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First AFV Build For A While


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First AFV build for quite some time.  Need to start making stash inroads, so I put this together over the last few days.

 

Trumpeter E-10 panzerjager pretty much OOB with the Voyager etch set and a couple of added details.  I gave up on German subjects a few years back, and I'm not really a fan of Paper Panzers but I've always found the shape of the E-10 and E-25 attractive - if an AFV can ever be described as "attractive".  I was going to do a double build with the E-25, but ended up doing the E-10 on its own: E-25 next.

 

A bit of creative/artistic licence, being something that never existed anyway.  I got hold of the Schatton 1/32 gun barrel for the 5cm Bordkanone aircraft gun, thinking that the Germans might finally have cottoned-on to APDS and fitted E-10 with the BK5 with a 3-round burst autoloader.  But putting that in an elevating and traversing mount would have been problematic.  Then I measured the barrel against the RB Models PaK 39 and discovered the diameters were pretty much identical.  So the concept became higher-powered ammunition derived from the longer-barrelled KwK 42 which needed a good muzzle brake: muzzle bored out to 7.5cm.  There was no splash protection for the driver's periscopes or the sighting telescope, so I added some.  There is also a massive shot trap and weak spot under the mantlet so I added some field-improvised applique plates.  Looking at the Hetzer at Bovington today that had the same weakness under the mantlet.

 

There are a few things still to do.  I will be using the Voyager mesh schurzen, suitably damaged.  The Trumpeter solid etched ones were curled up anyway.  Their mounting brackets need bolt heads.  I'm waiting for some workable track links as the kit ones are rubbish: riddled with mould lines bordering on flash and pin marks on every link.  I'm also waiting for some Panzer Art resin fire extinguishers: I gave up on trying to make one from fat plastic rod and the Voyager etched parts.  Apart from that I'm calling it done.

 

During this build I discovered a few things.

  • I do not possess the level of insanity (or eyesight or dexterity!) needed to make up multi-part etched brass tool clamps from parts I can hardly see and which require some bends a fraction of a millimetre wide
  • I have a very low frustration threshold
  • My command of the English vernacular is greater than I believed possible ..............

 

On another site I'd seen recommendations for using "acrylic glue" for etched brass - the sort of thing beauticians would use for attaching false nails.  It's also called Alpha Cyanoacrylate: I don't know the chemical differences.  It's dirt cheap on eBay, and I got a couple of types in dropper and brush bottles.  And I have to say I like it.  You get a bit of wiggle time before the glue sets, but it does dry all too quickly if you're a bit slow positioning.  It holds well - I didn't knock a single piece off during handling - and you don't get the white marks you sometimes get with conventional super glues.  But you do get glue set marks to remove if you're a little too liberal with it.

 

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Thanks, chaps. Just don't enlarge the brass tool and cable clamps too much!  Drove me potty ........  

 

The kit is pretty simple, low parts count but the moulds are showing their age. More parts clean-up than I expected but fit was good.  No filler at all apart from filling in locating holes made redundant by using the brass fittings.  I might need to dab a little around the grab handles as their locating holes are a little large, or maybe some acrylic glue on a fine brush.  They would be welded on so a little fillet around the bottom would be expected.  I might add some more weld beads in a couple of places. I like stretched sprue and a pyrogravure for this as I find rolling and texturing hair-thin Milliput unnecessarily frustrating.  Liquid poly helps to soften the sprue too.  The welds on the applique plates and splash rails are done like this.

 

A tip for replicating flame-cut plate edges, and apologies if this isn't new news to anyone.  For shaped pieces, like the cheek pieces here, I actually like stout short-bladed scissors for rough shaping.  Once finally shaped, I use a very coarse file - really a rasp - drawn across the edges at right angles.  This will be fairly rough.  Clean up the swarf along the edges and then paint the edges with a thick-ish liquid poly and a stiff-ish brush (the nylon ones inside the lids are ideal), working the brush into the ridges one the solvent has softened the surface.  Once that has set, if the effect is still too rough file or rub it down a bit and repaint with poly.  Paint the flat surfaces with liquid poly and again work the brush over it in random patterns and stipples.  This just textures the surface nicely.  You can use this on kit surfaces too, but think health and safety and watch the vapour. I did it over the moulded cast texture on the mantlet and gun mount, hence the slightly shiny finish. 

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Got the Trumpeter indy link tracks to build.  Like Modelkasten - put the links in a little jig and insert a pin from each end.  Each pin has its own little sprue to nip off.  Still 4 sprue gates on each link to clean up but very much better than the kit parts.  Still waiting for Panzer Art fire extinguisher and replacement Notek light.

