Hasegawa 1/72nd Sd.Kfz.7/1 Flak 38 *FINISHED*

[ShaunW]

And here we go with another small-scale military vehicle build in the shape of the venerable Hase Sd.Kfz.7/1 toting the 2cm four-barrel Flak 38. I haven't checked on Scalemates but this kit probably dates back to the 70's, if not earlier. As you can see from the box top photo below, my example was purchased for the princely sum of £2.75 from the now defunct Beatties chain of model shops - their branch at the Meadowhall shopping centre in Sheffield, IIRC, back in the 90's.



The parts are not too bad, with a reasonable amount of detail and although some flash is present, that shouldn't present anything of a problem.





Oh dear, oh deary me. Yes, it's the bane of most classic armour builds, the olde worlde rubber band style track, overly thick, no inner face detail and already as wavy as a rough sea. As an added bonus the tracks are likely to resist most forms of glue apart from two-part epoxy, which is what I usually rely on to save the day with these things.



A small sheet of decals completes the package and provides markings for Heer, Luftwaffe and Waffen-SS vehicles. As you can see the decals have not fared very well and have yellowed but, if my memory serves me well, I have some alternatives in my decal bank. Otherwise, these will have to spend time on a window ledge in the hope of catching a bit of autumn/winter sun.



First job is to deal with the side screen panels which, as you can see in the photo below, have been moulded as solid components.



There are two ways that I can deal with this issue in order to produce a more realistic model. I can drill out the panel centres, file out the apertures and add mesh, or I can scratch build new panels. I will firstly have a go at scratch building replacements as that doesn't affect the kit if it goes wrong and besides, I like scratching up replacement parts.

Once the side screens have been dealt with, I am mulling and chewing about whether to convert the kit to the later armoured cab version, which will involve creating a replacement cab out of plastic card. That should be a laugh. In addition, these vehicles often towed a trailer containing ammunition and I think I have a couple of old 1/72nd trailers in my spares that I might be able to use as a basis for conversion. Paint wise, I have in mind a worn winter finish, which always seems to suit models of these vehicles. But, hey, I'm getting ahead of myself and I'll have to see how it goes.

Thanks for looking.

[iggie]

Looks like you are planning a bit of extra work for yourself Shaun, but I've no doubt that it will look a lot better for it once finished

[Muttzley]

Those tracks are making me shudder just looking at them.

Actually prefer the look of the early version to the armoured cab, it looks more improvised in some ways.
And there's probably a decent kit of the armoured version out there which might save you a bit of scratch building...

[ShaunW]

It should be an interesting build, Jim. You're missing the point, Muttzley. Yes indeed there are better kits of this vehicle out there, I think Revell produces one, but I like trying to bash these old bangers into some sort of shape and at the end of the day if the project goes belly up it will have cost me less than three quid plus a bit of plastic card.

[Muttzley]

It should be an interesting build, Jim. You're missing the point, Muttzley. Yes indeed there are better kits of this vehicle out there, I think Revell produces one, but I like trying to bash these old bangers into some sort of shape and at the end of the day if the project goes belly up it will have cost me less than three quid plus a bit of plastic card.

Quite understand, though I just bought an early and a late version, I'm not that good at scratch building, just changing the odd bit here and there, not a major rebuild!
I still have a preference for the looks of the older version, though, I always like pre- to early war vehicles in general especially the Blitzkrieg era.

Still don't envy you working with those tracks, wonder if anyone makes 3D prints of tracks in that scale?

[Clashcityrocker]

I had no problems building mine Shaun. As you can see I didn't cut out or replace the screens, and I think it was you who pointed out the lack of ammo holders on the gun, and that one of the crew looks like he should be holding said ammo canister







Have fun!

Nigel

[ShaunW]

Yes, I remember your build now, Nigel and the OOB screens actually don't look too bad at all when given the dry brush treatment, but I can't resist fiddling about with these old kits trying to scratch build detail etc. There is a lack of ammo magazines, which are curved in a similar way to a Bren gun mag, but I'm not going to scratch any up in this scale and will leave the racks empty.

Off to my usual slow start but I have made up the basic replacement frames out of plastic strip, using the kit items as templates and I have also added some plastic rod to the kit body to improve the sit of the frames, which I intend to model in the down or deployed position:





This was relatively easy to do and tomorrow I will have a look through my mesh stash - I have left over Tamiya mesh and some Verlinden stuff of various sizes - and add some suitable fine mesh to the frames.

