Panzerkampfwagen I Ausf.B-DML kit No.6186

[Jamie Tainton]

Another old build from days gone by originally posted in 07-25-2004


Okay, since the Bison is on hold for the moment I thought I would build up the new Panzer I/B offered by Dragon. This kit is light years ahead in engineering and detail when compared to the lame Alan offering.

The contents of the box upon opening,

the sprues
Sprue "A"

Sprues "B","D","E"

Sprue "C"- there are two of these

Sprue"F"

The Hull


There is also a figure set from an earlier Dragon release included. (#6029)

there is a metal fret for the headphones

There is a sprue of clear lenses as well- which is a new feature for an armour kit.

There is a photo-etch set from LionRoar- another nice touch!

a nice decal sheet

The instructions are in the old line drawing format- I like it better than the photo style they had been using of late.


This is one little beauty of a kit- one of the nicest I've ever seen! It is truely a good time to be an armour modeller. I'd say this kit is better in some ways than the Tristar version- for one thing it's almost half the price! I will probably build about ten of these little guys!

some of the detail can be seen in these shots

return rollers

side of the hull

the top fender is a bit thick and not to scale, if one needed to you could sand it down.

The wheels and other suspension parts measure up favourably to scale drawings


here is the main suspension part breakdown
as you can see -very nice and the parts really fit together well.


the road wheels look pretty good compared to photo of real one.

The drive wheel has a slight imperfection on the center plate- due to the injection molding process no doubt- I can live with this. The bolt detail is rather nice.

The idler is clean of flash and crisp in detail. It is flawed in that there is a outer rim missing, (arrow) and the spokes appear a slight bit thick- again not too noticable- there is nice bolt detail but it appears they may be a bit small. The center hub maybe needs to be a little more "cone" like?


Moving onto the front coil spring- here is a comparison photo montage of the kits offering and the real deal.

[Jamie Tainton]

here the spring coil, front axle piece and shock absorber have been installed


Here you can see I have added the rear axle holder and the support bar of a later type of Panzer I/B. This was an option provided by the kit
Weld seams could be added here were the bumpy things join the hull.


here you can see the major components that make up the superstructure and the rear engine cover.


the front portion all together- care must be taken when lining up and gluing parts!


Okay now a closer look at the engine cover parts;

Here is a pic showing the area that this shell glues to.

here the shell is in place,

Before you add the top plate to the shell you must remember to glue the little PE screen provided from Lion roar to the engine intake grate on the back/right. (back right from the driver's P.O.V.)


Here a side piece of the back armour is added,

here is a side shot with all the plates in place. One odd thing was there was no indication of two main parts (A20, A21) that make up the upper ventilation step on the back of the upper body.

from the front

and the right side. and back end


the screen that was glued on up-close

a better look of the rear ventilation area
parts A20 and A21-not in instruction sheet?
grille is a bit thick when compared to photos of the real item.


I don't really care for the separate plate idea as it may cause problems for unlucky, less experienced, or careless builders.
It also adds to the thickness of the armour plate which is too thick to be in scale should you desire to show the engine doors open or something. This is clear in the thickness of the fenders as well. Too thick- but you could sand them down the inside with a file carefully to get closer to scale thickness.
One correction I must make in my writings so far is this bit about parts A 20 and A 21. They are mentioned in the instructions but the confusion occured because in Step 7.They have the two parts mounted but in Step 8. is where the parts are pointed out and they aren't in place yet , as in Step 7.


here you can see the right side back armour piece


There are two options for the back plate- one for an early one and one for a later one. I believe I chose the early one (I'll have to double check and I have so little time these days) that allows the use of a light. I do plan to add the Nebelkerzenabwufvorrichtung, (smoke grenade rack) so I'll have to modify this one as its the E1 part that is meant for that one. It must be understood that due to limited time to research a specific vehicle with this build - in the end all details may not be as representative of a actual vehicle - but next time for sure
I will try to keep it somewhat actual based. I Plan to use a later convoy light thus the choice of part D4


here are the main turret parts, including a rudimentary seat for a fiure, cleaned up and ready to be assembled.


