My PAK 43/41 diary

[Ed Groenenberg]

Hello everybody.

This will be my PAK 43/51 diary, similar to my Tiger 1 diary.

About a week ago I acquired an 2nd hand kit of the PAK 43/41, partly into pieces and partly assembled.
Unfortunately, one of the previous owners (I am probably the 3rd one), did not use a primer on the blank aluminum.
So the first task at had is to disassemble it, remove the paint, and check if I do miss parts.
I know that one part is damaged (the U shaped thingy used on the vertical dampers).

At the moment almost all small parts have been stripped of the paint by submerging them into Acetone for a day and then wipe the paint off.
The gun barrel was done by hand, took only a few minutes and a few meters of paper towel.

Fun fact, the breach block was connected to the wrong end of the first barrel tube, maybe this is an easy to make mistake, as the
threading on both sides are identical.

Anyway, when all the paint is removed, an etching primer will be used before continuing.

One question tough, will it make sense to create sub-assemblies before they get sprayed with the primer, or is it better
to spay each part individually before assembly?

[Ed Groenenberg]

Cleaned barrel parts

Soaking in Acetone

Parts done 1st cleaning round

[Ed Groenenberg]

So, after several evenings of cleaning, the small parts have been paint stripped, worked over with abrasive pads as
well as having primed with etching primer, followed with a coat of normal primer.

Only the sled for the gun, the shielding, the 2 'legs' and the wheels need to be done before the color is applied
and re-assembly can begin.

[Ed Groenenberg]

The last few evenings were spend to remove the old paint from the remaining parts, and these too
have been primed with etching primer followed by a good coat of gray primer.
Also several ends of bolts and such were etched & primed else the paint will just fall off (especially aluminum).

The 2 wheels are fairly well painted, I'll only spray paint them to make them matching the same color as the rest.

BTW, did the gunners also applied rings around the end of the barrel to mark successful hits (like on the tank barrels)?

[Marco Peter]

BTW, did the gunners also applied rings around the end of the barrel to mark successful hits (like on the tank barrels)?

It's more rare on an AT gun but yeah some photos exist!

[Ed Groenenberg]

I've been busy lately.....

The wheels have been painted, the undelying paint was apllied ok, but it looked a little off of the color I expected.
Using masking tape I covered the rubber before spay painting them, and the holes plugged with some crumpled
paper and packing peanuts. On the left is the original paintwork, on the right afte spay painting it.

Next was the carriage and the 2 legs, I assembled the legs and the swivel/mounting section before painting.

As one of the clamps (swivel arm?) for the spring loaded suspension tubes was missing the threads, i made a new one
from a 6 mm piece of steel rod (an old bolt). The top one is the original one, the bottom one is my fix before it was
put together. A little bit of green Loctite to lock it should do the trick.

And finally, the carriage is partly done.

I was not too happy with the round head bolts supplied, so I used some small brass hex head bolts I had left over from
replacing the bolts on my Tiger 1 road wheels, they do look much better here.

[Ed Groenenberg]

I have a question about the part shown below.
Is the inner part supposed to be moving freely in the outer part (with the threading)?
According to the drawing the inner part is inserted in the outer part, but there is simply no movement at all....

[Ed Groenenberg]

I have a question about the part shown below.
Is the inner part supposed to be moving freely in the outer part (with the threading)?
According to the drawing the inner part is inserted in the outer part, but there is simply no movement at all....

SAM_6038.JPG

Well, it came loose after applying quite some force all the way down until they got separated.
I then used the tap and die to run through the treads, oddly, no material came off of it, so I'm a little puzzled why it got stuck so much.
Anyway, the inner part now make several turns when flicking it with my fingers.

[Ed Groenenberg]

Almost finished, only the spacers fo rthe shields and the cone bolts needed to get a coat of paint.

[Ed Groenenberg]

Finished the work (well, 99,5%).

All is painted and reassembled. only the front skirt needs to be attached as the original hinges are keeping falling apart,
for which I have to find some alternative ones. Also I do miss the pickaxes and the shovel to make it complete.

Overview

And some details

Now I only need a blank firing cartridge.