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Got the companion E-25 finished.  So maybe not a double build but perhaps double finishing.  Same colours, different schemes.  Also still waiting for a Panzer Art fire extinguisher and replacement Bosch headlamp.  I used the Tarnschienwerfer night vision gear that came in the Voyager update set for a bit of variety.  The 30mm cannon barrel is replaced with a Master brass version with a scratchbuilt muzzle brake (I might yet lose that) and an extended mantlet.  The MK108 was a compact weapon - 4 in the nose of an Me262 - but not compact enough to fit into that little turret.  Not much room for the poor commander.  Main gun barrel is another Schatton aircraft barrel, this time the BK7,5 from the Hs129 and Ju88.  All of the length past the collar is muzzle brake.  As with the E-10 I'm thinking improved ammunition needing a substantial brake.  I suspect that had this vehicle been built it would have suffered with overloaded front suspension.  That's at least 3 tonnes of gun and mantlet hung out over the front wheel stations.  I gave up trying to build the brass gun barrel cleaning kit tube and made a plastic one instead.  More applique pieces around the mantlet shot trap, but smaller and this time made to look like factory castings welded on.  I compromised with the insanity-generating etched tool clamps this time by using one of the brass pieces folded over the kit clamps.  The jack blocks on this and the E-10 are actually real wood, but on reflection may be a little small.  But I think the clamp bracket on the E-25 in particular is way too large.  Jerrycan bracket is Airwaves.

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These look sort of like Hetzers on steroids.

 

Lots and lots and then some more photo etch, man you have more patience than I and lots better eyesight too I believe.

 

Looking great so far........but please don't paint them red!!!

 

Lloyd

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Well I was going to red primer them first, BlackMax, but the finished schemes are intended to use the so-called "late war" paler shades of the 3-colour scheme.  There is controversy over whether such shades even existed and whether the research behind the MiG and AK paint sets and books is valid.  But with these vehicles being Paper Panzers I'm claiming a little leeway.  Not sure of the exact schemes yet, but I'm drawn towards soft or possibly hard edge stripes on the E-25.  I had thought about splinter but masking that will be a pain.  The E-10 has such a low side profile that it's just the glacis, top and wheels to worry about.  For a brief moment I had considered using the red primer as one of the camo colours (sorry BlackMax), but I found myself thinking that this was an expedient measure in real life and if the war had continued into '46 with Germany being in a position to build and field new AFV designs this would probably not have been necessary.

 

Not much construction movement.  Finished enough track links for one side of the E-10.  Construction of the Trumpeter workable tracks is straightforward if tedious.  I don't want them to be workable and may glue up the runs once shaped, I just wanted something better than the kit parts and which didn't cost the earth.  Both sets cost less than a single Friul set.  That being said, building them flexible is a great boon in shaping.  Trumpeter give you a little jig plate for making 10-link runs, which is also supposed to be a cutting guide for the pins.  I've shown the supposedly last 6 links on the jig with the pin sprues still attached so you can see.  The plastic is more flexible and fibrous than usual - I managed to bend a used sprue 180 degrees without it snapping.  It reacts well to MEK, which I used to secure the pin ends in place.  They fall out far too easily if left dry.  I found that trying to cut the pins off with a blade didn't work too well as it often pulled the pins out before the cut was through.  The best tool I found was a pair of manicure cuticle nippers from my local Boots pharmacy, which worked like a dream.  I already had these, having seen them and thought they looked useful - as you do.  The slightly larger pair shown on the right worked better and gave a cleaner cut, using the jig as a guide, because of the blade geometry. A swipe or 2 with a fine sanding stick after cutting and job done.  

 

Note the large pile of scrap sprue parts in the left front corner.  Note also the MEK bottle stood in a 50p glass tea light holder from Ikea to stop me knocking it over.  Unused links and pin sprues are emptied from kit bags into plastic boxes, with another box for surplus pins.  If you build 10-link lengths you will have 2 pins left over on each 20-pin sprue for joining the lengths together.  You can't use the jig for joining the lengths as it only has 10 slots for guide horns, but it's easily done by hand.

 

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Post-photo note.  I've now made up upper and lower run lengths, and the 96 links stated in the instructions are not enough.  I needed 101 to get them to meet.  It remains to be seen if Trumpeter have provided enough to do 101 each side!  These are the "late" design tracks, whereas the "early" design were essentially PzIV tracks with a wider pitch - therefore fewer links - and PzIV sprockets.  Trumpeter may have confused themselves between the two, which is odd as they give both types in styrene and vinyl in the base kit and so have the information to know better.  But when did that ever stop kit makers cocking up?

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Going back to the multi-fold etched tow cable clamps on the E-10 - I elected not to use them on the E-25 - I realised at the weekend that Voyager have messed up anyway.  Looking at the clamps on the King and Jagd Tigers at Bovington at the weekend, they are actually made from 2 pieces of solid bar stock with a hinged strap between them.  Voyager have you folding up hollow boxes as if fabricated from sheet metal, which is clearly wrong.  Voyager also has a bottom strap holding the whole clamp together as a single unit, which is also wrong as the pieces are welded directly to the hull.  The kit moulded parts are the wrong shape too, apart from being a mould line cleanup nightmare.  So in future, 2 pieces of plastic stock with an etched or plastic strap and a wing nut will do it for me.

