ICM s. and le. PKW WIP

Horch 108 and Stower Type 40.

This is the old version of the Kfz 1 by ICM, not the newly announced 2018 version.

The  Stower instructions are very imprecise and makes assembly, particularly of the chassis, more challenging than necessary.  The fit itself of the kit seems pretty good.

A few WIP pix.  The decals tends to disintegrate and the rear license plate is larger than the plastic base plate (!)

Inserted a driver figure, but probably very little will be visible (although plan to just use white glue to attach roof).  Fuel cans were replaced with Tamiya early versions.  Covered the headlamps with blackout covers.  Otherwise OOB.  Canvas cover base cover is Tamiya buff while base vehicle color is Tamiya german grey, lightened in various places.  Tires are Tamiya nato black.  Need to weather and do some detail painting, e.g., rear lights/distance indicator, and add additional decals.

DML Sd. kfz. 10/4 FlaK 30 WIP

Almost done with assembly and base painting.  Pays to go slow and dry/test fit everything as sequence of assembly can make the difference between some or a lot of grief later because lots of details within tight spaces.

Incremental progress with mock up of driver:

A little bit of FlaK

Picture of WIP Dragon Sd.Kfz. 10/4 (1940) with ammo trailer, and WIP Hobby Boss GAZ-AA with Tristar 20mm Flak 38 late, as well as a comparison picture of the Dragon 20mm Flak 30 with the Tristar.

The driver for the Sd.Kfz. 10/4 is a converted Luftwaffe passenger from the Tamiya Sd.Kfz.7.  Basically the legs were modified to fit in the driver's seat.  Not shown in the picture is the hood of a BA-20 from Ark Models.  This is the BA-20 kit with the incorrectly shaped rear panel.  The intent is to build a beute GAZ-AA converted to a Flak truck.  The picture shows the hood of what appears to be a BA-20 hanging in front of the engine grill as a ersatz armour plate.  The roof of the truck has been removed, leaving only the windshield (presumably to allow the Flak gun to have sufficient depression when facing forward).  The Flak gun appears to be a 20mm Flak 38, but with a modified shield - no shield for gun sight and modified gunner-side shield, without inner ribbing.  The sight appears to be the flakvisier 40, so the Tristar 20mm is in situ just for planning purposes - it will have to be replaced.

A bit more progress on the Sd.Kfz.10/4 - next to the Sd.Kfz. 253 which is being refurbished:

Lots of work, but getting closer to completing the sd kfz 10.4.  Instructions are a bit of a mess, however.  For example, the show the front tow hooks being added, but this will prevent the loading ramp assembly from being added later (the hooks are omitted from the later drawings).  Similarly, there are no instructions for assembling the screens in travel position - had to look at the DML Sd. Kfz. 10/5 instructions for the general idea of the same.  Also, MA1 is included in the PE fret, but not shown in the instructions - these pieces support the 20mm ammo crates on the sides of the screens - without which the crates are floating.  The driver's set storage bin is too high and prevents the gun platform from sitting flush on the fender, so that to be adjusted -with the surgery in the middle to maintain the general shape.  Fender placement of tools, rifle rack, etc., is quite imprecise, so reference to reference pix is important.   Decided to replace the kit windshield with an ersatz cover - which shouldn't be totally flat because of the windshield wiper mechanisms.  Also, if you are going to insert a driver, test fit before gluing seat, etc.  In this case, the legs have to go in with the seat as there isn't enough clearance otherwise.

Panzerwerfer 42

Trying to build the Tamiya/Italeri Panzerwerfer 42 OOB, although had to change visors (vision slits located too high) and change out the front (vinyl) wheels with a spare set from Hussar Production's set of Late Opel Blitz wheels (which contains two types of front wheels).  Stuck in a driver (actually only the upper portion, as  very little is visible.  The link tracks were a pain to assemble and some links were only partially formed, but there were enough extra links.  

