I started to work on the base, which will be very simple: a part of a plain trail with some grass on its side. As I only started to paint it, it looks very toy-like at the moment.
There will also be some figures, a soldier from Alpine, a tanker (reworked from one of the figures that come with the Dragon tank) and a Russian peasant couple, that will be scratch built. I already started with the woman, it is on the way to get finished soon:
I started the next project with the assembly of the tank. The idea is to use a PE Panzer IB hull from Aber, and to build the characteristic top of the hull from the kit parts. I am in the process of soldering the upper hull together, which is actually a lot of fun :
Now I fitted the upper hull from the original kit parts into the brass hull, and reworked the weld seams from Magic Sculp. I regretted a little to cut away again a lot of the brass hull, but I think this was the best solution to fit the parts together. There is still much brass left, and I try to replace a lot of plastic, especially rods and tubes with brass, as metal simply looks better.
I also continued with the hull, adding the exhaust and the rear fenders. I also built the runing gear, and replaced the kit shock absorbers of the foremost road wheel with a more accurate version scratchbuilt from brass and copper. The other parts are from the Dragon kit or the Aber PE set. Finally, I bought tracks from Friul, and started to put some of the links together:
And again some progress:
Inspired by the fun I had building the small Panzer I, and by some great historical reference pictures, I decided to build a Panzerbefehlswagen I (SdKfz 265). These are the references, from Russia in 1941:
The vehicle has a very awkward look, and the stowage also looks great. The kit I have is from Dragon, and I also got hold of two Aber PE sets for a Panzer I B. So some parts have to be scratch build, including the typical frame antenna. I look very much forward to building this one!
Now the small scene featuring the Opel Blitz is finished. The last figure is also attached to the base:
As I enjoyed sculpting the other guys so much, I could not resist to add another figure that will be pushing on the Opel Blitz truck:
On the bread bag the canteen and the water bottle will be placed, as well as a Kar98 rifle over the shoulder.
Update: Now the figure is painted and fixed to the base:
I added the next soldier to the Opel Blitz cargo truck, which is now my second scratch built figure:
After finishing the frame body of the third figure, I added the boots, building them up from the soles on with a lot of sanding in between. Then I added the trousers legs (as far as they will be visible), and started working on the coat:
Building the soles from putty is not that satisfying, so I will try using sheet styrene instead. The last picture shows one part of my work – in – progress sole stack.
I made quite some progress:
And I am not so sure about the soles. Perhaps it is better to use putty, but to start with the heels…
Meanwhile I added two soldiers pushing the Opel Blitz to the base:
In the meantime I have finished sculpting the first figure, and it is also almost completely painted:
The lower side of the hands is not worked out, as they will not be visible. The dirt on the coat will be refined with some more oil washes, and the skin parts need some more highlights.
I already started with the second figure. Currently I am working on the boots, they have to be sanded to shape, and then some more details will be added.
The sculpting is real fun, but also challenging. A lot to learn… For the buttons I use brass tubes of different sizes to punch them out of thinly rolled putty.
Now I finished the head of the first figure and mounted it onto the body (and do not mind the hands…):
And this is how the figure looks like on the base:
Actually I am not happy with the two figures still missing, so I decided to sculpt these figures from scratch. I started with the first figure:
I made a frame from two pieces of milliput (shoulders and pelvis) and some pieces of copper wire, forming the back and two legs. After bending this frame to the final pose, I fixed it using more Milliput. Then I sculpted the boots and the trousers legs, which are not that detailed higher up, as they will be covered with the coat later on.
fieldgrau - military scenes in scale 