2024 Sdkfz 7 - First time build

[Colin Stevens]

I have jumped a few stages and I am going to get the chassis built as much as possible and then spray in the final colour. each part has been degreased and cleaned up prior to etch primer, and then assembled. The various deck supports are on. They were a tad fiddley, but once I took some meat off of my brand new set of spanners, it was a lot easier.
The swing arms and torsion assembly are not locked in, they will be taken off to get the final colour, and to give me a clear run at the chassis.

I opened the first of the wrapped items today, and started to clean them up. Filed/deburred of the edges in the fenders and radiator surround. The fenders took a bit of fettling to get them to fit well, no problem, be boring otherwise.
Quick question, think it shows up in the photos, but there is a texture to the fenders/radiator surround, my gut is to leave this, or, did they have a smooth finish? prefer the texture finish to be honest.

Now I've got this far the boxes are getting lighter, and the bags are disappearing. Very satisfying.

[Damon Resch]

Colin,
In the book I have on the Sd Kfz 7 the fenders look like they are smooth, stamped steel, the radiator as well. The Amortek parts are cast thus rougher in texture. Go with your preference, it's your build so make it how you want it to be/look like that's all that matters, plus having fun with it as well.

[Steve McEvoy]

Congratulations on your purchase, hours of fun to follow. I would certainly recommend the purchase of a good tap and die set as You are certainly going to need them at some point and a couple of hours grief from the wife is much better than getting a screw or bolt head stuck and end up having to drill them out! ( bitter experience ) I Always run a tap through every hole first. just to clean the thread out, Only takes a couple of seconds to run through a hole. Enjoy
Regards
Steve

[Colin Stevens]

Hi, regarding the castings on the cast parts, if I had thought about it a bit more the answer is obvious. The rest of the make up of the body work is plate/pressed steel(?), therefore a textured area on the odd part would not be in keeping (didn't fancy spraying with textured paint). So I have made a start on smoothing of the texture. Between a electric sander and various bits in my Dremel, it didn't take too long. The photo is halfway through, and before finishing with wet and dry. I didn't do the underside I hasten to to add.

[simon_manning]

Just the job, the mudguards were a smooth Pressed / Rolled thin steel, much like a car wing or panel, regards simon manning.

[florian rudolf]

I Know these job realy good
If you want the realy good finish, coat it with fine putty and spray putty bevor painting.

[Colin Stevens]

I have avoided opening any of the wrapped items, eke out the wow factor, but decided I wanted to get on to some of the more repetitive items. So I opened the road wheel A package. Yup, big wow factor. I have rubbed sandpaper across the rims to roughen that of and run my ever useful Dremel with a wire brush across the face of the wheel, and then dropped the whole lot into degreaser ready for etch priming. Not sure on what my building/final colour spraying sequence is going to be, but at the moment Im thinking, etch spray all parts, assemble all, except for bearings, spray final colour and then loktite in bearings. Then the tyres can be attached. Looks good in my head, but my head is on a different plane to reality, so we will see.

[Andy Walker]

May be of use to you Colin. It was sent to me by Kian to clarify idler angle.

[Colin Stevens]

Hi all, so between other project, poorly dog, garden work, shifting two one ton bags of soil and building a pergola, I have managed the hour or so in the garage. I have partly assembled the road wheels A, and sprayed in a colour that I found that someone had used on a Armortek build on Utube, cant remember which one. (well I know which channel rather). Any way the paint of choice is
"Kings army industrial paint-Dunkelgrau Panzergrau Zwei" RAL 7021.
it looks decidedly black to me, so I'm not sure what to do. I do have two cans of it! Have I picked the wrong colour? will it lighten with another coat?
The wheel has been photo'd on a white background, but not very clear.
Im sure from my kit bashing days 30 years ago the grey used on German AFVs was not this dark.
Advice please.

