"1/72 scale Brummbar" Topic

This has been a almost two year project ( I don't get a lot of hobby time, can sometime be a 6 month gap
between airbrushing sessions) and its a bit of a long story but thought it was worth telling as I reckon its
not untypical of many of an experience had by us all.
Well this started as a simple idea. I wanted a Brummbar, I love Brummbars, mid/late period with open
hatches and zimmeret. I had spare metal rimmed wheels from a Dragon Pz IV/70 and some MG ball
mounts to use to make a late period model. Had a look around, Dragon kits unavailable ( and no zim) the
Trumpeter kits have sealed hatches and again no zim.

Found the Esci kit, a reworking of their old Pz IV kit and well reviewed, only major mod needed was add-
ing zimmeret.

So got the kit and couldn't resist an after market aluminium barrel.

Job done.

Opened up the kit, nice moulding, excellent hull detail, lower chassis ok.
Tracks looked ok………..till I noticed lousy inside detail. No problem had a set of the lovely OKB tracks I
had bought for a Nashorn project.
Fine look brill. Oops, the drive sprocket /idler don't fit the tracks. Wrong tooth interval.
No problem get the OKB Pz IV replacement sprockets set.
Right on to assembly of the chassis. the Dragon steel rimmed wheels bigger than the Esci ones so
scrap the late version.

On to the zimmeret coating.

Once construction completed given a base coat spray of dunkel gelb.
Now the next problem, the scurzen are very basic and way too thick, brackets leave a bit to be desired.
Right off to Hauler to get a new etched set and while at get some new fenders/mudguards.
Handsome, only problem no brackets or rail included, didn't look before buying.
More scrap box delving and some scratch building to be done.

First airbrush session, painted the schurzen as separate parts, all fine.
Dry run of fitting the skirts………….camo patterns didn't match at all.
Clean the paint off and re do.

This time skirts fitted and body wrapped in cling film to prevent over spray to make sure it was right this
time round.

Re-sprayed the skirts and this time got it correct.

Sprayed with AK semi gloss varnish and decals added. Various panel washes done, overall general wash

Applied. Tools painted and some basic weathering with pastels and finally some mud/dry mud added to
the bottom of the skirts and tracks.

I'll leave it to others to decide if the end result was worth it all.

L

Leon,

Your models always look terrific, and this is no exception. I also find that your German camo always strikes me as superb, and has a definite 'signature'. It sometimes looks a little on the dark side compared to the estimable Piers B, but having seen your models at shows, I think this is down to the photography.

So, although I'm not tempted to build a Brummbar myself, thanks for more wonderful eye candy.

You wouldn't expect me to sign off without asking whether you have an anticipated release date for those remaining US Airborne …?

Thanks Larenue,
Well Dunkel gelb is a very furtive colour, many of the off the shelf ones are way too much like 'sand' colour, and of course they are often designed for the larger scales. Scale has a big effect of the 'cast' of a colour. The original has a lot of green in it. Can also depend of course on how it was applied in real life ditto the other colours.
As for the US Paras all the basic work is done ( Ammo boxes were a big hold up) just no time to finish them I'm afraid. No serious design work done since March just full on with the 6mm production for orders.
Considering closing down for a couple of weeks to get some design time in August.
L

Wonderful work! Such a typical modelling project, starts with a 10 GBP kit, adds 40 GBP worth of aftermarket goodies and…

Another great model Leon, but was it worth it? The answer, of course, would be a very personal one. Recently I've been seeing a lot of talk on wargame pages about "this Panther needs zim and this one doesn't", and the trials and tribulations some go to to get that zim. I don't know at which dates a certain AFV had zim and at which it didn't, and frankly I don't care. From four feet away can you tell the difference? But I think that you knowing it has zim when it should have zim is all the justification you need..

Well Wargaming is a broad church, at either end you have the 'models/figures/table' first types and at the other end 'its just a gaming token' types. People get their satisfaction from different things thank goodness!
I'm at the modellers end of things if I want games with little effort required I'll get the boardgames out lol

7dot62mm, yep I have deliberately NOT added up how much it cost lol
L

Superb leon.
I think better lighting might be worth consideration.

Very nice – and I have to agree, the Brummbar is a great vehicle; one of my first 1:32 models many many years ago

Quality work!

Definitely worth it. Great build!

It was a 1/72 Brummbar that got me madly enthused about WWII gaming in this scale. As a nipper I drooled over a photo in Military Modeling mag. A soldiers-eye periscope view on the table of the late Peter Gilder.