Sd. Kfz. 11/4 Nebelkraftwagen Redux

Finally finished assembly and painting of the AFV Club Sd. Kfz. 11/14 Nebelkraftwagen using a replacement set of tracks from a DML Sd. Kfz. 251 (had to replace drive sprockets as well with DML drive sprockets).  Needs weathering, to add driver and cargo.  Would like to find a nebelwerfer to tow, but choices limited to the Lion Roar/Great Wall Hobby brass version.  Maybe Italeri will reissue their older but cheaper NbW 41 one day?

Instrument panel decals from Archer Fine Transfers.  License plates were taken from a Tamiya Sd. Kfz. 251 put on plastic card.

Flakvierling 38 auf PzIV sfl (aka Mobelwagen prototype)

Sometimes weird ideas pop into mind.  This project is intended to be a kit-bash of the old (alte?) Tamiya Mobelwagen with the 20mm Flakvierling 38.  As it turns out, there apparently was a single prototype built in 1943.  While the Mobelwagen concept was approved, for production the 37mm Flak 43 replaced the 20mm Flakvierling.  There are a few pictures of the 20mm Flakvierling armed prototype - but none in combat.  Some sources indicate that the prototype may have been re-armed with a 37mm FlaK and thus probably never saw combat - at least armed with the 20mm Flakvierling.  The prototype will be referred to herein as a "Mobelwagen" even if, perhaps, that term was not used to refer to the prototype, because "20mm Flakvierling 38 auf Fahrgestell Panzerkampfwagen IV Selbstfahrlafette" is just too long.

Tamiya has an old kit of the 20mm Flakvierling prototype as well as a newer version of the production 37 FlaK 43 Mobelwagen.  The older version is based on Tamiya's old PzIV hull from the 1970s which has various issues.  The new version uses the updated PzIV hull.

So, the idea is to mate the Tamiya kit with a (somewhat) updated Dragon PzIV hull - specifically, the hull from a spare Cyber-Hobby "Orange Box" Brummbar late kit, which was selected as the donor because of its low cost (and, with a new Tamiya kit coming, a low likelihood of being built as such).

The two hulls are shown below:

Because the fenders in the middle of the Mobelwagen hull lack the tread plate, the fenders need to be retained.  After the initial surgery:

First roadblock - a problem that should have been evident before but is obvious from the overlay is that the Mobelwagen fenders are wider than the DML fenders.  The option of cutting off and relocating inwards the Mobelwagen fenders, while probably the most correct solution, seems to pose significant execution risks of creating gaps, etc., and because there are various attachment points, etc., located on the fender.  Trimming the Mobelwagen fenders is likely problematic because of the rivets located at the edge.  A third option might be to widen/extend the DML fenders - maybe by adding a strip along the outer edge.  This might be the easiest to execute, although technically probably the least correct.

Okay, decided to go with option 1.  Ended up having to fill quite a number of gaps as well.

After replacing dampers with Tristar early dampers and adding sides:

The Tamiya kit FlakVierling partially fitted on a preliminary basis.  Will need replace gun sight and barrels - not sure whether to replace in entirety. 

At left is a partially assembled Flakvierling 38 from the DML Wirbelwind kit (originally from the Sd.Kfz. 7/1) (note round base), while the partially assembled Tamiya Flakvierling 38 is at right.

A little bit of primer just to get a little more unified feel to the build

As can be seen from the above picture, the shields on the AFV Club Flakvierling 38 are much wider than the Tamiya shields and extend well beyond the side walls of the Mobelwagen so the option of using these shields with only minor modifications won't work.  Additionally, the Tamiya Mobelwagen shields will not easily fit perpendicularly with the AFV Club base, so using the AFV Club Flakvierling may be out as an option.

Finally getting to the final configuration.  The kit flakvierling is used with some minor detailing.  Still need to find a replacement gun sight, but that can be added later.  Now it mainly a matter of painting.  Road wheels and tracks (from Tristar) have been painted and are ready for adding.  We'll see if the Tristar tracks hold together without glue.