Hi All,
I know it's been a while since I posted anything new, but I'm off on another adventure into the wonderful world of styrene, photo-etch and mayhem! This time, I'm tackling Trumpeter's monster railcar: the Panzerjager Triebwagen 51. Did I mention this thing is HUGE? You'll see more as things progress. Here's what the prototype looked like (they only finished one before the war ended):



So, here's what I'll be using for this build:



If you're wondering what the two Italeri Panzer IV's are there for, I've been reading up on the kit online and it seems that the turrets are too tall. These may have to be stand-ins for the kit turret shells if the kit turrets are, indeed, too tall. There's also a set of figures, something I normally don't do (because I kinda suck at it), but with something this big, I'm going to need something give this thing some perspective.

So here's where things stood once the railbed was put together:



Yes, it's nearly 20 inches long! The fit was OK, but not Tamiya, by any means. The rails and ties went together OK, with little drama. I had to turn this:



Into this:



I had gotten some Vallejo liquid plastic putty a while back, so I gave it a try. It worked pretty good and didn't shrink too much, but I still like my Bondo spot putty better. It certainly is cheaper!

Once I had the railbed under control, it was time to move on to actual construction. On the first evening, I got two of these built:





The fit was good and everything went together as advertised. Being that these will basically be invisible once the model is together, I'm not going to spend too much time on them outside of cleaning up the parts and giving it basic paint and weathering. But, that is in the future.

Regards,
Georg

Good to see, I have one of these kits in the stash plus all the Trumpeter kits to do the full BP-42/44 train so I am always interested to see these builds.
It is a big item, especially when compared to a standard piece of WW2 armour.

Cheers

Tony

An interesting subject!

I look forward in following this build.

Regards,

Villiers

Hello Again,
It was a really busy weekend, and by the time i had pictures to post, it was time to get some shut-eye Sunday night. so here's this weekend's wrap up. First, I was able to do some shopping for the build, mainly some more figures:



and some new ballast for the railbed:



So, I've got some more options for figures (I think the dude w/the accordion is definitely in!) and I'll be able to replace the roadbed with some more realistic looking ballast.

One of my big concerns were the Panzer IV turrets that Trumpeter used on this kit. A friend of mine built the single-turreted version and found that the kit turret was too tall (hence the reason for including 2 Italeri Pz IV kits on the opening pic of this build). Well, I have some good news, as the pics below show, the turrets have been corrected!





If anything, the Trumpeter turrets are LOWER than the Italeri one!

In addition (I got a lot done this weekend!) I managed to finish the preliminary build-up of the wheels and bogies. Even though they are going to be invisible when this is built, I am going to paint them on principle.



I plan on using the AK Interactive 1945 German Late War Colors Set Acrylic for this beast.



I've used one of their weathering sets before, but not the regular paint for a paintjob. So, I'm off to the spraybooth tonight to get the first coat on the suspension. More later!
Regards,
Georg

You do know that the road wheels wear set in two axel trucks. The axels wear set up like a heavy flat car like the one from DML. Not the way Trumpeter has you building it.

Fred,
I've got no references on that one, but the model does put the wheels in the same places as the pics have it. So, without any other point of reference, I'm going to go with what the kit has. Thanks anyway.
Regards,
Georg

I will be following this one for sure. All of your builds are very interesting Georg. Great photography, good references and side-by-side comparisons. Really easy to follow and learn too!

I want to build one of these as railroad projects are becoming more and more compelling. Kinda like the movie "Train" with Burt Lancaster. If that doesn't motivate you nothing will.



~ Jeff

Jeff,
Thanks for the kind words. I love this hobby and want to share it with anyone who'll listen. I try to make reading my build logs enjoyable. It looks like I'm at least partially sucessful!
Regards,
Georg

So far it is a great build Georg and one of the few on the net of the Trumpeter rail subjects. The wheel setup is barely visible when the model is completed so I for one will not be altering it when I build mine.

Cheers

Tony

So for 5 star models / Jadar Models has does a correct Panzerjager Triebwagen 51. You can go to their web site and see what the bogies look like. I know the set of track that comes in the kit is strait. But if you rear wanting to do the whole train going through a set of switches you will have to turn that baby. And the way Trumpeter has done the kit it won’t work. The rail car is too long and there weren’t any stationary four axel rail cars.

Hear is a web site that might help you on doing the trucks for your Trib.
http://www.hs-merseburg.de/~nosske/EpocheII/fg/e2f_gwkb.html

Georg nice looking project I will be building this kit later this year for the Steel Wheels Campaign so I will be following your build as well

Fred,
Nope, uh-uh, ain't gonna do it. First, unless I have DETAILED, ACCURATE and CONTEMPORARY information (not a single line drawing of unknown value on an unfamiliar website), everything is just supposition. Might have, could have or should have been doesn't cut it. Second, IT ISN'T WORTH THE WORK, since A. it's going to be on a straight piece of track (so moveable bogies won't be needed) and B. I really don't feel like re-engineering the kit. When you build this behemoth have at it, I'd love to see how you fix it.
Regards,
Georg

Hi All,
I've made more progress on the model over the past few evenings. I was able to get paint on the wheel wells, but did not use the AK Paint. I ended up using Tamiya XF-60 Dark Yellow to do the job. Here's what things looked like when I was finished:



Once that was dry, I assembled the wheel wells and got them in the hull. Like I guessed, I pretty much nothing was visible. I was pretty happy that the wheels were painted and lightly weathered before putting it all together. Here's what it all looked like once it was all together:



I'll be doing some more work tonight and with a little luck, I should make some more progress.
Regards,
Georg

Hi All,
I've had a busy weekend so far, but tomorrow I hope to get more accomplished. But, here are some pics of the latest progress:



I was able to get the nut secured in the lower hull and also get a hole drilled in the base to allow for a bolt. This will ensure that model doesn't get knocked off the base!



