V2 - Vengeance From Above

[JR]

Dude 1 .:sick:
Do as you have been told by the medical branch of the forum ! And by Mrs R. :surprised:
Dude 2 .

[Jim R]

Hi Allen
Glad you're over the worst.
Jim

[Steve Jones]

He's alive!!!

Keep on trucking mate. Hope work eases up for you soon. Must be due for a holiday??

Take care my friend

[Allen Dewire]

Good Afternoon/Evening (depending on which planet you live on) Rocketeers,

I know it's been a while and once again I must apologise for my absence and lack of updates. I am 95% healthy again and can finally hold parts and tools in my fingers without dropping or shooting them off into space. I have been a good boy Si and Fernando and have not imbibed in alcoholic beverages during the bad time... As for you Paul, I wish I was further along and almost finished, but it will still be a while I'm afraid... Hi Scott, here in the Fatherland we call it a Parkplatz...??? Hey Joe, no worries brother as you got a lot on your plate too and you never need to apologise buddy... That's the only prob I still have Rick, I can't get rid of this cough either... Thanks Andy, life is back to normal Sir and I hope that you are finally settled and have the house back to where you and the misses want it... Now I want to know where you got the picture of my Ex Mike??? I thought I had erased all of them from the web....Hi Brad, that makes two of us Sir and I will try and keep going on this... Ok Dude 2, You of all people know I have been a good boy and following the medical branches' word as well as Christines too!!! Yes Sir's Greg and Jim, it does feel good to be almost normal and now it is time to get back to the table... Stevie, I tried to take a week off and be like you, but I have to wait till the end of the month to do so. Sucks to be me!!! So anyway,

I still have a little problem with the lungs and resin (even with a mask) was out of the question. I put the launch ramp aside for now and moved on to an Italeri kit,

For this build we need two of these to fuel the V2. I grabbed one as I didn't want to do a twin build like the Hanomags. Typical Italeri kit with lots of extras in the box and good/bad details and fit. I'll build one to see how it goes and then the other, improving on the bad points of the first kit. I don't plan on getting into too much super detailing with these (sorry diehards), but there are a few things that have to be fixed/improved on them...

So far the fit is ok, but you have to trim most of the pins to line the two pieces up for a good fit and make lots of dry fits too. A few pieces put together,

Note the lack of Opel Blitz emblem on the grill. The inside of the back of the tank has a lot of soft detail and looks busy (bad photo). You must remember that this tanker didn't have a pump on it. This is why we need a pump trailer for them. The chassis is next up and finding a way to mount the resin tires was time consuming,

I didn't have any tubing in the stash that would work. I had cleaned these up a few months ago and now realized they were for the Tamiya Opel Blitz, not the Italeri one. I butchered the kit rims and made the rear mounts. The front mounts were made from Dragon panther outer wheels that I sawed off the spacer. It worked out pretty good as they were long enough and fit into the resin rims,

Tire spacing is good and the wheels will look correct under the body. I have already made the 8 bolts for the differential to correct it as it doesn't have any. The back of the diff will be visible on the finished vehicle. The ladder on the tank will need a scratched fold up extension and a few other mods must be made. It feels good to be moggelling again and the Mojovation is also back up on top...…..

Tomorrow, I have to take a drive up to Werther, in Thüringen, to a dealer to pick up a quad. Werther is next to Nordhausen and Nordhausen is where Camp Dora was. Camp Dora was a prison camp where the people who worked in the Mittelwerk lived. The Mittelwerk was an underground complex where the V2 was built along with other things. I wish I had the time to visit the museum there, but I don't. One day though...

Thanks again for following this, stay healthy and have a wonderful week. As Arnie said "I'll be back"........................…...............

Prost
Allen

[Fernando N]

Great to hear you’re feeling better again Allen.:thumb2:

Nice start on Tankwagen no.1 and with a week off at the end of the month, you’ll make up for any lost bench time for sure.:tongue-out3:

[scottie3158]

Allen,
It's good to see you again my friend, glad to hear you are on the mend.

[minitnkr]

Glad you're feeling better. Looks like Stuttgart coat of arms on the door? PaulE

[Si Benson]

Allen!
Good to see you posting again and to hear your feeling normal again.....well as normal as you could hope:smiling5:

[Mini Me]

Cheers Allen, Looking good so far, did not know the kfz385 did not come with a pump was this typical or just on V2 sites?
Rick H.

