1/100 MG Kämpfer

Intro
I first got the MG Kämpfer in the last week of January 2001. In my spare time, it took me almost a month to finish. I've learned a lot by doing this model. Among them:
  • Spray paint is not as good as Airbrushes. Spray paint is not bad, but it does not give you the fine Control that you can get from an airbrush.
  • Cement welds: Sometimes better than using putty alone. Most Master Grade models put the seams in a decent place where it won't be spoted or where it actually is supposed to be. A cement weld or two helped solve some problems...
Paint Selection
I wanted to be a little different, So I picked Metalic blue for the Armour. I was a little worried that it would come out too dark, but it actually worked out ok. For the Grey parts and the Knee, I used Haze Grey. The chain mne and the two shotguns are in German grey. The Rocket launchers (Bazookas?) are in flat black.

All paints and primer was from Tamiya. I'm not that big a fan of Tamiya, (Everything is Brand-X to me...) but the Acrylic Spray paints are not bad. The color and consistancy remained constant thru out. I used two cans of paint for the Armour.
Actual Construction
Putting the Kämpfer together was pretty straight forward. I assembled each part, sanded, primed, painted, repeat until done. Here is a web page detailing the construction. There were some amusing trouble spots:
  • The Shoulder armour. The seam goes right down the middle thru a Jet. Masking it was fun. I settled on masking the jet, assembling it with the masking tape over the jet (See here) and sand, prime, and paint. It worked ok, but the right side I did first did not come out as good as the left side.
  • The Jets on the Upper Leg. Not counting the Inner leg piece, the outer armour shell for those jets are three pieces of plastic that don't fit as well as I'd like. Once again, since I did the right side first, the left side looks much better.
  • The fuel pipe wrapping the waist: Looks cool but what a pain in the neck to put together!
Final Result
Here are some thumbnails for the end result. Lucky for me, the bad spots don't show up too well in photos.



Any Questions/Comments sd_042@yahoo.com