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Bronco Marder II D
- Thread starter wbill76
- Start date
Spent a good deal of time with the Marder in the paint booth today but before we get to that, there were some small little details on the hull that needed tending to. They included the large fighting compartment lifting eyes (H9) and the tiny tie-down loops in PE (P33). There are 16 of the PE loops that go around the top of the compartment and these were glued in place using liquid glue and Bronco's conveniently molded locater holes. These are quite delicate and Bronco provides 6 extras on the PE fret as back-ups just in case. I also added the spare track holder to the hull nose to round things out.
With that out of the way, it was time to finish the hull painting. I masked offer the interior on the compartment and the gun with blue painter's tape and set to work with the airbrush. Primer coat of MM Italian Dark Brown followed by the base coat of 50/50 MM Light Gray/Panzer Dunkelgelb did the trick.
The camo pattern came next. I used MM Khaki for the green portions first then added the red-brown using a 50/50 mix of MM Leather/Military Brown. After correcting for a little over-spray here and there, a mist coat using heavily thinned base coat was applied to tie the scheme together.
While that sits and cures up, work will continue on the tracks and other remaining equipment details.
With that out of the way, it was time to finish the hull painting. I masked offer the interior on the compartment and the gun with blue painter's tape and set to work with the airbrush. Primer coat of MM Italian Dark Brown followed by the base coat of 50/50 MM Light Gray/Panzer Dunkelgelb did the trick.
The camo pattern came next. I used MM Khaki for the green portions first then added the red-brown using a 50/50 mix of MM Leather/Military Brown. After correcting for a little over-spray here and there, a mist coat using heavily thinned base coat was applied to tie the scheme together.
While that sits and cures up, work will continue on the tracks and other remaining equipment details.
Spent a good deal of time with the Marder in the paint booth today but before we get to that, there were some small little details on the hull that needed tending to. They included the large fighting compartment lifting eyes (H9) and the tiny tie-down loops in PE (P33). There are 16 of the PE loops that go around the top of the compartment and these were glued in place using liquid glue and Bronco's conveniently molded locater holes. These are quite delicate and Bronco provides 6 extras on the PE fret as back-ups just in case. I also added the spare track holder to the hull nose to round things out.
With that out of the way, it was time to finish the hull painting. I masked offer the interior on the compartment and the gun with blue painter's tape and set to work with the airbrush. Primer coat of MM Italian Dark Brown followed by the base coat of 50/50 MM Light Gray/Panzer Dunkelgelb did the trick.
The camo pattern came next. I used MM Khaki for the green portions first then added the red-brown using a 50/50 mix of MM Leather/Military Brown. After correcting for a little over-spray here and there, a mist coat using heavily thinned base coat was applied to tie the scheme together.
While that sits and cures up, work will continue on the tracks and other remaining equipment details.
Extras are always great, especially with PE, wish they all would take note of that. Great scheme so far Bill. :drinks
Thanks guys, glad you like how the scheme turned out! 
MP, have to agree with you there, it was a pleasant surprise to see the extras...usually PE sets give you just the set amount and that's it, meaning your SOL if you damage one or lose it to the carpet monster. Given how prominent (and delicate) these little pieces were, I found it very cool that Bronco took those possibilities into consideration! They did the same with some (but not all) of other similar delicate parts elsewhere on the fret as well.
MP, have to agree with you there, it was a pleasant surprise to see the extras...usually PE sets give you just the set amount and that's it, meaning your SOL if you damage one or lose it to the carpet monster. Given how prominent (and delicate) these little pieces were, I found it very cool that Bronco took those possibilities into consideration! They did the same with some (but not all) of other similar delicate parts elsewhere on the fret as well.
Always fun to play around with field-applied three-tone schemes, glad you like the results.
Another productive round at the workbench to report as the Marder II D gets closer to the finish line. After letting the camo work sit for a bit, I decided to hit it one more time with another mist coat pass of the base coat to soften things a bit more and provide some additional fading.
Then it was time to have some fun with the lower hull and suspension. I added some wear to the lower hull by stippling some MM enamel Burnt Umber and then dry-brushing the base coat back over it. The sprockets and idlers had their contact surfaces treated with MM non-buffing Metalizer Steel and lightly dry-brushed with Burnt Umber. Since the road wheels are such a prominent feature on this vehicle, I gave them a coat of Future and then applied a wash of MM enamel Raw Umber followed by a dry-brush treatment with the base coat to bring out their detail. Sprockets and idlers are only dry-fit at this point and more weathering will come later with the pigment process.
Over the course of the last couple of weeks I'd been putting time in on the MK workable tracks as well. This set has the links molded individually with 4 contact points to clean up and the pins molded two to a 'handle'. Using the handy MK-supplied jig, runs of 10 links were assembled to create the full track runs. Both the MK instructions and the Bronco instructions indicate 94 links as the recommended total and to be on the safe side I stopped at 92 links before doing a test-fit.
As it turned out, even 92 links was too long even with the idler at its maximum position. I ended up needing only 89 links on the left side and 90 links on the right side. I checked to make sure there wasn't a size difference between the MK links and the Bronco links and both are exactly the same size...so no idea where the discrepancy comes from.
MK set had 20 links left over so I used 10 to create the spare track run for the front.
Tracks were dismounted and then given an airbrush coat using MM enamel Burnt Umber as the foundation. Once that cures, more work will be done to finish them up.
Next up will be working on the remaining details and getting them installed.
Then it was time to have some fun with the lower hull and suspension. I added some wear to the lower hull by stippling some MM enamel Burnt Umber and then dry-brushing the base coat back over it. The sprockets and idlers had their contact surfaces treated with MM non-buffing Metalizer Steel and lightly dry-brushed with Burnt Umber. Since the road wheels are such a prominent feature on this vehicle, I gave them a coat of Future and then applied a wash of MM enamel Raw Umber followed by a dry-brush treatment with the base coat to bring out their detail. Sprockets and idlers are only dry-fit at this point and more weathering will come later with the pigment process.
Over the course of the last couple of weeks I'd been putting time in on the MK workable tracks as well. This set has the links molded individually with 4 contact points to clean up and the pins molded two to a 'handle'. Using the handy MK-supplied jig, runs of 10 links were assembled to create the full track runs. Both the MK instructions and the Bronco instructions indicate 94 links as the recommended total and to be on the safe side I stopped at 92 links before doing a test-fit.
As it turned out, even 92 links was too long even with the idler at its maximum position. I ended up needing only 89 links on the left side and 90 links on the right side. I checked to make sure there wasn't a size difference between the MK links and the Bronco links and both are exactly the same size...so no idea where the discrepancy comes from.
MK set had 20 links left over so I used 10 to create the spare track run for the front.
Tracks were dismounted and then given an airbrush coat using MM enamel Burnt Umber as the foundation. Once that cures, more work will be done to finish them up.
Next up will be working on the remaining details and getting them installed.