[Andy Walker]

From a quick bit of research on ww2 German armoured vehicle I've found there seems to be a vaste amount of colours used during WW2. Mostly versions of grey,green and yellow, and then the different camo designs. With all the ad hock additions carried out by workshops and individual crews in field it seems that there are almost endless colour / camo schemes. I think you can't go far wrong just picking a colour / pattern you like unless modeling a particular vehicle / unit.
This website may help
https://truck-encyclopedia.com/ww2/germany/Sd.Kfz.7.php

[Colin Stevens]

I have managed a whole (nearly) afternoon in the garage, due to the fact ive finished moving soil and gravel around. The boss gave me the afternoon off.
So, a lot done, but not without issues.
Fitted the torsion bars and arms. I did not find that easy, ruined the first set of rods and the link and Armortek sent me replacements. I was a lot
more careful checking this time, to make sure I filed in the flats at the correct angle, but I did have the ruined ones to check against. Not sure I have the desired angle, but it "torsions" this time. I did find that the M5 x 12 wasn't long enough so replaced it with a slightly longer one and now it clamps.
Another issue, of my own making and I owe Andy Walker a thanks for pointing this out......
"Something I also discovered after assembling and fitting the Front Spring Assy, was that you need to pay close attention to the exact way the leaves are aligned. I had CG1231 the other way round to that shown on the diagram, with the end with the slight upward curve the same side as the tubular shaped end of CG1230. This caused the spring to foul on the M3 X 20 button screw holding CG0229 at the other end."
yup, I had it wrong. Easily fixed.
The last issue was part CG0109 was two bigger a diameter for the mid spring assembly part mCG1220 to fit. I ended up taking CG0109 of off the chassis and spinning it in a drill with fine wet and dry to bring it down to size.
So a productive afternoon, not quite a rolling chassis, but close.
Oh, and the colour, not quite black in the sun light. I did find a few threads here and there describing the grey as almost black, so feel a happier on the colour.

[Colin Stevens]

HI, I have a few questions, hope you can all help.
Bearings. the manual says to loctite into place. Ok, I kind of get that, but I am assuming they mean 638 (as in the the beginning of the manual) but what if you ever need to replace the bearing? I did not not loctite the sleeves into the swivel arms, for this very reason. Advise please.
I have been trying to find some decent photos of the dashboard on the internet, but haven't really found anything useful, ideas any one?
Tracks, to paint or not to paint? and if you do, what product/colour.
Thank you.

[Andy Walker]

Once the bearings are glued in they are extremely difficult to remove! I believe heat and mechanical force can do it, but I tried once and couldn't get the bearing out without destroying the component.
As for the tracks, I tend to use Birchwood Casey Aluminium Black Metal Finish for Airgun and Model Making. Usually loads for sale on Ebay. Needs to be used before gluing on the rubber pads.
There are pictures on the SdKfz 7 build forum of the dashboard. The book by 'nuts and bolts' is very good for getting details on this vehicle. Good pictures of the dashboard. Not easy to find though....I managed to get one from Abebooks luckily.

[Derek Attree]

Hi Colin
I use loctite 641 a gold coloured one that
Mark Watkins recommend back when he was the owner on bushes and bearing it's a medium strength.
I have never had to remove a bush ore bearing from a tank in over 20 years but I know from something else gentle heat from a blow torch breaks the joint easily.

638 is a hight strength locktite and I would not recommend for bearings.

Hope this helps

[Colin Stevens]

Very happy with most of my progress so far, but two things I am not happy with was the row of rivets on the front fenders, easy fix, just flatten them of a bit. The other was the dash board. Sorry it just doesn't look right, and I haven't even looked at it to closely. So I looked back at the old threads to see what is out there. Oh dear, So Now suffering from detail envy. There are some super detailed models there.
So my main query is, how are the rivets on the body done? What size and who supplies them and the method of fitting them. I have a few ideas, but would be good to hear from some one who's done it. Of course the main issue is do I have the patience to go to that level, and if I do, where do I stop?