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2cm Salvenmaschinenkanone SMK 18 Typ 2 (Das Werk)


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First, I wanted to share the strange and unexpected anatomical feature that I recently noticed.
So, strange anatomical discovery: it turned out that I have two brains! One brain (auxiliary) is located in the head, the other (main) in a little lower (approximately in the middle of the body, lower the back). So, this brain has made a decision to make SMK-18. The brain that was located in my head resisted and demanded to do something useful or to complete the started and not finished models, but it was defeated by the brain that is located approximately in the center of gravity of the body. Obviously, this brain is much more perfect, specially adapted for making more major decisions. 
I think it’s worth relying on the decisions made by the central perfect brain in the future, and not paying attention to the mental noise that is generated by the rudimentary brain in the head.
(This text was, of course, generated by the central brain) 

:rofl:

 

Vytautas

Edited by vytautas
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After this anatomical discourse about the model:

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A very interesting experimental Germany Flak. With this kit, I expected easy and quick modeling, but unfortunately, this did not happen. Looking closely at the model, I noticed a strange thing - this Flak has two seats. It seems nothing strange, many German anti-aircraft guns had two seats, for example, the 3.7 cm Flak36 - the shooter was on the right, and the aiming device operator was on the left, he entered the data into the sight computor.

So, there are also two seats here, but there is a problem - there are no instruments or controls to the left of the cannon. In short, Das Werk made seats for the driver and passenger, or entertainment like in a carousel. Of course, all crew members had fun: "Hans, get off the left seat, now it's my turn to go!" :clap:

I think the cause of the problem is clear - first, there is no documentation for this Flak, and second - the only surviving cannon is in the museum (Poklonnaya Gora, Moscow), but clearly lacking the details. I think Das Werk just repeated what he saw.

So, since this Flak was experimental and there is no documentation, I think any interpretation is possible here: on the left side of the gun, I decided to make the aiming computer similar to the one on the 2cm Flakvierling 38. The aiming computer was connected to the Visierkopf 38/40 sight. In any case, the sight included in the kit needs to be changed, since there were simply no such sights.

 

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The aiming computer from scratch 

 

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Another side of the computer. Wires are still missing. 

 

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The computer place on a cannon carriage (not glued yet) 

 

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Front

 

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The aiming computer example: 2cm Flakvierling 38 

 

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I sanded the welds seams and cut grooves in their place. The original welds seemed to me too high, instead of them I will make over new ones from Tamia's epoxy putty. 

 

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Here too, I sanded off the welded seams, I will make over new ones instead. 

 

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Vytautas

Edited by vytautas
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38 minutes ago, Longbow said:

I see your photos are coming off Scalemates ?

Is there any benefit to that system ?

I think yes. It seems to me that Scalemates is а  enough reliable resource for photo storage (remember Photobucket and others like this!). In general, I use it for the sake of convenience and reliability.

Of course, it is not totally for free - they attach a watermark to the photos, but it doesn't matter too much to me.

 

Vytautas

Edited by vytautas
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I started making sight Visierkopf 38 from scratch:

 

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 Front view. The sight is temporarily glued to the sprue. Otherwise, it is simply impossible to hold it by hand. 

 

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The body of sight Visierkopf 38, rearview. The cable is not attached to socked yet. 

 

Vytautas

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AA weapons with 2 "aimers" usually had separate layers and trainers.  One dealt with traverse, the other with elevation.  When both had laid their sights on the target the gun would be fired.  But here the crew member on the right clearly has both traverse and elevation controls as with the FlaK 38 and Flakvierling 38 and there is only 1 sight.  Presumably he also has the firing trigger or pedal as he is in sole control of the weapon.  Which begs the question what the left seat was for: what did its occupant do?  In action any communication between left and right would have been extremely difficult.  The loaders obviously stood at the rear - and must have needed octopus arms!

