Stage 5 consists of Packs 16-18 to build the main bodywork.
| Pack 16
is the body supports - the brackets that hold the main floor (on which
most of the
upper works are fitted) to the chassis. In this photo, the parts are
lined up from the front of the vehicle (left of photo) to rear. The
small brackets to the left support the driver's bench; the others the
chequer-pattern sheet-metal main floor. Straightforward to fit, even if a few bolts are a bit fiddly to get started, as the holes are accurately machined and line up perfectly. Tip: before tightening down to the chassis, temporarily fit the floor to the tops of the brackets to ensure everything is square. |
 |
| Meanwhile,
I started with the two track mudguards. Each side consists of the main
part in
sheet metal, cast inserts to fit the end curves, a top tread and a step. The castings (the front and rear are different lengths) can be simply bolted into place, but to ensure the sheet follows the curve without any gaps, it's best to also glue them in - I used runny superglue and clamped them in place overnight. |
 |
| Pack 18 is
the 'front end' engine bay bodywork, comprising the bonnet and
engine compartment side
panels and grills, front mudguards, steps and windscreen frame.
Logically, the radiator housing & grille belongs to this part
of the build, but
the housing was
mounted with Pack 4 back in Stage 1 and the grille - which comes from
Pack 20 (Stage
6) - was inserted with the sound/smoke unit during the Umleitung period. The mudguards are castings, and the surfaces are quite rough. The originals were sheet steel, and so should be smooth, so these parts were given a good going over with a course metal sanding disk on an electric drill followed by a great deal of wet'n'dry (used wet) of medium & then fine to go from the finish of the part in the upper left of the photo to the one beneath it. The radiator grille had already painted but now looked a bit rough and out of place, so was given a similar treatment. |
 |
| The
engine bay and track mudguards were temporarily fitted just in time
for our Club open day. This year, instead of being down at
our
CZ, we were invited to the excellent venue of the Brixham Battery.
Our stand was under a WWII-period shelter, close to the entrance and
with a fine sunny day we attracted many visitors. The photo here shows
the half-track at this point in the build. See also our club
video of the event. Eagle-eyed viewers may see things sticking out of the nearer front mudguard; the front bracket will mount a Notek lamp, the top bit of tube will hold a wing mirror (cannibalised from a small dentist's mirror) and the similar tube on the top edge (and one on the other mudguard) is for 'lollipops' (the small balls on sticks used to judge the width of the vehicle in tight places). These are short lengths of metal rod with a plastic ball from a cheap necklace on the end. These will also act as flagstaffs for DAK pennants. |
 |
|
 Some of
these features are annotated in the large photo, which as usual is
displayed by clicking on the thumbnail. |
| This photo shows the wiring loom between (what will be) the rear compartment - containing the batteries and drive electronics - up to the front bulkhead. One of the first things to note is that I've discarded the supplied small plate which attached to the wheel racks and substituted a larger one, to which I've pop-riveted some lengths of angle bracket to form a tray for the batteries, which are further secured by a strap. The second thing to note is the separation between 'dirty' (motor) and 'clean' (control) wiring, always god practice in any R/C model. Thirdly, all the wring has been tidied up (and given protection from chafing) with spiral-wrap. |
 |
| Back to the
bodyworks... Apart form the mudguards, which were built as above, this
photo shows the remaining parts of Pack 17. The upper part shows - from left to right - dashboard; driver's floor, bench seat and seat back; main floor and two passenger bench seats; wheel rack with plate (now replaced with a bigger plate, as noted above) and body rear. The lower part has the body side panels, mid-seat back (in the middle); rear seat back and support bar; rear top panel and two baskets. |
 |
| After
painting, the floors and seats were installed (hopefully permanently
this time). As it's simpler to paint off the model, I added
the hand rails to the back of the driver's seat and (not in the photo)
the middle seat back and passenger side of the dashboard. (Although
obvious where it should be fitted, there weren't actually any holes in
the dashboard for the hand rail; I needed to drill these myself. Tsk!).
Also painted, but not in the photo, were the dashboard, rear top panel and baskets. I'm leaving the dashboard off for the moment, as it will be easier to add the instrument detailing , etc., off-model. |
 |
| Also to be seen is the colour-coded (and labelled) the connectors just to ensure that nothing gets mixed up - or a component can be electrically disconnected - in the future! | |
| With
the wiring now all in place, the batteries & electricals could be
temporarily mounted in the 'boot' just to get the model self-mobile.
The (working) headlights have also been fitted; I plan to use some
large red LEDs for rear lights. The rear top panel was fitted to hold
the body rear securely in place. In this state, I took the model to our
club stand at the Torbay Steam Fair
in early August, giving it a run around the compound alongside the
Armortek 1/6th Tigers & Sherman of other members. (The green/orange
pick-up in the video is mine too.) |
 |
| Here we are back
on the display table. Having found during the first trial run that the
weight of the batteries at the front overloaded the steering servo, the
weight at the rear is now causing the front wheels to be mostly
flapping in mid-air! Some lumps of lead in the front should cure that. Having had a good run round over two days at the show, on preparing to continue with the build, I cam across a 'slight problem'. While the rear body casing is mostlty very thick (more than half an inch in places), the bottom area, which takes all the strain of two bolts into the chassis is very thin - not more than 1mm or so - and had cracked apart. So some repair time has been needed to epoxy some aluminium angle on the inside base of the casting, and I've also added an external bracket to the rear stretcher to halp take the weight. I think the main problem arose because it's all to easy to use this part to lift up the model (it was on and off a display table between runs several times). Hopefully, this strengthening, plus remembering to lift from the bottom of the chassis, will stop any future breaks. It seems to have survived more runs during the the Castle Drogo 1940's Weekend event. |
|
| Earlier, during a lull in the model build itself, I'd made a couple of wooden ramps so the half-track - now at almost full weight - can be got in and out of the car without damage (to me, that is). These ramps aren't just simple planks, but are hinged in the middle - so can be folded up to fit in the car and for storage - and have a folding flap at the upper end which forms a horizontal bridge over the tailgate. I also made a wooden 'tray' to go in the back of the car (with the rear seats down). All are carpeted - not for comfort, style or sound-proofing, but because carpet (but not the long-pile variety) provides a good non-slip surface. | photo not yet taken! |
Total elapsed time from the boxes arriving: 14 months
Total model attention time: approx 150 hours
Total build time: approx 80 hours
 |
Page
last updated:
|
 |