Sd.Kfz.165 "Hummel" Late / Dragon

[amba]

Hi All,

here is my new project a Late Hummel. This is a kit which has been sitting in my unbuilt pile for quite a while. It's the DML Kit 6004 from 1993:

http://www.kitpic.com/is.php?i=21761&img=Hummel-002.jpg

I also have a Eduard set for this particular kit:

http://www.kitpic.com/is.php?i=21762&img=Hummel-003.jpg

And two Lionroar kits for the fighting compartment and the ammo boxes:

http://www.kitpic.com/is.php?i=21763&img=Hummel-004.jpg
http://www.kitpic.com/is.php?i=21764&img=Hummel-005.jpg

And of course a barrel from Jordi Rubio:

http://www.kitpic.com/is.php?i=21760&img=Hummel-001.jpg

I'm planning to build one of the Hummel's from Divsion "Feldherrenhalle" (s.pzabt 503) wich was trapped in Budapest in January 1945. Actually I might even build the famous #34 which lead the German counterattack from the Farkasreti Cemetery up the Schwabian Hill. This Hummel had quite a nice Camo which gave the illlusion of the shade of leaves.

More to come...

-Ambjoern

[James Tainton]

You certainly like doing things the hard way :lol:
(You may want to try checking your White Balance (http://www.photoxels.com/tutorial_white-balance.html) on your camera- they seem to have a yellow tinge to them?)

[Larry Bates]

Nice project Amba!

Yea!

Larry

[brokeneagle]

Heaps of extra's, can't wait for the updates. Good luck! :)

* Just a note on the fighting comp and gun - their later version is quite different and addressed the problems with detail. ;)
The vents on the outer compartment side armour are too thick also and need relacing so that they look like thinner metal.
Chucked in a few photos that might help - you might already have this stuff?
Panzers at Samur 3
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c131/3dbattleart/photos/h.jpg

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c131/3dbattleart/photos/hi.jpg

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c131/3dbattleart/photos/h3.jpg

[amba]

You certainly like doing things the hard way

I get your point James. I looked into some of the details last night and there is lot's of things to do... But your right, I kinda like it ;)

Chucked in a few photos that might help - you might already have this stuff?

Thanks Ian, i've got tons of pics from the Saumur one and also the Nuts & Bolts #10 on the Hummel. So I'm well prepared ;)

I think this one will keep me busy for the next months...

-Ambjoern

[Tuna]

Hi Ambjoern,

Good luck on your build, looking forward to in prog pics.. I built the same kit. minus the Lion Roar!

Word of warning, the 'fit' of the fighting compartment is horrible!.. but at least it's oversized where bad, so you can 'sand' down.

Also the floor is totally incorrect.. I was too lazy to fix that, back when I built mine...

Good Luck!

charlie

[amba]

Thanks Charlie, I really need some luck on this one. I'll start with the substructure and all it's corrections and then switch over to the superstructure which needs a lot more work.

First of all the road wheels are completely wrong and I decided to replace them with the ones from the Italeri PZ IV F1/F2 (The DML parts are grey and the sand couloured ones are from Italeri):

http://www.kitpic.com/is.php?i=21766&img=Hummel-007.jpg

If there was a pattern with to the last "old" model which I posted a SBS for. DML would announce a late model "Hummel" using their newly tooled IV E chassis, when I am half-way finished with this one. ;)

-Ambjoern

[amba]

And I also prefer the idlers from the Italeri kit. They are a touch better then the ones from Dragon:

http://www.kitpic.com/is.php?i=21765&img=Hummel-006.jpg

I am focusing on the substructure only right now trying to correct what I can. I decided to hollow the guide horns as well, which will keep me busy for a while :o :

http://www.kitpic.com/is.php?i=21768&img=Hummel-009.jpg

more to come...

-Ambjoern

[amba]

Also the floor is totally incorrect.. I was too lazy to fix that, back when I built mine...

Charlie, your Hummel looks great! I really like the paintjob :)

Cheers
-Ambjoern

[Russ Field]

I also have the 6004 kit; I've heard over and over how inaccurate it is, but have never been able to find a list of the problems. Anyone know where I can find a "tweaks" sheet?

TIA!

[amba]

Anyone know where I can find a "tweaks" sheet?
I could not find any tweaks sheet on this build either. But after this build I could make one, so if you got some months time ;) :lol:

-Ambjoern

[amba]

You could use the suspension parts in this kit. They are correct but they lack the level of detail newer kits have. The best solution would be to use the Tristar Panzer IV wheel set. But it does not contain the rear return roller only the upper ones.

I am using the road wheels, suspension and dampers from the Italeri Panzer IV F1/F2 kit. Here is the difference between the Dragon and Italeri suspension:

http://www.kitpic.com/is.php?i=21811&img=Hummel-011.jpg

The dampers which are cast to the chassis are not correct. I cut them away and used the ones from the Italeri kit:

http://www.kitpic.com/is.php?i=21810&img=Hummel-010.jpg

I did a dry fit of the road wheels and they fit just fine:

http://www.kitpic.com/is.php?i=21812&img=Hummel-012.jpg

-Ambjoern

[Larry Bates]

Looks nice amba,

I mean Bob,......errrrrr Ambjoern. ;)

Larry

[amba]

Hello again Guys,

I was on a business trip the last couple of days, so I could not do anything on this project.

During the meetings the usual things was discussed like efficiency, cost savings, return on investment and process streamlining. In the evening I was thinking of the next steps in this project and what is still to be done. I would not say that there are so many things which are not correct with this kit. It's mainly the roadwheels, the drive sprocket and the sprocket housing. The rest is actually just missing details (floor etc.) and poor fitting. So how could I streamline this project and get more efficiency, cost savings.

Well as James pointed out in one of his posts "time is money", and it would take me many hours to detail this kit to the level I want. Here is an example of what I have done until now:

I added the missing details to the sprocket housing:

http://www.kitpic.com/is.php?i=22270&img=2073Hummel-013.jpg

and I corrected the drive sprocket:

http://www.kitpic.com/is.php?i=22272&img=Hummel-015.jpg

I was not really satisfied with the result and was thinking of buying the modelkasten panzer III/IV track kit with the including drive sprocket. But the lack of detail on the superstructure and the $25 which I would have to spend kept me waiting for a while. In the meanwhile I read the review on the newly tooled "hummel early" kit from DML and I recalled what Ian said about this new kit and the level of detail which had been corrected.

That's it I will change my approach now. The goal will stay the same: I need a late hummel for my Budapest dio. But I went out and bought the above mentioned DML kit:

http://www.kitpic.com/is.php?i=22273&img=Hummel-016.jpg

The new approach will be to use the old DML Hummel Late kit (6004) and convert this new kit (6204) into a late hummel. That will save me many hours and it costs even less than what I would have to spend on the drive sprocket and the PE set to correct the floor.

In the end I may end up using only the driver/radio operator compartment from the old kit :o

more to come...

-Ambjoern

[Larry Bates]

Very Efficient!

Good call Amba.

Larry

[brokeneagle]

You won't regret it , the new kit is a far cry from the old. :thumb:

[amba]

Before going any further I just wanted to make sure that the driver/radio operator compartment from the late hummel fits this kit.

So I cut away the old parts:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Superstructure/Hummel-017.jpg

After a first test fit I realized that I have to carve out about 1 millimete on each side so that it fits:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Superstructure/Hummel-018.jpg

And then it fits just great:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Superstructure/Hummel-019.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Superstructure/Hummel-020.jpg

So I can proceed with the rest now, without having to worry about this part ;)

more to come...

-Ambjoern

[amba]

Hi Guys,

Man this place is getting crowded I had a two page result on "View New Posts" last night. Never had that before!

Here is short update on this build before I go to bed. Im working on the road wheels and substructure again now. I finished all the road wheels:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Substructure/Hummel-021.jpg

well not all of them are on this photo ;) As you can see I also added a little wear on the rubber on some of the road wheels.

And I finished the idlers:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Substructure/Hummel-022.jpg

Did a first test fit of the road wheels:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Substructure/Hummel-023.jpg

I am working on the drive sprockets right now.

-Ambjoern

[amba]

Commenced work on the drive sprocket tonight. It looks like the hub cover was removed instantly after delivery of the hummel to the troops. I have not found any "in action" photos with a hub cover still installed. So the hub cover should be removed from the drive sprocket. Here is the original with the hub cover:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Substructure/Hummel-026.jpg

I removed the hub cover and added the bolts. Here is a shot of the drive sprocket which is almost completed:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Substructure/Hummel-027.jpg

The return rollers on the late hummel did not have any rubber rims. So I will use the return rollers from the late kit. The vertical steel bar in the middle is missing and has to be added:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Substructure/Hummel-024.jpg

Here is a corrected roller with the steel bar:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Substructure/Hummel-025.jpg

more to come...

-Ambjoern

[Stuke Sowle]

Looking good!

[sam_dwyer]

Great work Amba.