Edited by Das Abteilung
mistake
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Those track links look a lot like Model Kastens.  I used a couple of sets on two Tiger I's I built a while back and yes they are tedious but turn out great and a set of

Friulmodels tracks are around Cdn$80 so I have only ever bought one set for a Panther.  I built up the Friul tracks just to see how hard it was but I haven't built the Panther or

Jagdpanther yet to install them.  They were ok but those steel pins are tough on fingers.

The Model Kastens were a lot cheaper and they have the realistic sag only working link tracks seem to have, or that look right to me.

 

Red primer is fine but please try the faded 3 color as I think that should look great.  I faded the heck out of a Tiger II with the 3 color and it looks really natural to me.  I not a fan of the

contrasty bright 3 color schemes that seem popular.  I don't think the real thing had a camo scheme that didn't at least try to merge with the surroundings and the faded look 

does that a lot better I believe.

 

Some of that photo etch is just ridiculous.  I bought a Griffon set for a Dragon 15cm field gun and threw half away as I just couldn't work with those tiny pieces, I could barely see some of them.

 

Take care,

 

Lloyd

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E-25 tracks are a lot more tedious than the E-10.  All of the sprue gates are on curved surfaces and placed at 90 degrees across the curve, 4 per link, so lots of clean up.  The E-10 tracks had 1 pair of sprue gates on a square end and 1 pair aligned along the curved end, so much easier to nip off cleanly.  The cuticle nippers proved excellent for this too, BTW.  The more flexible plastic is harder to clean up than normal styrene as it behaves a little like polythene - you always seem to get a sliver that doesn't slice off cleanly, and it burrs up when you file it.  Also the pins are partly recessed/shrouded under the ends of the links, making glueing the pins and nipping the sprues off more tediuous.  I managed to glue a number of links together by mistake and to glue the links to the jig.  Oops ........  Hopefully I can hide those pieces under a top run or inside a bottom run.  

 

Both of these track sets are going to have a lot of polished metal on the inside.  Both vehicles have steel-rimmed wheels so there is metal-metal contact on the link and guide horn faces as well as the sprocket teeth.  The wheel rims and rim edges of the inside wheels will also be highly polished, as will the idlers and sprocket teeth.  

 

For those of you not familiar with how the late war all-steel "resilient" wheels fitted to some Tiger species and Panthers and projected for the E-series worked, here's a pic of a sectioned one at Bovington. The front stamped and rear cast plates are bolted together with a synthetic rubber doughnut in between.  I question how effective this actually was, as this example shows the bolts so tight that there is no gap between the plates in the central hole - and in any case clamping the wheels to the hub cones would have forced the plates together here.  So where is the ability for the front and rear plates to move relative to each other to take advantage of the rubber bushing?  The idea was to absorb vibration, but that requires complete disconnection of all metal-metal contact.  If the front and back plates are bolted up flush and both are clamped to the hub then the rubber seems entirely pointless.  I would have expected the front plate to be attached to the hub and the rear to be free-floating on its rubber doughnut with metal contact only through the bolts.  Apart from saving rubber the Germans didn't have, these wheels lasted much longer in service as the more traditional rubber rims did not break down and require wheel replacement.  Note also that the wheel disk is universal in any position on any vehicle so equipped - no more "inners" and "outers".  But they must have been incredibly noisy in use with all that metal rubbing together, especially in turns.

 

Related image

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Tracks clanking, wheels squealing, engine roaring with no mufflers to speak of and the occasional 88 or even 128 on the Jagdtiger going bang beside your head.

These tankers must have been half deaf.  I imagine the novelty of driving the biggest baddest AFV  in the theater wore off real quickly.

 

And no air conditioning in these sweat boxes or real heaters in the winter either.  Men were men in those days.

 

Lloyd

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This is a picture hosting experiment from Onedrive before I try to use it in a "real" post here.  Others have said it can be done by using the right click "embed" option, but I can't make it work. The "insert other media" button here doesn't work at all: the embedded link is pasted into the dialog box but the "insert" button has no effect - it just sits there.  Pasting the link directly into the text seems to just insert the URL and not the image, as below.  I'm posting this to see if the image appears when I actually post the message

 

 

 

Edited by Das Abteilung
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Apparently not.  Perhaps someone more knowledgeable than I can get to the bottom of how we might use Onedrive with the demise of affordable PhotoBucket.  Other people did seem to make it work, but I can't.  Yes, I tried using and not using the HTML code option and smaller picture sizes.

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Hi Peter,

Have you tried enclosing the text of the address within (IMG) and (/IMG) tags? Note that the round brackets should be square brackets

*Snip*

 

Hope this helps :yes:

 

Edited to add: sadly, it didn't :(

Edited by clive_t
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Yes.  Onedrive offers that option as a tick box: same thing happened as not using .  This site seems to expect < > rather than [ ], and Onedrive inserts < >.  I've just been back to PhotoBucket and discovered that I've now lost the means to link from there since I last used it a few days ago.  So that's kinda screwed my next post.  There is a whole 8-page thread on this subject, so let's not hijack this one any further.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by Das Abteilung
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I've deleted the embedded links from the previous messages as I've discovered that they take you directly to my folder and not to the actual single image - which is clearly part of the problem. Grateful if Clive could please delete the link from his post too. 

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