You have wandered into the workshop area of the museum. Here, new vehicles are undergoing final preparation or storage before being transferred to the display area. Also, damage caused by age, wear and tear, or unruly museum visitors is repaired. Vehicles are also kept in operational condition by the museum staff, or updated if erroneous paint schemes or assembly details are uncovered during research. This area is usually off limits to museum visitors, as the staff needs to work unhindered.
As you can see, the museum staff is currently sorting out the 100+ parts in the Bergepanther 1/72 resin/metal kit from FINE SCALE FACTORY (the kit was donated to the museum by Volker Lachman; thank you). This will be a major project and will take some time. The package does come with illustrated instructions, which will prove very helpful. You can see a completed kit at the company's website (which should also prove invaluable as a reference during assembly).
One important first step in assembling kits with resin parts is to INSPECT THE PACKAGE for any broken bits. The spade had broken in half during shipping and there were two small fragments in the bag, which looked like flash-debris! The fragments needed to be added to the damaged area on the spade to make it intact.
Assembling the kit: Here's the assembly sequence that works for me. There are others that you may feel more comfortable with, so no guarantees!
1. I'm starting with the suspension. Locate the following: lower hull (resin), 16 axles, 8 middle wheels, 8 inner wheels, 8 outer wheels, two spare wheels, 4 drive sprocket parts, two rear return roller parts, two return roller axles. If any of these parts are missing, FSF will most likely send you replacements.
2. Trim off the flash.
3. Take 8 of the axles; these will be used for the eight tandem inner/outer wheel assemblies (and these will be the "long" axles). Thin the long axles or widen the holes in the wheels so that the wheels will easily slide onto the axels (also trim off the little nipples at the long axle tips).
4. Superglue the long axles onto the hull. Check that they are straight and level. The front drive sprockets are also mounted (you may find it easier to add the drive sprocket when you are adding the tracks).
Long axles attached one one side. Inner wheels shown test-fitting long axles.
5. The remaining axles are used for the middle wheels; they are too long, and need to be cut. (To trim the short axles, I did the following: Glue one of these "short" axels into place between two long axles. Add an inner wheel to each long axel. Now you can hold up a middle wheel at the proper position and mark the proper length of the short axle. Then detach the marked axle and use this as a guide to trim all the remaining axles to make them short).
6. Superglue the short axles onto the hull. Check that they are straight and level with the long axles.
7. Best to paint the wheels and lower hull suspension area at this point.
8. Add the wheels, supergluing into place.
Assembly of the painted wheels partially completed. Inner wheels first, then middle wheels, followed by outer wheels.
9. Add the rear roller axles, and the rear rollers. You will have to file down the axles and wheel hubs to get the wheel to sit properly certered.
10. THE TRACKS: No way around
it; these will be a lot of work. What is nice is that the track sections
are metal and easy to bend. You will have to shape each section for the
specific area it will be applied to. I painted the sections before gluing
in place (dark rust with steel guide teeth). You may want to scratch away
the paint on the areas that will be glued to the wheels (also file away
paint on the wheels in the area to glue).
One section can go over the drive sprocket. The drive sprocket is a bit narrow, so to make the track fit, you will have to do one or more of the following: make the holes in the track larger, bend in the guide teeth a bit, file down the sides of the drive sprocket teeth. With some fidgeting, you can bend the track section onto and around the sprocket. The following sections will be a matter of bend, test, bend some more, test, adjust, then glue in place. Another section can be bent around the return roller. You may have to tailor a small 2-3 link section to close a final gap between large track sections..
Questions? You can e-mail me at Contact the Curator: