Painting and weathering Dragon kit 6562 - 8 ton Sd.Kfz. 7 Mittlerer Zugkraftwagen

[Panzerwrecker]

After completing the equivalent Trumpeter kit in the GB at the beginning of the year https://www.scale-models.co.uk/threads/trumpeter-sd-kfz-7-holzpritsche-daves-halftrack-gb.41003/ and being delighted to get the build published, I figured the Dragon kit I compared it to should get a look in too.



As this was already built there were a few issues I was willing to forgive but I did scratch build a new dash as the kit only provides the older unit. The half rubber Dragon front wheel will be replaced by a better represented resin Quick wheel one. Inspiration for my build came from a 1945 image of an abandoned vehicle in Czechoslovakia that had been pulling a Flak gun. There were details like the battered radiator grill that were too late to remedy but I did manage to add damage to one fender. I located the location via Google maps and will be displaying it on a small base.



The kit builds up far easier than the Trumpeter kit and although it has its own accuracy issues, in the main it is a far more detailed package. Unlike the Trumpeter build I had already connected the cab to the chassis so the only sub-assemblies to add would be the cargo bed and the running gear. These were all primed in Mr Hobby black primer.





My initial intention was to keep to a plain paint scheme like the Trumpeter kit but for some inexplicable reason I decided last minute to add a whitewash. Unsurprisingly the process didn’t go entirely to plan, and I ended up covering up a lot of previous paint work! My choice of AK worn effects rather than their Heavy chipping fluid didn’t help but rather than stripping it back I persevered and with a little more work with oils to come, I think we’ll get there.

Progress pics of painting

The metalwork areas were airbrushed in MRP red oxide and the wooden panels in a Tamiya acrylic Buff/Grey mix


The base coat was also with MRP paints


With hairspray underneath this was chipped back in selected places

Engine bay detail colours blocked in


The wheels received the same chipping treatment and the tyres brush painted with Vallejo Dark Rubber


The tracks were airbrushed in a Tamiya acrylic mix of Dark Iron and Flat Earth. The rubber pads were brush painted in Vallejo Dark Rubber


Licence plate and weight stencil decals added from the box. Strangely no instrument decals are included with Dragons 8T range of kits so a generic set was sourced from Alliance Modelworks


As already mentioned, the whitewash application was a struggle so oils will be used to tone down the effects I managed to salvage. All the chipping work previously carried out on the bonnet/hood was virtually wiped out

 

[Panzerwrecker]

Moving onto the running gear, as the tracks were plastic, they were weathered without enamel washes in a similar fashion to Uncle Nightshift's excellent tutorial video

Keeping the rubber track pads free in the process meant careful application of washes and continual clean up after speckling.


The chassis and the underside of both cab and cargo bay were weathered first by airbrushed Tamiya buff, followed by an application of AK Groundwork Light mud and completed with light and dark oil washes and speckling.





A very diluted (White Spirit) mix of Abtielung oil Light rust and MIG pigments rubble dust made a nice dry rusty effect which was added to the manifold, portions of the exhaust and worn metal areas like the sprocket rollers and winch cable roller. Much of this will not be visble when placed on the base but the experimentation process is good practice.

Progress pics as the effects were layered


The wheels have been lightly weathered with the same effects as the chassis and the task of lining them all up went without incident. It is always a delicate mission getting all these overlapping and interleaved components to fit as they did before paint. The wheel fit to the axles was a tad loose upon building, so a little paint on both has made the fit nice and snug. As a result, I deliberately left the middle row pair un-glued, so I had some wiggle room, and relied on attaching the inner and outer pairs to their axles instead.



As the sprocket is designed not to rotate, the track runs must be threaded carefully over them. Due to the addition of paint they had to be gently pressed against the sprocket pads ensuring all the guide horns located snugly between the rollers. The last task was to attach track both runs. I made sure the connection was on the top of the runs to make handling easier. Scraping away the paint on the locating surface of the connecting link on each run and inserting an unpainted track pad was an easy task. A spot of rubber CA and a light squeeze with a pair of tweezers was all that was required to get a secure connection. The pad was then primed and painted. To blend them in completely the same acrylic 'rain wash' will be applied to both the pads in the next session.



