Pickelhaube 1:18 SDK-222 Finished

[tmanthegreat]

Thought I'd show off the newest addition to my 1:18 collection







The markings depict a vehicle attached to an armored regiment from the Panzer Division Gross Deutchland sometime early in the campaign on the Russian front. I went with the early-war solid gray scheme as it was easiest to paint and there are not many 1:18 German vehicles with such coloration. To liven up the model, I gave it a heavy dose of mud weathering. The gray is actually darker than it appears in the photos as I was using flash. There are more photos in the Customs Forum.

This is my first Pickelhaube 1:18 custom kit and I must say that it is a really well-executed product and was a lot of fun to build! This was probably one of the more challenging kits I've yet attempted, but in the end, I'm very pleased with the results. If you have not tried building one of Pickelhaube's kits, I would recommend looking into one as they are fantastic

[Stug45]

[fightin]

very impressive!

[gliderdwm]

Sweet
What did you use for the markings, something like Johns stuff decals?

[tmanthegreat]

Thanks The markings are all John's Stuff Decals, coming from one of the 1:18 Tiger and German tactical markings sets. The ID plates are actually from a 21c halftrack that I had gutted. I cut them out carefully around the white area then sanded the plastic down until it was paper thin. John's stuff doesn't make ID plate decals in 1:18 scale yet.

[pickelhaube]

Great job !!!!!

Maybe I can get one for myself. I think you are the first one to make his panzer gray.

Thanks for sharing !!

[YT]

Great job.

[Sabrefan]

Looks great, I really like how you did the mud under the vehicle. What did you use to do that?

[immeww2]

Looks .

[tmanthegreat]

Looks great, I really like how you did the mud under the vehicle. What did you use to do that?

Thanks! For the mud, I first sloppily spread putty on the areas that I wanted to have the mud to achieve a lumpy texture. I based it off weathering patterns on some of my FOV 1:32 vehicles as well as my SUV which had mud streaks on it from driving up in the mountains. Then I dabbed Tamiya red brown paint over the putty and streaked or smeared the brown paint elsewhere. It was the first time I've tried that technique with the putty.

[Sabrefan]

Thanks, I really like how that mud looks.

[bigriver]

nice !!! looks great

[grunt1]

tman, what did you use for the hinges. That is a great mod..

[tmanthegreat]

tman, what did you use for the hinges. That is a great mod..

Thanks grunt1 - the hinges are my favorite mod that I made to Pickelhaube's design I found Nylon Hinges, which are used for the control surfaces on RC aircraft, at my local Hobbytown USA store. It was about $2.50 for a pack of six. The hinges are made of a soft plastic with a metal pin. The plastic was trimmed to the desired size and then I carefully glued one end to the turret, let it dry, and then glued the other end to the screen. Placing the hinge above the turret vision port helps to disguise it so it doesn't stick out as much. I did a somewhat sloppy job with the gluing, but is not very noticable. Here's a closeup photo of the turret screen hinge on the vehicle and an unmodified nylon hinge:



On another note, I've posted another photo of the crude interior I gave the vehicle,



It basically consists of a seat (from a 21c Hanomag) and somoe various pieces of stowage. I though about adding a steering wheel, but that would make it hard to get the figure in and out. I think Pickelhaube needs to make an SDK-222 interior kit with the seat, steering wheel, and ammo magazines