[Steve Jones]

Nice to see you back at the bench mate. Who supplied the resin wheels? Good luck with the rest of the wagon.

Hasta la vista, baby

[Jim R]

Hi Allen
Tanker number 1 is off to a nice start. Glad you're back and a week off at the month end will do you a power of good.
Jim

[Wouter]

Herr Kaleun, good to see you back at it. I must say I missed quite a bit but this great (humongous - or how do you write that word? - is a better choice perhaps) project is just godsmackin'. Keep up at it. I will send in a Wolfpack to assist you! ^^

Cheers

[RM6239]

Allen
Good to see this one still carrying on, I said in an earlier post that it was shaping up to be an epic and it really is.

cheers
Ross

[Allen Dewire]

Evening Again Rocketeers,

I know, I know I am late answering you great people and posting an update. I would be late to my own funeral as work got in the way!!! My illness is gone and I have even dabbled in resin without problems. Thank you for all the get well wishes!

Fernando my friend, you don't know how much I need the time off. I might even take 2 weeks off for good measure and more table time.
Thanks Paul, It seems like it's the same song and dance with all work and no play!!!
I really don't know what the emblem on the door is PaulE. The Tankwagen was used on an airfield in Italy. I will have to do some more research I'm afraid. The same emblem is on the ref pic below. The unit could be from Stuttgart...
Thank you much Mr. Benson, but I was never normal. Not even in my wildest dreams was I normal. Not even in your wildest dreams was I normal...
Well Rick the V2 Tankwagens of this type needed a pump trailer to load and unload the B-Stoff. (The T-Stoff Tankwagen had both a gas powered and a manual pump on board for the V2.) The Luftwaffe version of this Tankwagen, depending on maker, some had pumps on board and others didn't and needed a pump unit/trailer.
Great to be back Stevie. The resin wheels are made by MR Models which is a company here in the Fatherland. They make all kinds of resin stuff, but sometimes QC is lacking and you get one bad molded wheel. Speak to the hand, speak to the hand!!!
Thank you Jim. It is slowly coming together now that I am back on track and like I stated above, I just might make it 2 weeks off...
Wow Wouter, a Wolfpack would be just what the doctor ordered to get this project a going. I don't know how to spell it either as this is a German laptop. I do hope to have it finished before I'm 90 though. I hope all is well on your end my friend!
I am trying my best Ross, but sometimes work just beats the heck out of you. Thank you for the epic post Sir and hope that it has cooled off in your neck of the world down under.

So, getting some table time this weekend, I managed to do some more on the Tankwagen. First off, I noticed the three storage doors on the passenger side of the tank were horrible on the kit. Italeri give you this,

So we had to make them over so they would look like this,

I also noted that the kit's headlights sucked too. My resin wheel set from MR Models also included a set of smaller headlights used on later model Opel Blitz Tankwagens. They didn't have the lamp covers included. I had to hit the etch stash again and fix that problem. We now ended up with the following. I'm not sure that I am happy with them though as they look kinda funky,

You can see the new doors for the stowage lockers with hinges. No, they don't work and don't ask why I drilled the 3 holes in the doors. Ok, It's for the locks, but I only have one plastic one. I did find 2 more on an etch fret...Moving on to the resin wheels,

Please notice that there were a few minor malfunctions known as air bubbles. Luckily they were in the lugnuts/bolt and easy to correct with a couple of sprue pieces (tan parts). I am leaving the front one as it is. Rudy got too crazy with the lug wrench tightening that one after changing the flat he had last week. Broke the sucker off....Speaking of nuts, I fixed up the rear diff with 'em,

While I was at it, I broke out the hairy stick and did most of the frame. I have to leave some glue points nekkid for attaching the tank and the cab as well as the wheels. I'm not worried about the gap on the diff as no one can see it later. Up next was the spare tire,

The mount will also need a little work to look right. Hood latches and notek mount added to the front of the Blitz. And,

Hairy sticked the motor and the radiator even though you won't see them later. It's one of those moggeller things. The steering is functional too. I purposely glued the license plate holder a little crooked for character and bad driving at night...……...

Thanks for looking in and have a super week. More to follow and all C, C, and C cheerfully accepted!!!

Prost
Allen

[JR]

Dude1 . Most impressive work my friend. Do I spy some Friuls in the background ?
How come your mat is so clean , is this the one you keep to make us think your neat and tidy ?, more impressed with that.


Dude2.

PM in bound tomorrow .