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 Merchandise




Panzerzug

Panzerzug BP44 First Mockup

by Spack on Tue May 29, 2012 8:23 am

To make sure that the locomotive and tender won't look too big or too small alongside the existing OO scale trains that my son has on his railway a card mockup of the Sketchup model has been made. Using the Flattery plugin it was pretty easy to unfold the model faces to create a flat printable mesh that could then be folded and glued.

loco-flat.jpg


This is scaled at 1:87 (which is HO scale rather than OO, but means that the train will be in proportion to the track width), and next to a small 0-4-0 steam engine looks about the right size. This card mockup will also be used to find a chassis to fit the locomotive, and I've already got donor parts for the tender chassis from an old flat bed carriage which has 6 wheeled bogies at each end (the tender is sitting on one of these bogies in the photo below).

IMG_0349.jpg

Tags: PanzerzugRailway
Last edited by Spack on Tue May 29, 2012 8:23 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Panzerzug BP44 Train OO Scratchbuild

by Spack on Tue May 15, 2012 1:13 am

Combining my interest in WW2, and my son's model railway, I've decided to build a WW2 era German Panzerzug train that can run on OO gauge tracks. My plan is to build a running train, utilising a second hand loco chassis (still scouring ebay for one that isn't too pricey) and axles (either new or stripped from damaged wagons), along with plasticard. I could make it easy and simple and convert an existing plastic kit but that's horrendously expensive. Available HO train kits tend to be resin based and cost a fortune. Scratchbuilding the should be pretty cheap, and allows for more customisation of the wagons to include. Who knows, maybe a Leopold railway gun will be included at some point in the future :)

First problem was finding blueprints of the locomotive and carriages, after a bit of digging around I managed to track down a copy of the Waldemar Trojca Panzerzug BP42/BP44 book which contains a few...

[ Continued ]

Tags: RailwayPanzerzug
Last edited by Spack on Tue May 15, 2012 11:17 pm, edited 4 times in total.
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Panzerzug BP44 Train Day 2

by Spack on Tue May 15, 2012 11:15 pm

Not much progress today, decided to add some track to the model and duplicate the tender (the real train had two tenders, one behind the locomotive and one in front), and add a rough camo texture to the armour plates. Once the chassis frame and buffers are added it will look a lot better, hopefully I'll progress with that tomorrow, and if there's time also add some of the larger hatches and the driver windows and vision slits.

Tags: RailwayPanzerzug
Last edited by Spack on Tue May 15, 2012 11:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Panzerzug BP44 Train Day 3

by Spack on Wed May 16, 2012 11:41 pm

Started working on some of the smaller details on the locomotive and tender, adding buffers, armour plates for the buffers, boiler hatches, chimney, and driver cab windows.

panzerlok57 3.png


panzerlok57 4.png


As a mockup this works pretty well and allows me, using the Flattery plugin, to unfold the outer surfaces and create a mesh that I can print out - initially using a card template to check that the shells will fit the running gear and won't too look out of scale on the track, and then to cut out the main plasticard panels. Smaller details like inspection hatches and armour strips can be drawn in Photoshop and printed out later as they will be flat and simply cut out of thin plasticard and glued into place on the main surfaces. Here's the locomotive main shell flattened out:

panzerlok57 flat.png
...

[ Continued ]

Tags: PanzerzugRailway
Last edited by Spack on Thu May 17, 2012 12:27 am, edited 3 times in total.
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Panzerjager-Triebwagen 51 Armoured Tank Hunter Railcar

by Spack on Sun Jun 03, 2012 11:38 am

Technically not part of the BP42/BP44 trains as the Panzerjager-Triebwagens 50-55 never saw service, I wanted to include one of these Panzer IV turret armed railcars in the train model. This is the undetailed model to use as the basic plasticard template, with lots of hatches to be added during the build. The turrets are really rough but give an idea of how the final model will look.

panzertriebwagen 51 working.png


panzerlok with panzertriebwagen.png


If I can get my hands on a few 1:76 or 1:72 scale PzIV turrets from model kits it'll make life easier, but I don't really need to buy entire model kits - I'll need at least 4 PzIV turrets in total, 2 for this railcar and 2 more for the Panzerjagerwagens (flat cars with a single PzIV turret) that will be at each end of the train. I even looked at Plastic Soldier Company 1:72 PzIVs as a possible option but...

