Sd.Kfz.11 (late) towing leFH 18

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Ian Shumsky
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Re: Sd.Kfz.11 (late) towing leFH 18

Post by Ian Shumsky »

I'm slowly working on fixing the big seam on the spades. This mainly involves a little filler, settled down by some Extra Thin, then sanded, repeating the process until I'm happy. This is taking some time! In between cycles I've wrapped up as much as possible of the rest of the build

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Once I'm happy with the spades they will be fixed to the carriage stocks, which in turn will be attached to the wheel base. Most of the smaller remaining pieces will then be added and the whole lot will get primed. I'll be leaving the gun, carriage assembly, wheels and pioneer tools all separate to ease painting.
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Ian Shumsky
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Re: Sd.Kfz.11 (late) towing leFH 18

Post by Ian Shumsky »

While I continue to work on the spades it is time to start the Sd.Kfz.11. First up the sprue shots:

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There are two light coloured sprues for the cab and cargo area, 5 dark green sprues for the running gear and chassis, along with some weapons, a clear sprue for windows, a small piece of etch for the radiator grill and a small decal sheet. The casting looks OK with no obvious issues. I've not included the horrific rubber band tracks as I won't be using them! Instead I'll be using one of the following kindly donated my a mate, either a Dragon 251 set, or the AFV Club kit set

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Right, straight into Step 1... and my first issue! Here is the completed part:

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The pintle was just a small cylinder in between the bracket halves, with no detail either side. This was snipped off then drilled out, with a piece of brass wire inserted. This will be trimmed a little and have some fine chain attached later once I'm not likely to knock it off!

The main issue is that the instructions call for two pieces not actually included in the kit! If you look at the picture above it shows part E1. There are meant to be two of these that fix to the 4 holes in the bar, however the sprue, let alone the parts are not included. I don't think this is a packaging issue - the sprue is not called out in the instruction sheet either! I think these may be steps into the truck bed, so I may replace with some cable, or try and scratch up the parts.

Putting that aside I moved on to Step 2 which is the main chassis construction.

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The parts went together really well and gave a very stable base, which, as far as I can tell, all lines up correctly!

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Next up is the engine details. Will post progress when done!
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Raoul Kunz
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Re: Sd.Kfz.11 (late) towing leFH 18

Post by Raoul Kunz »

Great start Ian! :mrgreen:

I had tons of problems with the AFVClub tracks, but the dragon ones went on easily - also: for when are you building this? because the AFVClub tracks are the late pattern without holes that was only introduced in '44...also: did I mention they where horrible to build? ;)



Best regards

Raoul G. Kunz
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Ian Shumsky
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Re: Sd.Kfz.11 (late) towing leFH 18

Post by Ian Shumsky »

Hi Raoul, point taken on the tracks! I'm planning on putting it in a dio as a 2nd Panzer Division vehicle in France, 1944 (as per the kit's decal sheet!), so I think I can get away with either track type. Building the tracks is one of the areas I'm really not looking forward to, so I'll have lots of time to think about it.

On with the build!

First, I managed to find a couple of pieces that look like the missing E1 parts... however they are used elsewhere on the flatbed. I'll have a look at the reference photos I can find to see what should be at the back and scratch up the details. I can use the found parts as a guide if needed.

On the build itself, Step 3 constructs part of the engine and fuel tank, while Step 4 fixes these to the chassis.

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Step 5 has you attach the mounts for the road wheels and some other realted details

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While Step 6 has you construct the drive sprockets, 8 road wheels and the front tyres.

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The drive wheels need a hard push to get them to go together, but otherwise look the part. I'm not so sure on the front wheels though - I've decided to get resin replacements and then try and ream out the centre of the kit ones (and distress the tread) and use them as spares in the cargo area.

Next up is front suspension - will see if I can get that done tonight.

Cheers
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Shawn Ramsey
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Re: Sd.Kfz.11 (late) towing leFH 18

Post by Shawn Ramsey »

I don't think I have built a AFV kit yet, but by the sounds of the trouble your having with the instructions and missing parts I don't know if I want to.

Either way your making it look really first rate. Keep it coming.

Shawn
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Ian Shumsky
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Re: Sd.Kfz.11 (late) towing leFH 18

Post by Ian Shumsky »

Hi Shawn, many thanks and sorry if this is coming across negatively - it is actually a great kit so far! The engineering is excellent and the fit of the parts first rate. The missing parts are likely an issue as the base is from a 251 and the sprue with the 2 steps was not included in the 11 release. It is not a biggie - I'm actually looking forward to scratching the parts!
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Re: Sd.Kfz.11 (late) towing leFH 18

Post by Philipp Gross »

Even their relatively new Valentine had a few part numbers wrong in the instructions. Seems like someone likes to increase the challenge for us :roll:

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Ian Shumsky
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Re: Sd.Kfz.11 (late) towing leFH 18

Post by Ian Shumsky »

If it was easy it wouldn't be fun, right?

Step 7 is construction of front suspension and steering. With some careful cutting you could angle the wheels, but I’m happy with them being straight for the dio. The next few stages have you add the various road wheels, drive sprockets and front wheels to the chassis. As I’ll be leaving these all off for ease of painting I have skipped the steps for the time being, which leaves me with this pile of items:

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Next stage has you add the cab base (the tan piece above) and the front suspension. I need to smooth off some ejector pin marks on the cab base and will then fix the parts, then put the assembly off to one side for painting while I work on the cab and flat bed.
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Rob Matthews
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Re: Sd.Kfz.11 (late) towing leFH 18

Post by Rob Matthews »

Damn - It's making me want to start my Sd.kfz11 ;)

Nice work

Rob
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Re: Sd.Kfz.11 (late) towing leFH 18

Post by Vincent Power »

Good progress so far Ian :)

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