SPA Modeler

That Engine looks superb!

speedgraflex wrote:I am going to drop this link here—when I was struggling to scratchbuild a Maybach engine for Rommel’s GREIF I was curious how the factory finished their motors in each series. My conclusion was the majority of components were not painted, only valve and rocker covers. I know I have seen plenty of grey painted restored engines but I think the extremely short service life precluded a factory paint finish of the engine block. I am basing this on the Maybach from the Swedish “gift” Tiger II and two shots of Maybach engines from this link...

http://www.fahrzeuge-der-wehrmacht.de/A ... toren.html

What are your thoughts?

Perhaps for a very late war as a cost cutting/time saving measure paint may have been discontinued. But on the other hand, at that point the production was dispersed so painting would be in order as an anti corrosion measure between the subcomponent being produced, and the final assembly elsewhere. Especially in the damp German climate. The engine may have had a comparatively short service life, but after replacement, would likely be sent back to a depot or factory for overhaul or rebuild. And, my memory is a bit foggy on this point at the moment, but the King Tiger was powered by the same motor as most other German tanks, so the motors are being mass produced for tanks in general, not in a small batch for King Tigers only.

Heh... I’ll bet Joe will turn that Maybach onto a high performance Maybach engine with all the chrome goodies.

Aside from that, it looks really good. Now slap some paint and weather the crap outta of it! Looking forward to more...

Got the top front and side cutaway cut out (photos to come tomorrow) been thinking about weathering, I'm not going to weather the hell out of it like I would normally do armor builds, but I don't want fresh from the factory either. I'm going to have to fight the urge to do that. Still have a few more sub assemblies to get together before moving on to paint.

So the long awaited for photos I've been meaning to post of the cutaway.


Edges still need cleaned up some more and I may extend the turret cutaway out more too.
I have also been thinking if I should make them smooth or give them a texture to make it look like its been cut with a torch or not? would like to hear your thoughts on that.

Great work so far!
My thoughts for the edges of the cutaway sections is to leave them smooth. Reason being there are a lot of textures all over the vehicle that help define those parts of the tank and how it was built, they help define it. Also, the cutaway sections are a "window" to all the details you want to display. Having the "window" edges textured I think will distract the eye and draw attention to those areas instead of all the detail further in. Just my thoughts for what it is worth.

The badass SW Cross-Section books feature smooth edges—that would be aesthetically the most effective in my humble opinion!