Thanks for the complements guys and I would love to build my JS-2 with the big OKW on the side of the turret but I have a large project planned for the Artillery Campaign starting October 1st, so please check in over there as I will continue to check in here

Updates to P'Bob's once-Italian - now - German Semovente da 47/32 project:

OK. Finally got started as of 16 SEP 2011... so here's my "dated start-up pic" with sprues, PE, decals against the trusty laptop - and - internet screen (we DO trust our internet, don't we? ). Hey. Better late start than never!



That was Friday - last. And I jumped in and did some de-bagging of sprues this weekend - big things start out small, right? What do we get from the baggies? We see gray styrene pretty cleanly molded with some ugly sink-holes and some flash here and there, fairly nice detail, some tiny link-and-length track bits, nice decals, a small-but-nice PE fret. And the instructions open to a pretty nice B&W depiction of what I'm going for - a German machine used in rear areas in Italy and over in Slovenia in 1944.



Had biggish plans for Friday PM, but found I needed to do some fix-ups on builds for the Covington,LA model show Sat, so Da semovente actually got underway Sunday nite...

Notably, this thing is TINY. Right about the same size as a 1/35 Pz 1A or 1B kit.

I started my adventures with the hull tub... You get to build it from flats, and there's room for error . And the seams are a little ugly, but nothing judicious filling with thinned putty won't address. Early-on, as I did the flats, I tried to fix those sink-holes... several were strategically located where they can be seen and fully-appreciated . In the assembled hull, you now see sanded putty fill-ins. Hope they work! . They look better in person than in the pic. You'll also see the 1-piece drive affair. I'm looking for some things to add to this but don't have any real data as to what it looked like and what details were attached (HINT! HELP!)



I did find some simple tweaks to do on the outside of the hull - each side has these 2 molded-on brackets which anchor the suspension units in a sliding configuration. A little X-acto work opens the lip and should make for a better look... of course, that is IF anyone can see these after the suspension goes on . If not, at least I "will know it's there"! I also found that scoring-in around some of the "applique bits" makes them stand out a little and will help when pin-washing for detail...

Before:


After:


More exciting, perhaps, was my discovering a pic showing some of the interior... I found that there were all sorts of gussets or flanges used for rivetting this beast together, and visible in the crew compartment. Italeri generously left these for the modeler to do as he/she might wish . A little 0.010 styrene sheet and stretched spru later...



The fire-wall... those big holes evidently are supposed to just be there (no parts for them nor directions about them)... I think they could have been air-ways into the radiator, kind of like in a SdKfz 223 - type armored car. I think they probably had some mesh or grill, so I'll add this in.

The kit does have interior: seats, a drive-line, shift and brake levers for the driver, etc. And of course the gun . I'll paint the inside first (buff sides, maybe some Italian green or something on the floor?) and then add in the bits and other details. That will come tonite++

Also cleaned up and assembled the wheels, the rear deck cover (pretty nice hatches, etc.), and did a little on the back plate. More later!

Bob

@ Klinker:




Sorry I didn't get these up sooner, as you had suggested! Of course, this little beast is NOT wearing some different flag - just a less-typical time-period (1937 Zirndorf maneuvers) and paint-scheme (feuersicher buntfarbenanstrich) than usually seen amongst the panzer crowd! The red & white bunting around the turret is that cloth? strip seen on some tanks in maneuvers of that time - signifying company commanders? or maybe training umpires? It's the Tristar 35003 kit with a little styrene detailing and a copper-wire tow-rope. Probably you-all will see some odd track-links with "non-sculpted" teeth... the ModelKasten links from the kit had no spares and were extremely fragile... so I had to fit in some from other sources (a Dragon Pz 1A flak, I think...) to make up my losses.

Enjoy! Comments are, of course, always appreciated.

Bob

Ok to make it all proper heres that pic of the newspaper with todays date ..that will sort it nicely




Now to get the gun for it and with a set of brass barrels to go with it too and i might just throw a PE set in there too .

@ Bob - Welcome to the Italeri sink hole appreciation society!
Did I hear you mention you'd like to know what the interior of your Semovente looks like? Well, pull up a chair and have a look: surprise!
Hope it's what you're after!
Cheers,
Dierk

@Dierk:

Thanks!

Been to AFVInteriors before, for stuff on my sdkfz 223 I'm doing up for the command campaign - probably glanced right past the bits the site posts ref Italian stuff!

