I seem to be hooked on "What ifs" now. This is partially due to me not being able to really select a kit that is a "must build" and partially due to not having a lot of $$$!!

So I managed to get two old Tamiya kits for less than $15 each, with the knowledge that I would morph them into something else.

As I built this, I was thinking up some back story for my personal alternate history.
Briefly: It's late 1944, and the Russian Army has been halted-not by a miraculous resurgence of the Wehrmacht-but an epidemic of a particularly nasty strain of the flu. With the Eastern front in a lull, the Germans are able to shift forces West. Lacking any new source of raw materials and Allied air power still punishing the main industrial areas, Albert Speer decides to initial Operation Gefundene Objekt or Found Object. Any and all German vehicles shall be refitted, upgraded or improved upon with any existing resources available.
This particular vehicle represents a new Fast Scout Vehicle with improved optics, range finding equipment and additional long range radio equipment.




Comments and critiques welcome-including back story.
Thanks,
JoeP

Wildly imaginative in both story and execution.

That is really cool!

Great "What if!"
The "flu" idea is almost genius.
Better that some of the stupid things that sometimes come out of Hollywood.
The conversion is really cool.

Very cool indeed!! Now this is a "what if" that actually seems entirely plausible. The background story also makes sense.

I envy those of you with the imagination and creativity to dream up these things. Really like this concept and its execution.

I really like this one!
Story's good, the thoughts and the build too. Even though I think a Pz.2 turret would crush the 251's suspension and make it very tailheavy.
I like those front hatches and the extra optics a lot.

Ron-I was thinking the same thing, then I remembered the variant with the PAK 40 in it. and then I thought "what if" they beefed up the suspension a little?

Interesting, but you could lighten up on your weld seams a bit.

AHhAHhAhAH! Yes! Another benefit of doing "What Ifs" is that you can use them for a technique testbed, which is essentially what this was. The weld seams on the side were made trying the Lilliput technique. The ones around the driver and bow gunner are made using Tamiya Gray. Apologies for the picture quality. Still trying to figure out the camera

Try using stretched sprue, or fine styrene rod, for weld seams. Cut sections to length and glue in place. Saturate them with liquid glue (without making a mess on the model surface!) When they soften, use a tool like a jeweller's screwdriver, or similar, to press in the weld flow impressions. The weld seams will be much straighter and consistent this way.

Shermans would have taken this out...

As long as the Sherman's would have had it home by 10...

Pretty cool!! I love stuff like this. I never get carried away with 100% accuracy when I build. For example I rarely decal the kit exactly how it calls. I'll mix and match to make it look like what I like. Same thing with the build, if it was remotely possible and I like it, I go for it! Kudos for letting your imagination loose and not rivet counting! After all, a hobby should be fun!!

Biggles- Thanks for the suggestion. I've read about that before, but it scares me. I have taken some thin styrene sheet and heated up a metal tip to make a row of marks then cut it out and glued as weld seams. The whole idea of saturating the surface of the kit makes me nervous

You DON'T saturate the entire kit with glue!! Just on the weld seam you are applying. Use the brush that comes with liquid glue (like Tamiya) and just brush the glue on the plastic rod/stretched sprue that you are making the weld seam with. When it becomes soft you use a tool to make the welding marks.

Would Plastiweld work?

Any solvent glue for styrene will work, and the thinner, the better. Just confine the glue to the weld seams.

I'll give it try on PT II

I must admit I thought the massive weld seams were all an intentional part of the look, like the big stitch scars on the neck of Frankenstein's monster or across Chucky's face.

I figured that they would be messy as they were applied in haste, but once I got a look at how big they were, I realized that they were WAY out of scale.

You do great work and the photography is great too. But with that vehicle being able to have a 75mm on it among other weapons why put a turrent of that on it? Just asking?

I figured a little bit of a higher profile to get the optics/range finder up in the air a little more. And I figured a main armament over 7.92mm, but lower than 37mm would help at least with defending against soft skins-as the CMDR would have to load and fire.

G'day Joe

You should read the "Red Gambit" series by Colin Gee - there are some interesting conversions suggested in about the third book IIRC.

Regards

Rob