PzKpfw I Ausf.A - Panzer Regiment 5, 1937 - 1/72 - First to Fight

[vizenz]

Hello,
First of all, thank you very much for your patience. My "photo studio" (a big word for two lamps and a guy who can't take photos) is my workbench. So I always have to clear out my accumulated chaos first before I can photograph a few things.



This small Panzer I Ausf.A was my very first 1/72 model after returning to model making. I just built it out of the box.
I really wanted to have a Panzer I in Reichswehr camouflage colors (Buntfarbenanstrich) and used a set from Vallejo. After painting the tank I wasn't happy at all. The colors just looked wrong (way too yellow). So the model ended up on the sideboard.



It wasn't until some time later that I picked it up again. I already had a German paint set from Hataka on hand that also included the three required camouflage colors. So I painted over the entire model again with the brush. Previously I had drilled out the headlight and made it a little more realistic.



The new colors are much closer to the original. I'm reasonably happy with it and will continue to use this colors for Reichswehr camouflage in 1/72 in the future.



The PzKpfw I Ausf.A from First to Fight was actually intended by the manufacturer as a model for the Polish campaign. Unfortunately, the armor guard over the engine cooling air intake and the smoke candle launcher (Nebelkerzenabwurfvorrichtung) with which these tanks were actually all retrofitted until 1939 are missing.



However, the small tank already has the armor cowlings behind the cooling air outlet that were welded on in 1937. Since these were welded on in the units themselves, and the first welders trained for this came from the Panzer Regiment 5, I designated the tank for this regiment.



Not my best work, but still my only colorful Panzer 1 in my collection.

Best regards,
Andreas

 

[Gern]

Beautiful

 

[The Smythe Meister]

Yes, very nice indeed,that scale is too small for me, but you've made a cracking job of that.

 

[Scratchbuilder]

What a change from the usual grey or sand colours, and you drilled out the light and in 1/72 scale, better you than my poor eyesight.
Great build and paint finish.

 

[Jakko]

My "photo studio" (a big word for two lamps and a guy who can't take photos)

The photos are quite good, but I would advise you to crop them a little before posting them. They are now much more background than model, so the model itself is hard to see. However, if you crop it to about this:



… you’ll still have a photo easily big enough to post on a forum, but the model won’t get lost in them, and its details will be far better visible.

I don’t know what you take your photos with, but if you do that with a phone or a tablet, you can very easily crop them right on the device itself. (I just used Photoshop for the screenshot above because it shows well what will be cropped, not because it’s necessarily the best tool for the job.)

 

[vizenz]

Beautiful

Thank you very much.

Yes, very nice indeed,that scale is too small for me, but you've made a cracking job of that.

Thank you. Smaller scale means more space for even more models!

What a change from the usual grey or sand colours, and you drilled out the light and in 1/72 scale, better you than my poor eyesight.
Great build and paint finish.

Thank you very much. I learn with every model. Unfortunately, in some places you can see that the tank was painted twice. Also, I don't really like some things anymore (for example I see a gap on the tower that should have been filled...).
I always wanted to build a very early Panzer 1 in Buntfarbenanstrich - maybe soon..

The photos are quite good, but I would advise you to crop them a little before posting them. They are now much more background than model, so the model itself is hard to see. However, if you crop it to about this:


… you’ll still have a photo easily big enough to post on a forum, but the model won’t get lost in them, and its details will be far better visible.

I don’t know what you take your photos with, but if you do that with a phone or a tablet, you can very easily crop them right on the device itself. (I just used Photoshop for the screenshot above because it shows well what will be cropped, not because it’s necessarily the best tool for the job.)

Hi Jakko, thank you. Any criticism is welcome. But I have to admit that the pictures were intentional. At first I actually uploaded ones that were cropped at the edges. I take the photos with a smartphone, but I do everything else with my laptop. and when I saw the pictures in the forum on the laptop display I was shocked. My little tank was almost three times bigger than it actually was - there's really nothing left to hide!
But I understand that the photos are a problem when someone looks at them with a smartphone.
Let's see how I solve this in the future. Either I will reduce the resolution so that the images no longer fill the entire screen, or I will have to live with the enlargement.
Best regards, Andi

 

[Mickc1440]

That's a great looking model

 

[Jakko]

tower

The English word you were looking for is “turret” Turm is “tower” only when you’re talking about a tall building; “turret” originally meant “tower that is part of defensive wall” and now also means “enclosed, rotating mounting for a gun”. (Dutch has this translation issue too: toren has the same meanings as German Turm, and I’ve also seen Dutch-speakers use “tower” when talking about an AFV )

I have to admit that the pictures were intentional. At first I actually uploaded ones that were cropped at the edges. I take the photos with a smartphone, but I do everything else with my laptop. and when I saw the pictures in the forum on the laptop display I was shocked. My little tank was almost three times bigger than it actually was - there's really nothing left to hide!

That is an issue with small-scale models, of course. A 1:35 scale model cropped like I suggested will look better than one in 1:72, which is to say, you don’t see the mistakes as clearly But, IMHO, that’s not a problem — I mean, we know these are small models, and they will probably look more impressive up close than from a distance.

Let's see how I solve this in the future. Either I will reduce the resolution so that the images no longer fill the entire screen, or I will have to live with the enlargement.

Just so you know, the forum resizes all pictures to 1200 pixels along the longer side, if they’re bigger than that.

FWIW, I take my model pictures with an iPad, and I normally crop them (in the way I showed) on the iPad itself before uploading to the forum straight from it.

 

[andy55]

I have great respect for anyone working in 1/72, especially when they can make such a good build.

 

[vizenz]

That's a great looking model

Thank you very much Mick.

I have great respect for anyone working in 1/72, especially when they can make such a good build.

Thank you very much. I learn with each model and I always try to get better.

 

[HAWKERHUNTER]

What a great looking model Andreas. The paint work that you have done on such a small model is awesome.

 

[Andy the Sheep]

It looks spot on, Andreas.
A suggestion for the pictures: put a coin or a paint bottle beside the model, it will give an immediate sensation of the scale of it.

 

[Airborne01]

Y eyes are aching already, nice job Andreas!
Steve

 

[vizenz]

What a great looking model Andreas. The paint work that you have done on such a small model is awesome.

Thank you. However, I think I can do better.

It looks spot on, Andreas.
A suggestion for the pictures: put a coin or a paint bottle beside the model, it will give an immediate sensation of the scale of it.

The paint bottle thing is a good idea (coins are different but Vallejo is international). I'll take that into account for the next "photo shoot". But first I have a few models to show without a size comparison.

Y eyes are aching already, nice job Andreas!
Steve

Thank you Steve.

 

[Jakko]

(coins are different but Vallejo is international)

Coins are international too. Well, those some of us here use, anyway

 

[SteveT]

Superb! I really don't know how you can do them that small but well done!

 

[Lee Drennen]

The photos are quite good, but I would advise you to crop them a little before posting them. They are now much more background than model, so the model itself is hard to see. However, if you crop it to about this:

View attachment 507076

… you’ll still have a photo easily big enough to post on a forum, but the model won’t get lost in them, and its details will be far better visible.

I don’t know what you take your photos with, but if you do that with a phone or a tablet, you can very easily crop them right on the device itself. (I just used Photoshop for the screenshot above because it shows well what will be cropped, not because it’s necessarily the best tool for the job.)

Yes cropping does wonders before I even post a pic I try cropping and centering each photo the presentation just looks more professional and does wonders for your subjects.