The late hummel is another project i'd like to tackle one day, so im watching your progress avidly!


Sam

[Flak]

Looks GREAT :lol:

[Larry Bates]

As always Ambjoern,

Great work. Those nuts on the Drive sprocket look REAL small. ;)

Larry

[amba]

Thanks for your comments guys, appreciate it :)

I added the bolts tonight and yes Larry those bastards are really small. I am going to get some bolts from Grandt line or Calibre to save some time for the next build. Are those any good?

Here is a pic together with my hobby knife so that you can estimate the size of those nuts:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Substructure/Hummel-029.jpg

And here is a closeup of the drive sprocket center with the nuts and bolts:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Substructure/Hummel-028.jpg

This one is finished now. But now I have to do another one. Geeez lucky it's weekend now... ;)

-Ambjoern

[amba]

and by the way here is the original:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Substructure/sprocket.jpg

-Ambjoern

[Finnmodeler]

Hi,
this was really something I've been looking for my small scale StuG III project.

Br,
Niko

[brokeneagle]

:o Thats insane! Fantastic.

[James Tainton]

there is this option maybe??
http://www.kitpic.com/is.php?i=22827&img=9801Untitled-1.jpg

[amba]

Yeah, James I wanted to order that one first, but spending another $28 (with shipping) on this kit :( Besides that I would still have to add the center nut, bolt and washers...

thanks anyway ;)

-Ambjoern

[amba]

I've had a busy week in the office and I'm off to Skiing next week so I haven't got much further with this build.

I am doing the boring part at the moment anyway. Cleaning the track links :(

That's a lot of work with all these pin marks. While some of them are raised and easy to remove with the hobby knife, the others are recessed and requires filiing witt putty. And I really hate those F*@#§*ç pin marks.

Here is a shot of a track link as it looks right off the sprue:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Substructure/Hummel-030.jpg

Here is another view so you can see the pin marks:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Substructure/Hummel-031.jpg

This is the cleaned track link with the opened up guide horn. It just needs a little brush up with a toothbrush and a wash with soapwater and then it's ready for use:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Substructure/Hummel-032.jpg

-Ambjoern

[amba]

Hi Guys,

just a last update before I leave for a week of ski holidays. I've been working on the glacis plate and the weld seams. Dragon's original does not fit to well and does not have a correct weld seam. Here is how it looks like unchanged:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Superstructure/Hummel-034.jpg

I scraped the original weld seams off with a hobby knife and added thinner and more recessed seams with putty. Here is how it looked halfway done:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Superstructure/Hummel-035.jpg

The original bolts on the glacis were hexagonal and not round. So I had to cut away the old ones and add some made of plastic sheet:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Superstructure/Hummel-036.jpg

Then I added the weld seam on the front sides as well:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Substructure/Hummel-033.jpg

more to come...

-Ambjoern

[Larry Bates]

Ambjoern,

Nice job on the welds. Did you use hex punch and die to make the bolts?

Larry

P.S. where you going sking?

[amba]

Hi Larry,

thanks :)

Yes, I use the Historex Punch & Die set for my bolts. I have both the hex and the round set and they are quite good. The only disadvantage is that they are waering off quite fast and cause I use them a lot I will probably have to renew them soon.

I am going skiing here in Switzerland about two hours from where I live. It's about half an hour south of Davos near the city of Chur. We have a little cottage in the Alps at 1600 Meters, just next to the ski slope.

-Ambjoern

[Larry Bates]

Originally posted by amba@Feb 4 2006, 05:15 PM
Hi Larry,

I am going skiing here in Switzerland about two hours from where I live. It's about half an hour south of Davos near the city of Chur. We have a little cottage in the Alps at 1600 Meters, just next to the ski slope.

-Ambjoern
Amba,

Ah very nice. I have been to Switzerland about 12 years ago. It is very beautiful, I visited Zurich, Apenzel , and another town I can't remember the name.

Larry

[Stuke Sowle]

Great work Amba!

[Sticky]

I love the "over the top" work on display l8tly! Oh Yeah Baby!

[brokeneagle]

Lookin' good amber!

[amba]

Hi everyone,

managed to get some bench time again after skiing and work at home. So it's back to the hummel again :)

After checking some reference pictures I decided to redo the weld seams on the front. I tried a new technique this time and used a plastic strip and my vibration engraving stick for the first time. It is not too bad and with a bit more practice...

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Substructure/Hummel-039.jpg

Then I added the mounting points for the driver compartment to glacis plate:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Superstructure/Hummel-040.jpg

And the radio operators front hatch, which is closed. The drivers front hatch will be opened and therefore added later on:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Superstructure/Hummel-041.jpg

Then I drilled out the exhaust pipes:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Substructure/Hummel-042.jpg

And completed them:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Substructure/Hummel-043.jpg

That's it for the moment.

more to come...

-Ambjoern

[lucatolo]

Hi Amba,

nice work with the weld seams..Much better now!

Luca

[Flak]

Hi Ambjoern,

Nice job... ;)

[amba]

Thanks Marco!

Thanks Luca! Nice avatar there Luca! I want to do the same, I just have to find a suitable picture first ;) I don't really look much like spongebob... Well maybe a little :lol:

-Ambjoern

[Larry Bates]

Looking good Ambjoern.

Larry

[brokeneagle]

Nice work amber, those seams are looking great. Interesting to see all the different ways we detail. ;) Can't wait to see more. Hope your holiday was fun!

[amba]

Hi Again,

thanks for your interest and comments guys :)

I only had limited bench time this weekend :(

There is an interesting device of the Hummel chassis which I haven't noticed on other PZ IV chassis. It is called Kettenbolzenabweiser, now say that fast 10 times!! On english that would be something like track pin pushback plate. The idea of this device was that when the track passes, any pins slowly sliding out of the track would be pushed back again. It is located below the exhaust pipe outlet on each side:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Substructure/Hummel-044.jpg

Then I added the floor of the fighting compartment. I think DML did a very good job on this part:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Fighting%20Compartment/Hummel-045.jpg

I also removed the details on the fenders, it's not that good anyway. I am gonna use the Lionroar etched set for the fenders:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Superstructure/Hummel-047.jpg

more to come...

-Ambjoern

[Flak]

Hi Ambjoern,

I am gonna use the Lionroar etched set for the fenders:

Is it good ;) I have their PZIII Fender before...but the pattern is not sharp as Aber's and it is too thin...I think they have improvement on the NEW items... ;)

[amba]

Originally posted by Flak@Feb 20 2006, 03:37 AM
Hi Ambjoern,



Is it good ;)* I have their PZIII Fender before...but the pattern is not sharp as Aber's and it is too thin...I think they have improvement on the NEW items... ;)
Hi Marco.

well I think that the quality of the Lionroar fenders is quite good. I have a set from Eduard and one from Lionroar for this kit and the Lionroar ones are much better. I did not find a PE set from Aber for the Hummel so I had to go with the Lionroar/Eduard set's. I can imagine that the material used by Lionroar is more difficult to solder it seems to have a thin film covering it, that's maybe the reason why many people dislike it.

I hope the pictures are clear enough so that you can judge the depth of the pattern:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Superstructure/Hummel-046.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Superstructure/Hummel-048.jpg

-Ambjoern

[lucatolo]

Originally posted by amba@Feb 17 2006, 04:29 PM
Thanks Marco!

Thanks Luca! Nice avatar there Luca! I want to do the same, I just have to find a suitable picture first ;) I don't really look much like spongebob... Well maybe a little :lol:

-Ambjoern
Hi Amba,

That one was the only picture of me I had available on my PC at work! It's not a great shot...I was at Tulum, in Mexico, the last summer! Probably I would have done better choosing a spongebob too... ;)

Luca

[Flak]

Hi Ambjoern,

I hope the pictures are clear enough so that you can judge the depth of the pattern

The pictures are very good ;) I can saw the details and the pattern are much...much improved Vs their old kits...I like the Bolts details also...

WELL DONE!!!

[amba]

Hi Everyone,

I could not stop thinking about the hinges on the front fenders. The two PE set's I've got (Lionroar and Eduard) are both not really usable. After all whats the use of scraping away the plastic hinges when you're supposed to add 2 dimensional replacements :( The Voyager and Aber PE fenders for the Panzer IV both have workable hinges but I don't want to go out and buy yet another set, so I was looking for another solution.

Here is a shot of the parts from the PE set's:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Superstructure/Hummel-051.jpg

The mounting points from Eduard are closer to the original than the Lionroar ones, so I used them. I then scratchbuilt the hinge tube with a aluminium sheet rolled around the .3 millimeters thick copper thread. While the result is not perfect and could be better I'll settle with it for the moment:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Superstructure/Hummel-049.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Superstructure/Hummel-050.jpg

Next build will be better anyway... ;)

-Ambjoern

[MrPlasticmodel]

Hejsan Ambjørn
Your solution look convincing, I use another method, I found in a Danish modelshop some Brass rod i an small diameter and another hollow Brass rod witch fits the first rod In that way I made these hinges myself.. ;)
Your progres on the model is very good!

[amba]

Originally posted by MrPlasticmodel@Feb 22 2006, 02:51 PM
Hejsan Ambjørn
Your solution look convincing, I use another method, I found in a Danish modelshop some Brass rod i an small diameter and another hollow Brass rod witch fits the first rod In that way I made these hinges myself.. ;)
Your progres on the model is very good!
Hejsan Dan,

thanks for the tip that's a good idea :) :) I'll check my hobby shop on the way home from the office...

-Ambjoern

[Larry Bates]

Looking good Ambjoern,

Nice save on the fender hinge. ;)

Larry

[James Tainton]

Originally posted by amba@Feb 22 2006, 03:32 AM


http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Hummel-051.jpg

Pretty lame hey? Illustrates nicely why I use only Aber sets if possible from now on.

[amba]

Couldn't do much work this weekend :( Went skiing with the family again :)

Put in a night session yesterday, not to get to a stand still...

I went back and redid those nasty hinges, throwing away that crappy Eduard stuff and scratchbuilding them from brass instead. I still have to add the four bolts on each hinge mount, but the smallest one's my punch & die set can produce are to big!

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Superstructure/Hummel-053.jpg

I completed the additional details on both fenders and did a test fit:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Superstructure/Hummel-052.jpg

I am working on the back details right now and then it's time for the tracks. I will post some pics in a few days...

-Ambjoern

[Flak]

Hi Ambjoern,

Very nice :lol: keep it coming...

[brokeneagle]

Amba,
fantastic detail and really nice work. I will be able to use this as a guide when I do my Hummel.
Great :) I really like your return springs and mounts for your front guards.
Could you explain what you did to build and attach these please?

[Larry Bates]

Amba,

Very nice detail! Love the spring.

Larry

[MrPlasticmodel]

Originally posted by amba@Feb 27 2006, 05:38 AM
instead. I still have to add the four bolts on each hinge mount, but the smallest one's my punch & die set can produce are to big!


Hello again Ambjørn!
Why dont you use some Evergreen plastic rod instead I think you could find a usable diameter there.

Othervice very nice details ;)

[Sticky]

Amba - looking nice! I had a similar issue with the punch and die sets - no really small punches. I solved this by making my own from a pinvise, some very small scale stainless steel spring wire, and a piece of plexiglass. I took a 0.014 drill, and drilled a hole in two pieces of the plexi. Then I took a short section of 0.014 wire, and chucked it in the Pinvise. then I put a thin sheet of styrene between the plexi then pushed through with the wire. The result super small bolt heads!

http://www.tankbuilder.net/KV1/DSCN0775.JPG

The three small bolts around the turret MG on this 1/72 KV-1 were made this way.

[amba]

Why dont you use some Evergreen plastic rod instead I think you could find a usable diameter there.

Hello Dan,

First of all thanks for your good advice! I could not find a .3 mm (.011 inch) plastic rod in any hobby stores around here yet. I was thinking about melting and stretching a sprue and then cut a slice, just like Aber suggests in their instructions. But I'll try John's suggestion first.

I had a similar issue with the punch and die sets - no really small punches. I solved this by making my own from a pinvise, some very small scale stainless steel spring wire, and a piece of plexiglass. I took a 0.014 drill, and drilled a hole in two pieces of the plexi. Then I took a short section of 0.014 wire, and chucked it in the Pinvise. then I put a thin sheet of styrene between the plexi then pushed through with the wire. The result super small bolt heads!

Hi John,

Thanks for your good advice John, I appreciate it! I went out and bought some drill's yesterday, and now I have .3 mm and .4 mm drills (.011 and .015). I am gonna try your technique with those.

Thanks again guys :)

-Ambjoern

[Evan August]

Doesn't Eduard have a kind of template for making bolt heads on their PE sets? You heat up the stretched sprue and push it through the hole, forming a bolt shape. Then cut off what you need. Never tried it though.
The Hummel is coming along nicely by the way.

[amba]

Originally posted by brokeneagle@Feb 27 2006, 03:09 PM
Amba,
fantastic detail and really nice work. I will be able to use this as a guide when I do my Hummel.
Great :) I really like your return springs and mounts for your front guards.
Could you explain what you did to build and attach these please?
Thanks Ian,

I have prepared some in process photos at home and I will post them tonight (in about 8 hours).

-Ambjoern

[amba]

Originally posted by Evan August@Mar 1 2006, 10:50 AM
Doesn't Eduard have a kind of template for making bolt heads on their PE sets? You heat up the stretched sprue and push it through the hole, forming a bolt shape. Then cut off what you need. Never tried it though.
The Hummel is coming along nicely by the way.
Hi Evan,

I tried this with the bolt heads for my Eduard PE shields for the Flak 38. It does not work to well and the result is not so crisp, but thanks anyway.

-Ambjoern

[amba]

Originally posted by brokeneagle@Feb 27 2006, 03:09 PM
I really like your return springs and mounts for your front guards.
Could you explain what you did to build and attach these please?
Hi Ian,

I added another topic to my bench as a "making of" for the hinges. Here is the link: Hinges (http://www.planetarmor.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1846). I had to redesign the mounting points of the return springs, I just got some new ref pics that show the mounting points correctly. Based on that I have to rework them a bit. I'll post the work soon...

-Ambjoern

[amba]

Well, I had to rework the return springs last night. I realized that the picture I used as a reference, for the return springs, was that of the restored hummel in Munster. The mounting points for the return springs were removed and reworked after the war, together with the front mud flaps. The correct mounting points are still there on the saumur hummel, it should be finger thick steel pins.

I had to choose another medium to do the bar and mounting point, I used a brass wire before but now I changed to plastic. Mainly because I have to drill two .3 mm (0.011) holes in it.

I start with a .5 mm (0.019) brass wire and a very thin .2 mm (0.007) copper wire for the spring:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Superstructure/Hummel-054.jpg

Then I spin the copper wire around the brass wire, and press it together from time to time until I have the desired length for the spring:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Superstructure/Hummel-056.jpg

I remove the copper wire and cut off the ends and shape it to the size I want, thats the spring. Now I make a plastic rod using a plastic sprue over a candle which should be the correct thickness .5 mm (0.019) to fit the spring. I use the pliers to press one end of the plastic rod together and use the file and sandpaper to form a round shape, then I drill a .3 mm (0.011) hole in it:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Superstructure/Hummel-055.jpg

Then I put the spring onto the plastic rod and cut it to size and press the other side together and drill a hole in it, like in the step before. And then I make another plastic rod which is .3mm (0.011) thick and glue it into the holes drilled before:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Superstructure/Hummel-058.jpg

Before mounting the return spring I trim the plastic rods to the correct length and glue the return spring in place:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Superstructure/Hummel-059.jpg

more to come...

-Ambjoern

[Flak]

Hi Ambjoern,

COOL ;) Keep them coming...

[MrPlasticmodel]

Hejsa Ambjørn

Your dedication to detail is amasing, very inspiring just keep on.. ;)

[Larry Bates]

Very nice Ambjoern,

Great attention to detail. :thumb:

Larry

[Stuke Sowle]

Very tedious and amazing work Amba. This kit is gonna turn out real nice.

[jackal]

Hi Amba!

I have been following this build with great interest! Your attention to detail is both amazing and inspiring! :lol: Keep up the excellent work!


Cheers! ;)

Jackal

[brokeneagle]

Great technique for fender return springs Amber! I will use this method next model that needs 'em. :)
Keep up the great work. ;)

[James Tainton]

Amba,
Good day to you Sir.
I am wondering if you have this spring set-up represented correctly?
Not to take away from your fine work to get the result you have but I don't think this is right . I have been looking at different Hummel and Panzer IV references and I feel that the proper engineering on this was something simpler. More like a spring with two ends that are almost a circle which basically hooks over the two pins on either end of the fender.
Take a look at these images...

http://panzerfaust.ca/nfblog/wp-content/uploads/springandknobs2.jpg

http://panzerfaust.ca/nfblog/wp-content/uploads/springandknobs.jpg

http://panzerfaust.ca/nfblog/wp-content/uploads/knobs.jpg

http://panzerfaust.ca/nfblog/wp-content/uploads/spring.jpg

[amba]

Hi James,

yeah, I could not find any clear photos of this return spring. I was zooming in on the PC and comparing to the kit parts and drawings from Nuts & Bolts, but all the after war pictures from hummels and panzer IV were missing this little detail. Your pictures are somewhat clearer, and I guessed that the spring would look somewhat like that from the beginning, but I did not believe it was such an easy construction. I found a very clear photo last night from the nuts & bolts about the Wirbelwind. As the Wirbelwind was also based on the panzer IV chassis I assume that the construction of the spring is the same:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Superstructure/Hummel-061.jpg

Luckily I was not sure that I had found the final shape of the spring before, so I only did one side ;) I did another spring with the same procedure, but the adjusted construction for the mounting point:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Superstructure/Hummel-062.jpg

And here is a shot from above:
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Superstructure/Hummel-063.jpg

I think this is the final version ;) and thanks for your help James :)

-Ambjoern

[amba]

Hi Guys,

first of all I want to thank everyone that follow this build and make comments and suggestions :) I really enjoy being here :lol:

I worked on the back center towing mount and bolt. DML has some small errors on this part. It is too thick and has to be thinned out, and the bolt in the middle is missinterpreted. I just drilled the middle hole out and scratchbuilt the towing bolt. Here is a photo from the dry fit:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Substructure/Hummel-064.jpg

The white reinforcement parts are plastic strip and nuts from my Historex punch & die set.

