It’s quite an old kit, but I’m considering building a German army 8t half-track. Is it out of product yet? However, I have an impression that many Dragon kits are hard to get anymore, and the price is skyrocketing, but many of the Trumpeter kits are still in the market even though they are relatively old. Tamiya’s kit track is a belt. Trumpeters, Dragon and Cyber Hobby have combined tracks, so if you want to avoid belt type, you must choose them. Alternatively, separately sold connecting types of tracks are prepared. I checked the parts before assembling them again, and all of them were there without any small pieces missing. I’m glad.
In the middle of the process, etched parts are assembled, and instant adhesive is also used, so I thought the process up to this point was difficult. It’s not a visible place, but I’ll be in trouble later if I put it together too loosely.
It seems to start with assembling the chassis frame. It will be distorted later if I don’t build this part at once. Even if it is assembled and shaped at once, if the accuracy is not so high, it may fail when the upper structure or tire is built. It makes me nervous that I won’t be able to find out later.
I built the engine. It looks compact, but it took a long time to assemble because of many parts. Something like a pipe sticking out from the top of the fan is also very fragile.
(2022/09/23)
It was assembling the winch part. It has a string that looks like a tow rope, so it is attached to the etched part after wound around the reel. The work of cutting and installing the brass wire is required.
It’s not that the accuracy of the parts is perfect, but somehow it becomes a shape. It may be inevitable that there will be some distortion as the body is so complicated. There are a lot of parts, but…
The chassis is getting closer and closer to completion after installing the wheel shaft. I think this shaft should be parallel to the ground. It isn’t easy.
I glued the engine to the body, the steering wheel, and the box looked like a fuel tank. There are many parts, and there is only a step forward. I don’t think about whether the pieces will fit in the future.
(2022/09/25)
Wow, is this kit going to reproduce everything? I don’t know about Dragon’s 8t half because I’ve never made it, and I don’t have any stock. It was a time when they were competing with Dragon, so maybe they were competing with each other to see how many small parts they could integrate.
Two front wheels and one spare tire. I assembled three pieces in total.
Well, it finally came. Work to build a connecting track belt. One frame looks slightly more prominent, which is probably enough. Are seven or eight small runners enough?
If we carefully assemble them individually, they will become movable track belts.
It’s not that difficult to assemble, and it’s interesting. Compared to the Abrams tank I built last time, making a track seems much more effortless. It is good that the length is not so long, and the number of components is negligible. Be careful of the directions when installing.
(2022/09/27)
The color is like connected tracks of Modelkasten, and it looks luxurious. Some parts were a little tight to fit into the drive wheels, but there was no problem, and I could fit it pretty well.
Ah! Assembling this track is pretty fun. I feel that the work has progressed considerably. Just in case, I checked the photos of the actual vehicle, so I think there is no concern about attaching the track belt in this direction. Looking at it this way, it doesn’t seem easy to make one half-track if it is an actual vehicle. When it is destroyed, it is in a moment.
This is hard to paint later. I mean, maybe I don’t have to paint. Painting is complex in such a layout.
I bonded the car body and the loading platform. There are about eight adhesive points on the frame, so everything is sturdy, and I used a lot of super glue to fix it. Even though there are 8 points, the adhesion area is tiny, so I’m worried about the work later if it doesn’t stick well enough. If I could glue it well, I think I would have gone over a big obstacle following the installation of a track belt.
What’s interesting is that if the reserve fuel Jerrycan explodes, the damage is minimized, and the inside of the Jerrycan compartment is tiny. I found out later that I couldn’t see this place after the assembly was complete, so I should have put the Jerrycan on top instead of gluing it. It’s too late.
(2022/09/30)
Etched parts, such as the part where a rifle is held, are challenging to work, and it seems that the strength can not be maintained, so I chose plastic parts. There are too many parts; honestly, I’m a little tired of it. However, I appreciate that they provide detailed etched parts. The anti-slip part of the step at the front of the vehicle is etched, and there is a mold, so I think it is accurate.
I’m in the process of attaching large parts, such as seats. The work in this area is the most exciting process because the appearance changes rapidly.
The meter panel of the driver’s seat, the seat part, the floor of the seat, the part of the bonnet which covers the engine, the part of the side panel, and the part of the front all have to be balanced to make it work properly. I wrote something bold but it didn’t fit well, so I put it together by filling in the gaps with light-effect putty and jelly-like instant glue. Maybe there was a better way.
Umm, the clamps of the rifle holder look too thick if they are plastic parts, so that I will change them again.
It didn’t work so well, so it will never be a reference for making it. This etched part looks unnatural because I don’t know how to finish it. There are many, but I don’t know how to put them together until the end. The etched part is hard and small, so it isn’t easy to work with. It’s also one of the reasons I initially hesitated to use etched parts. But the clamps seem more natural when they’re not aligned.
(2022/10/02)
Even after the seat is assembled, many parts are in the rear and the front of the vehicle. There is a luggage storage space with a fence at the back, and the capacity seems quite large.
The windshield is not fixed to the car body yet because it will break when the masking is removed after the basic painting.
