GrosserHund in progress / see if Keith can figure out posting pics

[luisito8m]

Coming very nicely! What scale is your model?

Luis

 

[urumomo]

It's 1:20 .
I like this scale but there is a dearth of figures and 'stuff&things' in 1:20th , Very unlike 1:35th

 

[the Baron]

I agree with you and Grendels, U! Three tanks, on each side, would make it look really unbalanced.

Regarding figures, yeah, it can be tough.

The original figures that Kow-san used when he built his first MaK models were from several sources, but he settled on the old Micronauts, which scale out to 1/20, more or less. By happy accident, that's also a scale that Tamiya and Fujimi use for their professional racing kits, including pit crew and spectator figures. There are some other Japanese makers who make figures and accessories in 1/20 as well, like a company called Modeler's. You can find figures still in production at HobbyLink Japan (http://www.hlj.com/) (search on "1/20 figures"), and figures that are out of production pop up on eBay and at shows. There is also a manufacturer, Brickworks, who makes figures and accessories specifically for Maschinen Krieger.

Have you ever seen Bryan Krueger's blog or forum? The forum is http://www.maschinenkrueger.com/forum/, and his blog is http://www.maschinenkrueger.com/joomla/ Last night I was browsing threads in that forum about 1/20 figures, for some MaK dioramas I'm building. I've got a couple of the figures from the sources I mentioned, as well as a couple of show figures (made and licensed to be sold at shows like Wonderfest, for a single day or other limited time) from Lincoln Wright's Scale 120. I recommend Link's figures highly, they're well sculpted and well cast.

I hope this helps, and I'm looking forward to your next update!

 

[urumomo]

Hey Baron !
Yeah --I found Bryan's Maschinen kreuger site before I found this one .
Looking at the photos of his work is what got me rolling I think . This genre really got me back into modeling .
I have a 1:72 U-boat and S-100 (Revell) I need to finish .... started/stopped for years (mostly stopped lol)
I'm familiar with Linc's work ,,,,funny , I was reading some forum posts of his late lastnite from Tokyo June 2008 while he was working with Kow .. . with beautiful amazing pics too of course.
I was trying to avoid a second mortgage on the figure purchases . . THeres Nitto stuff out there that's not too bad $$ , seems everything is 'mercenary army' anyway . I'm anxious to see what I bought . -----Ready to see this Mak dio of yours too !
.... Here's Fido with his head & arms dry fit ..

 

[urumomo]

"...come with me . or there will be . trouble ..."


" Da Da "


..I swear Hunter Fans is a subsidiary of Strahl Military Combine lol ..

I temped up this assembly to check out the armor arrangement . I think there will be four plates each side including two additional plates aft of these to protect the pressure spheres and lines

 

[urumomo]

 

[urumomo]

 

[urumomo]

;D Hey ! ,
Any ya'll have a trick for forming really round balls --Har Har ---out of epoxy putty . The two will be ~5/8" diameter . The 'sorta-round' one I'm using as the reference is 1/2" but I think it needs to be a little bigger .
I'm using a bisected flat washer as a gauge to form up the fuel tank end hemispheres and figure a bit of basic putty to clean it up , but the sphere making is tricky .. I'm using plumbing repair epoxy ,,all I got,, which is fine but I got like 12 minutes of open time .
I'm thinking just using a drill standard or another whole washer as a gauge ---but I gotta be quick I guess

 

[urumomo]

I think I need to tighten the tanks up to the body . ? . ?

 

[urumomo]

 

[The Nylon Gag]

This thing is wicked, love the scratched upgrades.

You may be able to find balls made of wood at Micheals craft store or even have a look at Home Depot or Lowes in the draw accessories, they might have something you can doctor to you own needs.

Take care

Gag

 

[the Baron]

I second Nylon Gag on that suggestion, look for wooden beads for craft necklaces.

I like your armor upgrade. Are you going to add more to the legs, too? They seem vulnerable compared to the upper body now.

Yeah, the cost of the kits...I cast my nets on eBay for the out-of-print kits, and I won't bid if they go over $35 for the suits, for the old Nitto kits. HLJ is a reasonable source for the ones still in release. I just got another Gustav for around $35 total, kit and shipping, and it arrived in 10 days.

As far as the WF figures go, I try not to buy recasts, but I probably have some that I couldn't ID as such. I see Linc's Helen and Gertie figures up, for example, and I won't go near them. Fortunately, I was able to buy those directly from him. But the earlier ones are made of unobtainium. I'm waiting now on some Modeler's racing figures, to see how they look when converted.

 

[urumomo]

Hey guys ,
Thanks Nylon , I'm anxious to get back to the paint-work but I'm in build mode rite now.. Lol. That color scheme is a 'ground' but the camo pattern has grown on me so I need to go back and reinforce it , then the oil in the joints,weathering etc . Right now he looks like some kinda Toys R Us nightmare !
I've been searching for little balls around the house ( Har ) but I guess I can splurge next time I go into town
Baron , The kit offers up even more peripheral armor :

But I may add more . Might replace these little guys with sumtin with more volume ( two piece / articulated ):
They can't restrict motion of course -- Kow's hoses from atop that same center leg section to the body are actually too short for Fido to enjoy his Pilates so I'll probably scratch a fix for that as well ;D

 

[urumomo]

Overall , this is a really impressive kit !
The engineering , fit and finish is top-notch . Hasegawa roolz !
Really looking forward to his circulatory system :

This one is next :

I fell in love with this thing when I saw some pics last year before it's release and preordered it from HLJ post haste . There's a cat with a thread in the Maschinenkrueger ' Fan Design Gallery ' section of the forum where he's taking it into a terrestrial version http://maschinenkrueger.com/forum/index.php?topic=8635.0 ..This link may not work if you're not a registered member but if you're not you want to be ! ;D

 

[Grendels]

Nice progress! I third the others on looking for balls at the craft stores, don't forget the Styrofoam area.

 

[urumomo]

I've decided to stick with the epoxy . There's only two .
I rotated the tanks a bit to tilt the forward plates more vertical . I figure his prey is AFS and entrenched positions so the return fire will be from low angles..... he's a juicy target from above! ----the frame will provide some more protection . The scratch frame is just there to position the components . The finish frame will be a bit different .

 

[urumomo]

Now to go build it for real ! TWO TIMES ;D
Oh yeah --- The tanks are 17.5 gallons each , so 70 gallons of fuel and the pressure tanks are 6.25 gallons each .
I read the flammpanzer based on the PzKpfw II carried 40 gallons of gas/oil feeding two guns ------ So this guy's got it going on ;D

 

[urumomo]

 

[urumomo]

;D O yeah ,again .... I put this up in the Decal/Paint section too :
I,m looking for Wehrmacht emblems/insignia from flamethrower units --- it seems they were manned by the engineers -- the Sturmpionier .
I don't know if emblems or badges were used for this specific function but it seems likely .
I have some ideas for 'nose art' but would like to tie it in to stay true to Yokoyama's landscape
Keith

 

[Grendels]

I don't know anything about those badges, but you are doing a good job of this build.