Re: Sd Kfz 7 Sprocket question and partial model rebuild..
Posted: Thu Jun 09, 2022 12:02 am
I haven't been making leaps of progress primarily because I'm just slow and I want to do things just once.
I spent quite a bit of time on the rear doors. This area had needed some attention from the time I received the model as neither the doors nor hinges were attached. I was first going to make my own, smaller hinges or use a pre-made piano hinge from Micro mark although I'm sure there are others around even more suitable. What influenced me most was the existence of all those holes on both the doors (steel), hinges (brass) and rear aluminium body casting. What I decided was to fill the holes on the doors and the hinges but only on the side that engaged the doors. The holes in the body I decided to drill out and tap with SAE 1-72 threads so I could use small_ish hex head screws. I like the ability to take things apart if needed and at least so far as the hinge/door assembly is concerned this does it. I made new holes on the hinges and doors so I could rivet the two together with functional 1/16 (~1.5mm) copper rivets. These two choices seemed to work ok and are similar to what I could see in photos of the full size machines albeit not quite scale in size.
I've decided that my goal is what may have been termed -semi 'standoff' scale when applied to aircraft. I want any of the detal parts I add or make to
look appropriate if not exacting in scale or construction to the original. I like things to be functional where possible which is why I tend to use steel and brass so much. This is the approach I took with regards to the latching mechanism for the doors.
I could see what these latches looked like and how they worked from the books I have. Their function seemed somewhat integral and dependent on how the full sized doors were constructed. I knew I wasn't going to nor could I with the constraints of what was there already -duplicate the door structures. However I wanted latches that would work rather that gluing, using magnets (although I considered this) so I sketched out what I thought I could do.
Using some of my favorite materials, construction nails, scrap sheet steel and some thin steel rods I had rescued from the roadway some years ago while walking I set about making these. Basically I did what amounts to miniature forging of these steels to make everything for these latches with just minimal drilling and lathe work. They seem to work pretty well. I recognize that the originals are flat- again an artifact of the overall construction; still mine are actually a hair over 5mm deep. I needed to make thin slots on the inside edges of the cast body parts to give the latching mechanism something to latch onto... I spent a few days making these. The latch mechanisms are held in place by 1,2mm hex head screws. The brass angles are held in place by a row tiny ( 0.0250" /0.6350mm) brass rivets for which I made a tool to maintain the integrity of the round heads. Drilling the tiny holes in steel was fun. No drills were harmed during the making of this scene... I need to make covers for the latch mechanisms so that only the 'arms' stick out.
I'm working on the tail lights which will be functional. They are cast of pewter.
Next on my radar is the dashboard. I've roughed out a replacement dash in steel, I still need to trim it down to the right length and cut out the holes for the instruments and such. I've attempted to see if the diameter of these dashboard instruments has been documented but I have yet to find it. Does anyone on the forum have these measurements they could share? I have a copy of the dial faces that someone kindly posed elsewhere on the forum - if these are the right size if I remove the outlines I can work from these. My plan is to illuminate these instruments and whatever else needs illumination... I haven't cut the holes in the dash as I search for the right dimensions.
I have lenses now for my headlights but I'm thinking I want to cast new headlight bodies in brass.
I've reached out to several fellow forum members regarding parts, hoping to encourage my inclination to be lazy and not make all the parts myself...
I spent quite a bit of time on the rear doors. This area had needed some attention from the time I received the model as neither the doors nor hinges were attached. I was first going to make my own, smaller hinges or use a pre-made piano hinge from Micro mark although I'm sure there are others around even more suitable. What influenced me most was the existence of all those holes on both the doors (steel), hinges (brass) and rear aluminium body casting. What I decided was to fill the holes on the doors and the hinges but only on the side that engaged the doors. The holes in the body I decided to drill out and tap with SAE 1-72 threads so I could use small_ish hex head screws. I like the ability to take things apart if needed and at least so far as the hinge/door assembly is concerned this does it. I made new holes on the hinges and doors so I could rivet the two together with functional 1/16 (~1.5mm) copper rivets. These two choices seemed to work ok and are similar to what I could see in photos of the full size machines albeit not quite scale in size.
I've decided that my goal is what may have been termed -semi 'standoff' scale when applied to aircraft. I want any of the detal parts I add or make to
look appropriate if not exacting in scale or construction to the original. I like things to be functional where possible which is why I tend to use steel and brass so much. This is the approach I took with regards to the latching mechanism for the doors.
I could see what these latches looked like and how they worked from the books I have. Their function seemed somewhat integral and dependent on how the full sized doors were constructed. I knew I wasn't going to nor could I with the constraints of what was there already -duplicate the door structures. However I wanted latches that would work rather that gluing, using magnets (although I considered this) so I sketched out what I thought I could do.
Using some of my favorite materials, construction nails, scrap sheet steel and some thin steel rods I had rescued from the roadway some years ago while walking I set about making these. Basically I did what amounts to miniature forging of these steels to make everything for these latches with just minimal drilling and lathe work. They seem to work pretty well. I recognize that the originals are flat- again an artifact of the overall construction; still mine are actually a hair over 5mm deep. I needed to make thin slots on the inside edges of the cast body parts to give the latching mechanism something to latch onto... I spent a few days making these. The latch mechanisms are held in place by 1,2mm hex head screws. The brass angles are held in place by a row tiny ( 0.0250" /0.6350mm) brass rivets for which I made a tool to maintain the integrity of the round heads. Drilling the tiny holes in steel was fun. No drills were harmed during the making of this scene... I need to make covers for the latch mechanisms so that only the 'arms' stick out.
I'm working on the tail lights which will be functional. They are cast of pewter.
Next on my radar is the dashboard. I've roughed out a replacement dash in steel, I still need to trim it down to the right length and cut out the holes for the instruments and such. I've attempted to see if the diameter of these dashboard instruments has been documented but I have yet to find it. Does anyone on the forum have these measurements they could share? I have a copy of the dial faces that someone kindly posed elsewhere on the forum - if these are the right size if I remove the outlines I can work from these. My plan is to illuminate these instruments and whatever else needs illumination... I haven't cut the holes in the dash as I search for the right dimensions.
I have lenses now for my headlights but I'm thinking I want to cast new headlight bodies in brass.
I've reached out to several fellow forum members regarding parts, hoping to encourage my inclination to be lazy and not make all the parts myself...