Tamiya 1/35 famo and Trailer

Hello again,

It's been a very long time blogging the Famo. Earlier in the year I got talked into taking on a challenging build to enter into the Mirror Models contest .The diamond T is a nice recovery vehicle although a little difficult in areas. This was a good break away from the Famo and panzer 3
although now we are in the third year of this build where I will follow through with the Famo and panzer 3 and complete this next year  .

Here is the Diamond T969 wrecker for the contest

 

 

 

I have included the board image to show as an example of size on how big the board for the Sdkfz 9 Famo will be ,far longer than the Us M26 Dragon Wagon completed in 2003.

We commence with the resin Panzer 3 interior and engine being super glued into the plastic lower hull
Both resin interior and engine sets had been provided by a company called Verlinden Productions .

 

The interior was airbrushed with Tamiya and Humbrol enamel paints .

Individaul areas had been hand brushed to enhance the detail.

 

After doing the fighting compartment in the yellowish colour I was not happy with the appearance .Lucky for me a new company called Ammo by Mig had released a specific interior colour for german vehicles during World War 2.
It was a way better choice because it was the correct a more realistic colour to use.
A small amount of paint and thinner was dropped into the cup of the airbrush and this is the result.

With the interior out of the way I moved onto using the Voyager photo etch fenders. It was the first time using them an it was also difficult to glue together.

The next stage was the Friul white metal Track . Each link had to be predrilled so a wire insert could be placed inside and glued into position with superglue.

 

 

Below is the first attempt to recreate a battle damaged Tank.

 

 

I have trimmed off all the excess plastic handles on the track tools , this was done as photo etch clamps would be a far better realistic look would be given to enhance the tools .

Both Passion Models and Aber photo etch release the tool clamps .

Used many times before and they are ideal products to enhance realism on a vehicle .

The initial intention was to use the Famo and trailer wheels out of the box but I could not resist the temptation the Tank Workshop wheels had to offer.

The detail is exquisite and I was fortunate enough to pick them up off ebag from Dragon Hobby .

A good investment .The wheels will have weathering components and washed and I do not think the kit wheels would have been up for this .

 

 

And lastly, I was going to build the Famo out of the box but for some reason after studying reference images I found the kit excluded some key areas which are noticeable on the outside of the vehicle.

I was fortunate enough that a good friend of mine Ross Allen had purchased the 3 complete sets way back in 2000 to do his Famo and found he did not need them ,shortly thereafter some money had changed hands and we are now going to enhance the SdKFZ 9 Famo PRIME MOVER .

 

 

Till next time happy modelling and I hope you enjoy what we have achieved so far