RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

Absolutely amazing
Great work

Hi,

Thank you everyone for your encouragements. I think it is going well.

This post is for the Idler wheel.

All versions of both Hummel and Nashorn were equipped with early style Panzer IV idler wheels.
Before figuring out the track adjuster arrangement, i want to see the inside of the hull where it connects. These central parts were installed as per pictures.
This is what i wanted to see. There is a plasticard part that need to be glued against the rear walls. It both serve as reinforcement for the Idler arrangement and base for the fighting compartment floor that will sit on it. I determined it is 7mm too high + 2mm for the thickness of the floor for a total of 9mm that need to be cut before this part is glued in place.
After the cut, the parts are permanently glued.
Mato Metal Panzer IV idler wheels with ball bearing are used. For the adjuster, i cannibalized a Mato Sherman idler adjuster to reuse the central axel.
The internal size of the Mato ball bearings are the same between the Sherman and Panzer IV idler, the axel is simply connected to the Panzer IV idler wheel with the same bolt and washer. Not everything has to be a struggle...
View of the Tamiya chassis next to the Ludwig. I could previously see that the pre-drilled hole was not correctly located, too high, too much forward and is too big. It is probably designed for a Henntec idler adjuster/tensioner. When i ordered one from Henntec in Germany, Guido cancelled the order indicating that he no longer ships to America during the pandemic. Which leaves me to design and build my own track adjuster.
Might as well do something that looks like the real thing. Close up on the Tamiya idler external arrangement.
First task was to create a core body for the idler adjuster axel. As seen on many items on my past builds, It is made of overlapping brass tubes, from the size required for the Mato axel, and going up to the required size for the look and feel. What is important is to have brass tubes of the same brand designed to easily overlap, otherwise it could end up to be a frustrating struggle.
The pre-drilled holes are fully plugged inside and out, and measurements are extrapolated from the 1/35 kit for the placement of the new Idler wheel axel.
Continuing on following post

New hole is made.
After gluing the overlapping tubes, the new idler adjuster body is positioned at the right depth, glued and reinforced in place. The idler need to be perfectly aligned with the road wheels.
View of the Hummel track adjuster. Notice the presence of a device to push loose track pins back inside the track as the tank advances or back up, its called a Ketten-Abstandshalter, something i have only seen on the Hummel and Nashorn.
This device is on sale from a seller on eBay Germany. For the cost, it saves a lot of scratchbuilding time.
Views of the new base for the track adjuster with the Ketten-Abstandshalter.
Views with the idler wheel installed. It works perfectly. It might look like this was easy but it was a lot of work, taking at least 4 hours.
The model as it stands today.
Regards, Louis

Hi,

This post is for the howitzer platform.

View of the Tamiya early production hummel. What is of interest here is the howitzer platform for the mount and the floor of the fighting compartment for the crew. Lots of details that will be reproduced later. Notice the lozenge style tread plates. Measurements are taken to verify the Ludwig dimensions. Ludwig dimensions are usually very good but because the floor was 9mm to high (corrected yesterday), i had strong suspicions of other issues.
For now, the Ludwig parts are assembled for the central mount.
All the electronics will need to reside under the gun mount. There is only enough space at the back to place the battery, The main gun platform part is installed. It was later given a reinforcement beams under it at the front.
Now, let's see the situation. It does not take long to notice a major problem. The gun platform is short by 14.3mm compared to the Tamiya dimensions extrapolated to 1/16. I do not mind 1 to 3mm but 14.3mm, that won't go unnoticed. You can actually see the issue and gap just by eyeballing it. It would likely be an issue mounting the gun as well. After some analysis, it needs to be extended at the front and rear. I am noticing that the angle of the glacis is too small so the extension at the front will solve this issue at the same time. The fighting compartment is 9.3mm to long, so extending the gun platform towards the rear will resolve some of it. Humm, i am not happy, Ludwig kit dimensions are usually better than this. I will take time to correct this, something that could have been easily avoided.
An extension of 6.5mm is created for the front. A beam made of 4mm thick plasticard is placed underneath to reinforce the platform.
I decided to add 5mm of plasticard thickness at the back, as it is sloped, it should resolve the gap. First, a rough spacer layer of 3mm is added around the frame.
Then a 2mm plasticard layer is shaped and installed on top for a smooth finish, using Tamiya as reference. The bottom plate is given a small sloped angle. Notice how the floor of the fighting compartment is removable, providing access to the track adjuster. As the central gun platform is fixed, access to the electronics will be though the removable glacis. Not much can be located under the floor at the back other than the battery. I want to put the speakers on the side air vents.
Now, the glacis is 124mm long, perfect. The gun platform is 85mm long, perfect. The crew compartment is still 4mm too long, which corresponds to the overall oversized dimension of the chassis seen before, nothing i can do about it but its better than the previous 9.3mm.
The provided base for the gun mount.
Overview of the model as it stands today.
Regards, Louis

Hi,

Continuing with the build.