 

I wonder if all 8 barrels were intended to be fired together or in groups.  Normal Flakvierling practice was to fire diagonal pairs of barrels while the other pair were being reloaded, giving almost constant twin-barrel fire.  All 4 barrels could be fired together but the gun was then out of action during reloading.  Reloading 8 would take twice as long: the confined access made it a 1-person job.

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10 hours ago, Das Abteilung said:

AA weapons with 2 "aimers" usually had separate layers and trainers.  One dealt with traverse, the other with elevation.  When both had laid their sights on the target the gun would be fired.  But here the crew member on the right clearly has both traverse and elevation controls as with the FlaK 38 and Flakvierling 38 and there is only 1 sight.  Presumably he also has the firing trigger or pedal as he is in sole control of the weapon.  Which begs the question what the left seat was for: what did its occupant do?  In action any communication between left and right would have been extremely difficult.  The loaders obviously stood at the rear - and must have needed octopus arms!

 

I wonder if all 8 barrels were intended to be fired together or in groups.  Normal Flakvierling practice was to fire diagonal pairs of barrels while the other pair were being reloaded, giving almost constant twin-barrel fire.  All 4 barrels could be fired together but the gun was then out of action during reloading.  Reloading 8 would take twice as long: the confined access made it a 1-person job.

Yes, it's a strange-looking cannon. There are many more questions than answers on this matter. Obviously, the shooter on the right has both horizontal and vertical controls, as well as a firing pedal. The question of what acted the guy on the left seat is obvious.

 

In my opinion, the important point is that the gun is experimental. 

 

Maybe it was a very special experiment, for example, how long does it take for a crew member sitting on the left seat and not busy with anything to fall asleep from boredom? Or how much beer is possible to drink sitting on the left seat, at the time, while the shooter on the right side was ending eight magazines? :)

 

In this situation, it is completely unclear what the left seat without controls is for. I decided to put an aiming computer on the left side so that the guy would not only drink the beer but also enter data into the aiming computer. And voilà, now on the left side is not just a guy with a beer, but an aiming computer operator. Who could deny that such was not the case?

 

Probably, I could have come up with something else, but I really like the German cool technical solutions on Flaks, which were much ahead of their time, so I decided to put an aiming computer similar to the Flakvisier 40 that was on some Flakvierling 38.
 
The main parts of the computers that were used on the 2cm anti-aircraft guns were similar, only the hulls and the position of the controls were different.

Aiming computer on Flak 38:

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Aiming computer on Flakvierling 38:

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Vytautas

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Some update:

 

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Sides of breech housing. From scratch, I made new side parts of the spent cartridges ejection channel. The original one seemed to me too rough and connected to the hull at the wrong angle. I plan to cut it off and attach a new one at the right angle. 

 

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The lower part of breech housing. I cut through the window for the ejection of the spent cartridges and made several internal parts, that will be partially visible through the upper window. 

 

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The breech housing. Parts are not glued yet. 

 

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Das Werk made the breech housing absolutely empty. And this emptiness is visible through the top and lower windows. I made something similar to the internal mechanisms from scratch. 

 

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The breech housing with internal mechanisms. The details have not yet been glued. 

 

Vytautas

Edited by vytautas
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38 minutes ago, Pig of the Week said:

A most interesting project, looks like it'd throw a decent amount of metal at an enemy plane certainly...

Yeah.

One projectile weight depending on the sort is approximately 120 g.

We have 8 guns, so: 120 g  x 8 = 960 g per one shoot. 
Each of the eight guns had a separate magazine that held 20 rounds:
120 g x 20 projectiles in the magazine x 8 guns = 19.2 kilos :surprised:

 

All this quantity could be sent into the air in a couple of seconds.

 

Vytautas

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I finally finished Visierkopf 38 sight with mounting structure.

 

I made the mounting construction the way the 2cm Flak 38 was used, it seems more technological to me, with more interesting and intricate details.

I think I can afford such interpretations because, as I have already written, this Flak was experimental, there is no documentation, and I think the Germans could have produced various versions of this cannon for testing.

