NCAJ Panzerjaegerwagen 1:25 (GPM)

[redhorse]

Don't see the warping from here, so I figure you've solved most of the problems

It's looking good, I like trains and I like tanks - and this is just a really cool build!

[cjwalas]

Looks great so far. There doesn't appear to be any warping from what I can see in the photos. looks very clean and coming along very well indeed!
Chris

[shrike]

The warpage is still there and did cause a fit problem with one end of the superstructure skin. There is about a 2mm crown to the deck leading to a gap of approx 1mm at the lower corners. (picture #3 below, out of focus unfortunately). I may cover it with a rolled tarp when I finish up.

I added the skin and firing ports and hatches (pic#2 also crappy focus) which added a little surface interest. There are armour plates to be added, but I think it's time to turn it over and finish up the running gear before adding anything more fragile.

Only four wheels to do on this one, luckily enough. I cheated just a little by finding a hole punch close enough to the axle size (3/16 for those taking notes)

BTW Prismacolor's Putty/Mastic is a decent match for the base dunkelgelb for edge colouring.

[birder]

Looks good Shrike! Quite a reach for an airplane builder, but looks good to me. Would it need a section of track?

[shrike]

A section of track would be a great idea. I know there is at least one available, but it would have to be rescaled. I might cheat and do it parked on a section of urban track or a road crossing. Something smooth with slots<G>

Not a lot of visible progress this time aroud. I've been working on the undercarriage, almost all of which will be completely hidden by the side skirts anyway. I'm sure the skirts annoyed the Reichsbahn mechanics as much as they have me so far.

Here's one of those dilemnas about where to depart form the sequence suggested by the instructions. The sideskirts add much needed rigidity to the model as a whole, but they get in the way of fitting the wheels, springs brakes et c. I would recommend to anyone building this to skip ahead tothe running gear (parts 8a though 10d) before adding the sideskirts (parts 1h). I had thought about it myself, but since this is unfamiliar territory, I decided to stick to the numbered sequence. Live and learn.

[shrike]

More work on the undercarriage. First picture is all of the bits that go around the wheels themselves. Springs, spring hangers and brake shoes.

Second pic is the SMFFM being kind for once. A close up of the wheel all together. Probably the last anyone will see of it, as there are armoured covers over them that will come next. I also added the aft underbody armour plate and the snow-plow/cow-catcher/bulldozer/partisan scraper to finish up the underside.

Next after the side skirts (but no curb-feelers - bummer) will be the buffers and couplers. One observation is that this car has a set of conventional buffers on the front and a unitized semi-permanent coupling on the back. I know these trains were kept together as units whilst in operation, but I wonder if that caused headaches transporting elements around, and during the near constant shuffling of componants during refits.

[dansls1]

Looking good - very clean!

[Don Boose]

The entire construction is excellent -- the wheels are exceptionally realistic!

Don

[shrike]

Working on a few greebly sub-assemblies and realized that I was remiss in taking pictures as I went.

Here is the box shaped unitary coupler (not sure what the proper nomenclature is, so that will have to do) for the aft end.

The lanterns for the forward end. They look to be removable in the same fashion as US type, albeit a bit larger. The blackout precautions seen to have left them completely painted over. I didn't see a lens of any kind.

And one of the buffers.

None of them presented any challenges. There were a few mis-numbered parts, but they were grouped together it was obvious what was what.

[shrike]

Various couplers and things attached, time to move on to the turret.