by saying I loath 'elastic band' tracks. In the end, no matter what kind of job you do painting them you know they will deform when you stretch them to put them back on the tanks' running gear. I much prefer solid plastic tracks.

I will be hiding the joining seam at the bottom, of course. And, unfortunately, there is no track pattern detail on the inside of the elastic band, so both of these failings will have to be camoflagued with 'mud'.

Next: Well, folks. That's about it for this one (I won't bother showing my base making process as I've done this a good few time now). So, next time you see this model will be the completion photos. Another one bites the dust!

Altaya 1/72 T-50 - Part 7

Pin-washing, chipping and dust
Right, moving on. We are now at the pin-washing stage of weathering. I admit I go a bit heavy with the pin-wash as my models are a bit more 'theatrical' in their painting because that is my preference...

I'm still a fan of AK Interactive's Dark Brown Wash for Green Vehicles for doing pin-washing. As mentioned several times before, it has a 'greasy' grimmy consistency to it that suits vehicles. However, I am slowly starting to move away from outlining *every* crease, seam and panel-line with it, as I did when I first began using this technique.

I'm also starting to take into consideration the paint scheme I'm applying it too. Obviously, it works very well on plain green vehicles (as that is what it was designed for) but, perhaps, less so well on other colours. I'm toying with the idea of experimenting with pin-washing with inks of complimentary colours, for a more subtle effect (I will be trying that with my next models).

Likewise, I am reconsidering my use of chipping. I have done a few models where I have obviously gone over the top with the technique in order to create a more dramatic effect (which seems to be a convention in wargame modelling).

Having said that, here's a lovely photo of an extreme in vehicle chipping and deterioration...

Source: Wikipedia

Note: The above photo is of the single T-50 that the Finns captured, on display at the Parola Tank Museum. It's an odd scheme, as it seems to appear to represent, perhaps, an earlier state in it's Finnish career (perhaps soon after it's capture in 1941). This would seem to be a repaint, undertaken after to the war, as it had the 3-colour camo scheme between 1943 and the end of the war.

I won't be going that far! In fact, I think I will keep the chipping minimal. Maybe some paint wear and tear around the obvious points of traffic - the hatches and clamber points.

Dust and dirt - base layers
Although I used to apply mud and dirt as one of the final layers of weathering I am now doing the dirt effect as a two-stage process. There are areas of the vehicle that are difficult to access later in the build and so they have to have their dust and muck applied earlier on - the inside of tracks is an example of this.

Having tackled the muck behind the road-wheels I can now think about preparing and painting the tracks. In the end, I decided as I was adding mud I might as well add some to the front and back of the hull as well, instead of waiting until later (when I might not be able to match the colours).

She's getting there!

Finnish T-50, an interesting observation

If I ever needed a reminder that I am still just a 'kitnoob', this is it! Apparently you not only have to be a keen fan of the past to model WW2 models but you also have to have the ability to see into the future as well.

As you may know, I have laboured hard to try to get what I thought was 'a' (it's all subjective) accurate 3-colour Finnish camo scheme. And just when I was fairly satisfied whit my recipe the God of Modelmaking has come along and kicked me in the ass.

Here's a reminder of what I was happy(ish) with before weathering...

And now, after starting the weathering process with my - now usual - 'bleaching and staining' stage using oils I have this...

Now, the difference may be somewhat subtle but in effect, my T-50s scheme has been knocked back a shade and the hue slightly modified. This is particularly noticeable in the 'beige grey' colour, which in now a light tan colour. Here's another picture which may illustrate the change better...

The T-26 (left) has my original Finnish scheme in pristine colours, while the T-50 has the same colours 'modulated' through the weathering I applied.

Now experienced modellers will say, 'yeah, and...' because they will know that I should have taken this modification in colour into consideration at the base camo painting stage (perhaps by painting the scheme deliberately lighter).

Bum!

Another thing to take into consideration.

As it turns out I kinda like the new tones (well, I have to say that now don't I)! The option would be to start again if I didn't. Thinking logically, this is perhaps what would have actually happened to the real scheme in the field, when dirt and dust covered the paint and subtly changing their appearance.

Phew...There's always something new to learn.

Altaya 1/72 T-50 - Part 5

Slow, slow, slow progress. I'd love to be faster at making models, and it depresses me a bit as I see other modelers - whose blogs I read - churn out their wonderful models while my projects crawl to their conclusion. But there you go, I spare what time I have so please bare with my minor updates...

After the base of dark green I applied the 'Finish Grey', or rather, I added my interpretation of it - a light beige-grey (50/50 mix of Valejo's Stone Grey and German Camo Biege).

I'm afraid I had to be a little creative with the camo pattern as there are only two period photographs of this particular tank, and they are - sadly - in black and white. So, I've used my artistic licence.