More to come...

-Ambjoern

[amba]

Hi Everyone,

I caught the flu a week ago, so I've not been building for a couple of days. Just feeling to shaky to do any serious modelling ;) Well now it's a little bit better, so I should be able to continue a little bit over the weekend.

A customer at my local hobby shop did not pick up his Modelkasten Tracks which he ordered, and because they were offered to me with a discount I grabbed them for my Hummel:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Substructure/Hummel-069.jpg

The tracks have better detail than the DML one's and they have hollow guide horns. That's the good news. The bad news is that every track has two sink marks :angry: and with 208 links that makes 416 sink marks:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Substructure/Hummel-068.jpg

Well at least I know what to do for the next couple of days...

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Substructure/Hummel-067.jpg

Oh I almost forgot that I finished the details on the rear plate as well:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Substructure/Hummel-065.jpg

To get away from the monotony of the sink marks, I started some work on the gun as well. I finished the breech block with the trigger level and the safety spindle:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Gun/Hummel-066.jpg

more to come...

-Ambjoern

[MrPlasticmodel]

Hello Ambjørn
I looks good, I especially like your wheel holders in brass, Tracklinks whit sink marks is nearly as interesting as look on paint that dries on the vall !! :lol:
Keep up the good work ;)

[Larry Bates]

Ambjoern,

Nice work on the wheel holders, it is not so easy to bend something that small to fit so well. ;) I am surprised at the sink marks on the tracks. Maybe, they are the older ones, I assume because they are in a bag rather than a box. Any way, good luck with the sink marks, and get well soon.

Larry

[amba]

Thanks for your comments Dan and Larry :)

I am surprised at the sink marks on the tracks. Maybe, they are the older ones, I assume because they are in a bag rather than a box.

Yes Larry, I guess it is an old kit. I was a bit surprised myself, I had never bought any Modelkasten tracks before and I have only heard good things about them.

The details on the tracks however are really good, if it wasn't for the sink marks I could really recommend them.

The progress on the tracks is a bit slow now of course and I switch a bit back and fourth between working on the tracks and the details of the gun. Here is some shots of the tracks in progress:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Substructure/Hummel-070.jpg

I am slowly getting there:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Substructure/Hummel-071.jpg

The details of the gun and the gun mount are a bit poor, compared to the newer DML kits with slide molded details and all.

I worked on the upper part of the gun tonight, mainly on the support for piston rod of counter-recoil mechanism. Here is how the kit part looks like:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Gun/Hummel-073.jpg

And here is the same part with the enhanced details:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Gun/Hummel-072.jpg

This part is very small by the way and it was a bit cumbersome to get all the small parts in place. Luckily my flu is getting better now so my hands don't shake any more :lol:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Gun/Hummel-076.jpg

Here is a shot of the back of the gun with the new part added:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Gun/Hummel-077.jpg

Besides the pictures from various walkarounds that I found on the internet I can really recommend "Nuts and Bolts vol 10" for the details of the Hummel. But you have to be carefull and double check the details, because some parts on the restored hummel in Koblenz are assembled the wrong way around :(

-Ambjoern

[Larry Bates]

Ambjoern,

Nice work on the gun recoil mechanism. Tracks are looking good regardless of the pin marks. That sure is some very small detail you have created. ;)

Looking Good keep it coming!

Larry

[Flak]

Hi Ambjoern,

Great to heard...you felt better now ;)

Great to saw your great work ;) keep it coming

Take Care :lol:

[amba]

Hi Guys,

haven't been posting for a while, been busy with other boring stuff. Not much bench time lately :(

Still have a lot of those track links to clean up, but I'm getting there...

To break the lethargy I started some work on the gun, as I already mentioned. Last night I picked up the cradle and noticed that all the inside details are missing on the kit part. Well maybe they are not so visible when the gun is finished, but I'll add them anyway... Here is a photo of the original gun cradle:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Gun/371687058EvJcpP_ph.jpg

You can clearly see all those bolts (Time to use that punch & die set again... :lol: ) and the rest of the details. Here is two in process pic's of the kit's cradle:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Gun/Hummel-078.jpg

and

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Gun/Hummel-080.jpg

The upper part of the cradle with the rails is a bit too thick in the kit. So I scratched one from plastic sheet:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Gun/Hummel-079.jpg

Here are two shots from the test-fit of the gun on the cradle:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Gun/Hummel-081.jpg

and

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Gun/Hummel-082.jpg

more to come soon I hope...

-Ambjoern

[mnickolson]

Nice work there Ambjoern. Can't wait to see more of this one.

Mike

[Flak]

Nice work...

[Larry Bates]

Amba,

Very nice :thumb:

Larry

[Panzergrenadier]

Good work there. :thumb:

Siim

[James Tainton]

Too bad your photography skills aren't as wonderful as your scratch-building skills. ;) :lol:

[amba]

Yes James, I think it is the crappy camera I have together with the missing photo setup. I am looking for a new camera right now, I want to buy a Canon PowerShot A620 or a Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H1. I hope it will get better... ;)

-Ambjoern

[amba]

Last night I worked a little on the cradle mount. The mounting points on the top of the cradle mount were rectangular as you can see in this pic:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Gun/ffsmc_Hummel_074.jpg

For some reason these mounting points were made triangular in the DML kit. I filed and sanded them into the correct shape:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Gun/Hummel-084.jpg

Here is the completed cradle with the mounts:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Gun/Hummel-085.jpg

I hope to get more bench time tonight...

-Ambjoern

[amba]

I worked on the recuperator (Rohrvorholer) yesterday night. Here is the original:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Gun/ffsmc_Hummel_072.jpg

While the details on the kit part is ok, the mount of the recuperator is too thick. I cut them away and rebuilt them with plastic sheet:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Gun/Hummel-087.jpg

Also the two rollers on each side of the recuperator have to be reworked with some sanding and filing to give them the correct shape:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Gun/Hummel-090.jpg

Here is the finished recuperator:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Gun/Hummel-088.jpg

Meanwhile I'll go back to mounting and cleaning the tracks. I hope I can post pics of the substructure with the tracks soon ;)

-Ambjoern

[Sticky]

Wow Great job so far! This is the nicest Hummel I have ever seen!

[Flak]

Very nice scratch built...can't wait to see next update ;)

[MrPlasticmodel]

Hejsan Ambjørn

Your finesse for detailling is fantastic, I really like your detailling keep up! It's very
entertaining and educational! :)

[amba]

Thanks for your comments John, Dan and Marco!

You saved my day :)

I was struggling with the tracks this weekend. I wanted to finish the tracks badly and as you remember I had to clean up 400+ links with sinkholes. I wanted to finish them off on Saturday night when everyone was in bed. I finished the cleanup around 24:00 and started to attach them. One side was just fine. While cleaning the tracks I had a feeling that there would not be enough links for it all. And the more I came towards the end on the other side, the more I realized that my feeling was correct :angry: I had to add one of the DML links in the end. I will post the pics tonight, but I can already tell you now that it was not worth the effort. Those links are not much better than the DML ones...

-Ambjoern

[Flak]

I had to clean up 400+ links with sinkholes.

Oh!!! My God...how you handle it ;)

[amba]

Originally posted by Flak@Mar 27 2006, 03:24 PM

Oh!!! My God...how you handle it ;)
Hi Marco,

to tell the truth, at 4 o'clock in the morning I almost banged the whole tank into the wall :lol: , and already made plans for the next build ;)

-Ambjoern

[Flak]

Hi Man,

:lol: :lol: You like a Superman!!! But I'm a slowly builder ;)

[amba]

Hi Guys,

here are the photos of the tracks that I promised. As I said before I don't think it was worth the effort and money. I just think that the tracks from the new vorpanzer from DML looks better. Please tell me what you think!

Here is the rear part with the DML link in it:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Substructure/Hummel-091.jpg

and the mid part:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Substructure/Hummel-092.jpg

and the front part:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Substructure/Hummel-093.jpg

and from a different angle:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Substructure/Hummel-095.jpg


and one more:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Substructure/Hummel-094.jpg

-Ambjoern

[MrPlasticmodel]

Hi Ambjørn

Do'nt let an old set from Modelkasten turn you away from using a set from them on another project, I have some of the old sets, and they clearly now shows their age, compared to the newer one's. You have made a terrific job whith this one!
Your return roller sack is just perfect. :)

[Flak]

Hi Ambjoern,

I can saw it how badly before :( ...NOW...it became very nice. Great work ;)

[Larry Bates]

Yea!

