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HERMAN BIX wrote:

BarryC wrote:

HERMAN BIX wrote: (if ever) it gets there

I feel the same with my approaching 4 years in the works project!

Glad I could help.

Barry

Yeah, but thats only 5 minutes in your actual years

Been a while...............house move, end of year dramas with work, the usual

Finally secured the blade to the Panther hull.
Top mounting arms soldered to the upper blade and they're pretty robust.
The arms are bolted to the hull through the normal shackle points with 3mm hex head cap bolts with nylock nuts.
Now done, I can get on with the internals & look to secure the hull halves ready for final assembly and detailing.
Perfect or not, its gong to be a fair representation of a 'D', let alone an example of what the sole Ramschaufelpanzer might have looked like.

Love the work on the brass, it brings character to the finish that styrene can't. Awesome work

Nothing screams progress like primer !!

I counted rivets.................well, the holes for them anyway.
Theres 49 along the top edge of the blade that secures the angled edge to the blade plates.............all 0.5mm diameter & 3 drill bits later.
I think I should have spaced them better to get the 50.
Keeping with the quintessential German efficiency of things, 49 seems an odd number
Dress making pins will provide the right look.
Also got the exhaust tube support bracket strap fab'd up out of P.E. sprue. Just have to get it assembled and on.
The rear plate has a bit to do on it to get it close to a 'D' spec.
For starters I overlooked the 'G' towing hitch. The 'D' did not have one.
Its gone now, in a swift and brutal act of screwdriver savagery, levered out of its mounting slots & flung to the wind.
Once its cleansed of my shortsightedness and the putty dries, the jack holders will be added.
After the pain in the but-tockks that was the spare track hangers I made on my Zu-fuss Panther ages ago & swore I would never make them again, I went in search of 'bought ones'........
Yeah, easy?.....nah!........nope, cant find them.
Any direction gratefully accepted, but not if they need to come from Asiatam
Its all about outer hull detailing now, then running gear & paint.

Ludwig now has a set for the Ausf D/A

That plough seems to tell me that making track hangers out of the spare brass will be a piece of cake for you

ronnie42 wrote:That plough seems to tell me that making track hangers out of the spare brass will be a piece of cake for you

Damn !! You weren’t supposed to say that
Your right of course, but after doing one set I promised myself to buy the next one!
It’s a moral thing

Been a bit slow here with the xmas over-indulgence time upon us.
Have got on with making a set of spare track hangers much against my better judgement and common sense.
They are not perfect but will do as this wont have any track links hung.
The probable blade support wheels (and they are only probable due to no info, and pics of a wheel on the front of the blade) have been secured & seem to offer the right representation.
Pz1 3D printed leading roadwheels are fitted to spare Taigen Tiger swing arms that are drilled out & soldered to a brass tube(toob for you left -hand drivers!)
Ive doubled up on the base plate section of this as its going to see a lot of force when its being used.
Now I have to get the elevation screw & handwheel on.
Sure doesn't look like much, but there was a lot of hit & miss that went into it.

The exhaust support straps were also made out of Aber Panther schurzen plate sprue left over from a mates project.
Its a good enough impression of one but they dont photograph very well !

Once the blade support is done, I can fit the detail bits & move to paint.

This is going to be a truly unique model in this scale!

Great work thus far Herman.

Barry