Rex Ross

This thing is 57 inches long ...... or 1700mm ....... (which sounds even longer).

If nothing else, the name of this model has the longest name of anything that I have ever put together.

it is a Mittlerer Zugkraftwagen 8t (Sd.Kfz.7) with Bilstein 6 tonne crane towing a Tiefladeanhanger fur Panzerkampfwagen 22/23t (Sd.Ah 116).

I hope I got that right !

The Sd.Kfz.7 was a medium halftrack / tractor / prime mover of the German Army. It was designed by Krauss-Maffei AG of Muenchen-Allach and was produced by Krauss-Maffei of Munich, Borgward of Bremen, Buessing-NAG of Berlin, Daimler-Benz of Berlin, and later by Saurer Werke AG of Vienna and Italian Breda. It is equipped with a 6 tonne Bilstien crane and towing a Anhangerwagen 116 recovery trailer.

The tractor is R/C. The trailer rolls, and the wheels on both ends turn. The front turns by moving the trailer tongue, the rear by turning the steering wheel in the cab.


The Styer RSO 3 Raupenschlepper-Ost on the trailer bed is just a static thing I felt like building. I was going to put an HL Stug on it but I haven't finished painting the Stug yet.

I'll post more photos of some of the details later. There are about a half dozen conversions that I built for the Tractor. I can interchange the beds easily to convert it into a number of variations.

Pah co chu puk

WOW!

MAUS45

That is going to look so cool with the StuG on the trailer. And even better when the StuG is deployed from the trailer!!!!

Rex Ross

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Like this?

Airbrushler

This 1/16 scale?

MAUS45

Absolutely like that, but in a video???

Pah co chu puk

At 57 inches I would say it is the longest… nothing I have comes close. Not even with my son’s Bruder semi. I’m still a good 10 inches short.

Rex Ross

[quote]ORIGINAL: Airbrushler

This 1/16 scale?

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Is there another scale?????

Rex Ross

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More photos on the way!........(I have a bunch of them!).

Shark27

Rex,
Beautiful work as always. How many hours do you have in building the whole rig? You do such a good job that it looks like a kit.
Steve

Rex Ross

Steve..
I have no idea about how many hours I have in my projects because I never keep track. I can only estimate the calendar time it took.

The tractor was built over a period of about three months. The conversion beds that I built to interchange with the lower hull took about a month each, there are four of those. I will post photos of those.....they are weapons platforms, for AA guns mostly. The recovery trailer took about four months. The RSO 3 took about a month. I work on these models just about every day, but I daydream and get distracted a lot. There are days I only spend an hour or two.......then there are the 12 hour marathons. I'm not very consistent. I didn't intend to build these models as a diorama set, they just kinda fit together after I got done with the three you see here.

The Stug is a really old resin kit. The tractor is R/C. The trailer is made of 1500 separate pieces of plastic or resin. I counted those pieces 3 times and came up with three different amounts, but it was always about a dozen short of 1500. The RSO 3 is just a vehicle I thought looked different. There was no way I could have made it R/C.

So my entire project took a year for sure. It's a good thing I'm retired and have nothing else to do. This hobby keeps me busy.

It's never too late to have a happy childhood. My house is not a home ......... it's a hobby shop!

Rex

Tanque

Rex you make us proud to be in the same tank groups we're part of in the Bay Area.

I'm proud to call you friend!

Jerry

Rex Ross

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Jerry.......

Awwww shucks buddy......You were one of the guys who originally got me into this hobby about twenty years ago. I owe you big thanks for that. This hobby, and the people in it, have been great fun for me since the start.

Rex Ross

Here are some other long things that can be towed by my Sd.Kfz.7 ............

The tractor has the HL PzIII early HL rx board and gear train.

The sFH 18 15cm field howitzer is a Verlinden 120mm resin model (kit).

The two 88s......the one in front is the 1/18 scale 21st Century model. The one being towed is the cast metal 88 that was available years ago. Maybe it still is....???? The travel carriage setup was scratchbuilt since the 88 was only a ground mount unit.

The V-2 rocket is the working Estes rocket model. The Vidalwagen transport trailer was an easy scratchbuild, as was the transport cradle that surrounds the rocket body. This rig takes second place at only 54 inches long.

I have a few more photos of the conversions to the tractor that I built, and a few WIP photos that I took at the time. I will post them later.

RC19

Your detail is amazing, great job I am very impressed hope see more pictures .bye

tigrotto1a6

Hi Rex, great work! It's awesome!

Do you have schematics, drawings about the sdah 116 or 115? I want to do one in 1:6th scale for my sdkfz7 but I cannot find good documentation about them, basically I'm searching for quoted or scale pictures plus how the dolly are removed and re attached.

