Dragon Bison II 15cm s.IG 33 (Sfl) auf Pzkpfw II (2012)

[Bill Plunk]

This one sat a little bit longer than I expected it to between updates but it's time to post the next round of progress.

I used small strips of blue painter's tape to mask off the interior and protect it while I finished the rest of the paint work on the exterior. I laid down an airbrushed primer coat of MM Italian Dark Brown over the unpainted surfaces from before and followed that up with the base coat of MM Afrika Grunbraun to complete the RAL 8000 base paint scheme.



At the same time, I did the paint work for the wheels and return rollers. Same primer coat treatment as the hull followed by an airbrushed application of MM Gunmetal (enamel paint, not the Metalizer) for the rubber portions. I used a circle template to mask off the rubber rims and airbrushed the RAL 8000 for the hubs. The wheels were mounted on wooden toothpicks with small amounts of blue tack poster putty to make it easier to handle them during the painting process.



The wheels were set off to the side to dry and work continued on the hull with the application of the disruptive Tropen camo scheme commonly used in N. Africa at the end of 1941 when the Bisons were shipped over. I used MM Afrika Khakibraun (Testors' version of RAL 7008) to create a disruptive pattern covering roughly 1/3 of the vehicle.

The masking tape was removed and the only spot that will need a little touch up are the tops of the MP40s, otherwise the interior was well protected.









Next up will be getting the road wheels installed and working on the exterior details.

[Bill Plunk]

Small update to post, I spent some time working on the lower hull and suspension. I detailed the springs with MM non-buffing Metalizer Gunmetal and followed that up with a wash of enamel Rust and also added some light scuffing/wear to the hull elements and road wheels. I used a round 00 brush and stippled some enamel Burnt Umber to simulate wear and then installed the road wheels and return rollers to both sides.





Work continues on the remaining exterior details particularly all the tools and gear for the compartment sides.

[Bill Plunk]

The latest round of effort centered on getting the external details completed. That meant focusing on the tools and getting them painted and detailed prior to their installation. I used the non-buffing metalizer Gunmetal for the metal portions on all the tools and lightly dry brushed some enamel Steel to show wear and create a metallic look. The molded-on tool clasps have hollow handles but the openings vary from part to part. Rather than try to thin those down to a more in-scale appearance, I clipped them off with sprue cutters and replaced them with Griffon PE handles. I added some wood grain detail to the jack block with the sharp point of a #11 blade prior to painting. The wood portions of the block and the handles on the shovel and axe were detailed with a base coat of lightened Panzer Dunkelgelb followed by a thin wash of enamel Leather and a light dusting of burnt umber artist pastels to create their look.



Tools were then installed on the compartment sides but not before some slight modifications were necessary. The crow bars need their small mount pins removed so they will sit flush (no mount holes or niches are provided for them) and the same is true for the shovel's center clamp. The instruction diagram in Step 7 also incorrectly shows the shovel's center clamp installing to a niche at the front of the compartment...that's actually where the top support post for the shovel end oval holder goes...so you have to be paying attention during installation! I started the install at the top and worked my way down, placing the tools one at a time and adding the little PE details for the shovel and crow bars as each was put into position.

I also detailed and installed the water cans for the hull sides. These had been base coated when I did the hull painting and I used strips of masking tape to create first the horizontal bar and then the vertical stripe by airbrushing some enamel Light Gray. Spouts were detailed using the same method as the metal portions of the tools. The cans were secured in place with the leather straps (detailed with MM enamel Leather and a light application of burnt umber artist pastels) and small amounts of CA gel.





Rear hull also received some detail work. The muffler finish is a combination of a base coat of MM metalizer Gunmetal and two successive applications of a thin wash of enamel Rust. The wash applications require a light touch to avoid lifting the metalizer so plenty of time is needed between the applications to let the wash dry and build up the effect.

The crank starter and the jack were also installed once the muffler was done, the jack block was added to its place on the engine deck, and the fender lights detailed. I used Tamiya Clear Green for the Notek light and Clear Red for the brake light to round things out.

[Bill Plunk]

Hard to believe that I let 2 weeks go by without an update on this build but Spring has arrived here in the Borderland and various things have conspired to keep me away from the bench as a result. I managed to squeeze in bits of time here and there until I finally had enough pulled together to justify an update, so here goes.

First off I went ahead and added the fighting compartment canvas tarp supports that are called for in the final Step 21 diagrams. I encountered a slight problem in that the "tall" version of the gun sight interfered with the placement of the first support so I had to move it forward a bit vs. using the kit-supplied location marks. This isn't an issue with the regular "short" sight and my guess would be that DML designed the placement only with that type in place.

I also did a test fit with the idlers and realized that they are designed to fit only one way into their mounts due to a "hex" nut pin on their base and a slightly oval form to the hull mount opening. I removed the hex pin and carefully removed paint and lightly sanded the mount opening with a round needle file to give me a little more flexibility so that I could adjust each idler slightly when it comes time to fit the tracks. The idlers are not permanently glued just yet.



