Captain Blood's Western Desert: P.125 - SdKfz10 half-track with 2cm Flak 30

[Jeff965]

Wow cracking job, and more to come I hope.

[gamer Mac]

Lovely work Richard
Really like the dust feel of the model

[Captain Blood]

Thanks lads 

What's next?

Well, I do have a Blitzkrieg Sdkfz231 sitting in its box... 
(Have to see how bored I get with the relatives on Christmas Day...  )

[James Morris]

Love it. The dust and rammel are just right!

[aircav]

Superb stuff Richard 

[Phil Robinson]

Tickety boo.

[Helen]

Lovely Richard!

[Bugsda]

Terrific finished model, who needs an airbrush? 

[fred]

Very nice work. Like the little extras like the pennant - these are the bits that make WWII British tanks that extra bit of fun to finish.

[Captain Blood]

Thanks gents 

Well, having had a go at British/Commonwealth armour, I thought I'd better try a German AFV too.
I had a Blitzkrieg Sdkfz231 8-RAD on the shelf, so have decided to give it a go...

First thing I notice - as a newbie AFV modeller - is that the quality of resin vehicles is simply nowhere near the quality of plastic kits 

The Blitzkrieg models look flawlessly brilliant on their website. That's because they use illustrations of their original computer renders, rather than actual pics of the actual castings themselves. Inevitably perhaps, the castings are not quite as good...

It's by no means awful - the upper body of the vehicle is excellently done in terms of detail and form. Really good. Sharp lines. Crisp detailing. Minimal assembly.

Unfortunately, when you get to the lower portion of the model around the wheels, especially the wheel arches, and on the front and back lower faces of the hull, there are socking great mould lines and lumps and flakes of extraneous resin which are very tricky to clean up. And not a few air bubbles which I've had to fill.

The front armour plate / dozer thingy had been miscast and had a hole in it - which had been not very well patched (I have reworked it with Green Stuff).
 
I also had to build a new Green Stuff panel below the lower left-hand side mid-hull lower hatches, because that part of the moulding hadn't cast properly and was all pitted.
 
The bottom of all eight tyres have plugs of resin attached from the pouring process. However carefully you remove these, the tyres are left looking slightly deformed where they touch the ground.

Worst of all, the turret doesn't sit straight. Despite a lot of very careful sanding to both the underside of the turret and the top surface of the main body where the turret sits, it just will not sit level, with a gap on one side whilst touching on the other. Not much I can do about that. Just hope it's not so apparent on the finished model once painted.

There also seem to be some details missing compared to wartime photographs of the actual vehicle. Like no support struts going from the front hull to the top of the front armoured plate. And there should be triangular grab rails (?) on either side of the upper hull.

So all in all, it's a nice, sharp looking model overall, and has the heft so much prized on the tabletop. I'm sure it will look fine and dandy once finished. But... Some way from the quality I expected.

As you can see, I've added some stowage here and there, some from the Rubicon German stowage kit, and some from Green Stuff and my own devising / bits and pieces

Have also made a commander from Perry plastic Afrika Korps parts with a Green Stuff haircut

[carlos marighela]

I had a similar experience with their BMP model. On the face of it a nice model, however similar clean up issues around the running gear and the rear hull is noticeably too short and needs building up with shivs of plasticard.

Most irritating of all there remains the, albeit faint, traces of the ridges that come with 3D printing. It's not the whole surface, suggesting that some effort was made to clean up a 3D printed master but where the ridges are, they are almost impossible to remove.  I wasn't expecting this and although they are faint and the finished model looks fine at normal viewing distance, I'll admit I felt a bit squibbed. Probably because I've been spoiled buying quality resin kits from the likes of  Quarter Kit, Company B, JTFM, FoA and a few others.

All in all it's a nice kit just not as nice as I was expecting so I know just how you feel. I'll probably still buy their Chieftain.

Sorry for the hijack, I'm sure you'll do a wonderful job on that armoured car.

[Mason]

Another one!
 

It is too late to save you now....you have fallen!
 

I am sure you will do a cracking job on it, though. It looks pretty nice, irritating factors aside, already.
 



Just so you know I am only kidding, I got a plastic stick together toy for Crimbo (three, actually, but the other two will be worked on later). I am making a start on it today. It aint a tank, and it aint WW2...in fact, it aint even from this galaxy, but from one far, far away....).

[Captain Blood]

Sorry for the hijack, I'm sure you'll do a wonderful job on that armoured car.

Not in the least. Interesting to hear your experiences. Yes, there are definite striations (presumably from the original printing) faintly visible on the topmost facets / surfaces of the Sdkfz231 - although interestingly, not so much on the sides, which are much smoother. I'm hoping the weathering will conceal rather than reveal the striations. To be fair, they're pretty faint.

Just so you know I am only kidding, I got a plastic stick together toy for Crimbo (three, actually, but the other two will be worked on later). I am making a start on it today. It aint a tank, and it aint WW2...in fact, it aint even from this galaxy, but from one far, far away....).

Hey - a kit's a kit. All good clean fun 

[gamer Mac]

Looking good Richard
Shame about the turret
I have had similar problems with Warlord resin kits, horrible things

[NurgleHH]

Maybe you can fix it with small stripes of plasticcard and greenstuff? You have the same problems with some tracks of Japanese tanks. I prefer the plastic version of warlord.