Fenders are installed and i made sure the whole length is flat. No issue.
These are the ducts for the air intake, connected of the gun platform. No issue. But as usual, the interlocking joints need work for a smooth finish, first filled with plasticard residue mixed with dust and superglue, then immediately sanded for a smooth and solid finish..
Before the side armor plates are installed, it is the right time to detail the interior under the howitzer and the floor. Getting there, progress is good, not getting bugged down anywhere now, its all cosmetics.
This pipe is a device to bring warm air from the engine to the crew. With an open fighting compartment, the benefits must have been limited unless a tarp is used.
Let's give some treadplates to this floor, an easy step when you have the right material and reference...
The lozenge pattern seen on the 1/35 kits is reproduced using JTT 97457 Tread Plate O-scale, a pretty good match. Comes in large plastic plates, purchased on eBay for a few dollars.

The almost completed floor after an hour of work. Showing treadplates is important for a open fighting compartment like this.
Added the welded reinforcements seen in reference pictures. The two pipes sticking out of the floor are for filling up the fuel tanks under it.
Overview of the model as it stands today.
Next step, the armor plates of the fighting compartment.

Regards, Louis

Hi,
This post is for the armor of the fighting compartment.

As seen in reference pictures, the Hummel and Nashorn side armor was only 10mm thick, good enough to protect only against small arms fire and shrapnel, and no protection against airburst.
The thickness of the 10mm is quite visible.
Sadly, Christian decided to build the armor using 2mm thick plasticard. This equals to a Hummel with 32mm of armor thickness, way too much for this vehicle. It impacts the look and feel.
The side plates are also resting on the fenders instead of enveloping them, which can be made to look ok, but it could have been avoided.
Deep positioning holes and trench like armor separation also pushed me towards creating a new set of armor for the Hummel.
Although a 0.75mm plasticard thickness would have been closer to represent the 10mm of armor, i found it too weak. I opted for a 1mm plasticard, good resistance and which also facilitates the calculations for the required adjustments. To go from 2mm to 1mm plasticard, 1mm was added to the interior sections as the 1mm removed from the armor is given to the overall interior of the vehicle, and as the armor will envelop the fenders, 1mm is removed from them and then given the required angle.
The dimensions of the kit 2mm thick armor sections are excellent and make perfect stencils for the new 1mm thick armor. The kit parts are applied against a 1mm sheet of plasticard with a couple of small drops of superglue and the parts are cut. The new armor is created in minutes.
The armor plates are installed, perfect fit.
This build is a dusty operation.
The back plate needed some adjustment first by removing the resting base for the kit 1mm thick doors. There is no reason for them anymore as the doors are now of the same thickness as the armor, as they should be. Then the creation of the back plate is done using the same process. I added 1mm on each sides to compensate for the reduction of the side armor.

Back plate installed.
Frontal plates need adjustments, repro with same process.
The front panel were put in place with a couple of drops of superglue. I will permanently glue them only after the situation with the howitzer installation has been determined.
View inside the air intakes. By removing the brackets seen between the two holes, i will be able to squeeze in a small speaker on both sides.
Overview of the model as it stands today
Regards, Louis

Good God Almighty! Your modeling skills are so far above it’s incredible. You could put together a beautiful book with color photos and “how to” chapters covering so many different models. It’s always a thread that I have to keep up with for sure.

Ole Chris L doesnt need to make flash instruction manuals..............he can direct customers to Mr Mcq11's builds

Thanks Jimster and Herman, The Ludwig instructions on the Nashorn kit are specially limited, some areas are not shown at all but the hull is not puzzling. The number of parts is limited and its usually obvious how they fit. I am doing a lot of free styling on this one so this is no way a standard kit assembly instruction. As i will not be using the provided 88mm anti-tank gun parts, its a load off because i can see that it would be a struggle to build that 88 and make it look good.

This post is for the air intakes.

Here are the two ref pictures used.
These are the air intake parts provided in the kit. Looking good. No assembly instructions are provided but it takes about 1 minutes to figure out.
Straitforward assembly, no issues.
The resulting parts are impressive. They are a perfect match with the references. When i recall the difficult efforts of cleaning the air intake resin parts on the Juckenburg Nashorn kit, this step is clean, easy and results are excellent.
Some minor adjustments are required to install them. The armor above the air intake was 1mm short so i had to put a plasticard to brigde the gap, and then sand and polished for a seamless finish. This gap also exists on the unused Ludwig armor plate, so the mistake comes from there. To anyone doing the same 1mm thick armor as me, you should leave 1mm of extra armor above the air intake before cutting the part.
Now that the air intakes are in place, i decided to permanently glue the frontal side armor panel to seal that area. When compared to the pictures of the real one, i think this is as close as it can get.
The model as it stands right now. The Hummel is taking shape.
Regards, Louis