You finished both sides of tracks! :thumb:

Larry

[Bruga]

Those sink marks remind me of the ones AFV has on their worable tracks...

And I have two sets and will need another ! :lol:



Now that the boring part has been done you can jump to the funny aspect of the game.

By the way, could you tell me the modeling shop you go near Zug. I import everything but Tamiya´s colours and it is each time harder with custom´s :angry:



Regards,

Antonio

[amba]

By the way, could you tell me the modeling shop you go near Zug. I import everything but Tamiya´s colours and it is each time harder with custom´s

Hi Antonio,

the best shop I know of in Switzerland is a bit far away from you I guess. Check their WebSite.

http://www.hobbyshop.ch/

There is also a good one in Richterswil which I visit from time to time:

http://www.stecks.ch/

But this is a rather small shop and he is decreasing his stock :(

And there is also Zubatech which have more shops in the Zürich area. Although they are specialised on railway and rc cars. They also have plastic stuff and colours:

http://www.zuba-tech.ch/index-zuba.html

And if you are in Basel there is a nice shop run by an old man which has more plastic kits than you have ever seen! It's located in:

Modellbau-Shop
Hammerstrasse 183
4057 Basel

This shop is really worth a trip!

And if you want to avoid customs, here is an online shop in Switzerland which I have used once for Aber stuff. And you can pay by billing ! (The website is a bit crappy though)

http://www.modellshop.ch/

That's all I know of in Switzerland.

-Ambjoern

[Bruga]

Thanks Ambjoern!

I went once to the one in the Zürich Lake, but it was a bit far from me (about 40-50 km going and returning), there was not much stuff, and, as it was when I had just arrived from Spain I found prices to expensive!

The biggest problem is the distance, and that they must order the product, in the end I decided to order it myself...


I will keep the information.

Hobbyshop has almost only plastic for what I have seen.

The last one in Basle looks very interesting. Aber is quite cheap, almost the same as anywhere in Europe -around 15€- and they have some interesting resin detail sets. Mig pigments can also be picked from there. I will go in the future, next time I visit the city.

As I have quite a number of plastic kits at home I am looking for detail sets for them, and books... first those that once gone are harder to find: Concord, Ground Power and Polish stuff. In the end even if I say: you won´t buy for some months you cannot deny a tempting model that is difficulat to find and see in a shop (I´me thinking of Tasca´s Luchs for example :lol: )


Well... next time I will ask you about soldering material. When I tried to solder some fenders for a King Tiger I only burned myself :angry: !



Regards and happy modeling,


Antonio

[amba]

Hi Everyone,

I've been working on the gun in the last few days. The DML Parts for the gun are quite ok actually, but some of them are simply too thick or clumsy.

First I replaced the mounting points for the traversing hand wheel and the gun sight with plastic sheet:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Gun/Hummel-003.jpg

And then the elevating mechansim need some detailing:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Gun/Hummel-002.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Gun/Hummel-006.jpg

On the right side also some bolts were missing:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Gun/Hummel-007.jpg

I also added some details to the front of the gun mount. Although I dont think they will be visible on the completed model:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Gun/Hummel-004.jpg

The telescope mount reference pointers are a bit too thick and should be individually moveable so I scratched them from plastic sheet:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Gun/Hummel-009.jpg

I mounted them on the sighting device with a metall rod and also added some details to the sighting device:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Gun/Hummel-008.jpg

Then I mounted the sighting device on the gun mount:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Gun/Hummel-010.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Gun/Hummel-011.jpg

more to come...

-Ambjoern

[amba]

Hi Again,

then it is time to glue the gun mount together:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Gun/Hummel-013.jpg

The telescope mount reference pointer is conncted to the gun mount with a rod and the one supplied with the kit is just to clumsy. I used the mounting point from the original part and scratched the rest. This part has to be movable though so it's not that easy:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Gun/Hummel-017.jpg

Then I glued it in place:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Gun/Hummel-016.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Gun/Hummel-018.jpg

The mounting point for the equilibrators are a little bit too thick. I filed and sanded them to the correct thickness and drilled a hole for the mounting rod:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Gun/Hummel-022.jpg

And then I glued them in place:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Gun/Hummel-023.jpg

And then it is time for the rest. The recuperator and the barrel:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Gun/Hummel-021.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Gun/Hummel-019.jpg

more to come....

-Ambjoern

[Panzergrenadier]

Amazing work there.
Keep it up! :thumb:

[Larry Bates]

Ambjoern,

That is damn fine work.

Looking forward to more.

Larry

[Striker]

Your scratch are TERRIFIC :o

[Baz]

Very nice improving of the gun. What camo will it get?

cheers

Baz

[amba]

Originally posted by Baz@Apr 3 2006, 10:09 AM
Very nice improving of the gun. What camo will it get?

cheers

Baz
Hi Bas,

I'm planning to build one of the Hummel's from Division "Feldherrenhalle" (s.pzabt 503) which was trapped in Budapest in January 1945. I want to build the #34 which lead the German counterattack from the Farkasreti Cemetery up the Schwabian Hill. As far as I know the hummels of this division were the only ones which were used in street-fighting! This Hummel had a Camo with sand, redbrown and green which gave the illlusion of the shade of leaves. The base color is sand with green cloud shaped dots shaded with redbrown, looks really cool.

-Ambjoern

[Baz]

Hi Ambjoern,

Thanks for the info. That camo really rocks :lol: rae you thinking of a small vignette or a dio. A Hummel in a streetfight really look odd and cool!

-Bas

[amba]

Originally posted by Baz@Apr 3 2006, 11:47 AM
Hi Ambjoern,

Thanks for the info. That camo really rocks :lol: rae you thinking of a small vignette or a dio. A Hummel in a streetfight really look odd and cool!

-Bas
Hi Bas,

Yes, I am thinking of a street Dio or a small vignette :)

-Ambjoern

[MrPlasticmodel]

Hej Ambjørn
Once more you'we done It. Made an old tired 1993 cannon into a superdetailed piece with really simple tings, small pieces of plastic, some brass and copper and turned it into a masterpiece-very very good work! ;)

[amba]

Thanks guys, for your encouraging comments :)

All of the amazing work going on in this Website really get's me motivated :)

I am trying to finish up the gun now, so that I can start working on the superstructure and the interior of the fighting compartment soon.

There are still two pieces missing on the gun. The container for the cleaning brushes and the correction factor board. The parts supplied with the kit are really bad. I got myself a nice piece of brass today and a brand new brass cutter. I replaced the parts with some scratch built brass details.

I put the scratch built part next to the kit part on the photos so you can see how bad the kit part really is.

Here is the correction factor board:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Gun/Hummel-026.jpg

And the container for the cleaning brushes:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Gun/Hummel-027.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Gun/Hummel-028.jpg

Here are the new parts mounted on the gun:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Gun/Hummel-029.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Gun/Hummel-030.jpg

So now the only thing missing on the gun is the shield. I have the lionroar etched set for the gun shield. I bent it and glued it together (no soldering yet ;) ):

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Gun/Hummel-031.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Gun/Hummel-032.jpg

The quality of this lionroar part is really good and the thickness is just right. Before I can attach it to the gun I have to make the rods and mounting points on the gun, but that has to wait until the next bench session.

-Ambjoern

[Baz]

Nice work as always ;) But how does a brass cutter look like?

Cheers

[Flak]

Hi Ambjoern,

Only a word..."Fantastic" ;) keep the great work coming :lol:

[James Tainton]

Good work so far .
Here are some pics I took at Munster with you in mind this weekend.
http://www.kitpic.com/is.php?i=26062&img=pzIVspring.jpg

http://www.kitpic.com/is.php?i=26063&img=pzIVspringb.jpg

http://www.kitpic.com/is.php?i=26064&img=pzIVspringc.jpg

http://www.kitpic.com/is.php?i=26065&img=pzIVspringd.jpg

[amba]

Originally posted by panzerfaust@Apr 9 2006, 09:03 PM
Good work so far .
Here are some pics I took at Munster with you in mind this weekend.
Thanks James,

wow what a detail, thoose are really nice pictures :o . Thanks a lot :)

Have a nice time in Germany, and yeah the other pictures are great too :o . I think I'll have to go to Munster once as well. Seems to be worth the trip!

Best Greetings
-Ambjoern

[Baz]

Hows going on with the Hummel... Any progress?

cheers

[amba]

Hi Bas, Hi Everyone,

well first I was on a two week vacation. Then my current contract wîth a large swiss bank was cancelled with only a months notice, because there was no budget left :angry:

So I had to concentrate on getting a new contract assignment within a month. Luckily I found one and I have now started with another company :) . When everything has settled down a bit, I hope to be back working on the Hummel again.

