E-75 tank destroyer finished

That's another one off the shelf done, Trumpeters' 1/35 E-75 chassis and Paper Panzer Productions 'Eber' tank destroyer conversion. The wheels and exhausts were also from PPP and the tracks are by Hobbyboss as the Trumpeter 'rubber band' ones supplied in the kit are pretty awful.
The idea behind the mismatched armour panels over the engine grills is that they are in the process of being painted whenever the crew are resting. I like to have some primer red somewhere on a 'what-if' but not all over a complete vehicle
Looking at it now after taking the pictures the exhausts look too new and I may come back to it at a later time however I have a date with a Takom 1/35 Bergepanther.

Trumpeter E-50 with Heimdall turret finished

YAY! The first model of the year finished (yeah I know it was started in July 2016).

For this model I used Paper Panzer Productions E-50/75 exhausts, wheels and of course their Heimdall turret. The idea behind this particular vehicle is that it would be a radar and rangefinder for a battery of E-50 Flakpanzers in case you were wondering.
I've tried adding some visual interest with the rusty panels over the engine intakes and the MG post on the engine deck painted in the lighter shade of dunkelgelb as though it was taken from another vehicle. I decided on a splinter scheme early on but the two greens just did'nt look 'right' to me so I went for a white winter finish scheme in a splinter pattern to match.
I'm not THAT keen on the amount of dirt on it but I keep getting told off for not weathering my tanks enough :o)

Different is'nt it? I know some people out there HATE the whole 'what-if/ paper panzer/ 1946' thing and at one point that included me but these days I just like the freedom that the subject brings as I don't get bogged down in researching a particular vehicle built on a Friday afternoon that was missing a bolt on the third roadwheel.

E-50 with Heimdall turret

Work continues at my usual glacial pace and the past two days have been spent assembling and fitting the tracks. The kit supplied tracks are of the 'rubber band' type and pretty horrid so I ordered some Hobbyboss King Tiger/ E-50/E-75 individual track links, mainly because they were very cheap compared to Fruil metal tracks (which are nice but expensive for this project).
The tracks are the 'late' type being just one link as opposed to the earlier ones which had two different links and they actually scrub up quite well with very little flash and just the one pin mark in the centre of each link that is easily removed with the edge of a modelling knife. The tracks are 'handed' left and right and fit around  the Trumpeter drive sprocket nicely. There is another part on the sprues (part number 3) but I have'nt a clue what they are for so I've left them.
So to start off the track assembly I began on the right side by gluing 25 links together for the bottom run (using liquid polystyrene glue) and while that was setting I glued together a further 60 links and left these for about 30 minutes or so, this gives the tracks time to bond but still flexible enough to wrap around the running gear. Once I've done the assembly the hull will be put aside for a day or so for the tracks to set, this way they can be removed as a sub-assembly for painting later on.

I'm using Paper Panzer Productions wheels instead of the kit ones and the difference between them is very noticeable (the kit supplied wheels are on the right in this picture);

The turret is built so there is only the upper hull to add bits to although I may embellish it a bit with some add on parts.

Paper Panzer Productions (part 2)

As well as the Heimdall turret I ordered a set of wheels for the E-50 (PPP35003) as the Trumpeter ones are not brilliant plus new exhausts (PPP35002);

 Although the set is aimed at the E-50 and E-75 the exhausts can be used on King Tigers as well (apart from the flammenwerfer bits).
Paper Panzer Productions are doing some great stuff so if you are into the 'what-if' genre they are well worth looking at to 'pimp' your paper panzers :o)
Find the wheels and exhausts here;

http://www.paperpanzer.com/

http://www.paperpanzer.com/paper-panzer-productions/ppp35003-e-50-wheel-set/

http://www.paperpanzer.com/paper-panzer-productions/ppp35002-exhaust-set-kingjagdtiger-e-5075100/