Panzerhaubitze 2000, 1/24 scale, Scratchbuild

[AdrianMF]

Looking good! It does have an endless supply of detailing to keep you busy!

 

Regards,

Adrian

[Bertie McBoatface]

Phew! I just caught up. It's good to see it finished finished finished er....

 

Actually it's very good to see. The painting came out exceedingly well, I thought.

[Jochen Barett]

On 04/04/2020 at 16:00, Bandsaw Steve said:

Panzerhaubitzer 2000 - Pzh 2000

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in the 1980s the German, Italian and British governments attempted to develop, in collaboration, the next generation of NATO self-propelled Artillery.  For various reasons that project failed. Britain pressed on and successfully developed the AS-90 while the Germans pursued their own project which combined the expertise of leading German companies,  Wegmann, Krauss-Maffei and Rheinmetall to produce the truly awesome Panzerhaubitze 2000. In the 1990's this was arguably  the best Self Propelled Gun in the world and it remains a cutting-edge weapon to this day. Today it is used by several NATO nations including; Germany, Holland, Italy, Greece, Lithuania, Croatia and Hungary.

+++

The Pzh 2000 features an extremely long - 52 calibre - 155mm gun  with a largely automated gun-loading mechanism for very high rates of fire to ranges in excess of 40km. The weapon's fire-control is among the most sophisticated in the world, and allows a single gun to be fired in 'multiple round, simultaneous impact' or MRSI mode. In this mode up to five shells can be fired, each with its own charge and trajectory in such a fashion that all five shells hit the same target at the same moment. The gun is also capable of firing GPS-guided precision rounds with a circular impact error of about 1.5m. 

+++

Bandsaw Steve

 

How good is your German? I came across an interview with the "inventor" of the Panzerhaubitze 2000 (one longish and a few more short addendums).

 

He explains a bit abot the history (failed other attempts and German ministry of defence losing confidence and threatening to stop the money (talking about real money, not just peanuts))

he tells about key factors demanded by the people funding the project (MRSI mode (technically requiring the first 3 shots within 10 seconds), and the ability to leave the firing position really fast)

and how it was achieved in the Panzerhaubitze 2000 and the calculations and thinking behind it

- no use of an earth prone https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erdsporn (let's you hike faster and gives good access to the rear to load ammo fast)

- storage of the ammo in the vehicle's center of gravity, so it may rely on the tracks and does not nead an Erdsporn to be a stable platform

- gun loader not hydraulic but a pneumatic type of air gun shooting (not guiding or pushing) the ammo into the breach (hydraulics too slow (piston has to go back and forth and due to the oils viscosity rather slow), air piston way faster)

 

and a few details like

- the automated latching of the gun barrel, letting everybody get into the vehicle faster so they can leave before counter battery fire is incoming

- spring compensator instead of ballance weight for the barrel, saving weight (half a ton)

- the way of the "manual" operation when auto loading should fail

 

and politics, Wegman had confidence in him (and a totally new start) and Krauss Maffei failed (hat do fail) because they intended to prolong producing their Leopard 1 parts for the vehicle,

and possible problems encountered when in use in Ukraine (maybe not used to shoot a few rounds and hike, but to shoot many rounds overheating the loader leading to trouble)

and a comparison to other "comparable" systems (naturally they are not comparable, his system is way ahead)

closing with the advertisment for his book "38 bizarre cases of corruption in the Bundeswehr".

 

 

 

[Bandsaw Steve]

Thank you!

Unfortunately my knowledge of German is practically nil. I studied it once at University  but did not do well, so I greatly appreciate your summary.
 

It’s really interesting to get a more in-depth view of the engineering details that make this system so well regarded.  The air gun ‘shooting’ the ammunition into place is fascinating as is seeing the action of the automatic loader.

 

I’ve heard that even quite recently the Australian gunners preferred PZH 2000 above any other SPG but the government chose the K9 Thunder,  presumably for political and cost reasons.

 

BTW - I was interested to see someone has an even bigger PZH 2000 model than mine! 

[ArnoldAmbrose]

Gidday Steve, I thought I'd give this one a bump too. Any chance she'll make WASMEx? No pressure mind. 🙂

Now, where's that ship?

Regards, Jeff.

[Niall]

One tip - On Youtube select subtitles, pause the video, go to settings and select translate -> English for English subtitles and press play.

[Bandsaw Steve]

10 hours ago, ArnoldAmbrose said:

Gidday Steve, I thought I'd give this one a bump too. Any chance she'll make WASMEx? No pressure mind. 🙂

Yes. Now aiming for WASMEx 2023 which is in August this year so a bit more Flex Time than usual. Have not been building anything recently as I’ve just got home from a five week long holiday in NZ. 