Here are a couple of shots showing the main shell part that makes up the turret. You can see that the vision cover plates come molded in place - this simplifies things but will limit options should you wish to have the hatches shown open! I would have made them like the superstructure vision plates- separate items. The molding is crisp and detail is okay.



the turret top hatch is nice except for an unfortunate recessed disk of a knock-out mark on the inside face- in a place that is difficult to scrap or sand... :angry:

the side access hatches have this problem as well...



The tracks - I have not had any problem with DML tracks before (panther,panzer IV) so I anticipate no problems with the fit or assembly of these Panzer I ones. I always assemble and paint my tracks separately from the main chassis and road wheels. Thus as you can see in the build's progress shots that I have not added the wheels yet- they will be painted and weathered separately from the main body -just to be sure of complete and authentic coverage. Then the body will be painted and aged. The next step will be to add the painted road wheels and then the painted tracks. Then after all sub-assemblies are together I will tweak the whole to bring it all to the same level of dirt dust ect.
I am going to the beach today so I will be taking the track sprues with me as this is a fairly monotonous process- I could do more up dates to the main build but I'm not going to stay inside and work at the compy on such a beautiful day!!!
I update later, Tshuss!

[Jamie Tainton]

Here you can see the gaps filled with Mr. Surfacer and sanded smooth- the applica armour that was added to the side of the turret to protect the ammo inside the superstructure is glued in place.


the turret went together in 4 easy steps ....


The side hatch doors are added,

muffler the main halves glued together and the armour cover in the back,


that is a sub-assembly, right- and that is what I'll be doing my tracks - BTW what are those tracks for?
And a picture of the turret in place on the hull.


The kit comes with two versions of vision port covers- an early one and a later type. The later ones with the bolts seem to be the more commonly ones used so that was my choice.


The change in design had to do with the smooth type from Panzer I/A's having problems with the fasteners causing problems when hit with bullets- so they changed to a conical headed exterior bolt



a close up...


Cool- I'd like to see the finished product-any pics?
Here is a shot showing the ventilation tube installed to remove the blinding smoke created by the driving brakes inside the driver's area.

here you can see I've drilled out the end of the tube and glued the superstructure lifting hooks in place. I did sand off and remove the raised lines meant for placement guides-


The kit provided fenders are good enough for an OOTB build but I had an extra few bits from a Panzer I/B PE fret - and the rear fenders were part of those so I used them ...
I've not done these before and there was some learnin' involved but they turned out okay





as a side issue- I spent the day yesterday at the beach and while there in six hours I managed to detach and clean up a little more than two thirds of the single link treads that come with the kit-

there is a slight seam mark on these but not too bad.
there are about five attachment points for each shoe- the ModelKasten links are nicer.


Here are some pics of the Aber fender build up on the right hand side- All parts are soldered together.
Sorry for the quality of these shots as they were taken last night under artificial light.

first the general layout of the parts -with working hinges by golly!

the top side of the main plate.
To this almost of the other parts are attached- starting with one part of the hinges.



next using a scribing tool from my etching days I impressed some rivets into `the metal using the guides un the under side.


more progress shots of the Aber fender
the side bits have been added as a bigger inside bit waits in the background





inside interior bit
unfolded

folded


these are the tiny hinges that hold the rear fender part to the side fender,

and the completed fender...


here is the back end ready to be mated to the right rear fender...

and the view from behind with both fenders in place...



the fit of these Aber fender bits to the DML plastic kit was pretty ok but not perfect, as the DML fenders maybe thinner by a micron or two
I'll try to take some pics of the kits fenders to show you those...

as a diversion here are some pics of the on vehicle tools that come with the kit...

[Jamie Tainton]

Here I have added the lights and machine guns
The width indicator lights on either side of the front fenders appear tooo large when compared to fotos. These are often mistaken for headlights.
The back hatches are all in place.
The machine gun detail is okay.




I want to use the left over Aber parts to make a better jack block (Windenklotz)

here it is sanded down to the same dimensions as the DML block

Here the balsam block has received the two reinforcing straps from the Aber set and the handle.

as well the mountings are in place on the fender. The later type securing strap is made up of two bits that come together with a hinge.


here it is in place, (BTW, I had to adjust the size of the block as it was too thick)
This is not glued in until after all the painting is done.