If you have links, books, images, can you inform me?

Thanks!

Airbrushler

OMG Rex Ross every piece is amazing You're like the Alice Cooper of Scratch Builds

http://youtu.be/Vh78TZUxY

Rex Ross

[quote]ORIGINAL: Airbrushler

OMG Rex Ross every piece is amazing You're like the Alice Cooper of Scratch Builds.

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Thank God you didn't say Liberace or Tiny Tim!

Rex Ross

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I had a 1/35 scale Tamiya model of a Famo tractor and the Sd Ah 116 trailer that I used to measure the 1/35 parts, and scale them up to 1/16 scale. The parts in that model are of the usual Tamiya quality and accuracy. I built my trailer so that the trailer bed could be detached more easily than the Tamiya model, or the real trailer set up. I can't remember why I made the front hookups different from the rear. The real trailer had a set of chains that would crank the bed frame up and down to detach the wheeled chassis. A crewman had to crawl under the rig to attach or remove the chains. There was only one photo that I could find that showed that. My bed attachment points are very simple as you can see in the photos.

If you do a Google search for - sd ah 116 - scroll down to the "images of the sd ah 116". There are many photos of the real thing and models that might help you.

I was stunned to see the photos I have posted so far on pages 43 and 44. I can't believe my stuff is on the internet. Am I rich and famous now???? Heck, I'll settle for just rich!

1/6th scale?.......that's gonna be a big bugger!

Rex Ross

Here's a photo of the guy attaching the chains for raising and lowering the bed frame.

tigrotto1a6

Hmmm, it seems similar to how the 88 gun fit on the boogies but with 2 chains istead than 1, I was thinking about a 1:35 model to use as a master, but I'm not sure about the details in the lower part of it.

So, they rise the flat chassis with the chains, and it will go into the hook or the hooks are movable on the real one?

On the 88 gun the hook is movable and is away when you rise it, when the base is in position and already lifted the hook is positioned and chain released and removed.Yes 1:6th scale, it will be looong!

I hope to do the sdah 115 as it is designed for 8ton halftrack, the 115 was mostly used in combination with the famo, at least when it was at full load where the 8 ton was not sufficient.

For sdah 115 I tried to google it, I've not found too much!

Yes, 1:6th scale is big, the 116 will be very long, but the 115 is still something that I can put on my car.

That is my halftrack:

Rex Ross

WOW! Those are big ...... and beautiful as well! Very impressive.......

I don't really know how the trailer bed was secured to the carriage assemblies. It certainly wasn't like the "hook" arrangement that I built. I suspect it was more like a fixture with holes in it that got cranked up into the receiver fixture and got lined up so that a big pin (or bolt) could be driven through the holes in both pieces. The youtube listed below is about a German club that has a 1/6th scale trailer. I have no idea how you can contact them, but if you can find them, they might be your best chance of finding out about this. The trailer is shown about half way through the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1QhG0-yw-0

Best of luck
Rex

tigrotto1a6

Thanks Rex, I'll contact Vince Abbott (I was already aware of this trailer in 1:6th scale) Vince is one of the members of the group wich made the video.
Again, great work on your model

pattoncommander

Rex, super job, as always, BUT the interrior of the troop carrier should be the same color at the exterrior.....when the canvas is off, it makes a great highlighted target...like a hatch...no white or bright colors. On the securing chains, they should be crossed r to l, l to r....this prevents sideways slippage. In spiite of all a really nice setup.

Bill

Rex Ross

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Bill
I will correct the way the tie down chains are attached. I have no excuse for that ...... I knew they didn't look right for some reason, but the proper way to do that escaped me at the time. Since I knew better, and as a penalty for carelessness, I will assign myself to latrine duty for the next week.

You are also correct about the interior color of the RSO 3 being a target beacon if the tarp was pulled off. But there's an explanation for that condition, and I will relate the story behind that at this time.........

........During Rommels' military success with the AfriKa Korps (DAK) in the North African Desert Campaign, a number of British Prisoners of War were taken and pressed into doing maintenance chores on German equipment. One of those POWs, a lance corporal named Reginald Hickenlooper, was assigned to the painting detail and he plotted to sabotage the equipment by painting it in a non-camouflage color. It was hoped that upon removal of the tarp, a scouting Hurricane or Spitfire squadron would spot it and strafe the bloody bratwurst out of those Huns. It is unknown if this ever worked, but his effort was mentioned in the dispatches of his commanding officer after repatriation, and he was appropriately decorated and promoted.

I painted my model to commemorate his noble action. And that's the story...........

Speaking of the tarp......I really tried to make it look like a real rolled up canvas tarp.

Did I even come close to making it look realistic?

Rex