,Greif'

[Dr Loopy 1,269]

Following on from the R-715 - before that's even finished - is Erwin Rommel's 'Greif' (Griffon) SD. Kfz. 250/3 Kommandeurwagen. I got bored waiting for paint to dry so made a start on this one:

 

1. 1/35 Dragon kit of the Sd.Kfz. 250/3 mit Herr Rommel

 

2. 250/3 parts diagram - a really lazy way of showing the parts trees

 

3. ,Greif’ hull bits

 

4. Roadwheel and stub-axle bits prior to cleanup

 

5. Ejector pin stubs! They have to be removed to fit the back part of the drive sprocket...

 

Now for lots and lots of wheel painting, my favourite . I'll be adding an engine from the Dragon mechanics and engines kit for this vehicle type during the build, for a future expansion of activity. It won't be visible at the end of this build, however, as the engine covers will be closed (but not glued ;).

Edited November 12, 2020 by Dr Loopy

[Paul Brown 2,605]

Seriously cool vehicle. I've got one of the old Airfix kits, didn't know that Dragon had one.

[Grunhertz 9,596]

Nice one good luck 

[Miggers 3,725]

I did the old Airfix one when it came out eons ago.

I've still got the back door from it somewhere about.

As Paul says,I didn't know Dragon had done it too.

This'll be impressive Doc,you're serpently on a roll with these desert jobs.

[Dr Loopy 1,269]

On 12/11/2020 at 23:09, Paul Brown said:

Seriously cool vehicle. I've got one of the old Airfix kits, didn't know that Dragon had one.

Scalemates show this as a 2000 release, the original 250 base kit coming out in 1998. Dragon apparently re-released the Greif kit this year with 'new parts' as a 'smart kit', but I have long since stopped buying Dragon kits. Their outrageous lies about Sd. Kfz. 251 drive wheel roller-tooth offsets was the final straw. Interestingly, the 250's rollers are offset...

 

On 12/11/2020 at 23:39, Grunhertz said:

Nice one good luck 

Um...er...well, we'll see, won't we...?

 

17 hours ago, Miggers said:

I did the old Airfix one when it came out eons ago.

I've still got the back door from it somewhere about.

As Paul says,I didn't know Dragon had done it too.

This'll be impressive Doc,you're serpently on a roll with these desert jobs.

 'Sssssssssssss riiiiiiiiight! Jusssssssssssssssst call meeeee Mr Ssssssssssidewinder... Sssssssssssssssss...

@ .. @

 V    V

I did a bit more on the Rommelwagen/Rommelmobile yesterday, although nothing today:

1. Stub axles glued onto the hull, ventral view

 

2. Stub axles on hull, dorsal view

 

3. Rather Breughel -esque inner wheel sets plus drive wheel(s), painted with Sandgrau

 

I glued up the engine block too, but forgot to take a snap. Doesn't look much anyway, yet.

That's the end of the easy bit for a while - next up is painting tyres on the roadwheels, and painting and assembling the squillions of individual track links and pads. As @Grunhertz has said above, "good luck"...

Once that's out of the way the rest looks relatively easy, and in any case I am looking at the easiest way out of the tyre painting, i.e., not all sides need to be painted on account of many (interleaved) wheel faces being hidden by other wheels and/or tracks

Edited November 14, 2020 by Dr Loopy

[Grunhertz 9,596]

Brilliant start doc 

[Miggers 3,725]

Rommelmobile,I like that.

I wonder if anyone one does a 1/16 scale RC one,I know there's a White M.3 out there.

[Dr Loopy 1,269]

That would be summink!

 

1. Engine, part assembled - three pieces

 

2. Underside of engine - with blob of Tamiya putty on the back end, plus mounting plate and minus sump

 

3. Test-fitted in position in the hull

 

4. Firewall test-fitted in place - the loose piece at the front won’t fit ‘twixt it and the motor (per the instructions). Didn't know until I tried, though

 

5. No room

 

6. Radiator and fan test-fitted

 

7. Radiator with LifeColor semi-gloss black paint blobbed on

 

8. Fan and radiator, engine painted with Gunze Aqueous (Mr Hobby) Steel

 

9. Other side of the motor

 

I also painted the fan/generator pulleys and belt but got a 'phone full' message this time .

