M32 ARV US Army

If you follow my Blog, you know that I love Recovery tanks and trucks.

As I have built several German ARV, I thought I should build an American ARV.

With the new 1/144 US Army Vehicles Set from Revell you get for a good price a small kit of a Sherman tank. so what else is needed to build the M32 ARV?

First of all we need a new turret and some new boxes, the crane and some small parts.

After printing it with Shapeways I got all parts I needed to built the tank.

Here is the final tank:

I had to add some more details and the gun on the front of the tank.

So here some more pictures of the final version:

Opel Blitz Kraftzugspritze 8 Feuerschutzpolizei light fire truck

When the Nazis took over the German government, they already planned ahead for a future war. Therefore they tried to standardize all German fire brigades with the same trucks and equipment. Instead of the fire brigades they came under the control and command of the Feuerschutzpolizei or the Luftwaffe. All trucks of the Feuerschutzpolizei got a Tannengruen paint (dark green).
The Kraftzugspritze KzS 8 was a small unit with enough space for the complete group and a pump inside the trailer The engine for the pump was a small Volkswagen engine. 
I decided to go with the Feuerschutzpolizei, as this gives me a reason to paint a green truck.
For the trailer there were several different solutions, why I designed two of them.

Kraftzugspritze 8 with trailer

Kraftzugspritze 8 front view

Kraftzugspritze 8

Kraftzugspritze 8 with second trailer

only this week special offer from Shapeways

Hi all,

if you wait like I do with sending out an order until you have enough that it is valid the shipping costs, - then this news might interest you. This week Shapeways will ship all orders over 25 USD for free.
So this is a good chance to order some of my models from Shapeways. :-)

Shapeways free shipping

or if you like it much easier: my Shop

and a sneak preview about what will come next:

RAF bomb transporter with David Brown tractor

David Brown tractor with oil bowser

Feuerschutzpolizei with Opel Blitz

some Highlights from my last trip to the USA

Some weeks ago, my wife and I spent two weeks in Nevada and their National Parks. While driving from A to B we passed several ghost towns (real ones, and others just looking like). 
I was surprised how much interesting stuff you could find in these small villages. Here some of my highlights:

American LaFrance from the sixties

American LaFrance from the sixties

Beatty gold mine

American FaFrance fire engine

side view American FaFrance fire engine

not old, but I liked all the lights, Ford Californian Highway Patrol

old stuff of the road

narrow gauge train in Goldtown

old Ford fire brigade ladder?

Ford fire brigade

side view Ford Fire brigade

old Ford or Mack in something like a Museum 

old Caterpillar 

Ford in Moab

Triebwagen 51 great news

During the last days I was able to make some progress with the German Panzertiebwagen 51. If everything goes well, I will send it mid of march to the printers. The screenshots you see below, are all printable and the price is still acceptable.
I have to check the dimensions again and to add the wheels. I plan to go here with the dimensions for N-Scale, so that it will roll on all N-gauge rail systems.

Panther with Coelian Panther Flak Turret

Okay, this Panther never saw the sunlight, it is a so called "paper tank" as it was never built.
But, as I have several Panthers left and I got the turret from CGD Hong Kong (link) for a really good price, why not a Wehrmacht 46 tank?
The rebuild is absolutely simple and easy, paint the turret, use the adapter CGD delivers and put it on one of your Dragon / Cando Panther.
Heresome information from Wikipedia.

Panther with Coelian turret 

Panther with Coelian turret 

Panther with Coelian turret 

1/144 set of German trailers for your Luftwaffe trailers

As I will sell a lot of my planes I thought how to make them more attractive for a sale at Ebay.
So I designed some of the most important small trailers, the Germans used to get their Fighters ready to start.
In the set is 

• the Anlasswagen, a unit used to start the engines for the planes
• a small trailer for Oil / Grease
• a small trailer for all the electrical components
• a trailer for loading the Batteries of the planes

Here is a picture of the painted version:

1/144 Anlasswagen Luftwaffe

So if you like my small trailers, here you can buy them Panzerfabrik 144