In the meantime I got the two kits from Miniart which I will use for the dio (City buildings).

Greetings
-Ambjoern

[The Mango Kid]

Hi Ambjörn it's looking really good this Hummel project of yours :)

All the best,
Kris

[Striker]

You have this other picture from tanxheaven, for the upgrade Pz IV ausf D

http://tanxheaven.com/rob/panzer4/panzer4-2003.JPG

Looks like it use the same model

and here is my own build for the old Tamiya pz IV ausf D (i know, that's not exactly the same, shame on me, but i don't know how to make build details lower than 1mm and so i have problem to place everything in the right place :( ) :lol:

http://strikerfoxx.free.fr/Models%20Album/photos/WWII%20on%20the%20Bench/800/Panzer%20IV%20041.JPG

[amba]

Hello Everyone,

I haven't updated for quite a while here now. But I was so busy with other things that I didn't get much bench time :(

First of all, thanks Benjamin for the nice pictures!

I have been working on the gun mantlet for quite a while now. First I glued the PE parts together with superglue, and I thought it should be ok. But of course they broke apart after a while, so there was no escape from soldering hell :lol:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Gun/Hummel-092.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Gun/Hummel-091.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Gun/Hummel-093.jpg

Soldering the mantlet was really a pain. But the postings about soldering techniques in this forum was really a help!

There is still a long way to go with this build and lots of soldering left :lol:

-Ambjoern

[Larry Bates]

Looks good Ambjoern,

Soldering is fun, yes?

Larry

[Flak]

Hi Amba,

Great to see your update again...good soldering job :thumb:

[amba]

Originally posted by Larry Bates@May 23 2006, 02:59 AM
Looks good Ambjoern,

Soldering is fun, yes?

Larry
Yeah, Larry. Once I got used to working with the new material and practicing the techniques a bit more, I am enjoying it more and more :)

-Ambjoern

[amba]

Hi Guys,

we had a day off today! Besides spending some time with my family, I managed to sneak away for a while just long enough to do some more soldering :lol:

Here is the left front plate side, Inside:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Superstructure/Hummel-065.jpg
and outside:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Superstructure/Hummel-064.jpg

And just to see how they look I did one of the louvres:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Superstructure/Hummel-066.jpg

more to come, soon I hope :lol:

-Ambjoern

[Flak]

Looks nice...and keep the good work coming ;)

[Larry Bates]

Nice job Ambjoern!

Larry

[Panzergrenadier]

Nice work there. :thumb:

Siim

[Sheeds]

Top notch work Ambjoern.

Willy. :thumb:

[Bruga]

Nice to see your work once more!

Which iron to you use for soldering... I have one but is only 25W and does nothing, just got one finger burned :angry: as it is not hot it wasn´t so bad :lol:

If you could give me an address and the ame and type that would be great...


Keep going with that Hummel!


Regards,

Antonio

[amba]

Originally posted by Bruga@May 27 2006, 09:51 AM
Nice to see your work once more!

Which iron to you use for soldering... I have one* but is only 25W and does nothing, just got one finger burned

If you could give me an address and the ame and type that would be great...


Regards,

Antonio


Hola Antonio,

I also use 25W irons. I've got two, one which is a bit thicker for larger surfaces and one with a needlepoint shape for small surfaces. Both are from Migros :)

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/soldering-1.jpg

and

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/soldering-2.jpg

But I think the most important thing is that you use Flux (Lötwasser) and separate solder. Without the flux the solder will not stick on the PE parts. Here are the brands that I am using, they are both from Migros here in Switzerland:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/soldering-3.jpg

I apply the Flux onto one of the surfaces with a brush:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/soldering-4.jpg

Then I gather some solder on the soldering iron and move it over the surface like a brush so that only a thin film of solder stay on the surface:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/soldering-5.jpg

Then I apply some Flux with a brush to the surface were the joint will be, and put the pieces together. Then I slowly move the soldering iron over the joint pressing slightly until I hear the "zishing" noice of the Flux and the solder forming a joint:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/soldering-7.jpg

Happy soldering :lol:

-Ambjoern

[Bruga]

Hi Ambjoern!



What a great explanation yours... If I am not able to solder then, it will mean I am worthless :(

I won´t be able to look for the instruments till mid june as I will be dealing with my Uni exams next week; once finished I will try it!

As you but for other reasons have not been modeling much... I finished the painting of the interior -didn´t look so good :angry: And it was too complex with all the surface rivets that may have to re-do. Needed something relaxing... have worked in three projects :lol:



Let´s see if the rainy period comes to an end.



Regards,

Antonio

[amba]

Hi Everyone,

we have a rain-period here in Switzerland right now, combined with really cold weather and winds. Not much of a summer right now, but it gives me more time for modelling ;) And when the football (soccer) world championship starts next friday, modelling will get on the downside again :(

Anyway I continued to work on the front armor plates. The problem I have seen with the Lionroar PE parts for the armor, is that in the place wêre the nuts should sit there is a hole:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Superstructure/Hummel-071.jpg

The nuts supplied with Lionroar PE set is designed to fit in the hole, but it looks really strange with the nuts in there.

I filled the holes with solder and produced some nuts with my own punch & die set:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Superstructure/Hummel-072.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Superstructure/Hummel-073.jpg

I think it is better than the nuts supplied with the PE parts. I will add the loops for the tarpaulin later, otherwise they will probably fall off during the assembly. Here is the back side:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Superstructure/Hummel-076.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Superstructure/Hummel-077.jpg

I am gonna finish the second front part as well and then continue with the side armor. And then finally the biggest part starts with the fighting compartment!

-Ambjoern

[lquah]

Ambjoern

Very nice work! I have the LionRoar PE set as well and am following your work with interest.

:thumb:

Lawrence

[Larry Bates]

Looking good Ambjoern.

Larry

[Dragan]

Great work and werry usefull for detailes

[Flak]

Hi Ambjoern,

Good solder work :thumb:

[amba]

Thanx for the comments guys :)

Because of the football worldcup, garden work, family etc. I have not had a lot of bench time lately. Whenever I had a few minutes to spare, I've been soldering or cutting and shaping PE parts. I completed the outside of the right side armor, with the lifting hooks and the bases for the loops. I will add the little loops later after I have glued the whole thing in place:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Superstructure/Hummel-078.jpg

and

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Superstructure/Hummel-080.jpg

The two front parts completed, with also only the loops missing:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Superstructure/Hummel-079.jpg

The lion roar etched sets have most of the places where parts are going engraved into the PE parts. After assembly though you will see the gap and also the part will sink into place which will look a little strange. I decided to fill the engraved part with either putty or solder:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Superstructure/Hummel-081.jpg

and

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Superstructure/Hummel-083.jpg

Generally the Lionroar set is not bad. But the rear two ammo boxes are wrong and lacks the innner parts. So if you want to show the rear ammo boxes open, like I wanna do, you need a replacement. The only set I found with the correct ammo boxes, are from a company called part in poland. I received them today and they look really good :) check out this link: Part ammo boxes (http://www.jadar.com.pl/part/p35139/index.html)

Well, I have started to work on the fighting compartment as well now. More details to follow...

-Ambjoern

[amba]

Hi Again,

I'm working on the fighting compartment at the moment. A lot of fiddly small details. It will look more interesting when everything falls in place... Anyway, here are some pictures of what I have been working on.

First off I did the tube which comes from the engine room into the fighting compartment. With the handles on each side the crew could regulate the heating for the fighting compartment:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Fighting%20Compartment/Hummel-005.jpg

Then I reworked the lifting hooks on each side of the engine bay:

[img]http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Fighting%20Compartment/Hummel-013.jpg

Next up were the boxes on the left hand side wall. This is the toolbox:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Fighting%20Compartment/Hummel-003.jpg

This is the smaller box, two of these were mounted above the toolbox:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Fighting%20Compartment/Hummel-002.jpg

Two frames were mounted below the gun. Each containing a box fastened with a leather strip. Another two of these boxes were mounted in the same fashion on top of the right hand side ammo box.

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Fighting%20Compartment/Hummel-011.jpg

and

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Fighting%20Compartment/Hummel-012.jpg

more to come...

-Ambjoern

[Larry Bates]

Nice work Amba.

Larry

[MrPlasticmodel]

Hejsan Ambjørn

Good to see you "in business" again ;) Very vell done

[amba]

Hi Guys,

well thanks for the comments. I haven't been doing any "big" things on this build lately but always a bit here and there.. photos will follow in about two weeks...

But now it's time for vacation :) We are going to Spain for a two weeks holiday on Sunday. More precisely, to the Atlantic Coast in the area of Jerez.

I hope to be back on this build soon after the vacation :lol:

-Ambjoern

[James Tainton]

Have a great time and when you come back post some pics of your trip! ;)

[amba]

Thanks James, I sure will post some photos when I'm back...