I read that the Finn's applied the Grey to a 50% proportion of tehoverall camo, with the Green and Brown making up 25% each. But, from what I have seen - in reference photos - the application of paint and it's pattern was a bit more ad-hoc than that.

The Finn's variety of tanks all seem to have displayed a variety of patterns - some with thin stripes of the 3-colour scheme, some with large patches. There doesn't seem to have been a a printed guide to scheme application - as there was in the British and US armies - so I am guessing there was some latitude from unit to unit.

I am quite pleased with my brown mix, but I still think my 'Moss Green' was lacking a little oomph. So I modulated my dark green with a quick, thin wash of Vallajo Air's Russian Green. This was just enough to give the green a bit of luster in the right light.

Altaya 1/72 T-50 - Part 4

Having gotten the modifications to my little T-50 done it's time to get on with the painting. I began with a primer coat - of sorts - of Humbrol's 'Dark Green'...

This led me into a bit of a think about why I (and other people) use primer paints for modelling. I guess I did so - in the beginning - ‘because that’s what people did’ (as a complete beginner I believed without question whatever ‘experts’ told me was the ‘done thing’).

There’s a really nice article on the purpose of using a primer over on Scalemodelguide.com - 'All About Primers' - which is worth a read, just to remind one’s self what priming is all about. Reading it over, some of the reasons for using a primer ticks a few of my personal boxes - specifically (in order of precedence):

• Improve the adhesion of top-coats
• Showing up surface defects
• As a Pre-shading layer

My initial reason for using a primer was that I considered that acrylic paints need a preparatory surface for adhesion (unlike the enamels I used when I was a kid). Also, I initially (and still do occasionally) use a flat black primer as an aid to shading, but in the case of my T-50 I wanted an underlying vivid green to give some luminance to my top-coat green (if that makes sense).

The highlighting of defects was something that developed into a useful and unexpected role for applying a primer. As I have gotten more into the converting of models I often find that that 'good job' of sanding a repair or modification isn't such a good job, after all, once I get the first coat of paint on it! Priming highlights these glitches and gives me a chance to correct them before re-applying a spot of primer over the top of them.

It's worth reevaluating your model painting process regularly, I think, as you can get into a habit of doing things without reviewing their relevancy. As each model is different and so might need a slightly different approach, it's good to ask oneself 'why am I doing this again?' every so often!

The base ‘Finnish Green’
I have settled on a darker - slightly olive - green for use as the Finnish ‘Moss Green’. This will not be to everyone’s taste (many modeller's prefer a brighter green for Finnish armour), but I have gone for this shade/hue due to consideration of those examples still in museums which experts in this area deem ‘good’ examples of period Finnish camoflague. I have also gone for a darker green due to the ‘scale effect’ - or, to put it another way, what I think looks right at a distance.

This photo, of a nicely restored Finnish WW2 tank, comes as something of a surprise
to many modellers. It's not exactly the typical 'Finnish 3-colour camo' that modellers
are used to seeing on much of the relevant kit box art!
Source: Andreaslarka.net

The caveat here is this; like all my attempts at 'Finnish colours', my interpretations are based on *my eye-sight*. And my eye-sight is, in all likelihood, very different from yours!

My green is a 50/50 mix of Vallejo’s German Camo Dark Green and their Yellow Olive. The olive sheen is very (very) subtle, depending on the light...

Next: The camoflague.

Altaya 1/72 T-50 - Part 3

My little T-50 plods on. Working with metal is not fun - not for me anyway - so it's taken me some time to modify the front fenders to my liking. In the end, I resorted to adding some styrene strips to get the look I was after...

I'm beginning to realise that I have a habit of putting off jobs I don't enjoy (which is why I have a special draw I keep for jobs that are 'on ice'). Prevarication isn't good, but it becomes a little war of wills with myself and I do feel good when I finally overcome my irrational anxiety about certain jobs. Tiny though it may be, I was disproportionally pleased when I finished this modification.

The task was completed with the creation of the headlamp covers - a feature of early Soviet tanks that the Finns seemed to like. These hinged 'domes' of metal enclosed a headlamp and could be flipped up and down when needed, the Finnish army retrofitted these to many of it's 'newer' Soviet trophy tanks. (They seemed to have a good supply of them from the large quantity of scraped T-26 tanks the Finns took from the Soviets during the Winter War.)

Worth showing again, this wonderful photo of the Finn's sole T-50 shows it 'late
war' (early 1944, I think). By this time it has been re-fitted to the post-1943
'standard' for Finnish armour, with the cowled headlamps and the three-colour
camouflage scheme. Source: SA Kuca archive.

Just for reference, here's an artist's impression of the T-50 with the headlamp covers up. I *think* they were only put up when travelling at night in safety - having them up like this when in actual battle seems a bit risky...