There's some stuff that'll help - I think I can sort of piece together some detailing around the driver's area and the brakes and tranny based on the M13 stuff shown. Too bad that they don't appear to have anything actually dealing specifically with the L6/40 vehicles (including my semo-dinky-vente L40). The L/40 was somewhat wierdly reversed inside from its larger cousin, the M13 series tanks. In the L/40 semo, the driver sat to the right - so controls and such get flipped over. But the diags and a couple of photos do suggest some things I might do - and, hey, probably few can nay-say whatever I fiddle in, given as we have such a huge plethora of great info sources

I always imagine that there was some set of manuals, builder's photos and diags assembled and put into some archive somewhere - but we seldom seem to find these!

Tonite I'll be fiddlin' around "under the hood" and seeing if I can make the tranny and brakes, et alia, look any more interesting - oh, and yeah, my membership in that sink-hole appreciation soc. is in good order, I think: probably be ducking around one or a dozen more of those fab Italeri sinkies as I toddle along in this thing!

Cheers! Bob

everybody, progress has been somewhat haphazard - often involving the time-honoured tradition of 'one step forward, two steps back'
When I referred to the kit as 'Joan Rivers' it was supposed be a bit of a joke - it turns out it's a very accurate description...this kit requires A LOT of surgery!
Thanks to Mauro ( ) I now have some 1/35 scale blueprints (step forward) which high-lighted the fact that the barrel (which I'd already glued into place) was 11mm too long. I decided that cutting down the plastic mantlet insert would be easier than sawing the metal barrel...the knock-on effect was that by doing so it killed the friction-fit of mantlet and insert, causing the barrel to develop a serious case of 'brewer's droop' (one step back...) to counter-act this I glued a couple of coins of the realm (god save the queen, etc) into the breech. The effect on the barrel was 'viagra-esque' (second step back) but once I fitted the turret to the hull I found the pennies in the breech sat perfectly on the hull, putting the barrel in a perfectly level position (another step forward ) But also managed to snap off the lifting eye from the mantlet in the process...
Thankfully I checked my references before hacking off the mountings for the drive axles - the bolt detail on the Aber PE is wrong - it shows nuts (that you are supposed to glue little bits of sprue into so simulate a bit of bolt sticking out) but they should be slotted hex nuts - so I'm combining the best bits of the PE with the remaining plastic and adding Masterclub nuts (which I'm hoping the UK supplier is going to send me as replacement for the hex-bolts that got lost in the post...)
I've added a load more PE screw and weld detail - with all the added metal, this thing is going to weigh almost as much as the real thing
Cheers,
Dierk

Well "kitdoctor" Dierk, you have a difficult patient
I hope it will turn out oke...keep my fingers crossed for you
If you need any info on your t-34 on the allied vehicles campain let me know.

Regards,

Remco

@ Remco - 'kitdoctor'? If that's the case I'm afraid my 'patient' will be suing me for malpractice any time soon
Although I have accumulated quite a bit of material, you can never have enough information, so any help you can provide on the T-34 will be gratefully received - especially regarding the kit itself. Have you come across any foibles? Being a Dragon kit I expect one or (a lot) more pitfalls as far as the instructions go
I had intended to finish this patient off first before butchering the next one but I may have to a bit of T-34ing for relaxation
Cheers,
Dierk

Just remember one thing Dierk, nice doctors don't get sewed . You are doing a great job! I wil send you a pm about the t-34. Supricingly this dragon kit is actually "a walk in the park". The biggest thing to do is cleaning the ejectormarks from the tracks...
Now i am on vacation in south Germany with no kits
But i wil send you the info as soon as i return

Regards,

Remco

Oh, man. That is one frightening thought: kits suing their builders for malpractice! I would get out of the hobby FAST!

Remco/Garry....

Bob......Thanks for the Pz1 pic's, tempted to build a Pz1 for the light tank campaign!!

Dierk.....You've got a fight on your hands but your doing some great work with the old girl!

everybody!
Some progress to report - the backing-plate is about half-way finished:



70 odd nuts, bolts and rivets of various sizes later, I've only got to fit about 14 more



Just another 30 bolts to fit to the lower hull now - thankfully I got a new toy: and Archimedes hand drill that makes the job of turning Joan Rivers into a Swiss cheese much easier.

See you later,
Dierk

Hey guys

I have updated the towing hooks. I was not satisfied with the early result, so i start making new ones...

