Tamiya sdkfz 251/1 (ish)

[Guest]

Please see at left :smiling3: (Pronunciation is /ˈjaˌkoː/, or approximately in English phonetics, YAH-co with short “a” and long “o” :smiling3


It’s normally superglued. The material is a thin sheet of brass (usually) from which the areas immediately around the parts are removed using acid, so basically, what the set provides are flat pieces of metal that you will have to fold, bend, and otherwise shape into the form needed. Start out with the simpler bits that don’t require much folding — don’t try to put together a complicated stowage rack at your first attempt :smiling3:

First of all, you’ll want to sand the back of the sheet (or both sides) with coarse sandpaper, to give the glue more surface to grip. When it comes to removing parts, I use a sturdy hobby knife to cut the parts from the fret, by pressing down onto a hard surface like a ceramic tile. Be sure to hold the part with a finger so it can’t go flying :smiling3: I then clean up the attachment points that are left by holding the part between long-nosed pliers (with flat surfaces, not ribbed) so that just the attachment point sticks out, then filing it down.

Apply superglue sparingly, so that when the part is in the right place and the glue has set, you can add a bit more into the seams using a sharpened cocktail stick or something.

Oops...sorry...that’s predictive text for you

Thanks for the etching advice

[Guest]

Day one of my etching learning curve. Yes! Bending these things are tricky to say the least...I made a mess of the radio but luckily that’ll be almost invisible (I just had to cut off the ‘cage’ that’s supposed to surround it).
The eduard instrument panel will only fit if I sand away the raised Tamiya one...so that’s what happened.

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I’ve done the back of the seats, but my god does superglue dry fast with this stuff!!!
Also managed to successfully bend some parts around the gearbox

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Dry fit of the flooring & gearbox bits. A tried to add a few tiny bits to the (tool?) box on the left hull but they just disappeared into thin air!

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[Guest]

Does anyone know what this ‘support’ is on the left hull. There’s one the other side as well.

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And there are 4 cross-bars at right angles to the hull...I assume these are supports for a canvas covering of some sorts. These need bending which is beyond my capabilities at the moment.

Oh...forgot to thank jakko again. Without his tips, I’d not have had a clue about cutting, sanding & gluing this stuff!

[Jon Heptonstall]

That bracket is,I think,exactly that.It supports the upper hull and driver's station roof.
the canvas tilt supports are just semi-circular hoops.
if the 4 cross bars are inside the hull they are probably for the storage bins and rifle rack.
Jon.
P.s. All looks very good so far.

[Guest]

That bracket is,I think,exactly that.It supports the upper hull and driver's station roof.
the canvas tilt supports are just semi-circular hoops.
if the 4 cross bars are inside the hull they are probably for the storage bins and rifle rack.
Jon.
P.s. All looks very good so far.

Thanks Jon.
Yes the 4 bars run over the top of the hull at right angles...they’re not inside the hull as such...these...which must be canvas roof supports

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[Guest]

Does anyone know what this ‘support’ is on the left hull. There’s one the other side as well.

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That’s the flange along which the front (engine/cab) and rear (passenger) sections of the hull are bolted together. It should line up with either an engraved line or the middle of two lines of rivets on the outer face.

And there are 4 cross-bars at right angles to the hull...I assume these are supports for a canvas covering of some sorts.

Those tilt supports should really only be on the 251/8 ambulance, AFAIK, and then they were usually of round cross-section rather than flat. There are some photos of them on other variants, but you hardly ever see them — so no worries if you don’t feel up to bending them: adding them would probably be less accurate than leaving them off

Oh...forgot to thank jakko again. Without his tips, I’d not have had a clue about cutting, sanding & gluing this stuff!

You’re welcome

[Guest]

That’s the flange along which the front (engine/cab) and rear (passenger) sections of the hull are bolted together. It should line up with either an engraved line or the middle of two lines of rivets on the outer face.


Those tilt supports should really only be on the 251/8 ambulance, AFAIK, and then they were usually of round cross-section rather than flat. There are some photos of them on other variants, but you hardly ever see them — so no worries if you don’t feel up to bending them: adding them would probably be less accurate than leaving them off :smiling3:


You’re welcome :smiling3:

Yes...after Jon said what the supports were for it seemed so obvious. For some reason I'd neglected to even think that the upper hull would go 'over' them when in place!

I've tried to mess around with one of the tilt supports...I don't think I'll bother really as there are other fiddly bits needed too (including 0.6mm wire which I don't have). Once bent, the supports don't look very good as the damn things need to be folded in half before bending...and then another flat strip needs to be put on top of it. Although this may cover the wonkyness to some extent, but all in all I'm not going to bother.

[Guest]

If I look in the Schützenpanzer book I mentioned earlier, in the first hundred pages or so, with on average more than one photo per page, I find very few photos of 251s with tilt supports. The first one in the book is of a /8, which is an ambulance and should always have them (but three, not four, and round rather than flat), then one of a 251/1 Ausf. A, and a few photos of Ausf. Cs with two or three hoops each, and that’s about it. Also, on the 251/1 Ausf. Cs, the hoops seem to be just the flat bit, not the vertical part that Eduard would have you bend and glue underneath.

You could add them to your model and it wouldn’t be wrong, but 251s were much more common without than with them, so my advice would be to save yourself the hassle of trying to assemble these parts and just leave them off. If you do really, really want to add them, it would be simplest to just fit part No. 36, without trying to bend No. 62 to go underneath, since like I said on the real thing they give the impression of having been flat strips rather than T-beams.

[Guest]

Good idea with just fitting #36. I’ll have a go & see what they look like as this is all practice really...thanks again

[JR]

Well you seem to be getting on with the PE .
John is quite right in saying you won't use all of the P in his earlier reply.
The good thing is bits of it seem to come in handy on other models !
John .

[Guest]

Cockpit pretty much done. I wasn’t really too sure how to
tackle the instrument panel after deciding that an ivory colour was too pale so opted for a kind of distressed pale grey so that the dials show up a bit better. This’ll be hidden by the drivers roof so little point in getting too fussy!

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[Steve Jones]

Nice work George. I dont know if are into dry brushing but a bit of gun metal/steel on those seat springs would be the icing on the cake. Great stuff sir. Keep it comin

[Guest]

Nice work George. I dont know if are into dry brushing but a bit of gun metal/steel on those seat springs would be the icing on the cake. Great stuff sir. Keep it comin

I am and I did (with metallic grey) Steve, then they looked a bit too shiny, so I went over them again with German grey. I might give them another go though as the shade that they're in might work a treat if they stand out a bit more :smiling3:

[Guest]

So...I thought I might have a go at seeing if these (weapons?) storage bins might work. The photo is of the right hand one supported roughly over the benches. I think they’ll look ok...but I’m wondering exactly what they were for & as I’m planning to make this not an ambulance don’t want to add them if they’ll be out of place. There’s no guidance from eduard as to what they are they I can find...any ideas?
TIA etc

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[Jon Heptonstall]

Those bins are standard for the basic 251 ,all Ausf.s
Those etched bins look a lot better than the kit ones.
The starboard forward bin is usually a rifle rack otherwise the bins were used for anything that'd fit.
Jon.