Painting Panzers

So the weekend was spent painting more panzers..  loosely, since there was building as well as painting.

I was progressing the paint job on a Puma (Italeri), assembled two Italeri Quick Build Semovente, and assembled two S-Model H39/H38 Hotchkiss.  One of the Hotchkiss' is now being painted in French colours, (used this : http://pzm-workshop.foroactivo.com/t3-hotchkiss-h-39-paint-in-progress-oct-13-08 as a guide) and the other one (as a captured or 'Beautepanzer') plus the Semoventes are about to get a grey undercoat..  oh, and I kept on gluing single track links to the ESCI Marder III (horrible model). 

 

Here's a couple of Glamour Shots of the H39 before it gets weathered and chipped...   and this thing is tiny! I am amazed they could squeeze any crew in. I also had no idea what colour the French painted their tank interior so I painted it white. A crew member will be squeezed in there once I source one from the spares with a bit of green stuff and some surgery.

I see the imperfections..

It's way too clean, so there is a lot of weathering to come.

Apart from the Marder, the only minor hiccup was accidentally stripping some paint when applying decals to the French H39.

 

What's wrong with the Marder?  Well, maybe it is the mould release agent, or the plastic that was used, but it is slightly 'rubbery' in feel, the plastic does not glue well (or at all!) - the sprocket teeth are irregular and difficult to line up, there are ill defined locations for many of the parts, some warping, and a couple of pin ejector marks on surface pieces when they could so easily have been inside the part. It is (very slowly) building up into a nice looking model, but it isn't an enjoyable build.