Sdkfz 251/3 Finished

for now anyway.  I don't want to spend much more time on this which will only appear in a couple of games.

T-64BV Off for painting

Managed to get a base coat on.  Haven't thought about washes or weathering yet. Paint has masked a couple of errors. I didn't finish the prints of properly so they do look a bit rough.  A couple of tweaks needed for any future runs of the prints. Need to look at Antennas and stowage for a cold war soviet look.

T-64BV using the BF Model and a 3D Printer

How hard could it be I said to myself

Carve off some plastic. Print some panels. Job done.

Oh I don't have any scale plans to work off. The BF T-64 engineering tolerances have to be factored in.  PLA isn't easy to glue.

Getting there. Need to work on the B model smoke dischargers and make up some new stowage boxes for the sides of the turret.

In progress, testing out fit and orientation

Very early days checking the print settings, tile thickness and general concept

"The only plan we had"

PanzerMorser

The BF M113 PanzerMorser uses the M106 as its base. Unfortunately, the Top hatch is a two piece rectangular opening. So I carved the standard M113 hull and printed some new top hatch covers.  The mortar itself needs a little bit of work.  I am also looking at a better way of doing the headlights this time around to make them more repeatable as I have a couple of M113 variants to do for my West Germans

20 Minute Challenge - Day 124

Day 124 (28 Apr)

M113A2/3 for OIF getting a refresh now I am getting to grips with the printer.  It also reduces the amount of plastic in the spares box as the front splash plate comes from the TY LAV kit. The kit has the option to build the LAV-AT so BF threw in the same sprue they provide with the M163/M901 so I have 5 of the front plates seen on M113 during OIF.

Day 123 - More 3D Printing

Next up from the 3D printing experiment is the M113A2 Extended range fuel tanks.  A lot of carving on the BF M113 hull for these to fit.

20 Minute Challenge - Day 123

Day 123 (27 Apr)
Lick of paint to tie it all together.  VJ NATO Green Surface primer

20 Minute Challenge - Day 122

Day 122 (26 Apr)

The M113A1 G Beobachtungspanzer is coming along.  Tried to smooth out the top plate using liquid green stuff. It needs to cure before I give it another go and then find some better files to get into the gaps

Top View

Other side

Rear view before and after

20 Minute Challenge - Day 121

Day 121 (25 Apr)

Radio mounts and light clusters ready to be fitted

20 Minute Challenge - Day 120

Day 119 (24 Apr)

More tinkering completed and now have decided to go firm with the idea of using the plate mounted version.  Have also now added the rear stowage bin. 

Next print run will do the detail for the rear of the hull: Radios, light clusters and cable reels.


Previous version testing out the self levelling paint and filling options to smooth out the print

20 Minute Challenge - Day 115

Day 115 (20 Apr)

Designed and printed an initial version of the M113 Beobachtungspanzer superstructure. The one on the left is the original scratch built version.  I have since designed a new version which has the optics and the second hatch in the closed position rather than having to butcher two BF M113 kits just to get the hatches.  Had to fudge the dimensions a little bit to make it fit the BF hull which seems to be a little narrower than the drawings I am working from. Oh well these are for gaming.  Might try and get a high quality print done just to see what it looks like

20 Minute Challenge - Day 114

Day 114 (19 Apr)

New toy arrived. (Not completely mine, but while learning how to make things I can use this for some personal projects).

Spent a couple of hours designing the superstructure for the M113 Beobachtungspanzer and the M113A1G front plate to use as components for my West Germans. Also knocked up a turret ring for a M5 Recce Jalopy in 15mm.