Panzerkampfwagen I (Sd.Kfz.101) Ausfuehrung A |
| By James Tainton |
| Started: | Mar 18, 2004 | | Updated: | Aug 20, 2004 |
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After the defeat of the German Army in WW1 which led to the dismantlement of the armed forces, Germany's military were bereft of any weapons to wage any more wars. This was the idea behind the victorious Allies crippling and scrapping of post armistice Germany's war industry. However-the Krupp steelworks, a major supplier to Germany's armies,(as well as many other countries) of its then revolutionary steel barreled artillery and cannon , was not silenced completely. It merely retooled the untouched shops for fabricating inoffensive and benign items for the general public. Later in the 20's the manufacturing of railway steel wheels and the tracks to roll them on, plus the massive locomotives to pull the cars, generated astronomical amounts of revenue for Die Firma. With the economic and social ties that Krupp had to the old Imperial Germany and the ability to remain close to the major figures of power in a new and rebuilding Fatherland, Krupp was able to continue in secret with the powers that be, research and development of weaponry. With the slow and cunningly staged rearming of the German forces under Hitler in the 1930's, Krupp still had retained the technical people and designers, as well as machinery to start down a new road upon which the notorious Panzerkampfwagen would rumble to infamy. While the world in general will easily recognize the name of the notorious Tiger tank, the beginning of the fascinating journey which would lead to 60 ton behemoth began in 1934 with a Lilliputian, twin machine gun toting Panzerkampfwagen I. From this humble beginning the German Panzer Divisions would germinate and grow into one of major components upon which Hitler's Blitzkrieg would rely.
I have always been interested in the less popular (and therefore, unhappily, unavailable in injection plastic), tanks of the early war years so it is only natural for me to have another go with this excellent kit from Tristar. I had attempted to build the Historic Panzer Ia but its sitting in a box on the "Shelf of Shame"- probably never to be finished. This time, going all out with the interior details as well as outer details I'm learning a great deal about the history and development of Germany's Panzer forces of WW2. |
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| Chapter 25 - I have got a one track mind. | Aug 20, 2004 |
| The topic of this chapter is about the piecing together of the single link tracks that come with the set. The detail in these links from the maker ModelKasten is typically remarkable in finesse. They don't have the hollow guide horn though that was on the real one, but these things are so tiny some... more |
| Chapter 24 - Top meets bottom | Aug 16, 2004 |
In this chapter I have joined the top armour superstructure to the lower hull, once and for all. This went ahead with no problems. I also started the making and attaching of the front fender mud flaps which came from the Lion Roar photo etch set.
Pictures 3. and 4. show the folded and soldered front... more |
| Chapter 23 - Exhausts and aging. | Aug 7, 2004 |
In this chapter I have completed the installation of the revamped exhaust/muffler units. I have also added more dust and spills to the rear engine area. You can see that in pictures 1. - 3.
In 4. and 5. you can see the interior of the top superstructure is nearing completion with the vision port Klappes,... more |
| Chapter 22 - Kaltluftgräting | Jul 16, 2004 |
| In photos 1. & 2. you can see that I have not used the rear air intake cover supplied with the Tristar resin detail set- too many clean up problems. So what I did was use the plastic kit one, cut from the discarded rear half from a previous step. This was sanded thin in profile and made to fit into the... more |
| Chapter 21 - These Bolt Heads Will Drive You Nuts | Jun 14, 2004 |
| This chapter deals with the parts from the LionRoar PE set that go on the stabalizing bar's attachement points to the wheel hubs. There are two flanges for each side. Picture 1. shows one part flat and one with the required bend in place. In picture 2., the miniscule size of the bolt heads that... more |
| Chapter 20 - Drilling makes perfect... | Jun 9, 2004 |
Picture 1. - Here you can see I'm drilling out the axle hub as shown in my photographic references.
Picture 2. - Shows the LionRoar PE part that replaces the kits strengthening bar for the suspension. This is being placed into the Hold and Fold PE bending tool I have.
Picture 3. - Shows... more |
| Chapter 19 - Progress Pictures | Jun 7, 2004 |
| Not much to say here - just a few more images to show the work done so far. The superstructure is not glued in yet, it's just sitting in position. |
| Chapter 18 - Nice wheels, man. | Jun 5, 2004 |
| Here you can see the chassis will finally get its wheels! The Tristar wheels are nicely moulded although some clean up on the inside rims and spokes, as well as outer rim, is needed. This is due to a seam mark where the mould came togethher. A hole needs to be drilled into the hub end of the front road... more |
| Chapter 17 - M.G. ammo storage boxes | May 28, 2004 |
All of the armoured covers are now mounted and in place on the superstructure.
Picture 1. shows them all in an open position. While these can be made to be movable I chose to secure them with some CA glue because breakage would be inevitable if they did move.
Pictures 2., 3., 4., & 6. show the... more |
| Chapter 16 - Klapp for the Wolfmensch | May 24, 2004 |
| Here you can see the unpainted straps from the spares box added to gas mask cannisters mounted on the rear armour plate. To temporarily steady the swivel arms for the securing of the outside armour cover for the vision port I used Plasticine. This allowed me to thread some stretched sprue into the holes... more |
| Chapter 15 - More Work on the Interior | May 4, 2004 |
| In photo 1. You can see the two gas mask canisters I've added to the back armour plate. These are from the Dragon WW II German Infantry Set (set 1). I will age and weather thse as well as add leather straps from PE later. The dotted line indicates the area I've scraped back with a curved x-acto... more |
| Chapter 14 - Mr. Surfacer and Off White | May 3, 2004 |
| With the interior work done on the vision ports and other items I can now prime out and paint the inside of the fighting compartment. I tried using the recently popular product known as Mr. Surfacer (1000 in this case) from Gunze. This was thinned with laquer thinner to flow easily through my Pacshe... more |
| Chapter 13 - More Vision Port Fixings | May 1, 2004 |
| The smaller Aber vision port parts have been assembled and added to the interior. I have added the device for raising and lowering the outside antenna and a handle grip above the driver's position. The inside entry hatch and motor deck vision ports have been given a plastic card flange. I have also... more |
| Chapter 12 - More Vision Ports | Apr 26, 2004 |
#1. & #2. are pictures of the outside armour cover attached to the swingout arms of the front drivers' vision port. This was painted white on the interior surface prior to attachement.
#3. is of the inside of the front drivers' vision port.
#4. shows the interior back left assembly.
#5.... more |
| Chapter 11 - Aber Vision Ports | Apr 24, 2004 |
| 1. I choose to thin the armour on the plastic superstucture by scrapping the inside down. I did this to help with the fit and the look of the armour thickness in scale. Next time I will use the Aber superstructure photo-etch set for this part of the tank. It will impart a more to scale feeling and aid... more |
| Chapter 10 - More Bits | Apr 19, 2004 |
| The clutch, brake, gas pedals, steering controls and transmission shifter in place. More dust and dirt stains are visible on the fuel tanks. |
| Chapter 9 - Weathering and Transmission Access | Apr 17, 2004 |
1. Some initial weathering on the engine compartment.
2. The plastic kit front armour piece.
3. The part with the access door cut out and the thickness sanded to a thinner and more in scale profile.
4. The front armour piece with a plactic card inset flange installed. I drilled holes trough... more |
| Chapter 8 - A Little Nip and Tuck | Apr 2, 2004 |
| 1. & 2. The Tristar resin kit comes with the rear cover part, (dark gray) with holes where the engine compartment access doors open. This requires you to cut the back portion off of the plastic superstructure. Inside, a rim that extended down into the fighting compartment for the turret to be held in... more |
| Chapter 7 - The Mechanical Guts | Mar 29, 2004 |
| 1. These are the basic parts that are included with the Tristar interior kit. I tried using some Bare Metal foil to make the fuel tanks appear more authentic but it didn't work out. It's a good thing I made an RTV mold just in case, that is why there is that cream coloured fuel tank there.... more |
| Chapter 6 - Growth on the Inside | Mar 25, 2004 |
| In the top two pictures you can see the major components of the interior painted, installed and aged down. The remaining pictures show the signal flags. The colours of the flags may not be totally accurate but it was an opportunity to introduce some accents to the mundane colour pallet. They will be... more |
| Chapter 5. - Body, Side and Driver Seat | Mar 23, 2004 |
Here I am preparing the one piece hull from the plastic kit and the two side wall inserts from the resin kit.
1. The raw hull piece.
2. Painted first with flat black as a primer and preshade
(ModelMaster enamel thinned with laquer thinner) followed by the red primer colour (Humbrol #133).
3.... more |
| Chapter 4 - Transmission, Clutch, Steering Unit | Mar 22, 2004 |
| The upper set of pictures shows the grey resin transmission and deck plate without paint. The lower pictures show a first treatment of colours. I found this resin to be problematic in that the paint had a tendancy to chip off or come off easily thus ruining the paint job. The usual soap and warm water... more |
| Chapter 3. - Making Tracks | Mar 21, 2004 |
| Knowing how mind numbing and boring combining single link tracks can be, I choose to start the build with a concerted and concentrated attempt at getting these pesky things out of the way. When I built the first set with the other Panzer Ia- I ran into problems with too much glue ending up on a few of... more |
| Chapter 2 - Getting the Goods on Panzer Is | Mar 19, 2004 |
Reference for building this tiny tank include:
1. Military Miniatures In Review - No. 31 has an article by Pat Stansell with a basic "built from the box" review.
2. AFV modeller - Issue 12 carries a more in depth article by Tony Greenland in which he augments the already apparent detail of the... more |
| Chapter 1. - Roll Call | Mar 18, 2004 |
Here can be seen in this montage of the major component kits being brought in on this build. It is amazing that such a small model kit will be packed with so much stuff.
Tristar is a new company that has raised the bar in off the shelf modelling and excellence in detail and accuracy. Prior to this... more |