Here, you can see the add-ons to the lower hull. Lots of bits and bobs! Also, take note of how little of the suspension that is visible. You can also see the re-enforcement, I had to use to get the base together! All for now, more tomorrow!
Regards,
Georg

Hi All,
I've been pretty busy lately, but I have gotten some more done on the Treibwagen. Most of the upper superstructure is done now and attached to the lower hull. Beforehand, I painted the interior flat black to make sure that nothing will be seen once the turrets are built. Here's the beast:



I replaced the grab-handles on the lower hull with wire, as well as the handles on the doors on the upper one.



Here's what it looked like from the end (both are the same):



I'm going to start the work on the turret tonight.
Regards,
Georg

Hi All,
I tried to get a bunch of things done on the model over the weekend, but things never quite came together. Now that the hull is complete, it's time to get at the turrets. My first order of business was to replace the gun barrels. When I looked at the prices, I had some serious sticker shock! Even through E-bay, it was still going to break US$20 for the guns alone. So, I dug through my rod stock for the appropriate diameter aluminum rod to make new barrels on my lathe. The good news is that Trumpeter makes the muzzle brakes separate parts. Here's what you get in the kit.



My first attempts were not encouraging and looked pretty bad (I was seriously out of practice):



But, I changed the cutting tool and made some new measurements and got a pair of gun barrels that look pretty good:



With those out of the way, the turret construction can begin in earnest. That will be for this evening. More later!

Regards,
Georg

Hi All,
Guns! Guns! Guns! They are finally together! I've got one almost done for the "open" turret and the other is ready for the "closed" one.



I'm hoping to get more of the gun together and start work on the "open" turret. I might even take a bite out of the "closed" one too.
Regards,
Georg

Hi All,
I got some time to get some more work done on Friday and here are the fruits of that labor:





The thought of fighting with the PE brackets for the skirt armor kinda put me off, so I thinned the plastic parts down with some files to get the closer to scale thickness. I think the new gun barrels look pretty good.
The other addition was a new base. I was not particularly fond of the kit part at all. My friend Neil Stokes gave me a new set of ties and rails, so I went out and bought a new wooden base from A C Moore crafts. I'll give a good sanding and some clear lacquer before mounting the ties and ballasting the rails.
Speaking of rails, since I have no idea how they really look, I went down to the local RR line and took some pictures:













The only difference that I noticed is that the kit parts bolt the rails together, whereas the modern ones are welded. This is not a big deal. Once I get that together I'll post more pics.

Regards,
Georg

Hi All,
This is what happens when they leave me alone with nothing to do: I build models! I spent a couple of hours fighting with the turret skirt armor for the "closed" turret. As I mentioned earlier, I decided to use the plastic brackets with the PE skirts. In order to make my life a little easier, I cut some strip and superglued them to the back side of the plates:



I ended up having to replace the turret skirt doors, which I did using some styrene sheet and strip.





Tomorrow, I'll be working on the other "open" turret.
Regards,
Georg

You got to remember your pictures or of American Rail. The model rails are accurate for Europe. We use spikes and weld the rails together where over in Europe they still do it the way they did it in WWII. They bolt the rails together and bolt the rails down to the cross ties. They call it job security and we are trying to make it cheaper.

Fred,
You are absolutely right there, not to mention 60 odd years of progress. That said, my reference pics are more of a color/weathering guide of how the rails and ties weather, rather than a photo guide as to how the rails are set up.
Regards,
Georg

Looking good, Georg. The turrets look great, and I dig the turned barrels. Looking forward to seeing it all in person.

Chris

Hi All,
I've been busy on the beast over the past several days, but have had a chance to publish the pics. Tuesday, I spent some time putting the bolts onto the turret skirt armor. I used my Waldron micro punch set and some sheet styrene for the job:



This shot also shows my replacement turret doors to good effect.



On Wednesday, I worked on the other turret. Some of my sharper-eyed readers will notice that in my reference pic it distinctly shows one of the cupola hatches to be one of the raise and swivel type. As this modification only came onto the Panzer IV ausf J production in October, 1944 (according to Tom Jentz), it meant that the turret doors also needed modifying (May, 1944)and that the close-in defense weapon port needed to be added (January, 1944). I made these modifications to the "open" turret.


I cut and filed off the vision and pistol ports and used another of my punch sets for the closed close in defense weapon port. Both turrets will have these and need to have the 4 bolts added. I hope to get some more work done this evening. Happy 4th of July to my American friends.
Regards,
Georg

Hi All,
I was able to get most of the turret interior built over the weekend. I am also in the process of converting the cupola to an Ausf J configuration as per the reference pictures (few as they are). So here's where we are now:



I was able to get the turret doors filled with some styrene strip and putty. They are still going to need grab handles and a couple of bolts, but this should not be a big deal. I'll leave them off for painting. Here's a close-up of the cupola. Since there will not be a figure in this turret, I needed to cover the vision ports as they have a knock-out pin mark in the center. I covered that with a piece of styrene strip cut to size.



Here's a top view of the turret basket. It's pretty much in place, with just some parts needing to be added to the basket floor.



And here's the inside of the turret. Not too much right now, but I'm looking into exactly how much will be visible once it's all closed up.



All for now.
Regards,
Georg