Bishop Hobbies

 

BUILDING THE TAMIYA 1/35 FAMO TANK TRANSPORTER

 

As World War II progressed, the vehicles used on the battlefields became larger and larger. When these mammoth machines broke down or became damaged, the task of bringing them back from the front lines was not an easy one. This need was especially felt by the German Wehrmacht, who were fighting on a wide range of battlegrounds: from the scorching desert of N. Africa to the railroad lacking plains of Russia. Bringing damaged vehicles back from these difficult conditions was indispensable to replenishing fighting strength to the army. The German 18 Ton Heavy Half-Track "FAMO" and Tank Transporter Sd.Ah.116 was one of the vehicles that contributed to this task. Including all variations, over 2500 18ton half-tracks were produced by the end of the WWII. One of the major types was the tank recovery half-track, which was a mighty towing vehicle equipped with two rows of seats and a flatbed in back for the storage of equipment such as a draw-bar and spare wire rope. Tool storage compartments were found on each of the outer sides of the flatbed. In addition, the underside of a vehicle was equipped with a winch. Its powerplant was a Maybach HL 108 12-cylinder engine, which put out 270hp. Tank transporting was conducted by either direct towing with a draw bar, or by loading the tank atop a massive trailer. Officially known as "Sd.Ah.116", the Type 116 Trailer connected with the 18ton heavy half track, which allowed for the transportation of 22-23 ton class tanks such as the Pz.Kpfw.III, Pz.Kpfw.IV and other heavy artillery.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Feb. 19, 2011 I won this model at the Model Expo in Petaluma at their wonderful raffle.This is really an awesome model that I just had to start.When finished it will be over two feet long – actually it comes out to 640 mm or 25.17 inches.I will be posting pictures and comments as time goes on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

2/27/2011 I've done a lot of work on the FAMO itself.  Here you see the basic running gear.  There is still a lot of paint touch up and weathering to do:

 

3/20/2011  I've finished the tracks and installed them.  I dusted them with Tamiya brown and then desert sand then used Tamiya weathering powders to add white to the rubber pads.  The front tires had the seam sanded off then the treads were filled with Tamiya thickened primer.  Then I used q-tips dipped in Tamiya thinner to wipe off the excess primer.  This was followed with a liberal dusting with Tamiya weathering sand powder.  I wiped that off with the dampened q-tips also.  The last pics have some of the upper body works placed on the frame.  I have yet to paint and weather these parts.

 

 

3/21/2011 I've painted the upper body works…

 

 

 

 

3/29/2011 I have decided to change the overall color of the body from German Grey to the camo tri color of sand, green and brown.  I have found that the German grey is really dark and the details of the model are harder to see.  Plus that fact that the camo version was a lot more prevalent I believe.  I am painting the tank transporter as if it had an in-field camo job done with spray guns, and the FAMO crew compartment was left in the German gray color as it would have been just too time consuming to mask off and paint in the field.  I also am not repainting the underside as they would have been left as the factory color.  This color scheme will lend itself to more weathering possibilities too.

 

3/31/2011 I've done a little more – all that's really left on the FAMO itself now is adding misc parts and loads….

5/1/2011 I've done a lot on the fore and aft trucks and have just started the trailer framework.  Below are some pictures of all of the parts posed as they would be as finished:

 

 

5/22/2011

I've finished off the trailer and painted the parts of it.  I still have to attach the rubber tires and do the weathering.

 

 

 

6/6/2011

I'm almost done – ha ha.  The tires are now on and I've just added a canvas cover made from tissue dipped in white glue diluted with water.  I've also added some cargo for the famo in the form of 5 fuel drums and a few jerry cans.  The boxes are actually tank ammo boxes but I think they look good in there.  I've also added the decals and given the whole thing a light dusting of sand.  Now to the pics…

 

 

6/12/2011

After almost four months the FAMO tank transporter is finished!  Here we have the transporter with a captured American Sherman tank.  I still have a few items to add – a bucket and hitch pin along with a few items for the storage drawers in the FAMO.  Please excuse the background items.  I no longer have my photo booth.  Someday I'll have a much better setup for photos – until then….

2/21/2013 I've actually started this build on the 12th of February but haven't started the build article till now.  I purchased this model at the IPMS nationals last year at Disneyworld.  I bought it from Squadron when I noticed they had a special at the show – 30% off.  Gotta love that.  I also purchased later Roy Sutherlands really nice cockpit stencils as made by his company BARRACUDACALS.  I used these when I built the Tamiya 1/32 Spitfire XIIV and loved them.  These went on well too as the pictures will show.  Here are pictures of the BARRACUDACALS stencils as well as the instructions:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I've also completed the cockpit as the following photos will show.  The build is very nice – this is a great kit.  I've used ModelMaster metalizer paints for the metal surfaces.  I love how nicely they lay down.  Very easy to use.  I also used the 4 Tamiya Weathering Master kits to add a little weathering.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2/22/2013 I've finished step 20 in the instructions.  As you can see I've now closed up the fuselage.  This is a very involved and detailed model that won't be finished till step 71.  It moves along quite quickly compared to the Arizona because there isn't all of the fiddly photo etch to deal with.  There are two very nice frets of photo etch here but you don't have to fold any of it and they are very nice to deal with.  On to the pictures:

