Zvezda Sd.Kfz 251/1 1/35

[KSaarni]

I bougth, already a number of months ago this "Hanomag" kit on a convention.
I have always liked the 251/1 but have not, since I was like 12 years old, built any. The one I built back in the 1980 was a Matchbox kit, scale the slightly odd 1/76. While visiting my parents Christmas 2012 I found some boxes with my old kits... And indeed, the Hanomag was also in the box....
I remember when I built it and glued the frontwheels in a turning angle. And my friends just kept on asking why the wheels are not straight forward.. :-)

It was painted, with Humbrol enamel colors to look like being part of the Africa Korps army... It broke couple of times, dropped on the floor etc and the fix was not that great...


So, I got intrigued to once more build my favorite half-track... So I bought Zvezdas version as a second hand kit... And in a little bit bigger scale...



No sprue shots taken, but must say, looks pretty good. Not almost any flash, crispy details and pretty much pieces.
Very detailed engine and then the tracks... in million of pieces!

Unfortunately one small piece (so far only one) was missing, so had to scratchbuild it..
And fortunately the piece will not be that visible when adding the body pieces


I have been building this kit slowly and without any greater directions... Aka, what will be the camo etc... A little bit interested to paint in desert camo (inspired besides my old 1/76 kit, also Bruce aka Speedgraflex 250/3 build)

Have not been so good in documenting, so not that much to show...

One thing that is though a little bit annoying with this kit, the spure gates are in a little bit awkward places..
Not a show stopper, just need to be careful with removing them, as the piece behind has different levels the sprue gate is touching..






What I have been doing.. First of all, there are pretty many pieces that need to be removed and cleaned well. As I am not in a hurry, I do some cleanups during a day. For example, the wonderful tracks, I try to make two "sets of 3" every second day... Not to get bored in other words..



During the first stages some months ago I got some audience ..

Shoka-girl, now 8 years found a perfect place to watch... the instructions... :-)
(or perhaps she would want to snif the glues.... )



Today I continued the build, adding all the shafts.. Not that easy, as had to figure away how to make sure they would be in perfect horisontal angle.

A tideous work, but slowly and surely the work was done.





And finally the the work was done, tested to add the roadwheels, just to see how they fit... And they fitted very well!



Still work to do, and no hurry, no stress... slowly and surely....

- Kari

[KSaarni]

And group pic of the roadwheels...



- Kari

[Stikpusher]

Very nice! Those sprue attachment points look like they’ll need needle file work to clean up properly. But the detailing is worth it. A lovely looking build so far!

[speedgraflex]

Fascinating! Also, the historical link of the subject to a much earlier project makes this a very special one! Like you, Kari, I found the boxlike tub that the drive shafts run through to be quite lacking any positionable elements—the shafts apparently run through but must be kept in alignment by a jig or in your case by a ruler. I have found when I sand the gray plastic the residue is a white powder. Have you had any trouble with using glue to seal the parts together. What is also deja vu is the missing piece at the front of the chassis. I have this as well on the same side.

B E A U T I F U L

Does her name mean... Shōka, (Japanese: “living flowers”), in classical Japanese floral art, a three-branched asymmetrical style that is a simplification of the ancient stylized temple floral art of rikka.



I am wondering if I am making my project harder by using photo reference to build towards as a goal and far less the instructions which are unreliable, underwritten and a source of confusion to me.

[KSaarni]

Thanks Carlos and Bruce!

@Bruce: Indeed, when sanding the grey plastic (zvedza uses very soft plastic) white residue flyes around everywhere, though it's not so static, easy to wipe or blow away. So far absolutely no issues or problems glueing/sealing the parts!

And Shoka-girl, her name comes actually from Ashoka, an Indian emperor. It was the breeder of her (and her sisters and brothers) who gave her this name (no idea why such a name to be honest). We of course realized pretty quickly, that Ashoka is a very unpractical name... How to "shout", "Ashoka, down from the table" for example ? So, we dropped off the "A" and voila, she was baptized with a more convenient name...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashoka

I think still it's a good goal to use photo reference when it comes make the build to look like its rolemodel. But the color part is so problematic. There are so many variables that might impact the "real & true" color.. The original pic, was it colorised afterwards, what was the film used, has colors faded etc, the light conditions when the original pic was taken etc... or even when someone digitalized the original pic.. so many variants, probably ten more.. That's why I have decided, regarding my build, not to put too much energy to spot the exact and precise color.. Of course it needs to be close to the real one.. but who can tell me exactly the right nuance of the color ?
But this is just my "five cents"...
Stik to your plan Bruce!

- Kari

[KSaarni]

And brief update of testfitting...
(and from now on, until painting show starts, as b/w )

Here and there some white powder, residual that needs to go off.




- Kari

[speedgraflex]

Amazing photography, Kari—quite beautiful in black and white! What you wrote about the softness of plastic resonates. That is, indeed, similar to the Dragon! Each kit we build has a different substrate, and we have to adjust our working method accordingly!

I find that the trace markings of any sanding session must be sanded and not polished with the softer plastic surface being far more easily affected by every attempt to shape it. Carlos mentions needle files—I did find I had to use filing on edges and corners in exposed areas so far. I have only glued eight sides together.

The “nose” area looks a little tricky—the old “one side fits; the other doesn’t,” but this may be the result of taping the sides. One aspect of working with softer plastic I was wondering about would be what happens when steamed or heated gently in boiling water.

What you wrote about color resonates as well. I ordered older Model Master grays and tans last night. I’m going to rough out a possible scheme with as much input from modelers here whom I trust and move forward to finish.

[KSaarni]

Thanks Bruce.

the nose area is tricky and needs to be glued in sections. There is also a bunch of masking tape inside, but the entire construction is really shaky.. took a minute or two to be able to keep it about the shape so I could take the pic.... But that is pretty far in the future, that I come this far...

- Kari

[KSaarni]

When I started to make the tracks, I noticed this...



A slight misalignment causing a that the track piece does not really fit in the other part...
So I need to sand every single piece.. checked on the other sprues and same misalignment exists in all sprues..




- Kari

[speedgraflex]

Zvezda—those tracks! Ugh, ugh, ugh! No good... so much more work for you, Kari. How will you cope with the missing section? I see yes you will be able to reduce one side, but what about the other? Will that affect the tracks?