[ Continued ]

Tags: PanzerzugRailway
Last edited by Spack on Sun Jun 03, 2012 11:41 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Krupp K5 "Leopold" railway gun

by Spack on Sun Jun 03, 2012 6:50 pm

For the Panzerzug train I also want to add a Leopold railway gun, and I've put together a basic model to add to the Sketchup model of the train. It's pretty long at around 34cm (the travelling mode of the real gun was 30m long, which scales to 344mm at 1:87 scale so the Sketchup model is pretty much spot on :)), and may have trouble going around corners - although I might be able to mitigate the problems by using only 2 pairs of flanged wheels in each bogie, so that they act as a pair of long wheelbase railcars at each end supporting the gun carriage.

leopold.png


panzerlok with pz51 and leopold.png


And a couple of "sketches" while messing with the Sketchup display options:

panzerlok57 sketch scribble masonite.png ...


[ Continued ]

Tags: PanzerzugRailwayLeopoldKrupp K5
Last edited by Spack on Sun Jun 03, 2012 11:33 pm, edited 5 times in total.
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Panzerzug railcar "Kannonen und Flakwagen" WIP

by Spack on Tue Jun 12, 2012 12:23 am

Decided to start on the Artillery and Flakcannon (Kannonen und Flakwagen) railcar for the Panzerzug train in Sketchup. So far the basic hull is pretty much complete, as well as the shell of the turret. Still to do are the flakcannon on the raised area, doors, hatches, and armoured connector to the Kommandowagen.

kannon und flakwagen.png


kannon und flakwagen 2.png

Tags: PanzerzugRailway
Last edited by Spack on Tue Jun 12, 2012 12:24 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Panzerzug "Geschutzwagen" WIP

by Spack on Fri Jun 15, 2012 10:44 pm

Another small update to the Panzerzug BP44 model train is the basic hull of the Geschutzwagen, which is armed with a 10.5cm turret.

bp44 half.png


geschutzwagen2.png



This railcar is connected up to the tender, with the Kommandowagen between it and the Artillery/Flak railcar.

geschutzwagen1.png


The next railcar in line will be the tank carrying well wagon which carries a Pz38t light tank and has a folding loading ramp, followed by a Panzerjaegerwagen which is a flat railcar with a Panzer IV turret. For the full BP44 duplicates of the railcars are added in the same order to the front of the train, plus two flat wagons which carry supplies and help protect the train should anything be in the way on the track. I'm still trying to decide where the Panzertriebwagen 51 will be placed,...

[ Continued ]

Tags: PanzerzugRailway
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Panzerzug "Panzerjagerwagen" WIP

by Spack on Sun Jun 24, 2012 7:26 pm

Started work on the 1st variant of the Panzerjagerwagen, a flat railcar with Pz IV turret mounted on a raised section. This railcar sits at the very end of the train, using it's plough to remove barricades from the railway and it's turret to fight off attacks. The rear of the chassis is heavily slanted so that the ramp from the Pz 38t well wagon fits underneath it - when the tank needs to be deployed the Panzerjagerwagon is detached and rolled forward, leaving a gap for the Pz 38t to drive down the ramp and out on patrol.

panzerjagerwagon i.png


And a shot of the BP44 half train with all the railcars in position, including the Panzertriebwagen 51 between the artillery/flak railcar and the well wagon carrying the Pz 38t.

panzerlok57 half train.png


And finally a shot of the entire BP44 train (note that there's only one Panzertriebwagen 51 in the rear...

[ Continued ]

Tags: PanzerzugRailway
Last edited by Spack on Sun Jun 24, 2012 7:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Panzerzug is back on track ...

by Spack on Tue Aug 07, 2012 7:12 am

With a chassis for the train on it's way from eBay, the Panzerzug project will be moving again later this week. I've just noticed that I didn't post a pic of the Tiger card tank, it's still not complete but here's one with the Jagdpanther and a 1/72 Spitfire for scale.