 

3/3/2013 I've finished the wings and glued them to the fuselage.  I've also assembled a few of the extra bits.  One picture shows some of the parts of the cooling vents on the a/c bottom.  They have been finished in Alclad II and I really like the finish.  I've just received 4 more bottles of the stuff:duraluminum, dark aluminum, white aluminum, and polished aluminum to add to the bottles I already had: airframe aluminum, and aluminum.  That should give me a nice wide range of shades to finish the model in.  I plan on giving the plane a light coat of Tamiay fine surface primer, then a coat of Model Master black enamel followed by the Alcald II.  I will shade various panels in other colors to give some variation.  This kit goes together really really well.  Just a pleasure to build – it has been a lot of fun so far.  Now on to the pictures:

3/6/2013 I've now completed the Alclad II painting.  I've added 12 new pictures below.  In the first pic you will notice the gloss black undercoat – I used Model Master gloss black enamel and discovered if you spray it on really diluted you can get an extremely shiny surface – notice the lander gear.  Also in the first pic is the Tamiya carousal with other bits with their gloss black undercoat…

Next we have the external fuel tanks with their wing fixtures.

In this picture the a/c has been given several light coats of Alclad II airframe aluminum.  I had to go over it several times to get a somewhat even coverage.

Here are the external tanks painted in Alclad duraluminum and the m/g covers still in the gloss black…

Here is a closeup of the landing gear painted in airframe aluminum – you can see the high gloss finish.

These next photos show how the Alclad had pealed off when I removed the Tamiya tape which was used to mask off for different shades.

I fixed this using post-it-notes which have really low tackiness.  A note on the other shades, they are as follows:

wing panels – dark aluminum

fuselage panels – white aluminum

canopy bottom frame panel – polished aluminum

I've also found that when the Alclad is dry – it will still come off on your hands.  I've addressed that by polishing the a/c with a microfiber cloth.  That seems to remove the excess dry paint particles.  I still may seal the finish but haven't decided what to seal it with.

Here is the result…

3/8/2013 I've finished the blue nose painting as well as sealing the Alclad finish.  I used Tamiya paints for the blue and mixed as called out in the instructions.  I sealed the model with Future Floor Wax.  I discovered that Future really doesn't alter the hue of the finish – at least to my eyes.  Now I can handle the model and proceed with the decals.  I did not like the final finish on the starboard inner wing panel – there was some lint or other particles caught in the paint.  I fixed it by sanding down the finish with really fine sandpaper dipped in water.  Then I polished the area with Squadron super finishing stick #30507.  I then sprayed the area with very diluted Model Master gloss black enamel followed by a few coats of Alclad.  The result was much much better and really worth the few minutes that it took.  Here are four pictures showing where I'm at now:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3/12/2013 I've now started applying the decals.  It wasn't long before disaster struck.  I was applying a stencil just below the cockpit then applied Microscale Sol to it – I accidently moved the stencil with my finger and it ended up on the 352nd fighter group emblem just below the cockpit.  I noticed it later, but by this time the Sol and done it's deed and the two decals were melted together.  I was able to remove the emblem but in doing so I also destroyed the 6 kills just above the emblem.  I looked for a replacement sheet everywhere online but no one was selling one – I also tried the Scale Modeler A/C forum – no dice.  I then e-mailed Tamiya America and they very graciously offered to send me the whole decal sheet free of charge.  Wow – gotta love Tamiya.  I immediately sent them my address and am now waiting.  I also replaced the stencil that I moved with another one (not the correct one but I'll fix that when the new decal sheet arrives).  Here is a picture of the P-51D without the emblem…

3/14/2013 Well this brings to a close this build – well almost – I still need to apply the two decals I ruined and I may add a little weathering at some time.  Here are 5 photos of the "completed" Tamiya 1/32 P-51D.

This first one show a nice size comparison with two other WWII a/c that I've completed.  I was going to add the antenna wire that's shown in the Tamiya literature – but I've determined that none of the ETO P-51D's had one – so mine won't either.

3/21/2013 Well – I found out that I needed both decal sheets and Tamiya was just wonderful and sent both sheets to me for free.  I got them in about three days.  That's what I call customer service!!  I must say I love the Tamiya operation – very classy.  I've just taken a few pics of the finished model…this has got to be the ultimate P-51D model out there.  Just a pleasure to build – no problems anywhere.  Well – to be honest – they should make the decals thinner – but they are a mass market company and thicker decals are more robust – so I can understand that too.  Here are the pictures: