Life in Plastic...

Hey All!

Lots of projects in the pipe…I finished painting up the sMG42 team...

Colors as per my Recommended Colors (on the right sidebar)

Over the Christmas season, I ordered a bunch of new(er) Battlefront plastic boxed sets from Imperial Hobbies in Burnaby and Sentry Box in Calgary. Both are great Hobby stores and are highly recommended.

Sadly, the Panzer IVH Platoon GBX79 I ordered was an older box with the incorrect 8-spoke rear idler wheel and 4-panel Schürzen. This has since been changed but it must have been old stock. I fired an email off to Battlefront, who are sending out the correct Schürzen panels taken from the OOP older resin GBX79. I got mine in record time - kudos to BF Customer service! Too bad design and research aren't as good!

Unfortunately I could not get the panels to work with either the old or new mounting rails as the triangle spikes do not line up with the panels (2 per panel). So I removed the mounting supports and covered over the scars with zimmerit done with a soldering iron.

This is a great improvement over the previous resin offering from Battlefront.  That said, there are a few minor tweaks you can make. The turret cupola is too high. Sand off the cupola mounting peg and a bit off the bottom to bring it more into scale. The main gun mantlet fit is poor and will need some filler. Also you can add zimmerit on the sides and shield.

Dents added to the rear and side mufflers. Bolts added to back of turret Schürzen. A cut was made in between the spare road wheels on the fender.

I added zimmerit to the fenders and sides of the hull. Also added a locking pin to the front fenders and tow point. The hull MG was sanded down to recess it into the hull (it sticks out too far).

I also built up one of the new Battlefront Tiger I tanks. This is one Great kit!

My only fix is when mounting the tracks, you have to add a temporary small spacer strip of 1/8" plastic on the rear end of track when attaching to the hull to space it or they will sit too low.

 Some zim was removed and a pin added to replace the flimsy hull MG.

 And finally, I took a Sd.Kfz. 251/1 Ausf D and made a 251/9 out of it.

Lots of changes and extras added. New floor, bench removal, new 7.5cm gun and mount, and sMG 42 mount  scratchbuilt.

Cheers!

Troy