I have an old SDD Sdkfz 251 I've been meaning to convert into a Command version for decades, but in the end I just bought a BPM 3D printed one. The main characteristic is the huge 'bedspring' aerial, but they also have extra radio gear inside.
For an APL print, this isn't bad at all, although the sloping surfaces suffer in places from striations and the aerial is a bit clunky in places. It is a zillion times easier than trying to make one our of brass or plastic strip though.
You can see the bonnet is the worst for lines. I tried to sand as much off as possible and disguise the rest with paint, but it still looks a bit rough up close.
The comms gear is niicely modelled, although you can see how rough the curved bits of aerial are. I didn;t want to sand them down too much in case they snapped. This one needed crew, so the seated radio operator is a spare PSC panzergrenadier. The officer with headphones is made up from the top half of a PSC German tank commander, and his legs are from a standing MG gunner. He looks suitably in command I feel.
The sides and rear don't suffer from striations as much as the bonnet. No idea why. The detail on the sides and interior are good.
Usual paint scheme on this, plain sand over a dark grey undercoat with an ink wash and various layers of drybrushing on top.
It looks pretty good from the side, although I think it would benefit from some balkan crosses as the overall finish is quite plain. I'll add some next time I'm doing some decals.
You could drape a flag or camo net over the aerial to disguise the rough bits.
ReplyDeleteNeil
I guess so. I used it in af2f game a couple of weeks ago and tbh the roughness was not noticeable on the tabletop. I think the photos exaggerate these sorts of things, and we rarely peer at them that closely in use. That is partly why I've stopped worrying so much about figure details. Just paint them roughly the right colour, and get the hats approximately right.
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