[Bandsaw Steve]

Three Years and Counting

 

Today is exactly three years since I started this project.  This has taken sooooooo much longer than I expected.     To be fair I've had to squeeze work on this between various other modelling projects and 'life' but really... THREE YEARS!?I? 😱

 

A post-paint job drop in mojo has caused this project to stall since September.  But really, mojo or no mojo - It's time to get this thing finished.  If you like Mirage III's you are flat out of luck because It's now illegal for me to work on any other projects until this one is done. 😠

 

Models that get temporarily sidelined tend to get damaged. This one has had a few pieces knocked off it including one smoke grenade launcher, a plate off the side of the gun mantlet (both marked with arrows on the photo below) and some minor details on the tracks. As you can also see the whole thing has become quite dusty, mostly with sawdust from the Xantho.

 

 

Nevertheless, after a bit of a tidy up this one looks OK. As you can see from the background reading matter, I'm missing the Mirage already! 

 

 

The PZH 2000 is generally deployed with a series of removable armour pads that cover large areas of the top surfaces. Apparently this is called 'hedgehog armour' because up close these pads actually consist of hundreds of small rigid spines that sick up  several centimeters above the surface and cause HEAT rounds to detonate prematurely. I'm not going to make the spines, I'm just going to represent this armour as flat, matt-black pads, which is exactly what they look like from a distance.

 

Here's the back of the largest panel. It's getting a generous dose of Selly's Powergrip multi-purpose glue, which is damned fine stuff BTW.

 

Here's the same panel stuck in place. I managed to get a big sticky, gluey finger-print right in the middle of this so that's why some of it has been sanded back to white.  This will be easily fixed with a dash of spray paint.

 

I resorted to cyanoacrylate glue for the smaller pads which explains why I've scratched away the underlying paint in the photo below.

 

So for this long-overdue update all I've done is dust the model,  fix some minor damage and  stick on about a dozen little panels of black armour.  Still, it's a start.  I've also painted the machine-gun and have temporarily mounted it in its final position. I think it looks quite spiffing.  Apart from a number of other finished details that are safely tucked away in a Tupperware container, here's where we are up to...

 

My intention is to invest some serious time on this over the Easter break. 

 

I think this one is looking good, but I'm keen to see it in the rear-view mirror.

 

Best Regards,

Bandsaw Steve

 

 

 

 

[ArnoldAmbrose]

1 hour ago, Bandsaw Steve said:

So for this long-overdue update all I've done is dust the model,  fix some minor damage and  stick on about a dozen little panels of black armour.  Still, it's a start.

Gidday Steve, even a single item done is a start, which is better than no-start. 👍

I won't ask how Xantho is going (oops) in case it becomes illegal to work on the PZH2000 until she is done, which naturally will be put on hold until the Mirage is complete. (Are you getting dizzy yet, going round in circles?) 🙂

       Seriously, I have trouble working on two of the same type of model (ships) simultaneously. How you've managed three completely different builds is beyond me. But I think your push to get one complete is a good move. It's quite a morale boost to say the words "I'm calling this DONE". Looking forward to it.       Regards, Jeff.

[Bandsaw Steve]

Easter Break

 

As promised above I made a fair effort on this over the Easter break, and the subsequent week, and have a few more details to show for my efforts.

 

Firstly, the camouflage net.  A mate of mine at the local modeling club showed me how he made rolled-up camouflage nets and the result of his work - not mine - is shown in the photograph below. 

 

Here's how it was done. Take a 'Chux Multicloth' and paint it dark base colour to cover the bright blue. At this point I also painted on a rough pattern, but  it turns out its better to paint any pattern at the end of the process.

 

At this point you can either roll it up or scrunch it up to suit your preference. I went with the 'scrunched' option.

 

After covering the 'scrunched option' with PVA and then re-scrunching it and adding some straps made from strips of aluminum foil and adding a few more blotches of colour, I had this. Which, although perhaps not exactly accurate, does strongly suggest 'camouflage net' to the average viewer. Unfortunately I lost most of the 'Chux' texture during the scrunching but I'm not too concerned.

 

I then added some headlights, each of which needed protective framework built over them.

 

Electronic calipers are just sooooooo useful!

 

On the shot below you can see the little notches cut in a length of 1mm brass rod. This is where the rod gets folded to form the protective roll-bar-like thing that goes over the headlights.

