1/72 Dragon Sd.Kfz184 Ferdinand [Kursk Group Build]

[Crimea_River]

With all!

 

[magnu]

Nicely done Dirk

 

[dirkpitt289]

While waiting for the future cote to dry on the Blackbird I turned my attention back to the Ferdinand. The tracks are on and in place the next thing is the fenders. The fenders got painted and camoed at the same time the rest of the beast was painted but I held off installing then until the tracks were in place. I dry fit the fenders and compared them to what few photos I have of the Ferdinand and one thing stood out on every photo and every drawling. Not one had perfect fenders! Each and every one was damaged, bent and missing parts. Looking at what was supplied by Dragon there was no way to make them damaged> so taking a note from Glenn and his Tiger I decided to make fenders from scratch using a tin can. This is going to be another first for me. Not wanting to waste the contents I decided to drink the contents first. I was looking forward to this part. Considering I've never done something like this I figured the alcohol would take off the edge and inhibitions going forward.

After three of these I realized the error in my thought process and found one of these. Again in the economy I have a hard time throwing away something good but I'm not a soda drinker so what to do? Ahh, you've heard of a Jack (Daniels) and Coke? Well I made a Dr. Pepper and coke. SWEET!!!! Wheerr are.. my... sissorssssss?

One down and one to go

Here you can see the difference between the kit supplied fender and my tin can fender

Installed

Wear and damage added

Right side in place

More battle damage and wear

That's all for now. Next will be a cote of Future and then some weathering. I think I might need some more Jack for that.

 

[B-17engineer]

Fantastic job Dirk!

 

[T Bolt]

Dr. Pepper!! For gosh sake at least use something with some alcohol content!! That's a requirement to aluminum can use in scratch-building. The cheeper the Beer the better!

Looks great Dirk!

 

[dirkpitt289]

Dr. Pepper!! For gosh sake at least use something with some alcohol content!! That's a requirement to aluminum can use in scratch-building. The cheeper the Beer the better!

Looks great Dirk!

That was my plan but silly me I don't like beer in cans, hence why I was drinking Coronas in a bottle. In my defence the Dr. Pepper was pretty alcoholic after I added it to some JD. *hic*

 

[T Bolt]

I guess that will be acceptable than.

 

[Wayne Little]

Well done Dirk....nice work!

 

[dirkpitt289]

After an application of Future the Ferdinand is looking rather shinny 8)

 

[vikingBerserker]

Nicely done!

 

[ozhawk40]

Nicely done!

Yep - very well done DP 8)

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Nicely done mate, are you going to spray a matt finish after applying decals. It's interesting to note that your use of Johnsons Future gives a lovely shine surface, where as the equivalent product uses in Aussie is 'One Go' sold under the trade name Pledge, which is a Johnson company and it spray out much duller, but is still as effective for decaling.

 

[T Bolt]

Looking great Dirk!

 

[rochie]

fantastic job Dirk

 

[dirkpitt289]

Thanks everyone for the kind words

Nicely done mate, are you going to spray a matt finish after applying decals. It's interesting to note that your use of Johnsons Future gives a lovely shine surface, where as the equivalent product uses in Aussie is 'One Go' sold under the trade name Pledge, which is a Johnson company and it spray out much duller, but is still as effective for decaling.

Vic, The product I use is actually "Pledge" with future. The next steps will be to apply the decals and then start the weathering process eventually ending with a dull cote to seal it all in.

 

[Airframes]

Great work there Dirk, it really looks realistic.
Drinking non-alchoholic drinks, unless under age, can get one disqualified from GBs - good job you found the JD !
Glad to hear I'm not the only one who doesn't get a gloss finish with Johnson's Klear/Future/Pledge - I have to give it at least two coats,or more, and find it's better by brush, maybe with a finishing coat sprayed.

 

[dirkpitt289]

Applied the decals tonight. It's good to see that Dragon's decal quality is just as horrable in the armor department as in the aircraft department. Thick as cardboard and unable to conform to contours in the model

The flash makes the number decal look bad but in actuality it looks fine

Horrible!!!!!

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Dirk, if you have any Microscale Micro Sol or similar, it's a decal solution and softener, a dab on the decal should soften it and with a soft brush you may be able to gently work out the creases and the softener will also help the decal set on the contours.

 

[dirkpitt289]

Dirk, if you have any Microscale Micro Sol or similar, it's a decal solution and softener, a dab on the decal should soften it and with a soft brush you may be able to gently work out the creases and the softener will also help the decal set on the contours.

Yeah, I have that stuff but it has little affect on the cardboard supplied by Dragon.

 

[B-17engineer]

Hope you manage to fix that decal but good work!