Now I move on to the forward left fender tool stowage- the axe and shovel- I will be using the Aber stuff to detail this a bit...
first the axe cover is folded up and check fitted.

the shovel shield is made up of four parts and the shovel blade is beside this


the shovel handle is replace with a thinned down tooth pick
It is placed in a Dremel tool and sand paper is used to thin diameter.


The shovel blade cover from under and the toothpick glued in place,,

the DML shovel compared to the one I've made up-does any one have any good shots of the shovel in real life. (and the other tools for that matter)


here is a shot showing the shovel blade cover and the first of the Aber tool clasps in place,


and here is a sequence of photos showing the process...


here are those shots of the rear mud flap I promised...
The two separate parts

the parts glued together...


here you can see the comparison of the two types-I believe the Aber ones are the early type and may be a tiny bit large for the DML Pz. I. The DML are the later type? I'm not sure but either the DML is too narrow or the Aber is too wide? close enough anyhoo...

I may try the new Lion Roar PE set when it comes out


now moving to th back tools... I made a metal wire "S" hook instead of cleaning off the molded on clasp and "U" braket . (In retrospect I think I might have used this kit provided part and just added a clasp lever on the end of the plastic bump.)
I also cleaned off the molded on stowage details on the crank tool in preparation to using ABER replacement parts. (I think these are a little big for 1/35 but they still add detail...)


here the "S" hook is in place (The clasp and hook are black due to me burning off the CA glue that was on it when I repositioned it after thinking I was not happy with its first placement.)



The kits location holes are filled with sprue glued in with CA glue and trimmed down when dry. The crack tool is in place with one of two clasps in place.

so now the fire extinguisher- used the kit part wit h the raised details removed and aber parts.


Now a tentative placing for this shot...


and one showing the beginnings of the jack stowage area. I decided yo use the kits clamp and storage stuff.The larger pry bar is also included. The red arrow points to an Aber part that represents an attachment point for the muffler.


and I also got thr front right smaller pry bar fittings in place...


work on the muffler comprised replacement of plastic exhaust tube with a piece of wire insulation.

another view


here is a pic showing how I tried to improve the idlers by wrapping the outside rim with some Evergreen strip. Not perfect but it helps.


for the pry bars I looked at some reference and the pry bars that come with this kit are pretty basic. Not that they are wrong but in pics there appaers to be a squareness to the business end so I replaced the longer one with one from the spares box.


I wanted to thin the fender in the front and maybe not use the front mud flap so I thought to file it done in the front. This was done but in the end with the way things are made to go together the side wall would need to be trimmed and there seemed to be other issues so in the end I will use the front mud flap- but the removal of this lip on the front seems to allow a better fit for the mud flap so Alles wird gut.


parts layed out on masking tape prior to priming with flat black.


and finally some paint goes on!

[Jamie Tainton]

pic showing the grey on. I used two tones of grey. a dark one first and then a slightly lighter one. The first one is from Xtracolor X800 perported to be RAL 7021 Schwartzgrau and the second colour is from Humbrol No. 66. The first colour was sprayed on all surfaces and I did the panel shading process in concentrating on the center of panels. The lighter colour was used only on the top panels to give some dimesion and to intimate some sun bleaching and just to give some contast



How much to weather this little guy?
I will be keeping it to dust that would accumulate on the Rollebahn on the way to France. No mud and no damage.

Here I am beginning the process of adding some flavour to the grey colours by doing some rust on appropriate surfaces - like the muffler and the leaf springs. This is just the first part of a process I used Humbrol 113 I believe.


here I have painted primer red, (Humbrol 113 again) on the bottom of the tank hull as I doubt they would bother painting that with the base colours.


these are a few of the paints I will use to do some airbrushing of dirt and dust.


not to much time/energy to describe this images- they pretty much speak for themselves. The pics are a bit behind I got to put the decals on tonight after removing the oil wash I put on last night.







the leaf springs and muffler again with the second rust job.



muffler installed

with the muffler screen from the PE fret included with the kit in place.

and the armour cover in place over the exhaust pipe .


now the future clear goes on prior to the oil wash and decaling.

here the paint thinner and oil paint wash has been applied.



here I have wiped the oil wash off after it dried over night.



sometimes I also repaint the central panels like here


Now my favorite part -the decals!
the sheet included with the DML kit.