 

This is a brass pin bought from a jeweler's supply shop. It has been shaped to form the thin bars that go directly over the top of the headlights. Fine brass pieces like this are extremely useful.

 

While working on all of this brass I pressed-on and made some rear view mirrors. Here the mirrors are about to be soldered onto their frames.

 

I have quite a bit of brass tube in my collection but no parts that are square section. So I bought this especially for the next job.

 

On the PZH 2000 there's an odd-shaped structure that forms a bridge over the engine air-intake grill. On one end of this bridge is mounted the barrel-grip that holds the barrel steady when the vehicle is moving.  I decided to make this whole thing out of brass and once-again used an old bit of wood and some masking tape to hold all of the pieces in place while working on them.

 

O.K. that's worked well enough.

 

Now for the commander's hatch. This is a fairly simple piece of work formed by cutting discs from plastic and aluminum lithoplate and then attaching a brass piece at an angle on one side so that the door can be 'hinged' into an open position.

 

If you want to add some arbitrary, but rather convincing, details to a model you can find some great stuff on 'Metal World' kits.  I got this kit of the US Capital Building specifically with greeblies in mind. If you can find these kits at a knock-down price they are well worth adding to your collection.

 

See what I mean.  This detail is completely imagineered, but it looks pretty convincing if you ask me!

 

In this view you can see two brass lugs that I added to engage with holes I drilled in the turret just to give this part a stronger connection to the rest of the model...

 

so it can sit here like this without getting bumped off too easily.

 

This must be getting close to the end now because I have also added radio aerials. 

 

There's very little construction remaining now, just a handful of minor details and some more hedgehog armour to go.  I'm also thinking that the driver needs a new head.

 

After that it will be time to revisit the paintwork because, as you can see there's still quite a few raw details to touch up and because this thing needs Ukrainian markings and at least some weathering. 

 

Overall, I think Easter was well spent, however I still have hardly even thought about a base for this to sit on.

 

Best Regards,

Bandsaw Steve

 

 

 

[ArnoldAmbrose]

       Gidday Steve, you certainly find some interesting and useful materials to use in your models. This is looking very good and certainly looks 'almost there'. Your soldering and brass work is very good. But I don't like the camo scheme on the shovel though. 🙂       Regards, Jeff.

[JeroenS]

Nice work Steve! I like those headlight brush guards, I believe they can be called. 

[Bandsaw Steve]

7 hours ago, ArnoldAmbrose said:

       But I don't like the camo scheme on the shovel though. 🙂       Regards, Jeff.

That shovel was a donation by the Royal Australian Navy to the Ukrainian war effort and proudly remains in naval colours.

[Bandsaw Steve]

5 hours ago, JeroenS said:

 I like those headlight brush guards, I believe they can be called. 

‘Brush guards’ noted!
 

As you could probably tell from the text above I really didn’t know what to call these so thanks for that. 👍

[Courageous]

Nice to see this build moving along. Glad that the repairs have went well. Looking really smart.

Now, stop staring at that Mirage and get this finished.

 

Stuart

[ArnoldAmbrose]

10 hours ago, Courageous said:

Now, stop staring at that Mirage and get this finished.

Or better yet, get them both finished. Not that we're trying to pressure you @Bandsaw Steve. 😁       Regards, Jeff.

[Keeff]

The work done over Easter certainly lifts the kit ....  and your brass working skill are to be admired! 👌

 

 

Keith 😁 

[Bandsaw Steve]

33 minutes ago, Keeff said:

The work done over Easter certainly lifts the kit ....  

 

 

 

The ‘kit!’…. The ‘kit!?!’ 😱

 

I see no kit! 😜

[ArnoldAmbrose]

30 minutes ago, Bandsaw Steve said:

1 hour ago, Keeff said:

The work done over Easter certainly lifts the kit ....  

 

 

 

The ‘kit!’…. The ‘kit!?!’ 😱

 

I see no kit! 😜

Gidday, Steve has this penchant for doing things the hard way, by scratch building. Why anyone would do that is beyond me. 🤔   😁      Regards, Jeff.

[Keeff]

1 hour ago, Bandsaw Steve said:

The ‘kit!’…. The ‘kit!?!’ 😱

 

I see no kit! 😜

 

Sorry! 😳

Note to self ..... read topic title properly! 🙄

 

Keith 😁 

[Bandsaw Steve]

I looked at a kit the other day. 
 

There were hundreds of pieces, each of which had to be glued into exactly the right place in exactly the correct sequence. There were pages and pages of instructions! 

