Field Test - Flakpanzer 341 and Rheintochter R-3

Just got back to working on models again after a break for a few months, hopefully I haven't forgotten everything yet...
Haven't tried a Dragon kit yet but I've heard good things. I looked at some of the sprues and everything seems to be detailed, at least enough for my standards. Only thing I don't like is working with rubber/vinyl tracks. 

Won this weird kit in an ebay auction. As far as I can tell it's a Cromwell Models Rheintochter R-3 German anti-air missile. On the way models did a review for one transported on a flak 41 carriage, but this seems to be intended for mounting on top of a tank based on the parts included. The pieces on the left look like decks to walk on since the missile would take up a lot of space. I'm planning on mounting it to an entrenched position instead since I've seen the other models where Rheintochters are mounted on tanks and they just look silly. 

Finally here is a M.G.M. MSZ 201. This is some sort of rare artillery tractor that the Germans used, but this one has a fuel tank in the back. The resin quality is a bit poor so it will need cleanup. First steps though will probably be a relaxed build of the Flakpanzer 341 before I get too deep in the resin. 

Thought I'd uploaded these earlier in the week - just some complaints on quality. Since I'm just doing this as a straight build I was hoping the model itself would have high quality as I'd heard good things about Dragon but it isn't great. Compare how these tools are attached by a weird frame to the box art where the tools are flush with the chassis. 

Another quality problem that's a bit hard to see is on the topmost barrel where it is both bent, and flared out and damaged. 

Sorry updates are a bit slow. I've mostly finished up with the Flakpanzer, I just need to actually glue the body and turret together. This photo is just of the dryfitting. I'll glue it up and fill any gaps then go onto the MSZ 201. 

Alright finally got back around to this. Finished up the MSZ 201 most of the way. Anything that's not attached I'll be painting separately. 

So the Rheintochter was missing its solid fuel boosters and I had to improvise. A lot of models give the boosters a six-nozzle setup, but I opted for the simple single nozzle. I figure if the Germans actually deployed these they would not have the material for complicated single-use boosters. Additionally, there is a surviving missile at the "Muzeum Wyrzutnia Rakiet" which uses a single nozzle. Unsure if it is a reconstruction. 

In-progress on the boosters. 

More or less final missile. 

Put in the metal wire handles. Just need to fill the gaps at the drilled areas. 

Test layout. 

Advanced hovel construction techniques. 

Build of the bunker and base for the rheintochter. They're a bit rough here but will get green stuff and acrylic putty. I didn't want to waste wood so the box for the rheintochter base looks wonky since I built half of it with scraps. 

Detail on the stairs. Not sure how I'm going to fill in the gaps with putty and add earthy texture without just swamping the wood bits themselves and losing all the detail. 

Details are a bit washed here due to bad lighting but I sanded down most of the corners and added a flat floor to the bunker. 

No huge progress, used some poor carpentry skills to construct a box and have been liberally filling with green stuff to clean up mistakes. I'll be applying acrylic putty for texture to the bunker and base soon so things are looking up. 

Put in the mount and concrete texture on the box. 

I realized that since the actual mount and frame the missile would be on don't have an interface for manual control, it would probably be something that is controlled electronically. Realistically this would probably be wired underground, but I decided that just to make it more interesting I would run the wire into the bunker. 

The view from ins 

Put up some janky little metal holders for the wire. Later I cut them down and made them more uniform. 

Got the ground detailing down. A couple rocks and a lot of tread marks and footprints. 

Alt view, you can see how the wire looks better with the join half buried. 

Getting started on paint. I've been testing some shades of yellow for the tank and missile mount on the base. 

Got around to base coating the tank as well as rocket base. 

Base coated the fuel trailer. I saw some pics of the sd. kfz 251 with a sort of latticed pattern that was probably done by hand with a wide brush and decided to replicate that on the fuel drum. 

Went ahead and used some grey powder in order to make the concrete more concrete-y. 

Preparing to paint camo. 

And camo painted. I just tried to follow somewhat there was displayed on the back of the instructions. Not sure how realistic this is but it looks interesting. I need to do a bit of cleanup since my airbrush is kind of a junker (only ran me about $20) and doing any detail work is very finicky. 

Now that my least favorite step is out of the way, I should make a lot more progress I think. 

Just as a bonus at the end of the weekend I basecoated the figures and objects here with some spray paint. 

Gave everything a clear gloss coat and began to assemble the tank. 

I actually thought it would be impossible to get the decal where it said to on the instructions, but I guess it isn't. I also did some very light chipping, but not too much since this hypothetically wouldn't have been deployed in an actual frontline before. 

Detail on the back. 

And the opposite side. 

Was more heavy-handed with the chipping on the fuel truck. Gloss coat makes it a bit hard to see all the details. 

I tried to do a sort of pseudo-rivets look on the rail but it didn't work out. I cleaned it up as best as I could. 

Starting to weather, I did okay on the back wheel, I just need to do the same sort of thing on the front, a little lighter on the tire itself though. 

Very disappointed in the AK Interactive bottles, I put it down on its side to store it and I guess the seal was not held despite being screwed nearly all the way on as the whole bottle drained itself.  

Weathering update, now missing my pigment fixer 

Turf and grass applied. I aimed to make it seem like there are a few different types of grass growing together here. 

Created a fuel hose from green stuff. 

Gluing in the various props. 

Preview of how the tank will look in place. 

Painted up the figures real quick. Clearly need to improve on this. 

Everything laid out first to get a matte coat, then to be glued in. 

And done. Final kit review: Dragon Flakpanzer 341 >= Cromwell Models Rheintochter R3 >>> MGM MSZ 201. Was very unimpressed with the MGM kit due to plentiful air bubbles, poor quality, and frail casting. The other kits both were pretty high quality for their mediums outside of some minor errors. I think I'm going to try and move away from poorer quality figures and kits in the future to see if that improves cohesiveness overall. I'll be doing a figure next, so I'll see if I can't improve on my detail painting with that.