So this is where I am up to as of today. As the front wheel axle connection point is very shallow the remaining front road wheel will stay off for now to aid handling. Masking the connections between chassis and cargo frame was a worthwhile exercise and has meant the cargo bed is a good fit and can be repeatedly dry fitted.

Time to paint all the accessories, add the equipment rack and praphanalia dumped on the cargo bed

 

[Andy T]

Wow, that's some stunning work!

 

[Tim Marlow]

Superb build and weathering Los. Just superb!

 

[Jim R]

Looking excellent. Nice explanation of the processes involved.

 

[Jakko]

That looks very good and properly dirty Excellent work, if you ask me.

I guess it’s a bit too late to point out that there should not be a manufacturer’s badge on the grill, though?

 

[scottie3158]

This is outstanding I have started building a 7/1 if it turns out a fraction as good as this I will be a happy man.

 

[Panzerwrecker]

Wow, that's some stunning work!

Thanks for the compliment Andy

 

[Panzerwrecker]

Superb build and weathering Los. Just superb!

Cheers Tim, glad you like it

 

[Panzerwrecker]

Looking excellent. Nice explanation of the processes involved.

Cheers Jim. A more detailed explanation can be found on my blog https://smallislandscalemodels.blogspot.com/2023/02/

 

[Panzerwrecker]

That looks very good and properly dirty Excellent work, if you ask me.

I guess it’s a bit too late to point out that there should not be a manufacturer’s badge on the grill, though?

Thanks Jakko

I know, I wish I had removed it TBH. There are a few other things that I would have improved on if I had built it recently, as I explained on my build log on my blog page below. Some of which I gleaned from your excellent build from an image taken in your home town

As the kit has been built up with displaying the engine in mind, the trumpet style ‘early’ horn was replaced with the correct style circular Bosch item, taken from the Trumpeter kit.

Dragon do not provide the late style instrument panel and the kits centrally mounted older styled one was already fitted. Although the Trumpeter kit’s panel would still have required extending as the Dragon cab is a few millimetres wider I didn’t have one spare so building one from scratch was the only alternative.

The bonnet/hood photo-etch tool clasps were replaced with 3D resin ones and again the headlights were replaced with a smaller ‘later’ style set. (I since hollowed out the kit lamps) Although the radiator housing manufacturers logo would have been absent on a vehicle this late in the war, the fact that I have already attached it makes removing it difficult so that will also have to remain.

The cab canvas metal hoop frame should be attached to the rear of the cab side panels. All the kit's illustrations bear this out but strangely the instructions have you attach it to the cargo wooden frame! I had already draped some green stuff tarps over it before I realised, so this will unfortunately remain also.

Other inaccuracies include the under-seat metalwork. It should sit further back on the floor and not sit flush with the cab side panels and there is no driver’s seat cut out for the deeper cushion. Unlike the Trumpeter kit they have got the cushion layout correct. Another more visible anomaly are the cargo bed hinges. They look to be far too chunky and on the side panels, have no detail on the inner faces.

 

[Panzerwrecker]

This is outstanding I have started building a 7/1 if it turns out a fraction as good as this I will be a happy man.

Cheers Paul and go for it! Im sure it will put a smile on your face

 

[Panzerwrecker]

Thanks Jakko

I know, I wish I had removed it TBH. There are a few other things that I would have improved on if I had built it recently, as I explained on my build log on my blog page below. Some of which I gleaned from your excellent build from an image taken in your home town

As the kit has been built up with displaying the engine in mind, the trumpet style ‘early’ horn was replaced with the correct style circular Bosch item, taken from the Trumpeter kit.

