As I said last week, I purchased this kit as part of a bulk bundle deal at my local hobby store, From what I can remember, they were having to liquidate inventory due to a lack of space or downsizing or something, but I got quite a steal on it.
In the case of THIS box, the box art looks identical to the one I purchased... no added doodads or fancy background colorings or anything. As far as I know, this particular kit has been out-of-production for probably closing on 10 years, but there are still plenty floating around from what I've been told. And contrary to what the box says, this kit was NOT anywhere close to easy when it came to the assembly. My father and I spent a good afternoon gluing each tiny piece together, with plenty of cursing and frustrations in between. However, the fact that he and I built it together is one reason why I like it so much. Growing up, my father was rarely around, not because he was a bad father but because he was an amazing father. His job required him to travel, often over extended distances for very extended periods of time. He did this for his family, so that although her suffered greatly, we would have a comfortable life. At the time, I didn't really understand it, but now that I'm older I realize that small moments like this are worth much more than anything else.
Like with my Fallschrimjäger, it took me quite a while before I got around to painting these guys. They sat in a box, in my closet, for probably close to 5 years before I rediscovered them and gave them new life. The main superstructure of the bike and sidecar was done up in Vallejo German Field Grey with a highlight of Vallejo Russian Uniform, while the tires and metal bits were coated in Vallejo German Grey and drybrushed with Vallejo Light Grey to bring out the details. My camera doesn't really do the tread pattern justice, or that could just be the result of poor lighting.
As for the guys themselves, I basecoated everything in Vallejo Blue-grey Pale and highlighted with Vallejo Pale Grey-blue. Yes, these are two different paint colors... and yes, they confuse me so much that I happened to write down their Citadel equivalents so I could piece them apart. You'd think the guys over at the Vallejo factory would be able to think up a better name for them, without just inverting the color names.
The funniest thing about the motorcycle is that when my Dad and I built it, we didn't follow the directions very well. He was in a hurry, and I as more of a nuisance than an asset, so the sidecar isn't very well attached to main body of the motorcycle. It may be obvious from the above picture, but in person it gives the bike a very severe cantilever down the center line that would be hell on Earth to compensate for in battle.
Seeing as I really have yet to offer up an example, this motorcycle was painted in a style closer to how I prefer to do things. Muted colors with subtle highlights. I was taught, or self-taught myself, that most highlights should be one to two shades lighter than the base color. Otherwise, the highlights tend to look too dramatic and flashy, and take away from the overall model itself. The only exception to this is when it comes to glass or reflective surfaces such as the crew's goggles or the rear tail lamps, which even in the real world are eye-catching.
The only downside, and one of my larger regrets, is that I didn't save the original decal sheet from the model kit. Its somewhere, probably at the bottom of another to-be-discovered box somewhere in my closet. I remember it had a great variety of options, both for helmet emblems, divisional markers, and other German symbology. Had I put them in a place where they could be found, I feel they would have added a great bit of additional realism to this piece.
-Hands
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