Posted: March 21, 2023
A Turd by any other name
Since I was a kid I’ve thought this WW2 German armored vehicle had cool lines. Sleek and insect looking, and not the cute caterpillar type bug but a hunter, a wasp or Mantis. So it was inevitable that as an adult I’d acquire the kit on sight one day… and then add it to the stash.
There it sat for 5 years or more, until a good natured joker who goes by the name of Armornut posted a thread on one of my favorite forums. I couldn’t resist the title: Build a “turd” The gist of his post is summed up nicely by these two paragraphs from it:
The question was posed by another member…..” Why ..so….seroius?” Good question. We ALL strive for that “perfect” model, all seams filled, perfect canopies, all road wheels or wheels in general on the ground. Yea we all do it.
Armornut
Think back to when we were kids…that tube of orange Testors, a couple bottles of Testors enamel, the synthetic brush from your water color set ya got last Christmas, and of course ” THE KIT”…..OH that beautiful boxart showing an exciting scene and our imagination running wild with the ” masterpiece” we were about to create.
I took the meaning to be a challenge, to build a kit like it was 1975! No aftermarket add ons, PE or 3D printed embellishments. Just an out of box build fest at the end of which you would be the proud owner of a shiny new “Turd”!
Serendipitous
Another poster (Tcoat) had previously shared pictures of some of his old builds, one of which was the Tamiya Sdkfz 251/1. I really admired the weathering he had done, remembered the kit in my stash and decided I’d go for a similar look if I ever got around to building it.
A day or two later Armornut’s Turd post dropped and my Sdkfz 251/1’s fate was sealed.
Below are the kit’s unboxing pics and some in-progress build shots as well.
The kit quality was exceptional, very limited flash or dimpling and excellent fit. There was some parts padding, where elements of the design needed assembly which served no function or purpose and could have been molded as one piece but this too was minimal.
Keeping to the spirit of a “Turd” build, things went quickly, about 2 and a half days and as always, I enjoyed the painting the most. My weathering was nowhere near as good as Tcoat’s example but I still couldn’t be prouder of my Turd. Thanks to all the fine members of the FineScaleModeler forums and Armornut and Tcoat in particular for the motivation and inspiration.