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.

Crossing a bridge or 1/144 Tigers on the move

This is a small diorama for my 1/144 tanks. The idea was to try several different ways to build the bridge. Finally I decided to build a wooden frame and to fill it up with Gypsum. Once the Gypsum was hard, I opened the form and started to engrave the stone structure in the surface. Besides the fact, that it broke on the weakest position, I was very satisfied with the result.

the bridge after the engraving

after the coloring with water colors

Oil drum trailer for German Wehrmacht in 1/144

At the beginning of the war, the Germans used some small trailers to support the tanks when travelling longer distances. These trailers have been a very simple and cheap design with one or two oil drums on it.

Here is my new print, a German trailer with two Oil drums on the trailer.

more old dioramas

Here some more of my old dioramas:

some promotion for myself :-)

In the last days I have decided that I will share a lot of my 3D designs, which  I have uploaded at Shapeways, with everybody who wants.

At the moment I can offer you 23 of my models. The good point is, I offer only models which I have tested before, so at least with my delivery they looked good.
If there is something you would like, so please send me your comments.
I hope you like my models and if everything runs well, I will be a Millionaire in around 10.000 years.

Here is the link to my shop:

http://www.shapeways.com/shops/Panzerfabrik_144?s=12#more-products

new old Dioramas

While all my stuff is still on its way to Europe, I will present you some of my very first dioramas I built many years ago.
For all dioramas I used empty food packages, which I filled up with Gypsum.
Then I scratched the surface and painted everything.
I hope you like them, even they are very old.

Panther turret in Italy

As all my stuff is still on its way to me, I will present in the next weeks some of my older work.
Let us start with my Panther turret on a small display.
The basement is a Gypsum part where I engraved the trench and the entrance to my tank turret.