 

Far easier to just bash some bits of wood together. 👍

[ArnoldAmbrose]

5 minutes ago, Bandsaw Steve said:

Far easier to just bash some bits of wood together. 👍

I do that every time I walk into a door. 🤕

 

I'll get my coat. 😁       Regards, Jeff.

[ArnoldAmbrose]

But on a serious note, how are they coming along? Regards, Jeff.

[Bandsaw Steve]

Good thanks, there might be an update later today.

[Bandsaw Steve]

The List

 

We must be getting seriously close to the end of this project now because I've looked very carefully at the model and available references and have drawn up a list of remaining jobs.

Once all the jobs on this is finished then the construction work on this thing is done and - just putting the base aside for a moment - then only final paint touch-ups, markings, weathering and varnish remain. 

 

 

Here are the completed tasks - in roughly the same order as the list...

Make and attach 8 panels of hedgehog armour.

 

Re-attach the port-side aerial housing that had broken off during handling.

 

Add welding seams to both sides of the turret. The welding seams are the two vertical while lines running down from the hedgehog armour.  At the same time I added some stowage straps at the front portside of the turret that were on the drawings but had somehow escaped the list. It turns out that finely cut strips of litho-plate are excellent for jobs like this.

 

Attach the spare transmission drive to the starboard side of the hull.  This task involved making two small brackets for the spare drive-shaft to sit on top of. You can see them quite clearly in this view.

 

I have decided to defer work on the tail-lights until the painting is complete.

 

Replace two mesh steps at the rear of the vehicle. Initially these were made from plastic but inevitably during handling they got damaged and have now been replaced with these more robust brass and aluminum mesh items.

 

Stick them on with two-part epoxy. I still rate this glue as the best type to hold two different material types really firmly. (in this case metal and plastic).

 

Repair seven track links - job done but no photographs taken as I don't think any were really  warranted.

 

Add a muzzle velocity radar. This is the small box that sits proudly on top of the gun mantle.

 

The list runs onto a second page. Most of these items related to the crew and read something like:

 

1. Do something with the dreadful mess that is the driver.

2. Make the commander look less like he's wearing a WW2 helmet

 

When I first made these guys I was reasonably happy with them, but this was mostly because I had never tried to make any figures ever and had at least made a couple of things that looked - um - O.K. ish. (From a distance, in a dark room).

 

Over time however the odd-shaped head of the driver really started to annoy me so I added more milli-put and managed to turn him into a fighter pilot.

 

Meanwhile various people - quite correctly - pointed out that the commander was definitely wearing a WW2 American army style helmet and looked like he should be in charge of a Sherman tank.

 

I also became highly aware of the fact that in both cases the uniforms looked all bloated on their bodies, almost inflated or balloon-like and started thinking about how to address the age-old sculptor's problem of how to model more realistic drapery in clothing.

 

Starting with the gunner I immediately discovered - to my delight - that fully cured mill-putt carves, whittles, files and sands beautifully. I soon had his helmet cut down to a fair representation of the soft skull caps / earphone sets that these guys wear in the field.  I also chopped his ridiculous 'muppet show' nose off and started carving and filing some wrinkles into his uniform.

 

All of which resulted in this. He’s still far from perfect but I’m much happier with him now. Don’t worry about his flipper-like hands, you can’t see them at all when he’s in sitting in his driving seat. 

 

Now onto the commander.   His main problem was his 1940's style helmet so initially I worked solely on that.  When my mate and I built my shed last year he had a tool called a 'nibbler'.  This was a power-tool that cuts metal sheets by a sort of rapid-fire 'nail clipping' motion and spews out hundreds of little half-moon slithers of metal every minute. Back then I captured some and have kept them for future use.

 

Future uses like this!

 

Which definitely obscures the shape of the WW2 helmet, but also looks a bit coarse for any real-world camouflage.  So I added a few slithers of aluminium foil over the top of this lumpy structure to give a more in-scale texture. I'm pretty happy with this!

 

I then decided to have a go at fixing his balloon arms and body by adding some wrinkles and drapery effects.

 

Finally I gave his uniform a camouflage pattern something - very roughly - like the Ukrainians wear these days.

 

And now I'm happy with him too!  I've quite enjoyed working on these figures and there's a universe of skills to learn about sculpting so I might do some more one day.

 

Here's where I'm up to. 

 

Basically - this thing is built!   👍 Phew! 

 

With that list complete it's now time to touch up the painting on any new parts and on any paint that has been damaged during the recent work.

 

Hopefully that will happen within the next week or so.

 

Till then, stay well and enjoy your various projects!

 

Bandsaw Steve