Month: March 2018

Hasegawa 1/72 Sd.kfz 162 Jagdpanzer IV L/48 Late Version

~ Colonel Mustard ~ 6 Comments

Continuing my German armour building plans i got my hands on this Jagdpanzer kit from Hasegawa. Again the best Japanese on line hobby shop have this at a great price compared to everywhere else, especially for those of us in Australia! Hasegawa kits just keep surprising me, each new one I build, the more I like them!

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The Jagdpanzer is another German tank destroyer that i am not sure was used too much in Normandy. I am guessing it was used more on the Eastern front, but i could be wrong. Anyway i wanted to build one and i am sure it will be happy to fit in with my Stugs and Hetzers. The kit comes in the usual Hasegawa grey plastic which is really easy to cut and glue. Wheels are simple and go straight onto the bottom hull. Eight along the bottom and then four return rollers on the top. You need to make sure you keep the lower hull and upper hull separate before painting them and after painting the tracks. The tracks need to go onto the lower hull before gluing the two together otherwise it will be very tricky to get them on. The tracks are the one piece rubbery type so give them a good stretch to make sure they fit OK without straining on the drive and sprocket wheels. You do not want to snap anything off……

The upper hull is pretty straightforward but it does not miss any detail. You have to open a couple of holes and also fill a couple of others. On the front of the hull there is one bigger area to fill which i made a total pigs ear of. I made such a mess with my filler and sanding i had to cover it up with extra track. Great way to cover my mistakes! I also added some more track along the front and the usual washing up brush plastic bristle aerial. If you haven’t tried that yet i suggest getting a $2 washing up brush from Woolworths with plastic bristles. Hey presto, 200 plastic aerials! I was super impressed with the detail and the challenge of this kit. Hatches can be open or closed, and I have a commander in the painting queue soon to be added.

Painting started with an undercoat of matt black followed by dunkelb dark yellow. Then i did a red brown and bright green camo pattern. Gloss varnish, followed by decals and dark brown wash and finally some chipping using a sponge. Its the usual process but i was happy how it all came out. I had also based the tank on 3mm mdf as usual. After a coat or three of matt varnish i used mud, dirt and various weathering powders to create the final dirty finish. The base was completed with tufts and flock and a little static grass.

This kit is excellent and a great balance between a challenging build without being frustrating. For a wargamer i do not think you will find a better version of this tank. I also made some camouflage foliage for the crew to further hide their vehicle so I will detail them in my next post.

Hasegawa Tiger Tank 1/72 scale

~ Colonel Mustard ~ 1 Comment

My Tiger tank regiment is expanding. I love making German armour, especially the big cats. I have made the Revell and Zvezda Tigers, but this time i tried out the Hasegawa kit. You can buy this kit for 810 yen direct from a Tokyo hobby shop which works out at around $10 Australian, so its a pretty good deal. They have the whole Hasegawa range all at between 810 – 1100 yen, so i am sure i will end up buying all the kits at some point. The  Hasegawa Puma Armoured car is a particularly nice kit.

The kit comes in Hasegawa’s usual grey plastic which is really easy to work with. I had no issues with any of the kit and it was quite simple to put together. There are few holes to fill so you need some kind of modellers putty or something to fill and then a fine sand paper to finish them off. The shovel on the front of the tank is also meant to be removed but i really didn’t see the point. I had a bit of trouble lining up the two halves of the turret so be careful with that step as mine came out a little wonky. Hatches can be modelled open or closed which is always good news as you can choose to crew or not to crew. My previous Tigers had no commanders so i left my hatches open and added a couple of AB figures tank commander and henchman types.

I left the tank tracks off until after painting the main tank so i could paint and rust up the tracks before attaching them. The tracks are the rubber type so make sure you give them a careful stretch before attempting to fit them. I had to use superglue to get the tracks to stick, and putting the vehicle on a base also helps keep it all together. Also superglue the top track down near the sprocket wheel to give it an appearance of weight. Otherwise they float unrealistically. That’s one bit of the model that does not quite match the Revell and Zvezda kits is the solid sprocket wheel. The other kits have better detail.

My paint scheme was a three colour camo using red brown, bright green and the usual sandy yellow dunkelb. I gave it a wash with a dark brown and used weathering powders to create some dirt. Hasegawa kits always give you a good range of decals with loads of options. Here are my photos, plus some photos with the Revell and Zvezda Tigers. This kit is slightly smaller than the other models but it still fits in OK when they are cruising around together.

Stuff to swap!

~ Colonel Mustard ~ 1 Comment

I had an idea to swap some things i will never use. I have a Loic Neveu house that is too small for my 1/72 scale houses, it just doesn’t fit in. Its a nicely sculpted resin building with a removal roof and first floor. Also i have a dingo armoured car and achilles tank destroyer both resin and metal from Britannia. Again they don’t fit with my existing stuff as they are a bit on the small side. They both come with crew and MGs. All brand new and unpainted. I thought if anyone has a 1/72 plastic kit or kits they don’t want, preferably German or British armour or vehicle, i will happily post these items to you and vice versa. Bear in mind i am in Australia so postage not the cheapest, but you will get free goodies from me in the post. Check it out and drop me a comment if you are interested.

Airfix Halftracks 1/72 Scale

~ Colonel Mustard ~ 2 Comments

I have been a busy bee trying to finish eight different things at once and ultimately failing to really finish anything. Also a ten day trip overseas for work also interrupted my building and painting production line. I have, however, managed to complete some Airfix halftracks. I found these kits for some bargain price on eBay, i think less than five pounds each and had them delivered to my mum’s address in the UK before a trip there. Any chance i get to avoid shipping to Australia i take it! I have a fondness for any Airfix kit I previously built in the early 1980’s and this was no exception.

I have always read many complaints about the accuracy of this kit. To be honest I don’t care. It’s a great little kit and I loved building it three times. It goes together very nicely with no problems. Only fitting the front bonnet was a bit tricky to make sure everything was square, but apart from that i had a great time making  these. The interior is sparse, but again you can easily paint up some figures to put in the back. The driver is a horrible figure and this time I didn’t bother with one as you can’t really see him anyway. I may put a machine gunner in the turret to fire the 50 cal, but I may not.

It definitely helps to add some stowage. I used all sorts from Black Dog, SHQ and anything else i could find. The decals that come with the kit are excellent and are thin enough to mould to the surface detail. I added some more numbers and symbols from other decals i had. Nothing historically accurate but who cares. Plenty of weathering powders and muddy bits all finished it off. Here they are together and also with my White Scout and IBG Models Chevrolet Radio truck on some reconnaissance.