 

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For this all, I used 0.3 and 0.5 mm plastic sheets, sprue, and a few bolts from the Meng set (these different sizes of bolts and nuts sets are very useful).

The length of the sight is only 9.6mm, but making this whole mechanism from scratch, was a real challenge...

 

Vytautas

Edited by vytautas
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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

I didn't get forward with the Flak, but installed a new system for airbrushing.

 

My compressor was getting really bad, so it was time to do something. I had two options: buy a new compressor and hear the noise again, worry about moisture and oil in the air, or use carbon dioxide. Since I had an unused gas cylinder, I decided to use carbon dioxide for the airbrush.

 

I had to buy a gas regulator and several connectors, all of which cost me about 30 euros. The main pressure reducer is adopted for welding and is therefore not precise when needed low pressure. I solved this problem by adding a smaller and more precise reducer that I used to airbrush in the past.

 

The system itself, in my opinion, is safe - the pressure in the cylinder is only about 50 bar because carbon dioxide in the cylinder is in a liquid fraction. The cylinder I have has a volume of 13.4 liters and holds 10 kg of carbon dioxide. One kilo of liquid carbon dioxide evaporates, producing 509 liters of gas, so my cylinder holds 5090 liters of gas. It seems to me that this amount of gas will be enough for me for a long time. And no worries about moisture or oil in compressed air.

 

The feeling is very strange - airbrushing in absolute silence, absolutely without sound. Of course, the room must be well ventilated so that the concentration of carbon dioxide does not exceed the permissible parameters. And it isn't expensive - refueling 10kg carbon dioxide costs in Lithuania from 10 to 18  euros. In other countries, I think the price is similar - carbon dioxide is cheap gas.

 

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Vytautas

P.S. Of course, using nitrous oxide instead of carbon dioxide would be much more fun (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrous_oxide)... :D

Edited by vytautas
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1 hour ago, Pig of the Week said:

The mig welding gas cylinder to power the airbrush is a brilliant idea...

I've got Oxy Acetylene welding stuff, but that'd melt the model ;)

Thanks!

If you have oxygen and acetylene, you definitely don't need nitrous oxide! All you need is a big welding torch, and you can have fun watching real battle scenes with burning tanks. And naughty with nitrous oxide is nothing compared to that :rofl:

 

Vytautas

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8 hours ago, vytautas said:

Thanks!

If you have oxygen and acetylene, you definitely don't need nitrous oxide! All you need is a big welding torch, and you can have fun watching real battle scenes with burning tanks. And naughty with nitrous oxide is nothing compared to that :rofl:

 

Vytautas

When I was a kid we had lots of fun like that !

I "converted" a Tamiya King Tiger into a flamethrower tank putting some tubing down the barrel, after experiments with different fuels, inc butane gas etc, I found the best was old school lighter petrol, that would squirt a jet of fire most realistically I thought... i was about 12 tho ;)

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19 minutes ago, Pig of the Week said:

When I was a kid we had lots of fun like that !

I "converted" a Tamiya King Tiger into a flamethrower tank putting some tubing down the barrel, after experiments with different fuels, inc butane gas etc, I found the best was old school lighter petrol, that would squirt a jet of fire most realistically I thought... i was about 12 tho ;)

Now we’re adults, we’re really over 12 years old, so we can afford to use more serious materials than lighter gas. Much, much, more serious! :rofl:

 

Vytautas

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43 minutes ago, vytautas said:

Now we’re adults, we’re really over 12 years old, so we can afford to use more serious materials than lighter gas. Much, much, more serious! :rofl:

 

Vytautas

Very true, though when we were kids we had access to shotgun ammo from the old man to make various 'bombs' etc.. can't get them now unfortunately ;)

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1 hour ago, Pig of the Week said:

Very true, though when we were kids we had access to shotgun ammo from the old man to make various 'bombs' etc.. can't get them now unfortunately ;)

Okay, okay, you're right, the world is not perfect, but we still have an opportunity to get nitrous oxide :rofl:

 

Vytautas

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