Since I already have a Panzer I/A (Tristar) in Polish campaign livery


I chose to do the more colourful version offered in the kit for the 7th Pz.Div., France, 1940.


This decal has just been applied so it has not conformed to the turret surface yet.

The decals are very nice and scrunch down onto any bolts with a drop of Mr. Decal (or whatever it's called)


here all decals are in place
the tires are painted and glued together into sub-assemblies. All tools are sorted and detailed.


after that had dries the decals are given a very light spray of Future again just to seal them and then the whole model is painted in Humbrol matte cote.


After the matte cote is dry I then did a little bit of dry brushing with oil paint mixed to a lighter colour of grey than the base coat.
A couple of years or so ago there was a real surge in interest and use of "pastel powder" to give more realistic weathering effects to tank models. Not to sound cool or anything, but I happened to come upon this type of thing at a railway model shop a good while before there was any MIG product or MMP - I guess train modellers have been using this stuff for years - anyhow the aging on this vehicle continues with airbrush dusting and pastel dust applied with a paint brush and rubbed in - the layers are built up just as in life- one application doesn't look good for me. I don't use pastels a lot as I like to have permanent results but in this case I thought the dust look was required and what better way than to use dust. BTW the airbrush and powder thing...they are two separate processes... airbrush paint and then when that is dry use a brush to dust in the powder - I'm not airbrushing powder... sorry for any confusion.



dust concentrate in areas it would collect while traveling down a dusty road on the way to Paris



here jack block is in place


Thanks Tuna glad I can be of some service...
The reason I do all the weathering and dust ect. prior to the permanent installation of the tools is so the dust really lives under the tool like in real life. Things don't get broke that way too.
Here is the right rear fender getting the dust treatment before the jack gets layed in..




and the underside


here the shovel slide has been slid in place .


here the antenae can be seen in the raised position and the fire extinguisher is in place



the extinguisher gets put on and the headlight and over sized hull width indicator lights get prepped out in silver colour for the gluing in of the kit's clear parts.








jack and wire-cutter in place. I also have glued the return rollers in place in prep for the addition of the track- which I have to make yet


these single links from DML are pretty nice but the fly in the ointment is that they have five sprue attachment points..



so there is a lot of labour involved- but if one can gird one's loins(or in my case do it at the beach)





The results are worth it. Try not to rush that's all. The way I approached it was to build sub sets of five links this made the handling of the lengths manageable, things wouldn't be breaking off or moving so much as would happen if it was a sequential build of one link after another.
After these were all made I could make the top lengths first and then the bottom and then the end pieces together. I used these foam earplugs that I get at work, cut to size to brace the tracks in place against the return rollers and the fenders, The return rollers need to have been glued on and cured before this process.





These earplugs can be squished down to nothing and fit in place where they expand and form a friction hold.





top length dry


and the rest of the process..





Whew! done-

and painted and in place..








Artist's colour plate I found in Concord Publications Panzerwaffe at War (1) Nuremburg to Moscow #7013 .

I forgot to add the Pz. Div. sign- that is one of the tweaks
The details on the back of this (and another colour plate I have), seem to indicate that the later version of engine deck would be in order, which is not included with this kit.
However one I have by Ewe Feist doesn't have this extra armour ? I would like to see the original photo these guys are working from the ancient "Panzer Truppen" book.


Also this one from Jean Restayn's "Tanks of World War Two", shows the upper engine cover armour ect.

and I found another one in a Russian "mag" that is about the Pz.I


Here the front mud flaps added...




Here is the springs for the rear mud flap I made from wire.




Nearing the end but still little nic-nacs to finish up...
a quick side shot for now....


It's going to get a nice little base I'm working on right now as well - will add on-board stowage items too.




this was the inspiration

I may put some tram tracks in but maybe just keep it simple.

[Jamie Tainton]