The Blitz trucks were often overloaded. To the point that later in the war booster springs were added to the rear on the production vehicle and the rating was raised to 4 tons. The 115 trailer was load rated between 8 and 10 tons. Eight Blitz tires and rims, I would think, could certainly carry that load. (Remember the weight of the trailer structure also, so you are really talking more like 12.5 tons total.) I would use AM resin replacement tires rather than the Italeri offerings. If you can find the more correct Mercedes two hole rims that would be great too.

We need a wheel expert ( of which there are several here on the Armorama site ) to "weigh" in on this question. ( pun intended!)!

Hi. I copy you on the Mercedes rims, they look convincing to me. I found some from Panzer Art, only thing is I did not find a review on the item. Panzer Art website only shows the front tires and rims of the truck. Another thing is that I have a Büssing NAG 4500S coming in to tow the Sd.Ah 115. That is a 7.2 Tons truck. See what AFV Club offers for axle and wheels/rims. And details for drum brakes will be shown (I hope) expected from AFV Club.

Looking closer to the the front, where the triangle is attached, I'm a bit confused. I found a picture of the Sd.Ah.115 showing lots of differences with the ones I found on the net.





Looking at the first photo the triangle is attached in a 60 º down angle, to meet a horizontal level with the tow truck, I think. Second is not really clear on that. Also seen on the scratch build model earlier in this thread. Might redo the triangle when I find more evidence on this delicate piece of construction.

Kind regards,

Robert Jan

Please, Forgive me if you are already aware of this:

The forward half of the flat load bed floor are actually loose ramps. The front end of these ramps can be picked up, raised, slid forward and hooked onto the top rear edge of that sloped front deck. Thereby forming a ramp that a Pv. I or. Pz. 2 could climb into the back of the towing truck thus caring a total of two tanks.

This ramp could also be used to load tanks onto railroad flat cars, which, I must say, sounds like a very interesting diorama!

p.s. - The frame of the triangle sits level as does the trailer structure it pivots on. Only the top tread ramps slant upwards.

I dont know about a Panzer I or II, but if you look closely at the photo pf the "civilianized" version there's a Tiger I being carried in the trailer bed!
VR Russ

Here's my latest. Hobby Boss Zis-5 converted to a 1930 Autocar SA Dispatch 2 ton truck. Inspired by a water truck on site in a 1930 photo.

Tank and dump bed were scratchbuilt

Someone already did a great diorama with it. Showing exactly what Michael mentioned. I found a great source about this transporter. More infos later.

Photos come from the Elite model site, owned by Hubert Mörs. Represents the 10 Tons Sd.Ah. 115, towed by a Faun L900 D567.





Kind regards,

Robert Jan

This information comes from The Axis History Forum:

The folowing was taken from 'German Miltary Transport of World War two', by John Milsom.

The earliest tank-transporter trailers, intorduced before the war, were in two load classes - designed specifically for carrying the PzKpfw I and II respectively. One of these had an 8-ton rating and the other a 10-ton rating.

The only tank-transporter trailer in common use thoughout the greater part of the war ws one of 22 to 23-ton capacity, although trailers of 45-tons and 60-tons capacity were developed and standardised - without, however, being encountered in the field. A few specimens of 68-ton trailer for the Tiger II tank were encountered.
The 8- and 10-ton types, both known as Sd.Ah.115, were low loading trailers having a single pair of twin wheels with pneumatic tyres at either end. The front axle was arranged for fifth-wheel steering and supported the raised front end of the platform through its loading position on the ground. Ramps could be inserted from the loading platform to the top of the raised front portion enabling the entire trailer to be used as a ramp for loading the tank on to a railway flat or heavy lorry of the Faun L.900 D567 type.The unladen weight of the trailer was 5-tons and the overall length 31 ft, the width 8 ft and the height (unladen) 4 ft 9 in. It was manufactured by Wagen-und Maschinen AG vorm. Busch of Bautzen.

The 22-ton tank-transporter trailer (Sd.Ah.116) - later rated to carry 23-tons - differed from the previous model in having the loading platform suspended between two bogies, each with two pairs of single pneumatic-tyred wheels. Both pairs of wheels on the front bogie steered fromthe draw-bar by means of an arrangement of tie-rods. There was a similar arrangement at the rear, where a light draw-bar was provided for handling the bogie when detached; but in addition, a steering wheel with a compressed-air servo mechanism was provided for the use of an operator required to look after the rear end of the vehicle during travel (the driver of the trailer had to demonstrate driving ability equivalent to that of a holder of a Class 2 driver's licence). For raising and lowering the platform, hand-operated winches were used on the earlier models and hydraulic jacks on the later ones. The draw-bar could be locked in the central position. The earlier models were provided with special ramps to enable them to be used for loading railway flats over the front end of the transporter. The unladen weight of the trailer was 11 3/4 -tons, the overall length 45 ft 6 in, the width 9 ft 9 in and overall height (unladen) 8 ft. It was built by Robert Schenk, Waggon-Fabrik, Stuttgart-Feuerbach.