Dragon do not provide the late style instrument panel and the kits centrally mounted older styled one was already fitted. Although the Trumpeter kit’s panel would still have required extending as the Dragon cab is a few millimetres wider I didn’t have one spare so building one from scratch was the only alternative.

The bonnet/hood photo-etch tool clasps were replaced with 3D resin ones and again the headlights were replaced with a smaller ‘later’ style set. (I since hollowed out the kit lamps) Although the radiator housing manufacturers logo would have been absent on a vehicle this late in the war, the fact that I have already attached it makes removing it difficult so that will also have to remain.

The cab canvas metal hoop frame should be attached to the rear of the cab side panels. All the kit's illustrations bear this out but strangely the instructions have you attach it to the cargo wooden frame! I had already draped some green stuff tarps over it before I realised, so this will unfortunately remain also.

Other inaccuracies include the under-seat metalwork. It should sit further back on the floor and not sit flush with the cab side panels and there is no driver’s seat cut out for the deeper cushion. Unlike the Trumpeter kit they have got the cushion layout correct. Another more visible anomaly are the cargo bed hinges. They look to be far too chunky and on the side panels, have no detail on the inner faces.

There are a few other features like the additional planking on the tilt frame and the drooping track fender on the passenger side that all could have been replicated from scratch. too

 

[Jakko]

your excellent build from an image taken in your home town

Not my home town — the town where I went to secondary school I live about 10 km away.

In any case, the model looks excellent

 

[Richard48]

Outstanding work.Jaw dropping what you have made so far.Really great.
Richard

 

[Panzerwrecker]

Outstanding work.Jaw dropping what you have made so far.Really great.
Richard

Cheers Richard

 

[Panzerwrecker]

Choosing and painting accessories.

Before the cargo bed is added permanently to the chassis, we need to add some additional stowage or in this vehicle's case, discarded paraphernalia. I deliberately didn’t add much in the way of 'stuff' to the cargo bed before airbrushing as brush painting access due to the fragile nature of the tilt framework would have been tricky. The equipment rack was also left off to aid airbrushing.

Unfortunately, the period image reference I'm using don’t give a clear 360-degree picture, so we cannot see the full contents of the cargo bed or fully into the cab. What is clear in addition to the few strewn about items we can see on the cargo bed, is various items on the ground. There is also additional planking added to the tilt frame, a bread bag wrapped over the equipment rack and leaning on the fender is one of the louvred engine panels and a large rock. One split rim wheel half can be seen resting on the centre spokes and a crank handle has been left in its starting position. There is dried foliage sat over both the dislocated bonnet/hood and the flak gun and other indistinguishable items sit on the floor below the cab entrance. Can anybody tell what that hub looking object might be?

Suffice to say I have a little artistic licence in this department now, so I have set about sourcing said paraphernalia. These included both the kits louvred side panel and starting crank handle, one split wheel rim half from the Trumpeter kit, Jerry cans, oil, and fuel drums, cannisters, cans, crates and lastly ammo containers.

It is unclear whether this vehicle would have been assigned to operate with this small flak gun. Due to its overkill pulling power, I suspect not. It is more likely just another vehicle that was available to tow an operational armament briskly away from the front. I do have plenty of 3.7cm ammo containers. Both photo-etch and from Bronco’s Sd.Ah.52 3.7cm Flak36/37 Ammo Carriage trailer kit, so I will add a few of those too.

All the accessories are primed, and I hope to have them all in paint over the next few days.

Los

 

[Valeron]

This is so excellent. The weathering is second to none.

Thanks for the detailed photos and explanations showing the various stages. It's great to see and learn from.

 

[Mini Me]

A very nice looking "casualty" Los.....I have much weather envy.

 

[Panzerwrecker]

A leisurely pace continues with the mittlerer Zugkraftwagen 8t. I managed a few hours this week selecting from the discarded paraphernalia accessories I had made. Fixing and blending them on to the load-bed will be the next step. My 10 year old tarp sculpting efforts are looking a bit ropey, so these will need improving too!