1/35 HobbyBoss 'Finnish T-50' box artwork. A couple of things wrong here,
they haven't included the Finnish cross emblems and the fenders are 'unclipped.
And don't get me started on the camo colours (not again)!

Making the covers was a fiddly little job which had me sanding some rectangular styrene strips into the correct shape...

My headlamp covers still need some shaping and detailing but I'm please with
the basic shape.

Who'd have thought that such small jobs would take me so long (I tried hiding my T-50 behind some pots of paint on my little workbench, but I knew it was still there)!

The rest of the work on this conversion should - in theory - be plain sailing. It's just a case of painting the little blighter (...I say 'just')!

Postscript: Note that, I am making a post-1943 version of the Finn's T-50. This tank was captured from the Soviets in 1941, and between its capture and 1943 (when Finnish armour received new guidelines for outfitting and paint schemes) it is thought to have retained it's Red Army plain green scheme or have been painted Finnish dark green and given Finnish crosses. Here's a nice example of a model of this earlier period (the clipped' fenders don't seem to have been applied at this point, or have Mirage boobed?)...

Model by Danny Van Beneden. 1/35 scale kit by Mirage.

Historical note on the Finn's T-50: 'The popular nickname was "Pikku-Sotka" (Small Pochard), which referred to its physical resemblance with larger T-34 medium tank, which Finnish soldiers had already earlier nick-named as "Sotka" (Pochard) after a tugboat of that name.' Source: Jaegerplatoon.net

The Finn's T-50 was in service with them from 1942 until June of 1944, when it suffered serious mechanical problems and was designated 'non-operational'. Bear this in mind if you are wargaming the later 'Lapland War', the Finn's T-50 was not available during this campaign. This tank remained on Finland's military inventory until 1955, though it seems not to have been used again.

Is modifying diecast models a job too far?

First of all, apologies for the following, rather rambling, 'thinking out loud'...

I have quite a few diecast models (mainly Altaya) that I have accumulated for my Finnish project. I've picked them up a bit at a time as I saw bargains on eBay, but I never really intended to include so many in what is, primarily, intended to be a 1/72 plastic kit based project.

The problem is modifying them, as I discovered with my current T-50 project. Although cutting parts off diecast metal models is possible - thanks to my trusty Dremel tool - the result is perhaps not ideal and may not, in the end, be desirable...

The problem with metal models is they were never designed to be mucked about
with in the way I am doing. The thickness of the construction does not lend itself
to structural conversions.

The above photo shows the result of some of my diecast surgery. This was a pretty simple modification, but some of my other vehicles - like the Bussing-NAG truck I have - will require even more intricate work. As diecast models were never intended for this kind of modelling you have to ask, is all the work worth the effort?

Of course, that is a personal preference. But for wargaming the answer may be a simple 'not really'. My trouble is that my project, although based on the premise of being a wargaming collection, is really a hybrid of wargaming and display level models. It's a bit of a messy concept really, but - simply put - if I just wanted a 'marker' to represent a type of vehicle for a game it's perhaps not so critical that that 'marker' is exactly accurate or historically detailed.

So, to modify diecast or not?

To be sure, I have made a rod for my own back. Because I have started trying my best to create fairly accurate vehicles, in the spirit of the original historic ones, suddenly saying 'meh, I'll just make do' is a very hard thing to do. But, on the other hand, I cannot ignore the fact that diecast vehicles are not suited to my style of 'Frankenstein' conversion (which I have been happily carrying out on my resin models).

My Altaya Steyr 1500 troop wagon, which I hope to convert into the staff
wagon version. I have done this sort of 'cut'n'shut' conversion with resin models
several times, but doing it with a metal model is a different kettle of fish!

The staff car version of the Steyr 1500. I hope to make this vehicle by using the
bonnet of my diecast Steyr and joining it to the back of a Kfz.21 kit.

The Kfz. 21 has exactly the same crew compartment (rear) as does the Steyr
staff car. Technically, a 'simple' meld of two models?

As you can see from my T-50, to try and convert diecast models can be to open up a whole can of worms, and in the end, may be more trouble than it's worth for wargaming (for sure). And even for display modelling, one could say that were I wanting to do the job right it would be better to spend the extra money to get one of those expensive short-run resin kits or even to scratch-build if accuracy is the main priority.

The worst of both worlds?
In modifying diecast models, I may very well be setting myself up to fail. Because my premise was to buy the diecast models because they were a cheap and easy solution but then to spend twice the amount of time it would take me to build a plastic kit version of the same model but end up with a model that may not be quite as good, I have to ask myself 'am I mad'?

The diecast models I have accumulated are not restricted to tanks. I have three
different wheeled vehicles, of which this Bussing-NAG truck will pose one of
the most difficult conversion jobs of any of my diecast models.