The old...



The new...



Regards,

Remco

Bob... Just re-read your post here's a Semovente interior ...

Hope this helps, I'm still not getting any update notifications so I'm sorry for missing peoples posts

Dierk....... Your certainly putting a lot of effort into that Pz IV great stuff.

Remco... The same goes for you too, some great work going on.

Hi guys!

I've really been trying to come up with something really unusual for this campaign as it'd sure be nice to actually build something rather than just creating pieces for others. After a lot of thought I came up with something and I wanted to see if anyone else thought it'd be a good idea.

I have an old 1/24 Italeri Opel that I was thinking of converting into either a Blitz or a Maultier in Russian service. I've come up with most of the conversion pieces to make a Blitz already and have most of the Maultier parts prototyped as well so the project is possible at least. I even have a sizable selection of Russian weapons and equipment to pile onto it as well.

What do you think the chances are that the Russians would use either of these vehicles if captured? And if they would use them, would they likely repaint them or simply blot out the insignia? What do you think?

Jim
Large Scale Armory

I'm afraid I'll have to put 'Joan Rivers' on the back-burner for a while - she hasn't realised that - ultimately - resistance is futile and is putting up a bit of a fight, so I'll be stuffing her back in the box to cool down a bit...besides we'll be getting a new kitchen and bathroom fitted in the next couple of days which won't be conducive to intricate modelling!

@ Jim - great project! Have a look here: http://www.o5m6.de/ForeignTrucks.html#SoftGer_45 that should answer most of your questions, I hope. The Russians probably didn't bother repainting soft-skins and often just crossed-out the German markings and painted their own on. Not sure if they'd have bothered to arm them, as they had a chronic shortage of cargo vehicles with off-road abilities...then again, they armed some of their own trucks, so I'd say go for it!

Cheers,
Dierk

Duncan:

Thanks for posting the semovente pics. As it turns out, there seems to be about these two and maybe a couple other very blurry photos showing much of the interior of this little beastie... guess the factory and nobody else either wanted overly-much to take pics of the inside! (This can't be any sort of then-current expression as to what people thought of it.... ) There are a fair number of pics of the vehicle itself in various locations and in Italian, German, and Slovenian service, as well as that relic at Aberdeen. But no good stuff on the interior!

But every little bit helps!

Bob

James.... I think a captures Opel Blitz or Maultier would have been pressed straight into service with the Red Army as where many other Wehrmacht vehicles.
Here's a Benz Maultier or a US Army G.I putting a Opel variant to use, possible after the Ardennes offensive.

Bob.... did you check out Dierk's Link ? excellent information.

Verry nice links Dierk

I love the truck link! Nice drawings and good info!

Thanks guys! Seeing actual photos means that it is plausible that either of these vehicles could have ended up being used against their former owners. I think that between depicting US use or Russian use that I'd have to go with the Russians. Mainly due to the fact that the Russians had a greater reputation for grabbing nearly everything they could use for anything.

This is great! Now I've only to decide between the Blitz (an easy build) or the Maultier (an insanely difficult one). I've got lots of personal weapons and equipment to have laying on and in it as well as some interesting pieces to fill up the cargo area. This build will give me a good excuse to finally paint up some of these pieces I've spent all this time casting!

thanks!
Jim
Large Scale Armory

James.... Looking forward to seeing your build, I did say in the Rules that there were no 'What If's' but I think your Blitz or the Maultier, are 'Very, very likely' just like the T34 88 talked about earlier in this thread, so therefore allowed.

All the best Duncan.

Duncan;

On Dierck's link: Yeap! been there and admired the pics. Alas, it bears out what I've seen to be the case... little around on the Semovente - da L6 47/32 (my piddly little subject). It's larger and maybe more effective cuz, the Semovente da 75/18, built on the M-40 chassis, has certes enjoyed a bit more coverage, as seen on that link! Frustrating as all h--l!

So, heck, I'll just fly with what I got! And hope no show-judge actually knows what-all is inside the real thing

Bob

Hey guys

@ James- No worry James. The Maultier used the panzer one drivetrain and tracks. But in 1/24 scale its a callange .

Here is my progress till now





Now its time to build the fenders and the tracks
The tracks are from masterclub. I have put some upgrades by drilling out the pinholes (4 holes on a track ) Yes...you must have patience or be nuts

Regards,

Remco