Famo with Bilstein crane 1/144

The Famo in 1/144 is nothing new, but to use him on a Diorama the model looked a bit naked. With the big storage and nothing on it, no that does not looks good. As I already had built the spade for the Famo, I came up with a new project. the Famo with the Bilstein crane. I remember some years ago you could buy this model from a small company in Japan, but is was not that cheap. So I decided to build the crane by myself.

First a short overview about the cranes in use with the German Panzerwaffe:

The German Army had for their maintenance several types of cranes. 

• Büssing with an Bilstein 3 ton crane (a 4,5 ton truck) 

• sZgkw. 18t. with the Bilstein 6 ton crane.

• Friescrane with 15, later 16 ton lifting capacity, often in combination with a Hanomag tractor

All other cranes do not belonged to the maintenance units.

For my model I used the Famo from PanzerDepot. The model looks good and it is easy to put into his parts.

After some work with a screw driver I have disassembled everything I need. The most critical point is, not to damage the front wheels. I my case I made a perfect work, they broke both.

After some smaller work I could glue the new platform on the frame. The white part I designed some weeks ago and got it printed by Shapeways.

 Further I plan to use my new Bergegeschirr, which I had designed in 3D as well. Here you can see it in an first attempt with a Bergepanther and a Panther 

The Famo some time later. I have added some smaller parts to let the set look a bit more in constant use.

The Famo with the Bilstein crane after the first painting.

Next step I had to finalize the painting and to add a soft cover for the cabin.