Thanks for looking.

[JamesPerrin]

Making a build your own is one of the most satisfying parts of the hobby.

[ShaunW]

I fully agree, James and doing this sort of thing is where I get most of my pleasure out of modelling, particularly when building classic kits.

This afternoon's session resulted in the side screens receiving their mesh for which I used some of my Verlinden stock. The mesh was attached to the frames using CA and was trimmed to fit using a pair of small nail scissors. A bit more tidying up is required around the edges which will be done using a fine sanding block.




Moving on to the cab section, Hasegawa moulded grab handles on to the bodywork aft of the cab and after viewing numerous photos that doesn't appear to be correct for this version of the vehicle. Grab handles featured on the artillery tractor versions but on the 7/1 it would appear that grab slots were more common. I have therefore removed the moulded on handles (which I would have replaced with fine wire in any event) and with a bit of careful drilling and shaping have begun to form the slots. In the first photo I have more or less finished the slots but the white that is visible in the aft slot is 0.9mm rod that I had to use a filler due to my usual incompetence with the drill resulting in the slot being too low on the body. Ho hum.





And on this side I have just started the conversion and still visible are the OOB moulded on handles:



As I did on the other side, the moulded on handles will be gently scraped off with my modelling knife before being tidied up with sandpaper and Micromesh. This is patience testing stuff but will hopefully be worth it in the end.

Thanks for looking.

[Clashcityrocker]

Nice detail work.

Nigel

[iggie]

That's certainly very good detailing Shaun

[PTB11]

Lovely work Shaun. The mesh screens have turned out great.

[ShaunW]

Many thanks, chaps.

It's been a while but work was very busy in the lead up to the holidays and, as a result, I got nothing done on this build. However, now I've had the best part of a week off and have been hitting the bottle bench.

This is a pretty old kit and perhaps unsurprisingly, much of the detail is simplified or missing altogether. Starting with the cab area and after opening out the grab handle slots, I broke out the plastic card and firstly made a new rear bulkhead, together with rear seat backs, which were made from shaped pieces of thick plastic card. The seats then received some texturing using a small round file.




To the cab interior I added hand brake and gear levers and replaced the steering wheel column, which OOB was pretty much near to 1/35th scale in diameter, with a more scale thickness of plastic rod. I also added detail to the what I believe are trafficators on either side of the cab - I think on the full-size, little levers flick out of the slots to indicate the intended direction of travel. I drew the line at adding pedals in this scale - the handbrake and gear levers, the latter being made from two pieces of different diameter plastic rod, were test enough for my eyesight! I've just realised I need to add the prominent internal grab rail on the dash in front of the passenger seat, so I'll address that ASAP.




At the rear of the cab I modified the OOB rear folding crew seat and mounted it as it should be to the new rear cab bulkhead. I added a little additional detail to the rear seat using fine plastic rod around the edges and I also carefully cut the seat squab into two separate pads from the single piece it was moulded as, which is more accurate as far as I can tell from photos. I also used plastic card to make two rear headrests, which were attached to the rear bulkhead and upon which the rear bench seat rests in the folded position. The base of the rear seat rests on a small framework, which I replicated using plastic strip.



Moving on to the rear deck, I used plastic Verlinden mesh attached with liquid glue in an attempt to replicate the anti-slip surface of the full-size, as the kit is moulded smooth in this area and hopefully it will look satisfactory under paint.



I also slightly lengthened the lower body by adding additional strip to the rear crossmember onto which I added detail in the form of two storage locker doors from plastic card, with hinge and handle detail courtesy of plastic rod.



And finally, I am now in the process of building up the FLAK gun itself. Starting with the gun barrels, I cut off the over thick kit items, drilled out the receivers and inserted plastic rod, which was then further drilled to receive the scratch built replacement weapons - there is filler at the ends which will be reshaped in due course. The replacement gun barrels are made from two sizes of plastic rod, for the barrels and the muzzle flash suppressors (?) and the barrels have been drilled out at the muzzles.



I aim to continue with the gun as there is more to do, particularly in respect of the gun shield which, certainly in its upper portions, is nothing like OOB.

Thanks for looking and I wish you all the very best for the New year.

[Clashcityrocker]

This is some seriously nice work Shaun. It's going to be a very impressive model when you've finished. Happy New Year to you and your family.

Nigel

[ShaunW]

Many thanks, Nigel and all the best for 2023 to you and yours.