Photo comes from the same article mentioned in the text above.


Confirms the different shape for the construction of the triangle to the fifth wheel steering.

Kind regards,

Robert Jan

LOL (imagine the weight)

Kind regards,

Robert Jan

Does anyone know the backstory of that photo? Looks like a 1/16 scale Tiger to me, but it's hard to tell from the photo.
VR, Russ

Russ, you really had me going. I was looking all over for some sort of civilian trailer carrying a Tiger I which would be a rare sight indeed.

There are however photos of a US Recovery team that salvaged the Tiger II that now resides at Ft. Benning . They loaded it on a Dragon Wagon trailer. That night some of the trailer tires caught fire and burned due to the heat and preasure generated by the massive weight.

Robert, it looks like your triangle is A-OK but that the connecting hinges on the fifth wheel steering frame were actually depressed (lowered) on the real 115. That seems an easy enough fix. Cut the current hinges off and build four angled gusset plates to lower the attachment height between the steering frame and the triangle about 6 - 10 inches.

Perhaps this will help.

Hello.
We had National Holiday day, so time to get some thing done. With all the photos on the web, showing a different design of the triangle for the Sd.Ah.115, I decided to rework the thing. Also made some changes to te front of the trailer. Bit of cutting and re-placing. Filled down the air lines and made new ones. Fifth wheel made out of styrene. Photos...



























I think it is much better now. So hopefully my aftermarket items arrived when I come back to the office. Decided to go for the Büssing NAG L4500S upgrades. But lots of more interesting material is coming very soon.

Comments are welcome. Enjoy the weekend everyone!

Kind regards,

Robert Jan

Perfect work Robert! Glad you decided to rebuild the triangle (trailer tongue) using the C channel stock. Makes it look more delicate and more highly detailed than the kit part. Kudos!

Thanks for the kind words Michael and others.
Anyone a good tip for anti skid plate the Germans used?
Kind regards,

Robert Jan

You guys are amazing! So glad this blog exists. Inspirational.

Sorry if I misled you, I was referring to the modern color photo Robert Jan posted of the Sd Ah 115 on July 24th above. If you look really closely in the bed of the trailer, some joker has placed what looks like a 1/16th model of a Tiger 1. The trailer looks like it's been updated with modern civilian tires. I was wondering where the trailer resides.
VR, Russ

Last week I had a holiday with my Significant Other/Chief of Staff.
Spent 5 days in the mountains, then drove to the seaside for the weekend.
Made a short stop at Yambol's Museum of Battle Glory(too short in my opinion vs. too long according to my sweetheart ).

It paid off for me, because I found the subject of my next scratchbuilding project- an intact Sd.Ah.106 Backanhänger:

Hi Angel.
That's a great scoop for scratch building. Nice photos. I'm totally happy with my mailman today as I received the tires and rims for my Sd.Ah.115. Absolute superb quality resin. Also received the towing truck, AFV's Büssing L4500S.
Two set needed for the Sd.Ah.115 and one set still to come in as replacement for the AFV rubber tires. It's Fulda Ballon v.s. Continentals from the late thirties.

Amazing...









Photos of the AFV kit will be in a separate blog later this year.
Whilst waiting for these sets, I started on the Feuerleit Panzer, my second conversion kit. I will use the Dragon Sd.Kfz.7.3 kit to build up this 'mobile bunker'.
The resin for this conversion, again, is a real drama. So I started to reproduce all elements in styrene over the past weekend.
Photos will follow later, comparing the complete set v.s. the rebuild of the almost everything purchased from 'The Custom Scale company'.

Have a nice evening,

Robert Jan

Hi. Just a little curious how everything will come together. Dry fit of the wheels:







Needs some work, but I'm happy so far.

The load for the Sd.Ah.115.
A real good resin model to my opinion, yes there is some positive news on the Custom Scale kit.







Have a nice evening.

Kind regards,

Robert Jan

Super nice. Love those resin tires!

Robert, I enjoy your scratch-conversion-build very much!

Hi Angel. Thanks for the kind words.
In fact this thread is what modelling is all about. Leave the comfort zone and dig for more and learn from others. Do some reading and try to understand the designs. Your models look great too. Seen some in other threads.
Keep up the good work everybody.

Kind regards,

Robert Jan

Robert you just said a mouth full! Here, here!

The photos of the oven trailer are a real find! Someone (U-Models/Scale-Link) I think, makes this cooker in 1/35th resin.

Thanks for the info,Mike!

Sofar I've only found an 1/35th resin kit offered by Elitemodels/Militärmodellbau Hubert Mörs from Germany(kit #3527a).They have also the Teigknettanhänger/Sd.Kfz.35.

I started my build 4 days ago-this is my progress sofar: