Who? Who? Ron's 251/20 UHU , that's who !

[Airborne01]

Nice one so far Ron - I'm currently making a 251/17 but always fancied the big searchlight - so watching with interest!
Steve

[RonGlass]

Nice one so far Ron - I'm currently making a 251/17 but always fancied the big searchlight - so watching with interest!
Steve

Thank You Steve ! Is that the variant with the big anti-aircraft gun with shield ? Would love to see it !

[minitnkr]

There were two production versions & a couple expedient versions. One of limited numbers w/foldown sides & one w/small open turret used as platoon leader vehicle in later kstns. One of my faves, but prefer 251/21 version w/Drilling for the extra punch.

[Guest]

Using the mini-torch to warp the plastic is tricky though (for me anyway).

A soldering iron is a better choice if you want to apply heat carefully, but I wouldn’t recommend heating plastic parts at all if you want them dented. Most of the time they melt, warp and otherwise deform in ways you didn’t have in mind. An Sd.Kfz. 251 Ausf. D front mudguard is a relatively simple shape, you can cut the top part off and rebuild it from thin metal sheet (pewter would probably be ideal, though I‘ve never tried it, but aluminium and annealed brass will work too). This is more work, but will allow you to deform the piece realistically and without fear of anything melting and/or ending up irreplaceably damaged

[RonGlass]

A soldering iron is a better choice if you want to apply heat carefully, but I wouldn’t recommend heating plastic parts at all if you want them dented. Most of the time they melt, warp and otherwise deform in ways you didn’t have in mind. An Sd.Kfz. 251 Ausf. D front mudguard is a relatively simple shape, you can cut the top part off and rebuild it from thin metal sheet (pewter would probably be ideal, though I‘ve never tried it, but aluminium and annealed brass will work too). This is more work, but will allow you to deform the piece realistically and without fear of anything melting and/or ending up irreplaceably damaged :smiling3:

Thank you for your insight Jakko, it will certainly be worth a try, will do !

[Airborne01]

Thanks Ron,
This is the variant with hexagonal drop sides, and the 20mm Flak 38. Will be putting it in a simple diorama; incidentally the very small, three piece, tracks are 'interesting'! Will post a couple of 'in progress' photos if you wish.
Steve

[Caustik Filth]

Wonderful , dam fine interior mate ,

[JR]

Nice interior as Rob has said .Keep it going Ron .

[RonGlass]

Wonderful , dam fine interior mate ,

Thanks, Caustic ! Or do you prefer Mr. Filth ?:smiling5:

[RonGlass]

Thank You John !

[Caustik Filth]

Keep on the build and you can call me whatever you like me ol' mucker....

[RonGlass]

Just a brief update , but I am excited to share this, Jakko's suggestion for replicating the damaged fenders ! Granted , this is just the first attempt but Wow !! Now I see what is possible and this opens up a whole new level of modeling ! I'm eager to pursue this technique, not as difficult as I'd always assumed. Hope you all like !
PS this is embossing pewter sheet, medium weight. Very malleable stuff. The inner corners actually took solder which helped stiffen this new fender quite a bit. Just a careful hand needed so's not to make direct contact between the iron and the pewter.
Cheers, Jakko !:smiling3:

[Jim R]

Hi Ron
Damage looks good. I have seen Jakko's idea of replacing mudguards and the like with pewter sheet used very successfully. The late Simon T used pewter sheet a lot.
Jim

[rtfoe]

Hibernation did you say Ron? I've resurrected some of my projects too. Mean interior add ons there and nice fender benders. One trick I do is using a large bur on the drill I bounce off edges and gorge deep wedges on fender surfaces then sanding and applying wet cement to create soft damage to thin metal. This way I don't have to scratch the whole fender.

Cheers,
Richard

[scottie3158]

Ron,
It is a very useful item to have in the spares box I have used it to great effect in previous builds and as you rightly said it isn't as hard as you would think. Which you have shown to great effect.