[Grunhertz 9,596]

Nice one Doc 

[Gorby 5,165]

Looking good so far Doc.

[Dr Loopy 1,269]

Thanks, @Grunhertz and @Gorby . So far, indeed...

I charged up the foan, deleted some photos, turned the foan* off, then back on again after a few minutes, and took some snaps:

1. Fan belt and pulleys

 

2. Fan belt (minus some paint) installed. Tamiya Extra Thin really chews through paint! That is both a good thing and a bad ...

 

* Going to have to be replaced within the next week or so, I think

[Gorby 5,165]

Is it that you're running short of storage on your moby? If so, is there a slot you can shove a micro SD card.

(preferably somewhere it won't make your eyes water.)

[Dr Loopy 1,269]

Hello @Gorby, thanks for the tip, that’s exactly what’s going on. But no - sadly, iphones have never had micro-SD or any other sorts of card slots. All in the name of thinness, weight and water-resistance...

The 3 mm headphone jack was in fact removed some years ago for similar reasons. They supplied a ‘lightning port to 3 mm adapter’ to work around that - and brought out bluetooth earbuds. I don’t like earbuds anyway, preferring headphones - potentially less deafening. I really need to go through my photo collection and weed out the massive number of multiple copies of snaps...

Edited November 19, 2020 by Dr Loopy

[Grunhertz 9,596]

good work Doc 

[Dr Loopy 1,269]

Here's the kit box, etc., for the 250 engine(s):

1. Dragon 1/35 6112 Sd.Kfz 250 engines and mechanics kit. bit of recycling going on...

 

2. Parts diagram for Sd. Kfz 250 engines

 

3. Part of the installed-motor instructions

 

4. Engine complete, to all intents and purposes. Those pipes at the top were a real fiddle

 

5. 250’s engine in scale against the bike

 

6. Two connected track links on the LH drive wheel - the glued-together links were left draped over the wheel while the glue set

 

Scalemates' page  on the 6112 set says that it was released in 1999.

I really need to get a wriggle on with this - the road wheel tyres need painting and the track links glueing together next - they are the two major rate-limiting steps 😬. I've been fiddling with the motor while finishing off the R-75 bike, but it's the 250's running gear now...

[Grunhertz 9,596]

Love it doc 

[Dr Loopy 1,269]

Thanks @Grunhertz .

Painting the road-wheel tyres was much worse than I my worse fears:

1. ‘Painted’ 'inner' road-wheel tyres. I am not at all happy with this - this is the inner faces of the wheels, the outer ones are just as bad, or worse...

 

2. Bit of a mess. Erk.

 

3. Another laaarvelie example

 

4. Not good

 

5. Overpainting required here too

 

6. Track sequence on drive-wheel

 

7. Roller teeth in track links

 

I have a cunning plan whereby the worst of the 'painting' will be disguised, hidden, overpainted - or even stripped and re-painted if necessary - by careful placement of the whee 'sandwiches' (they are interleaved) or actual careful painting. I have a new brush set on order, which will be here at the beginning of the week, I hope. My current 'fine' brushes are either rather moth-eaten, or seem to act rather like pieces of loosely associated wire rather than bristles. Busy day rehearsing tomorrow (4 hours), with a long drive at either side, so likely not much will get done tomorrow or Sunday (recovering - I am really unfit). Monday is the performance so not much then or Tuesday either. This is the hiccup that I have been worrying about. Oh well.

[Gorby 5,165]

The road wheels look fine to me Doc. If you're not happy with them that's what weathering was invented for.

[RWG686 12,301]

Run a cocktail stick round the tyre/wheel join. This will give you a line to touch up the sand colour.

[Paul Brown 2,605]

I would touch in the paint up to the tyres in dark yellow and when that's dry run a dark wash into the rim. You could use a wash made from the tyre colour and this will conceal any overpainting. If you use a black wash it will give you a bit of 'ping' by adding depth at the rim of the wheel/tyre. Having invested in a cutter I can now easily cut circle masks easily for painting wheels, but prior to that I would paint the wheel hub, paint the tyre colour not quite up to the rim, then apply some black wash. Even with masking I use a black wash for some shadow. If you've not tried them I recommend the Tamiya Panel Line Accent washes, they're brilliant.

