Early GPM SdKfz 251

[Siwi]

This kit is a delightful pig's ear. Those hand-drawn gauges! Camo that looks like it was smudged on by the office dog! Literally none of the parts fit!

[Amccombs3]

Sardines? If only. They’re oysters. (Urrrrghhh)

I cut off the offending half-inch on the S2 reinforcement, and after that the reinforcements fit quite nicely, so I glued them in, as well as the inner walls. Photos below. I was about to put in the dashboard assembly, but I think I’ll wait and see how the floor goes.

[rockpaperscissor]

Truly a culinary nightmare.

As to your model, it's really starting to look good thanks to your workarounds. I have a couple of older GPM armor kits myself, and they all seem to share the same color palette.

[Amccombs3]

I hoped to post pictures, but I don’t feel like learning a new picture-sharing app at the moment, so I’ll just do a progress/problems report. I was in the mood to cut out circles on the weekend, and on a vehicle that has two tires, two idlers, and twelve road wheels it was easy to find parts to satisfy the urge. I haven’t run out of circles, but I made a good start. It was restful cutting out the circles because I didn’t have to solve any fit issues or knotty geometry puzzles.

Then I returned to large body parts. Fit problems continue to abound. Parts are routinely misnumbered, wherein the same part number differs between the parts sheet and the diagrams. Some parts are laminated for no apparent reason. I have NO idea where parts 12d (2 parts) or 12e go — they aren’t shown anywhere in the drawings (although part 12c is mislabeled as 12e). When I can upload pictures I will ask for suggestions.

I am going to have serious problems with the floor. It’s too long, and decreasing the length is going to be tricky due to the interior parts that get glued to it.

On a positive note, I’ve finally figured out the origami for the outer sides (parts 8), and I think I *might* just have sussed the location for part 31 (don’t ask me why part 31 is supposed to go in so early). Each side has three storage bins, which are layered to provide a little depth. GPM cheerfully says that I need to supply my own padlocks. Really, GPM? You couldn’t print six teensy padlocks for me?!? (They will be all of an eighth of an inch tall.)

I just spent a few minutes searching for a part which I apparently hallucinated, since it doesn’t seem to exist. To be exact, I was searching for the left-side part, since I’d thought I’d seen the right-side, and now neither of them are here. I should probably quit for the night.

[SJPONeill]

Originally Posted by Amccombs3

I hoped to post pictures, but I don’t feel like learning a new picture-sharing app at the moment, so I’ll just do a progress/problems report.

This happened on another site I frequent so I just set up a free blog at Wordpress.com (Simon's Models) to load my images online and then just used the image address once that post was published to link into my posts on that site.

Then I started to draft my posts on the wordpress site and now I look on it as a back up for my posted in content in case something happens to the forum...

[Amccombs3]

Looks like offsite images will be the way we do things for a while here, so I’ll try. I’m following Texman’s instructions for IMGBB.COM. It took a couple of tries, but they seem to be working now.

I’ve been alternating between cutting out circles (for wheels)and making subassemblies. Here are the subassemblies:

They include the sides, back end, top front (hood), front fenders, dashboard, and floor.

I added some gluing tabs to the back to attach the back end. After this picture was taken, I added more gluing strips and attached the inner back end piece. So far so good. Yes, the floor is a little cockeyed — this appears to be my fault, not the kit’s.


There are some mystery parts. I have no idea where parts 12d or 12e go, though they must be part of the hood. Parts 13a are front fender parts. Their position is a mystery right now, but things may become clearer when I start fitting the fenders.


I had to shorten the floor a LOT — over half an inch — for the dashboard to have any chance of fitting at all. I think I’ve adjusted it fairly inconspicuously. The floor needs to go in before the dashboard, so I built it up with all its details, and I’ve glued it in now. At that point I had to quit because I’d run out of glue.

I do not understand the economy. Today I shopped for a small bottle of Elmer’s Glue-All, my preferred glue. It was $3.99 at the craft store, but they were out of stock. I found it in stock at the local CVS drugstore for $3.49, but by the time I applied a coupon plus a discount, it cost me $1.18. I’m happy but rather amazed by the price difference on such a standard item.

[modelperry]

Parts 12 look to me to.be some sort of vision port cover over a side window or something. The only thing I can think of for 13 is a mounting post for a light, horn, flag mast or something.

Greg

[Amccombs3]

Greg — I agree that parts 12c (with the camo) are the driver’s vision port. I’ve tried to think of a way that 12e could be a part of the port, but it doesn’t compute. More investigation needed. Maybe 12d is a mounting post, I don’t know. It’s the biggest mystery. I think 13a is going to turn out to be part of the fender — I’ll find out when I fit the fenders. I was about to resume working on the model when the cat decided to sit on me just now.

[Amccombs3]

I’ve been working on the interior for the last few days. It’s been a pleasant respite from this kit’s problems, since most of these parts are small boxes and cylinders without any need for exact fit. I had to color the fire extinguisher red myself (I used a Prismacolor colored pencil) — GPM had apparently used up its ink budget on black, olive green, red-brown, and lots of school-bus yellow. I’m not convinced that the German fire extinguishers were red, but it adds a nice contrast to the interior. The steering wheel is unfortunately really ugly because the cardboard that I backed it with does not accept edge coloring well. Lesson learned on that one.

Here are some pictures.

[Amccombs3]

Ooh! I’ve been gluing big pieces together, and to my surprise, it is starting to resemble the vehicle it is supposed to be. This is very encouraging. Fit has a few flaws here and there, but overall it’s not too bad. Still garish colors, of course. I think I will work on wheels next.