2024 Sdkfz 7 - First time build

[Andy Walker]

After spending a many happy hour cleaning and priming, here is the start of the upperworks. Yes, I know I shouldn't be doing this until the motion pack is here, and the motors installed, but as I am going to add some rivet detail, (really shouldn't look at other peoples work) I wanted to see how it was all going to come together. My hope is that I can do the rivets, fix the the body sides on to the deck/body rear/front bulkhead and mudguards, blend it all in, prime and then bolt the whole assembly down on to the chassis. The assembly in the photo is only held down by a few nuts and bolts to check for fit/alignment, I will see what access is like for the nuts to chassis fixings when I remove it.
Any tips on how to close the ga at the front, I have tried "sneezing" the side on to the mudguard but it isn't having none of it.

You could use Milliput...fills just about anything.

[Colin Stevens]

Started on the rear end hatches a while ago. For the love of me I could not get the bottom hatch to work properly. I spent ages trying various ways round and could not get it right. Sooooooooo, I, being a total wally, took my Dremel to the rear casing and reshaped the top of the hatch opening where the latch goes. Worked a treat. Went in to the garage the next day, looked at the manual again to do the 2 upper hatches, and the penny dropped. The hinge is actually in a L shape. After I finished smacking my head, I set about repairing the damage I had done. Fortunately the rear casting fitted onto the bed of my proxxon mill, and I milled out a slot to take a length of brass. This was then tapped and then epoxied in place and retain with bolts. Several of the trades I used to work with used to say that the sign of a good tradesman/craftsman was knowing how to put ones mistakes right, or at the very least hide them. This particular mistake was a goodun, but now its sprayed no one will know. A good save but would have been happier not having to have done it.

I have also started adding rivet detail, off to a good start here I hope.

[Martin Usher]

I can relate Colin, finished assembling all the leaf spring units the other night thinking I am going well.... until i noticed i'd built the last one upside down.. complacent i guess. could not even blame the Vino.
Martin.

[Raj Gopaldas]

Started on the rear end hatches a while ago. For the love of me I could not get the bottom hatch to work properly. I spent ages trying various ways round and could not get it right. Sooooooooo, I, being a total wally, took my Dremel to the rear casing and reshaped the top of the hatch opening where the latch goes. Worked a treat. Went in to the garage the next day, looked at the manual again to do the 2 upper hatches, and the penny dropped. The hinge is actually in a L shape. After I finished smacking my head, I set about repairing the damage I had done. Fortunately the rear casting fitted onto the bed of my proxxon mill, and I milled out a slot to take a length of brass. This was then tapped and then epoxied in place and retain with bolts. Several of the trades I used to work with used to say that the sign of a good tradesman/craftsman was knowing how to put ones mistakes right, or at the very least hide them. This particular mistake was a goodun, but now its sprayed no one will know. A good save but would have been happier not having to have done it.

I have also started adding rivet detail, off to a good start here I hope.

Well, about the rear assembly. I am having quite a bit of trouble with the rear doors. Not the pannier door, which I am fine.

The problem I’m having is with reference to part number, CG1621. I am not able to get those pre-drilled oval shaped holes to align with the hinge holes. Pictures attached. It looks like there might be a defect on where the holes were drilled, but I just want to be sure that I’m not doing something silly. So if anyone can give me some advice on this, I would greatly appreciate it.

[Raj Gopaldas]

Figured out the issue. Kian helped me promptly on this - all good. Armortek team - kudos!

[Andy Walker]

Figured out the issue. Kian helped me promptly on this - all good. Armortek team - kudos!

Is it something other builders may encounter?

[Colin Stevens]

Little bit of progress, quite pleased with the way the rivets have gone, although the other side has a bit of a wobble.
ordered the motion pack today, looking forward to fitting it.
Silly question, but where is the exhaust exactly. Looked in various photos, walk rounds and whatever reference photos I can find, but can seem any sign of it anywhere.

[Colin Stevens]

Help, Ideas needed. The sides were cleaned with Upol system 20, then holes were drilled, the surfaces rubed down and then rivets soldered in, and then all was cleaned back again. 2 weeks later I am getting this surface rust. Ideas on how to get rid of it please.

[Malcolm.Plumb]

Colin, you're going to have to scotch pad this off, degrease and get some primer on the bare metal.

Quite normal and have had the same thing myself.
All depending on how humid/damp the weather is.

I would be preparing parts and getting primer down asap.
And then assemble.

[Colin Stevens]

Colin, you're going to have to scotch pad this off, degrease and get some primer on the bare metal.

Quite normal and have had the same thing myself.
All depending on how humid/damp the weather is.

I would be preparing parts and getting primer down asap.
And then assemble.