The Bussing-NAG 4500s with Bilstein crane. An example of where I may have
bitten off more than I can chew for a diecast conversion? This is available in
plastic kit for by TP Models. But at €29 plus shipping would an attempt
at a conversion on a cheap diecast be cost-effective?

I do get a lot of enjoyment out of my conversion projects, it isn't just about trying to make something better than something that is available on the market in kit form. Look at my Chevy Van project, for example - that isn't as nice looking as a good quality plastic kit, but I have really enjoyed it and, in the end, have produced something unique. But, then, resin is easy to work with.

Conclusion
It irks me, but I simply think my diecasts should be used for what they are best at - quick 'fillers' with which to populate the large number of units I need for my 'army'. In essence, this is what I have done with my plastic T-26 models - I have bought two lovely, highly detailed, examples of T-26s by Mirage as exemplars for the type, but then filled out the rest of the units I need with cheaper Pegasus T-26s.

In the case of my diecast tanks, these are for my second Heavy Tank company, the first of which will consist of more accurate plastic models.

My lovely Altaya T-28 diecast tanks. A case where these are the only models
available of this tank in 1/72, there is no plastic alternative. I won't even bother
making the Finnish modifications to this diecast, as the differences are so small
as not to make the work worthwhile.

To be honest, had I realised what a quandary these diecasts would cause me I would have avoided them completely. The only exception being where the model I want is only available in diecast form (like my T-28 tanks, which are simply not available in plastic kit in 1/72).

I think I will just paint my diecasts, complete accuracy be damned!

Altaya 1/72 T-50 - Part 2

Modification to make a Finnish T-50
As I mentioned in my previous post on this project, there isn't a lot to do to the standard Soviet T-50 in order to make it into a Finnish version. Although the Finns took to changing captured armour to their tastes their one and only T-50 only had a couple of new hooded headlamps added and the very front of its fender mudguards 'clipped'.

A lovely photo of the front detail, including the areas modified by the Finns.
Source: SA-Kuva archive

I'm afraid I have no source for this photo, but it is a very interesting one. It clearly
shows that the Finn's solitary T-50 was given the Finn's 3-colour camo scheme
and it shows the 'sawn-off' mudguards at the front.

Still, any modification to the fenders is sort of bad news for me as my Altaya is diecast metal (at least, its main hull is) this means I'll have to get my trusty Dremel out to clip off the mudguards. It also means I may have some issues with the scale thickness, as the model's diecast fenders are a bit thicker than they should be.

Here's the area of the T-50 that I will me modifying...

And here is the same area after I made the initial changes in order to facilitate the Finnish WW2 modifications...

As you can see, the thickness of the model's fenders are far too over-scale. I'm going to have to thin them down a little. Removing the original headlamps to make way for the hooded Finnish lamps was easy enough, though, they were just plastic.

While I work out how I am going to finish off the fenders, I thought I would try priming the turret (which needs no modifications). Using Humbrol's aerosol Dark Green, I gave the turret a couple of light passes and was pleased to discover that this covered the model's original paint scheme very well!

This 'Dark Green' (I don't think it's all that dark) is, I found, a nice base for the Finnish 3-colour camo scheme that I have been trying to fathom. Anyway, next I will be completing the minor modifications and then giving the rest of the tank it's primer coat.

Altaya 1/72 T-50 has arrived!

Bit of a post-Xmas treat as the posty brought this little beauty yesterday. My 1/72 Altaya die-cast T-50 light tank arrived...

It's a very nice reproduction of the little tank, but comes in Soviet colours (naturally enough I suppose). So, I will have to repaint this.

The 45mm gun is quite good (better than on my Pegasus kits) so it won't need replacing with one of the metal ones I bought. The tracks are 'ok', not brilliant really but acceptable for vinyl 'rubber band' type tracks.

In this 1944 photo you can clearly make out the Finnish three-colour camo pattern
and the additional head-lam fittings. Image source: SA Kua archive.

Checking over at Andreaslarka.net there isn't much modification needed to make it 'Finnish' - it looks like they only removed the very front of the fenders and added a couple of covered headlamps. Otherwise, the Finns used the Soviet T-50 as was (which is good news).

This will be my armour brigade command tank and I have a reference illustration of it - tank No. 601 - in use as a command tank in late 1944. It is painted with the standard Finnish 3-colour camo, with the Finnish crossed and the number '601' in yellow towards the rear of the turret.

1/72 Steyr RSO - Complete

Altaya 1/72 Raupenschlepper (RSO) Prime Mover
The Finnish Army purchased 53 vehicles from the Germans which were delivered in 1944. They were procured as artillery prime movers, being capable of towing both 7.5cm Pak 40 and the 10.5cm leFH 18 Light Field Howitzer which they also bought from the Germans (though there is photo reference of a Finnish RSO towing a captured Soviet 122mm gun).