Here is the place I am going to, you will find me in the light blue swimming pool (centre left) or playing the surrounding golf course :) :)

Novo Sancti Petri (http://www.google.com/maphp?hl=en&q=&ie=UTF8&t=k&om=1&ll=36.343251,-6.158738&spn=0.012721,0.019956)

-Ambjoern

[amba]

Hi everyone back again...

James and everyboby else interested, here are the promised holiday pics from spain:

Holiday pics (http://www.planetarmor.com/forums/index.php?act=ST&f=84&t=2486)

-Ambjoern

[amba]

Ooooh yes, I almost forgot... I did some modelling too since I came back again...

Attached the gun shield to the gun:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Gun/Hummel-097.jpg

And, well you know me... I couldn't do it the easy way ;) So I scratchbuilt the tubes and mounts and attached the shield exactly as the original. It is actually only held in place by the three tubes on each side just like the real thing:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Gun/Hummel-096.jpg

And here is another view:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Gun/Hummel-095.jpg

I will add the adjustment board to the gun during during painting, because it has a table on there which I have to paint first.

Other than that the gun is now completed :)

So I'm off to the next part...

... more to come

-Ambjoern

[Flak]

Hi Ambjoern,

Welcome back...look forward to seeing next update on it ;)

Thanks for your sharing 'Holiday" pictures...it look...it is a nice place for relax :lol:

[amba]

Hi Marco, well I think we posted on the same time... You just missed it :lol:

-Ambjoern

[Flak]

Hi Ambjoern...Great to see you back ;) Awesome work :thumb:

[Sticky]

Looking very nice. Nice job on the sheild supports.

[MartinD]

The latest update looks very good!!! I'll backtrack throught the other posts. Good luck with the rest of the build.

[lquah]

Hi Ambjoern

Was wondering what happened to your Hummel. Good to see that you are back building.

Nice work on the gun. :thumb:

Lawrence

[Finnmodeler]

Hi,
good to see this getting along again. Very impressive work you are doing. I have same PE sets but haven't started those, far too difficult to handle :lol:

Niko

[Evan August]

Good to see you're back and posting some excellent work!

[Larry Bates]

Awesome work man

Larry

[brokeneagle]

:) splendiferous.....good to see you back.

[Tuna]

Awsome work!!!! Been a pleasure to follow this build.. Great to see it's in prog again!!!

Keep on going! and sharing pics!

[amba]

Hi Guys,

thanks for all the comments! :) :)

Yesterday night was soldering time again. I completed the side armor:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Superstructure/514fe43f.jpg

The thing with this is that the plates have to be connected at the edges. The contact points are so small that there is no way you could do this without soldering. I am not sure if the new Etch Grip PE Tool from Alasdair (thesmallshopeu.com) can do this as well, but it would be worth a try. Anyway there is a lot of soldering to be done with this PE set from Lionroar, so I would not recommend it to someone who is not having a love affair with their soldering iron :lol:

Here you can see the edges after cleaning and sanding:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Superstructure/2ff63b6a.jpg

and from the inside:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Superstructure/ecd46657.jpg

And a little dry fit just to know that everything is ok:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Superstructure/8eaa94a9.jpg

Yeah! I'm getting there!

The PE parts (Lionroar and Eduard) for the front bar which holds the spare tracks, is rather poor and does not look like the real thing. I reworked it using some thin brass sheet and plastic strip:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Superstructure/69a1dba9.jpg

more to come...

-Ambjoern

[lquah]

Ambjoern

Super soldering job! :thumb: Those brass side armor plates makes a big difference to the kit parts.

I have this LionRoar set as well and your work inspires me. :)

Lawrence

[Larry Bates]

Woohoo!

Looks real nice Ambjoern. Must have been a challenge to solder that box. :thumb:
Larry

[MartinD]

Superb!!! Magnificent!!! Really good, I always figured such PE sets would make a nice subjects for a blown up vehicle. But it would be a shame to do when seeing this. Keep'em comin' :thumb:

MartinD

[olin]

Hello Ambjoern,
Glad you had a nice holiday, looks like a very nice resort. The Hummel is coming along great. I have always wondered if the Lion Roar fit the older DML offering, you have answered that question! Great p/e work on this , I also like the sprockets you built. Can't wait to see more on this .
Paul

[Flak]

:o SUPERB ;)

[amba]

Hello Guys,

thanks for all the comments!

As a matter of fact the Lionroar armor plates fits ok but there is still some fitting to be done. The most important thing is to fill the engraved areas on the inside of the plates with putty or solder, cause it wont be exactly on the spot. While the putty dries I am working on the gun travel lock.

The plastic parts supplied with the kit are far too thick. The three half circles which were attached to the gun pipe were 10mm (0.3 inch) thick. In 1/35 scale that would be 0.3mm (0.01 inch), but the kit supplied ones are 1mm (0.03 inch) thick! That's not really in scale... So time for some scratchbuildin'

Here is one kit part, compared to the one I scratchbuilt:
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Superstructure/Hummel-013.jpg

And the other one..:
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Superstructure/Hummel-011.jpg

In this closeup one realize how much the difference in the thickness means:
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Superstructure/Hummel-014.jpg

And one more:
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Superstructure/Hummel-012.jpg

Here are all the new parts for the gun travel lock:
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Superstructure/Hummel-016.jpg


More to come... (soon I hope ;) )

-Ambjoern

[James Tainton]

Gotta love it ;) I have that PE set BTW.

[Andrew Hall]

Very nice work on that gun crutch Amba.

Andrew

[lquah]

Super job :thumb: :thumb:

Lawrence

[Stuke Sowle]

The level of detail on your work amba is awe inspiring.

[Larry Bates]

Awesome work Amba

Larry

[Flak]

Hi Ambjoern,

Awesome :thumb:

Are the replacement gun crutch pieces workable :lol: :lol:

[amba]

Originally posted by panzerfaust@Aug 21 2006, 11:15 PM
Gotta love it ;) I have that PE set BTW.
Thanks James!

As far as I know there is only one PE set (Eduard) which supplies something for the gun travel lock, and it is only a part of the attachements to the hull :( Did you mean that one?

-Ambjoern

[James Tainton]

no I'm talking about the Voyager side armour set I guess- with all this talk of moving I have to say that that set is in storage as well as the kit. I never ever use Eduard PE- complete waste of money - for armor. Maybe okay for airplane stuff. ;)

[amba]

Originally posted by Flak@Aug 22 2006, 04:02 AM

Are the replacement gun crutch pieces workable :lol:
Hi Marco,

well at first I wanted to make it workable... But then... No I'll just glue it in place :) :lol:

-Ambjoern

[James Tainton]

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Superstructure/Hummel-016.jpg

How did you make the gromets (for lack of a better word) on the mounting brackets, the u shaped ones. That is real nice...

[Flak]

Hi Marco,

well at first I wanted to make it workable... But then... No I'll just glue it in place

-Ambjoern

:lol: :lol: No worries...it is very nice ;)

[Panzergrenadier]

Very nice work. :thumb: You have a lot of patience. Keep the pictures coming.

Siim

[olin]

Ambjoern
I can only echo what the others have said, this is top notch work to say the least! I look forward to looking at this build every day. :thumb:
Paul

[Finnmodeler]

Hi,
that travel lock is freaking awesome! Ihan saatanan makee as we say here in Finland:)

Niko

[Sheeds]

Nice crutch Ambjoern! ;)

Banger work dude.

Willy.

[amba]

Originally posted by panzerfaust@Aug 22 2006, 08:45 AM

How did you make the gromets (for lack of a better word) on the mounting brackets, the u shaped ones. That is real nice...
Hi James,

The wire is a 0.5 mm (0.019 inch) copper wire. I cut a small strip from a 0.3 mm (0.011 inch) brass plate which I bent to a U form. Then I soldered the U to the wire end, and cut off the pieces of the U which were too long. It took a bit of patience (and swearing ;) ) cause the parts were so small.

-Ambjoern

[Finnmodeler]

Originally posted by panzerfaust@Aug 22 2006, 01:24 AM
I never ever use Eduard PE- complete waste of money - for armor. Maybe okay for airplane stuff. ;)
Hah :lol:
I agree on that Eduard is mostly waste of money, also in plane stuff. They tend to fill frets with copies of plastic parts which may be already incorrect.
Aber and Voyager are way to go if detail and accuracy is needed.
Lion Roar has tendency to make nice sets but at least some of them are totally incorrect.
Part makes very nice sets having small parts that are even hard to see! Main problem with Part is with instructions as many sets have parts that do not show in instructions. Of course you can use them if you know how :lol:
Royal Model makes nice sets that have many times resin parts included. Newer sets are thinner metal so they easier to use. Problem is price which can be unbelievalbe high!
Whoaa, it came out a bit like a review....

Niko

[The Mango Kid]

Hi Ambjörn, åter igen, your Hummel project looks so friggin good ! :)

Kris

[MrPlasticmodel]

Hejsa Ambjørn
Nice to see progress here, You have evolved to a true artist in superdetailing, your gun clutch is a masterpiece :)

[amba]

Hi Guys,

thanks for your interest and kind comments!