ModelKasten tracks are a time-consuming assembly project so I typically will work on them a little bit at a time to avoid boredom and repetition. The set I'm using doesn't come with a jig and has one of the mount pins already molded in place, so the links assemble fairly easily. There are three sprue connection points on each link that need minor clean-up if you've got a good pair of sprue cutters and a sharp #11 blade handy. The links are "handed" with the molded on pin representing the outside pin for either Left or Right. I worked 10 links at a time until I had two runs of 100 links each assembled.



The DML instructions call for 110 links per side so I used a bit of blue-tack poster putty to temporarily mount the sprockets and checked out how many links I needed. Turned out that 111 were needed for the left side and 112 for the right to get the idlers aligned properly on both sides and the sag about the same. The tracks are held together with small pieces of masking tape and will be removed for painting and weathering before final installation.






I went ahead and glued the idlers into position and will let them set up overnight so that I have a fixed reference point for the sag later on. Next up will be applying some Future to seal everything up for the decals and weathering stages.

[Bill Plunk]

Not an April Fool's Day joke...I really do have an update!

Sealed up the entire vehicle with a coat of Future applied by airbrush and let that set up overnight. Decals were added and treated with a dose of Walther's Solvaset to insure they snugged down tight and didn't silver. Once the decals were dry, a second coat of Future was applied to seal in the decals and protect them from the weathering stages to come. Markings are fairly simple, just a set of balkenkreuze and the DAK insignias. The kit has the DAK insignia as multi-part pieces for the swastika portion and for the life of me I couldn't figure out how to align them to get the look right even after multiple attempts...so I went with the straight palm trees as-is instead.

[Bill Plunk]

Made some good progress with the Bison II this weekend, enough to justify an update at any rate!

The weathering process is always one that tends to go a bit slower, mostly because the stages require a good amount of time to complete and layer properly. First up was the application of an overall wash of 90/10 thinner/MM Raw Umber. This provides some "grime" to work with in the next step of the weathering process.



Once that was on, the next step was the application of some dot filters to fade the paint work and add a "dusty" look to the finish since this is a desert theater vehicle. I chose MM enamel Light Gray, Armor Sand, and Raw Sienna for the dots. Working in small sections at a time, small dots are applied and then blended together with a square tipped blender brush lightly dampened with clean thinner until the desired result is achieved. I wear a paint breather mask throughout this process due to the thinner fumes involved.



This shot of the glacis gives you a kind of before/after look...the area on the right has already been filtered while the area on the left has the dots applied but not yet blended together.



After a few hours of patient work, the result is achieved.



In order to bring out some of the detail and provide some depth to the finish, the next step involves applying a pin wash of 90/10 thinner/MM Burnt Umber with a 10/0 pointed brush.



The wash will "bloom" a bit in places, so after hitting all the areas, I came back with the same 10/0 brush and clean thinner and removed/adjusted the excess wash where needed.



Will let that sit overnight and take a look at it again with fresh eyes to see if any more adjustments are needed before sealing it up in preparation for the pigment treatment.

[Bill Plunk]

Work continued with the focus on getting the tracks completed and ready for installation. First up was an airbrush application of MM enamel Burnt Umber to provide the base color tone. I used long strips of masking tape to hold the track runs during painting and made multiple passes to ensure all the nooks and crannies received paint.



The Burnt Umber base is a nice dark brown color and to create a metallic look, I dry-brushed MM enamel Steel with a round 000 brush. Heavier dry-brushing was applied to the contact surfaces like the inner guide horns that would be in constant contact with either the sprocket or idler. For the exterior surfaces, the focus was put on the track face contact areas.



After the dry-brushing was complete, I applied a wash of 90/10 thinner/MM Raw Umber enamel to blend the Steel back in to the overall finish while still preserving the wear/shine in the desired areas.



The tracks are now ready for the pigment weathering along with the vehicle itself. I applied a sealing coat of MM Lusterless Flat in the spray can to remove any remaining gloss from the Future coats and to seal in the filtering weathering applied earlier. The Lusterless Flat has the added bonus of providing some "tooth" to the finish which will make it easier to apply and manipulate the pigments in the next stage.





The pigment weathering will come next and should be the last stage before this one gets across the finish line.

[Bill Plunk]

The final stage of the weathering process is at hand, the application of pigments to give the Bison a nice dusty desertized look. To achieve that, I mixed some Mig Pigments Gulf War Sand with regular tap water with a drop of dishwashing soap added to break the surface tension. The wet mix was applied to the lower hull with an old brush and left to air dry.



That of course leaves an ugly mess that needs more work and adjustment, so I used a round stiff bristled brush to remove the excess. Dry q-tips were also used to further fine tune things to get the desired accumulated dusty look.



The tracks were given the same treatment to get them ready for installation.



Then it was time for baby to get her shoes on! After the tracks were installed I did a series of walk-around shots to see where any additional adjustments were needed. The camera never lies and is always helpful in finding the little spots that need a touch here and there.



The last little detail was the installation of the RB Models brass 2m radio antenna. This was added with some CA gel and the position adjusted slightly to keep it vertical.



The antenna was painted with MM non-buffing Metalizer Gunmetal. I reset the white balance on my camera and it was off to the photo booth for the final walk-around shots.