KrokoHunters Workbench

Finally ready for a coat or two of grey primer

So .. I guess, that once you’ve decided to make one .. you just have to make the other as well …. and since two Despatch Pods were built … well …. I had to build 2.

The 223-version is very much like the 232-version .. but where 232 is based on 5 sd.kfz 232 hulls (hence the name) .. the 223-version is … (you’ve guessed it) based on 5 Tamiya 1/35 Sd.Kfz 223 upper hulls

But this one is actually a bit more “heavy” on the detailing-side ….. meaning more details .. more greeblies …. mo’ money

The rear-plate hasn’t been a 100% identified, so I went for a bit of artistic creativity here, with a heavy influence from the other guys’ builds.

At the moment, I’m working with the remaining details …. a couple of parts were misaligned, so I’m removing them again and replacing them with new part.

More pictures very soon…

About 3 months ago I had somewhat of a mental block at my TIE-Bomber project. I couldn’t really progress on the project, and it kind of spread to my other modeling-related project. So I needed a booster project… and this was it!

I’d followed a couple of guys on RPF, researching and building this little gem. The Imperial Probe Droid Despatch Pod, seen only briefly (and blurry) in the opening scene of “The Empire Strikes Back”, where the Star Destroyer Avenger, launches a bunch of space pods, and we see one of them crashing on the surface of Hoth, where a Imperial Probe Droid emerges from the debris.

This model and it’s LR223 counterpart might be some of the easiest Studio Scale projects from the Star Wars Universe. However each of them still contains parts from over 20 individual donorkits. However it turned out, that I had close to 75% of the needed parts .. so a small kit-hunt, plus some good friends, who were so kind to donate a couple of parts for me, got me started.

I started by assembling the hull, using 5 upper hulls from the Tamiya 1/35 sd.kfz 232 8-RAD

Furthermore I closed up the front, rear and turret-holes with styrene, plus added some details with more parts from the Hasegawa 1/72 Mörser Karl (5 are needed)

On the frontplate I added a roadwheel from the Tamiya 1/25 T34/85 (the SU-100 will also do) plus parts from 5 Tamiya 1/35 Flak Vierlings.

Parts were ordered from Plastruct…….

Which let to this

And then I had to wait for a package of donorparts from my friend Mark Dickson …. due to a loooong shippingtime (I actually concluded that the package was lost) the project went a bit on standby … but a couple of weeks ago I received the parts, and last weekend I finished the assembly of this project .. next step is primer …

more pics soon to come……

I see, that my blog is rather Maschinen Krieger heavy .. However, for the last year or so, my focus has moved more and more towards studio scale projects, and more and more away from Ma.K. … Not to say that studio scale is brand new to me.. I’ve been collecting info, references and donorkits for 6 or 7 years .. but I didn’t really build actively until a year ago … and more recently I started a couple of projects a couple of months ago that really did the difference for me.

So I’ve kind of decided, that I want to focus on studio scale projects and garage kits, and have a small selection of Ma.K, Anime figures and 1/350 IJN ships, to use as filler- and/or break-projects.

So I’ve looked through the piles of Ma.K. kits … and decided to sell a bunch of it, to make room (both physically and economically) for the bigger studio scale projects, and the more expensive studio scale garage kits.

So expect to see less Ma.K. and more Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica studio scale projects on this blog!

Wowser, no entries for almost a year … I have to do better than that.

So, over the next couple of weeks, I’ll try to recoup what has happened modelingvise in 2011… It’s actually no that much. I haven’t finished a single kit 2011, but on the other hand, I’ve really have had a great start on a couple of studio scale projects.

I’ve also concluded, that studio scale projects is where my heart is. I must admit, that I don’t feel very motivated towards building e.g. Maschinen Krieger right now. However I try to finish up a couple of WIP Maschinen Kriegers, just to get them of the table. More to follow

2 months ago I finally got back to this project, when I borrowed a small lathe-setup, so I could lathe the circumventing panellines. That let to this:

After this I focused on the “centerpiece” between the two main tubes (also called the “chilidogs”). The part is scratchbuilt and detailed with parts from various 1/700 ship kits, and some 1/72 and 1/35 panzer. It goes without saying, that the parts are identical to the parts on the original filming miniature of the TIE-Bomber.

This and some smaller details end up in the current state:

Since this picture was taken, I’ve actually made new “chilidogs”, since it turned out, that the holes for the cross-tube was actually 1,5mm off center … oh bugger.

At the moment I’m awaiting certain donorkits, to be able to proceed. It has been in the mail for nearly a month now, so I fear that it is lost (not the first time that happens to me .. hmmmmpp )

I started this project over a year ago, but due to certain issues the project was put on the backburner fairly quick.

This is how it started:

A big pile of donorparts are PVC-tubes … not all donorparts are present .. some has been added since the picture was taken, and some are still to be purchased.

So this was what the project more or less looked like until 2 months ago….