Empire of Ghosts' Treadhead Thread (8/21/21 - Marder III - pg. 4)

[ancientsociety]

 I acquired this Italeri King Tiger as a tournament prize ages ago, promptly built it.....and then it sat in my paint queue for over a year. To be honest, I wasn't really sure what direction to go with this, as I already had a resin "Henschel" King Tiger in my inventory, which is big and terrifying, and two seemed like overkill.

More pics and info:

https://empireofghosts.blogspot.com/2021/02/italeri-156-last-stand-king-tiger.html

[ancientsociety]

I'm still trying to adapt to my new lighting setup, so here's the first test photos featuring the completed Italeri/Warlord 1/56 scale Hetzer mit 2cm flak. Not having much material to go on, I opted for a hard-edged three color camouflage scheme. Unlike many of my previous builds, all the chipping is done with a brush. I wanted the flak gun to look like it had just rolled off the assembly line to be thrown inside the chassis with no painting at the factory, so I painted it a red oxide primer color. The netting is medical gauze, unrolled and lightly misted with green spray paint, before being wetted down with PVA glue and water.

More pics below:
https://empireofghosts.blogspot.com/2021/04/156-scale-warlord-flakhetzer.html

[ancientsociety]

Despite being only 6 years old, this kit certainly shows its age and how far the 1/56 scale model range has developed in that time. It's not very detailed, there's a lot of molded-on parts, and its incredibly basic. To simulate the ChtZ stamped turret, I removed the incorrect secondary periscope, added grab bars, textured the surface to simulate rough steel, added pistol ports, and added hinges to the rear engine bay hatch (in addition to scribing the hatch correctly).

More pics and info:
https://empireofghosts.blogspot.com/2021/04/156-scale-warlord-t-34-chtz.html

[MaleGriffin]

Nice tanks!

[ancientsociety]

Nice tanks!

Thank you

[ancientsociety]

Continuing with the recent cavalcade of AFVs, this is the completed Italeri/WG 1/56 scale FlammHetzer. To date, this was the most rewarding tanks I've assembled from Warlord. The detailing is very accurate (with the exception of the driver's vision slit being a little too big) and the subject matter is really unique. My only gripe was that, normally, small portions of the hull need to be cut away to insert the pins for the side skirts - a process that's laborious and can easily lead to a mistake. To make mine more realistic, each section apart and I cut the pins off the back of each bracket. While this does make the skirts more fragile, it looks better overall.

More pics and info below:
https://empireofghosts.blogspot.com/2021/04/156-scale-italeriwarlord-flammhetzer.html

[ancientsociety]

Here is Italeri Official Account / Warlord Games 1/56 scale Char in German service, otherwise known as the Panzerkampfwagen B1/B2 740(f). Overall, this was a fairly good kit with a lot of options. My only issues were that it seems a little undersized and the large rear fuel tank had fit issues and needed filling and sanding. This is almost entirely out of box, except for the folded tarp and oversized chain (not a great idea to put a lot of external stowage on a flame-throwing AFV!).

It's painted using Tamiya acrylics for the vehicle paint and Vallejo acrylics for any details, then an oil filter was applied overall, followed by a pin wash. Areas of heavy dirt, soot, and the rusty exhaust were done by dry blending oils (as well as an enamel wash for the exhaust). Mud splatter and streaked grime are all acrylics.

More pics:
https://empireofghosts.blogspot.com/2021/08/156-scale-panzerkampfwagen-b1b2-740f.html

[CapnJim]

Well, those are some nice looking tanks.  But as a former tanker, I might be biased to think all tanks are nice looking tanks. 

In any event, well done!

[Seuchenhexer]

That is some amazing work. I especially like the King Tiger.

[ancientsociety]

Thanks everyone!

This is an Italeri / Warlord Games 1/56 scale Marder III(r) in Afrika Korps colors. This is a pretty nice kit that has a lot of nicely molded detail, as well as a good selection of three multi-part crew. My one big complaint is the tarp/netting poles are INCREDIBLY fragile, both of these broke simply by my handling during painting (one disappearing into my carpet) - not a great feature on a model meant to be handled for gaming.

More pics and info:
https://empireofghosts.blogspot.com/2021/08/156-scale-afrika-korps-marder-iii.html

[ancientsociety]

To finish out my backlog of finished projects, here are two Italeri / Warlord Games 1/56 scale Marder III(r). As I mentioned in my last post, these are very nice kits and the multi-part crew are a nice addition, since this allows part swaps with Warlord's other 28mm German infantry and tank figures.

For more pics and info (including the second model):
https://empireofghosts.blogspot.com/2021/08/156-scale-eto-marder-iiirs.html

[CapnJim]

I like that one too....