TAMIYA Schwerin Zugkraftwagen 18j (Sr.Kfz.9) “FAMO”

[Roadie]

Really enjoyed doing this one. Great kit, even enjoyed the single link tracks to make up once I found an easy way to do them.
Changed one figure for a tank commander and made a camp net to roll out if needed.
Decided that these are my favourite models to do, 1/35 Military Vehicles. So any suggestions on models to do please let me know so I can have a look.
Sorry not good with phone camera or lighting, so this will have to

[Guest]

Those figures really show how big these things were …

Interesting typo in the title, BTW — Famo was located in Breslau, not Schwerin, but I suppose autocorrect doesn’t know that

[Roadie]

These three are all the same scale. I’ve drove a Scammel Pioneer and thought how big it was but the FAMO must of been enormous, can’t believe it’s bigger than the Tiger.

[Jim R]

Hi Steve
That's a great result and if you even enjoyed the tracks then it's definitely a winner. As the others have said these vehicles were real monsters.
How about a US half-track next.
Just as an aside am I right in thinking that only the Germans and the Americans had half-tracks?
Jim

[Tim Marlow]

The French had them as well Jim…..
Nice work, by the way, Steve. Enormous weren’t they…..

[scottie3158]

Steve,
Nice job.

[Guest]

am I right in thinking that only the Germans and the Americans had half-tracks?

Like Tim says, the French did too — proper halftracks are essentially a French invention, but various similar vehicles had been built since the 1900s. American halftracks were based on the French type, basically a standard lorry/truck body with the rear axle(s) replaced by a tracked suspension with a rubber-band track. You can see this really well if you look at the iconic American halftrack, the M2/M3-series, and compare it to the M3 scout car that it was derived from: everything in front of the load bed is pretty much identical.

German half-tracks were a completely different design, based much more on tank technology but adapted to give very low (for a tracked suspension) rolling resistance. All German half-tracks designed pre-war, from the 1-tonne Sd. Kfz. 10 to the 18-tonne Sd.Kfz. 9 (see above), all used the same basic suspension for this reason. Spielberger claims in Die Halbkettenfahrzeuge des deutschen Heeres 1909–1945 that its rolling resistance at 50 km/h was only 5% to 10% higher than that of a similar wheeled vehicle, and wear and tear was only slightly worse as well. However, the whole suspension was clearly complex with its overlapping wheels to give low ground pressure, rollers rather than teeth on the drive sprockets, rubber tyres on all wheels including the drive sprockets, and lubricated track links (each link had an oil reservoir built in, and a lubrication nipple to refill it …). All of that made it expensive and maintenance-heavy.