IMG_0390.jpg

Tags: RailwayPanzerzugPaper Tanks
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German armoured train hits first hurdle ...

by Spack on Wed Aug 08, 2012 3:49 pm

I've managed to get a Hornby 8F locomotive + tender to base the Panzerzug on (it should be a German BR 57 0-10-0 locomotive but they're pretty expensive!), but now it's arrived I've found a couple of problems. The first is that I didn't realise it was a tender drive set I was getting, so I can't use the chassis I already had for the tender. The second is that the loco and tender are both a bit longer than the Panzerzug - while I could get out my dremel and trim them down to close to the right size, my son has decided that he likes the 8F too so the train will now be interchangeable; the 8F tender shell will be removed to put on the Panzerzug tender shell as the 8F shell is too high to cover over, and the loco shell will be built to fit over the existing 8F shell with about 15mm longer armour and clearance for the front bogey, allowing it to run as a German train or as a British steam train both in the 1942-1945 period.

IMG_0427.jpg
...

[ Continued ]

Tags: PanzerzugModel Railway
Last edited by Spack on Wed Aug 08, 2012 3:58 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Panzerzug loco and tender remodelled

by Spack on Thu Aug 09, 2012 10:57 am

In order to accomodate the Stanier 8F loco and tender that I'm using instead of a BR 57, the loco and tender have had to be adjusted to acommodate the additional length and different wheel positions. I've tried to keep the overall as close as possible, with the armour panel edges at midpoints between axles and the access hatches on the loco centred on the driving wheels.

At the top is the original model, below is the extended version to fit the 8F.

panzerlok-extended-flat.jpg


And here are the unfolded versions ready to print.

panzerlok57-comparison.jpg


Finally a shot of the half train model with the extended loco:

panzerlok-extended-half-train.jpg

Tags: PanzerzugModel Railway
Last edited by Spack on Thu Aug 09, 2012 12:07 pm, edited 4 times in total.
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Panzerzug first rolling mockup ready

by Spack on Thu Aug 09, 2012 2:05 pm

The extended loco and tender shells have been printed, cut out and glued, and tested for fit. I've had to make a couple of adjustments to the armour over the piston head to allow the piston to travel fully, and remove some of the armour forward of the piston to allow the front bogey to turn on tight corners. Overall I'm pleased with the result, the train runs round the entire track without getting caught on any of the scenery. It'll go round 1st radius, but will usually be run on 2nd radius curves.

Hornby Stanier 8F

IMG_0431.jpg


Card shells placed over loco and tender (Hornby tender shell removed as it's too tall to cover over)

IMG_0432.jpg


Angled shots of the train

IMG_0433.jpg


IMG_0435.jpg



And the rest of...

[ Continued ]

Tags: PanzerzugModel Railway
Last edited by Spack on Thu Aug 09, 2012 2:10 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Panzerzug mockup of Kommandowagen

by Spack on Fri Sep 14, 2012 8:08 am

A little more progress on the train, this time with a test of the Kommandowagen. The Sketchup model was flattened and printed out, and then glued together to check that it would work on the model railway. I also built a test chassis rig from from plastic I-beam, with brass point bearings and Hornby 14mm metal wheels, spaced at 70mm and 80mm centres so that it could be used to test both the armoured railcars axle spacing (70mm) and the longer spacing on the Pz38t tank carrier wagon (80mm, bearings can be seen at right hand side of pic that the axle can be moved onto) around the 1st and 2nd radius track on the railway. Even on the longest spacing it makes it around the 1st radius curves without derailing, although at speed it might well come off.

loco-with-kommandowagen-3d.jpg
IMG_0534.jpg


The railcar with the card mockups of the loco and tender, and...

[ Continued ]

Tags: PanzerzugModel Railway
Last edited by Spack on Fri Sep 14, 2012 9:03 am, edited 2 times in total.
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