Hi, yer, as a rule I have been priming straight after degreasing, but in this instance I knew I was going to solder and then glue "parts" on and that would not be good on primed parts. But Scot ch pad/wire wool/fine abrasive is good to know.
Thank you for your time.

[Colin Stevens]

Been a fruitful weekend, I had time off for good behaviour, so I have spent more than my normal hour or two here and there in the garage.
Finished the rivets on the sides, placed and fixed all the tie downs, and then cleaned up the sides with a mixture of scotch pad and wire brush in a dremmel, and then acid etched the sides straight away, didn't want the rust coming back.
I spent over a morning marking out the dashboard to take the rivets on the leading edge. BUT..... total failure. The first side went ok, all the holes were in a line and regularly spaced, apart from the 3 drills that snapped, making that side useless. But i persisted on the other side, thinking I may be able to rescue it somehow. The either side, when I had finished, it looked as if the holes had been done by a drunk. Really not good. Tried filling them and re drilling, just made a bigger mess. So I have filled the all and not going to do rivet detail there. Just a tadd narked!!
I'm reasonably sure that I'm now as far as I dare go without the motors etc. The screw holes/heads will be filled and sanded flush, and then the trim around the top edges added.
Does mean I can crack on with the treads, oh joy!! I've done twenty and it took absolutely forever, and as boring as hell.

[Colin Stevens]

So.......... the body work is all but done, just a few more grab handles and the side light to go on.
Then the body is ready to be lifted of the chassis. Seems to be two steps forward and one step back, But, the motion pack rocked up yesterday so the box of parts count has now gone up again, which is good.

[Colin Stevens]

Been a busy morning, lots of progress made, but nothing actually finished. However, I have gone 3 steps forward(sort of finishing the body) 2 steps back(taking body of off the chassis) one step forward, getting the winch installed. Not sure how to stop the cable unravelling, so have just tucked it into the chassis for now. I did wind the cable on by connecting on my battery drill, with the loop fixed to worktop to keep it under tension, no problem moving the body work/stand across the floor. happy bunny. Hope to bench test it all this afternoon, but the temperature in the garage has just hit
30 C, far too hot for me. I am anxious to see if my new Futaba set will work ok with Armortek kit.

[Colin Stevens]

Lots of progress, but not without issues. The first was the winch motor mounting holes in the chassis are in the wrong place, I have emailed Armortek to see what I had done wrong, but in the mean time Andrew Walker posted the same issue so I went ahead and did the same as him.
Second issue was that the steering arm moved when the servo was activated, despite being Loctited in. The answer was to use a nut as a locknut and that seems to hold the arm.
Thirdly, installed the motors and run them up. Now, I didn't know what to expect, but I thought that even without the drive sprocket the drive was noisy. I tightened up the belts a tad, not easy, ended up removing a few of the support brackets, allowing me to slide the mounting plate forward, letting me at the locking bolts enabling a bit of adjustment. It was still a "task" though. The system quietened down a tad, but there was still some background "thumping". Decided that the belt may be rubbing on the side of the pully, I was right. That meant undoing the Taper lock. Not easy as I didn't want to remove the drive unit from the chassis. I did eventually manage to release the tapers and adjust the pully over a bit. That quieted up the system but the drive is a bit noisy, but I don't know how quiet/noisy it should be. This little adjustment took most of the day and I taught myself a whole new vocabulary!
Remember the issue of the bump stops being to short and not doing anything, so I gave them more height? waste of time, now the steering servo bracket is in (Light grey in the image), it stops the axle bridle hitting the bump stops! No solution to that as the bracket is needed.
I have 50 tracks joined up at the moment, that's tedious, not helped by the split pin heads falling through the retaining pins, sorted that by driving an old jewellers driver through to open up the head.
So, getting somewhere, and very satisfying it is too.
Oh, and good news, my new Futaba radio seems to like Armortek electronics.

[Andy Walker]

I found the same problem with the steering arms.When tightened up fully they were at completely the wrong angles
Yet to resist movement they needed to be fully tight. In the end I gradually used a number of 0.1mm shim washers over the threaded shaft on each arm, until when tightened the arms were at a suitable angle. They were also loctited. There is a threaded hole in the axle block for securing the threaded part of steering arm with a grub screw. However, this hole is so shallow, with so few threads, that I found it stripped out the threads when the grub screw was tightened.

I'm currently fitting the main drive motors and belts...which is.....tricky to say the least. Tensioning the belts especially. I must have fitted and removed the whole assembly at least 20 times lol. I think I've got there in the end. Not had a chance to run it with power yet as ran out of time. Going into Hospital for the dreaded prostate Op in the morning, so may be a few days before I can get anymore done.