[Grunhertz 9,596]

Paint tires, get a circle stencil and use the hole about the right size for the wheel but not the tire, then  paint the wheel 

[Paul Brown 2,605]

1 hour ago, Grunhertz said:

Paint tires, get a circle stencil and use the hole about the right size for the wheel but not the tire, then  paint the wheel 

That's a legit method, but personally I've never managed to get a good enough seal to avoid paint creep onto the tyre.

[Grunhertz 9,596]

So long as you remember to clean the paint off the stencil it works 

[Dr Loopy 1,269]

On 20/11/2020 at 20:15, Gorby said:

The road wheels look fine to me Doc. If you're not happy with them that's what weathering was invented for.

Weathering is what they are going to get!

 

On 21/11/2020 at 01:15, RWG686 said:

Run a cocktail stick round the tyre/wheel join. This will give you a line to touch up the sand colour.

I soaked the end of a cocktail stick in thin CA, and sharpened it to a point after the glue had set, then repeated the process until U was happy with it. It wasn't very good at producing lines in the soft rubbery paint, but it was good at removing over-runs with careful poking and scraping. Thanks!

 

On 21/11/2020 at 02:32, Paul Brown said:

I would touch in the paint up to the tyres in dark yellow and when that's dry run a dark wash into the rim. You could use a wash made from the tyre colour and this will conceal any overpainting. If you use a black wash it will give you a bit of 'ping' by adding depth at the rim of the wheel/tyre. Having invested in a cutter I can now easily cut circle masks easily for painting wheels, but prior to that I would paint the wheel hub, paint the tyre colour not quite up to the rim, then apply some black wash. Even with masking I use a black wash for some shadow. If you've not tried them I recommend the Tamiya Panel Line Accent washes, they're brilliant.

Some faint washes, dry brushing and pigments will get applied (but probably not black - the darkest that I go at the moment is RAL Anthrazitgrau! I will investigate the Tamiya washes - I have seen them in online catalogues

 

On 21/11/2020 at 04:24, Grunhertz said:

Paint tires, get a circle stencil and use the hole about the right size for the wheel but not the tire, then  paint the wheel 

I am far too lazy to create wheel stencils (the wiper masks on the VW were bad enough)

 

On 21/11/2020 at 05:19, Paul Brown said:

That's a legit method, but personally I've never managed to get a good enough seal to avoid paint creep onto the tyre.

Erk!

 

On 21/11/2020 at 05:30, Grunhertz said:

So long as you remember to clean the paint off the stencil it works 

Hmm...I will try that in a future build but not now

I spent the day cutting out track parts (and losing a link), cleaning up wheels, test fitting - oh, and glued up the front wheel suspension. But first, the wheels:

1. Assembled roadwheel sets, untrimmed track links. I appeared to paint one too few front faces and one too many of the rear ones, so some time was spent painting Sandgrau on the right part. Apologies for the 'orrible quality of this snap

 

2. Front wheel suspension and steering mechanisms

 

3. Front wheel suspension from the front

 

. 4. Roadwheel and drivewheel mockup. The two 'highest' wheels have only had one coat o' paint yet (using one of the new brushes, so will (I hope) look a bit better in due course

 

I went to paint the front wheel hubs but the acrylic Sandgrau immediately fisheyed on the first one. I washed the part under warm water from the tap but haven't tried to paint it again - I will most likely wash the parts carefully in warm soapy water, rinse and air-dry.

The instructions don't say how many links per side the tracks need, so I am assuming the whole lot - so I really will have to find the 'missing link', ha ha. Lots more cleaning up to come yet...

[Paul Brown 2,605]

32 minutes ago, Dr Loopy said:

I am far too lazy to create wheel stencils (the wiper masks on the VW were bad enough)

I think Darren was referring to one of these:

Affix your wheel to the appropriate diameter circle, paint, Bob's yer uncle. Back in the days of steam powered drafting I used to use one like this (a rather expensive Rotring jobbie) for drawing circles onto drafting film/tracing using Rotring pens. Happy days!