I like the vertical stripe line of the clear part of the headlight, which is reproduced here.
The front and back of this kit have some clear parts, so I think this kit is one of the best Trumpeters. I used to think Dragon was the best then, but they didn’t reproduce it very well, and it was costly and hard to buy. The Trumpeter has an extensive lineup, and I think it’s great that they keep the stocks constant. Because of the strong dollar, the Chinese yuan is also rising a little against the yen, so I think the kit price will increase more in the future.
I just realized that all the parts of the rearview mirror are clear. How do I paint them? Maybe I should paint silver from the back.
This standard type of half-track is specialized for transport, so it would be better to prepare some soldiers and loads. I’ll think about it for a while.
It’s a bit like a diary; I have a few pictures. Since my wife and I haven’t exercised recently, we walked to Odawara Castle nearby. When I saw it up close, I felt it was much smaller than I imagined. Still, it seems to be the seventh largest in Japan.
This scene model sounds exciting but is impossible unless my house is big. The scale of this three-dimensional model was written as 1/700. It is the same everywhere that the inside of a castle is a museum.
It is a view of Sagami Bay from Odawara Castle. The humidity was low, and the atmosphere was clear on this day, so it looked pretty far. The explanation at the Odawara castle was Hojo’s favor. It could have been more permanent if the Hojo clan had bowed to the Toyotomi family earlier. Politically, there seemed to be many excellent policies, and in that respect, it is regrettable that they were ruined.
I have an impression that I walked a little, so it is appropriate, but Odawara is a city where the city is clean and seems easy to live in. It is blessed with abundant nature, close to mountains, rivers, and the sea, and great hot springs nearby. Moreover, it may be convenient as there are about six train lines.
(2022/10/04)
It may look simple at first glance, but there are quite a few building pieces. There were many difficult points. In the end, even if there are gaps in various parts, I fill them with putty to make them look as good as possible.
The making itself is pretty fun. It can be seen far into the back, so it may not look good as a model if it is not reproduced by omitting it. That’s why even if the number of parts increases, they might try to produce them in detail.
I put bread and potato-like baskets on it because sometimes they might get food.
If I arrange the Jellicans, I need a lot of them, so I tried to duplicate one with putty, but it isn’t easy to make them neatly. The handle of the Jellican was too fine to replicate, so I made it with a thin plastic stick.
Masking is in progress before painting. It seems challenging to paint because there are many complicated parts. As expected, the wiper cannot be attached, so that I will put it later.
(2022/10/07)
When I undercoat it with black, the patty modifications don’t stand out. Except for the seat, I blew it rather carefully, especially at the back of the track and roller.
I also used a flat black undercoat on the bottom, just in case. In the case of tanks, I often leave them alone. There is also a structure on the underside, so it would be better to paint it somehow.
It was painted with slightly faded German gray. Seats, luggage storage, and sides are mostly footwear; no part can express the color difference in such a large area. It’s interesting to make the bonnet a little uneven in color.
I attached decals. The shine on the decal will probably not be a problem because the matte clear will be blown at the end. Because it is curved, I often use a mark-softer.
I put a lot of decals on the panel of the driver’s seat. There was an excellent sticker I didn’t know where to put on, so I put it on as needed. The driver has it on the page of the figure-making, so please take a look at that. It may be a little different from the actual car. Come to think of it; the steering wheel is not attached to the vehicle because it is attached to the driver.
(2022/10/13)
It’s finally completed. That said, the natural finish will come when I get my half-truck boarding figure on board, which is currently being painted, but there are too many photos, so I’d like to close this page.
I always have trouble with Trumpeter kits because they don’t have marking instructions. This time I chose this mark that I thought was the most stylish. I don’t have much-advanced knowledge, so I don’t know the details, but since it’s a Luftwaffe vehicle number, it’s probably an 8-t half-track belonging to the General Gering Regiment. I think the tactical mark was used at the beginning of the German-Soviet war, so this early half-track is right.
The Goering Regiment has participated with the German Army in battles against Poland and Norway, France and Germany, and the Soviet War. It’s the Air Force, but it’s mostly the Army. After that, the brigades, divisions, legions, and organizations grew so big. It was regarded as an elite unit with better ground weapons than the regular Army.
The figure I make is the Army. The role of the Goering Regiment is almost like that of the Army, so that’s OK. When they served in North Africa, they wore the same uniform color as the Army, and tank soldiers in the Goering Division wore the standard black tank crew uniform. I guess it’s OK for European infantry uniforms to be the same as in the Army. I mean, I can’t fix it now.
There are three rows of seats so that you can carry many soldiers. During the making, it was interesting because the appearance changes so much when the seats are painted khaki.
I put food in a basket on the back. There’s also relatively a bit more spare fuel.
I tried to reproduce the wiper marks on the windshield. Fan-shaped masking is quite tricky. The whole vehicle weathered a lot of rain scars, so I think it’s more balanced.
It’s a logistic support vehicle without a cannon, but it looks fantastic when completed. Or rather, if you’re a half-track fan, this is one of those cars I’d love you to build.
(2022/10/16)