Haven't been doing much lately, only limited bench time at the moment but I hope to get more done this week.

Working on the fighting compartment right now. Added a some scratchbuilt stuff as well as pe:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Fighting%20Compartment/Hummel-016.jpg

The mounts for the gun transport lock are not really looking like the real thing. So I had to scratchbuild them:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Fighting%20Compartment/Hummel-015.jpg

Hope to be able to post more pics this week!

-Ambjoern

[Finnmodeler]

Those mounts look so much better than kit parts. You are a magician :)

niko

[lquah]

Ambjoern

Your skill is really good on the small stuff. You're not a watchmaker are you? The Swiss are known to be master watchmakers.

Those rivets look good. What did you use for them? :)

Lawrence

[amba]

Ambjoern

Your skill is really good on the small stuff. You're not a watchmaker are you? The Swiss are known to be master watchmakers.

Those rivets look good. What did you use for them? :)

Lawrence

Hi Lawrence,

no im not a watchmaker :) but I like to work with the small stuff (but braille scale is nothing for me) ;)

I made the rivets with my historex punch & die set actually. But I used a thin soft-aluminium sheet instead of a plastic sheet. This makes the rivets more round headed...

-Ambjoern

[Flak]

Hi Ambjoern,

Great progress and Great Hummel here:rolleyes:

[Finnmodeler]

I made the rivets with my historex punch & die set actually. But I used a thin soft-aluminium sheet instead of a plastic sheet. This makes the rivets more round headed...

-Ambjoern

Good tip, thanks!

Niko

[amba]

Hi Guys,

I was working on the starboard cased charge cabinet last night. The cabinet contained in the Eduard pe set is just awfull. The one from Lionroar is not that bad. But the best one is the one from Part, so I'm gonna use that one. So I heated up my soldering iron and started working...

The completed cabinet looks like this:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Fighting%20Compartment/Hummel-017.jpg

The details by Part are really superior to the other ones:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Fighting%20Compartment/Hummel-023.jpg

The door hinges:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Fighting%20Compartment/Hummel-019.jpg

The dividers:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Fighting%20Compartment/Hummel-020.jpg

The dividers are also movable and attached to a 3mm pin:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Fighting%20Compartment/Hummel-021.jpg

And the mounts are there:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Fighting%20Compartment/Hummel-022.jpg

And the small details on the end of the dividers:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Fighting%20Compartment/Hummel-020.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Fighting%20Compartment/Hummel-018.jpg

next up are the rear ammo cabinets...

-Ambjoern

[lquah]

Ambjoern

Very nice PE work :thumb:

Lawrence

[Flak]

Hi Guys,

I was working on the starboard cased charge cabinet last night. The cabinet contained in the Eduard pe set is just awfull. The one from Lionroar is not that bad. But the best one is the one from Part, so I'm gonna use that one. So I heated up my soldering iron and started working...


Hi Ambjoern,

You have picked up all 3 PE sets... :) :)

Awesome on the metal work :thumb: :thumb:

[amba]

Hi Ambjoern,

You have picked up all 3 PE sets... :) :)



Hi Marco,

well, from Part I only have one of the three sets containing the cabinets. But if I could start all over I would buy all three sets from Part. I really like the quality and they contain more details for the gun and the fighting compartment compared to Eduard and Lionroar. But Lionroar is the only set which has the superstructure parts included.

-Ambjoern

[lquah]

Ambjoern

I have the LionRoar PE sets as well. I wasn't planning on building the Hummel but when I saw that superstructure in PE, I gave in. It's been sitting in my to do pile for the past year and hopefully I can build it sometime in the next year! :)

What is PART PE like? In HK, you can easily get Aber, Voyager, Lion Roar and Eduard but PART is not that easy to get. How is the accuracy and fit like?

Lawrence

[Flak]

What is PART PE like? In HK, you can easily get Aber, Voyager, Lion Roar and Eduard but PART is not that easy to get. How is the accuracy and fit like?

Lawrence


I ordered the Part from Jadar's...I have their Sd. Kfz 232...the detail is better than Voyager, LionRoar and Eduard...but the material had thickness than the other sources...:( also the instruction is not easy read as Aber, Eduard...etc.

[amba]

I ordered the Part from Jadar's...I have their Sd. Kfz 232...the detail is better than Voyager, LionRoar and Eduard...but the material had thickness than the other sources...:( also the instruction is not easy read as Aber, Eduard...etc.

Lawrence, Marco,

I definetly agree that the instructions are really poor! The thickness was not a problem with this set really, it seems ok. But the instructions are almost useless but I have the nuts & bolts as well as several walkarounds so I knew how to put it all together ;). I bought the set from Jadar as well by the way, cause you will not find a single LHS in this country which has PE sets on stock :(

[amba]

I continued to work with the Part PE set tonight. I have to say that the level of detail and the material is far superior than the other two set's from Eduard and Lionroar. While the Eduard set does not contain any inner details at all, the Cabinet's from the Lionroar set has some details but not at this level. Also the material from Part is much easier to solder :)

Here are all the parts for the left side cabinet:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Fighting%20Compartment/Hummel-024.jpg

The cabinet itself has the correct bent upper sides:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Fighting%20Compartment/Hummel-025.jpg

The details on the top door are just excellent:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Fighting%20Compartment/Hummel-027.jpg

Even the hinges can be made workable:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Fighting%20Compartment/Hummel-026.jpg

The lower door has all the details as well:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Fighting%20Compartment/Hummel-028.jpg

And the hinges are nicely detailed on the inside:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Fighting%20Compartment/Hummel-030.jpg

And outside:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Fighting%20Compartment/Hummel-031.jpg

And the grenade holders are correct as well:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Fighting%20Compartment/Hummel-029.jpg

Just a excellent set. Highly recommended ;)

-Ambjoern

[lquah]

Ambjoern,

The set looks very nice and has good details. The grenade holder is quite distintive and PART has captured the look very well.

Nice work on the hinges :)

Lawrence

[Flak]

Super work here :thumb: :thumb:

[Larry Bates]

Amba,

Your Hummel is looking awesome. Keep it coming! :thumb:


Larry

[Panzergrenadier]

Very impressive.

[amba]

Hi Friends,

thanks for all your comments :)

Boy, all this soldering is really time consuming. Each little piece takes so much time. Especially when I am comparing each piece to the Original in Nuts & Bolts ;)

I gave myself a kick tonight and managed to attach the superstructure:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Superstructure/Hummel-085.jpg

I managed to get it to fit alright but it was a race against time while the superglue was drying:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Superstructure/Hummel-086.jpg

Then I made some Lionroar PE parts for the fighting compartment:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Fighting%20Compartment/Hummel-032.jpg

And I also used some of my Calibre nuts & bolts for the first time and they are really sweet:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Fighting%20Compartment/Hummel-033.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Fighting%20Compartment/Hummel-034.jpg

Gott'a love those bolt heads:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Fighting%20Compartment/Hummel-035.jpg

More to come....

-Ambjoern

[lquah]

Ambjoern

It's been awhile since your last update but it's worth it. Absolutely Awesome! :thumb: Those side armor looks really nice (much better than warped resin in my Marder IIIM!)

Was it difficult to line up and solder the armor at the correct angles?

Lawrence

[Flak]

Awesome work...Ambjoren...can't wait to see the next update :D

[MikkoH]

Absolutely Great work Amba! Keep it coming!:)

Cheers Mikko

[MartinD]

I suppose the gun can actually be fired, the bolts heads removeable with a PE wrench, and the ammo lockers will be fully functional? Great work!!! Keep'em comin'. BIG :thumb:

[Larry Bates]

Nice!

Looking good Amba. Very nice bolt heads.

Larry

[Baz]

amazing, don't stop :)

cheers,

Bas

[Finnmodeler]

Calire stuff looks great in your Hummel!

Niko

[amba]

Hi Guys,

thanks for all your comments! A working gun... yeah would be quite cool actually :D

I always set myself a goal for the evening/night, but I usually don't start building until my family has gone to bed. Then everything is so calm and quiet and it's easier to focus on the task. Although the time is very limited cause I also have to get up for work in the morning. I have a day off on Friday, but my wife and I are going to St. Moritz for a "Wellness" weekend, so there is no bench time until next week again :( But to compensate for that I'm gonna play two 18 hole courses (Golf) up there :thumb: Maybe I'll post some photos from St. Moritz.

Enough chatting ;) My goal for tonight was to complete the two mg34 ammo boxes and the mounting points:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Fighting%20Compartment/Hummel-036.jpg

I used two ammo boxes from a Gen2 set:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Fighting%20Compartment/Hummel-037.jpg

The other goal was to mount the triangle support for the fighting compartment starboard wall:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Fighting%20Compartment/Hummel-038.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoern/hummel/Fighting%20Compartment/Hummel-039.jpg

The attachement points on the wall are not included in any of the PE sets I have:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/ambjoer