Anatomy of a Build Series

Anatomy of a Build Series - 1
1/48th Steyr Type 2000A 2cm Flak.38 AA Gun Carrier Conversion
Back in late 2008, I decided to build a particular variant of a Steyr truck with a
Flak38 on the back. Parts came from a variety of sources including: Tamiya - Steyr
Type 1500A/01 (#32549), CMK - Steyr 1500 Cargo Truck (No. 8032), Hauler Steyr 2000A Pritsche (HLX 48224), Hauler - Steyr 1500 Detail Set (HLX 48214),
Verlinden - 2cm Flak38A AA Gun (2232) and plenty of scratch-building with
Evergreen styrene. Additional information came
from Wings and Wheels Publication “Steyr
1500A in Detail”. I wanted to closely follow
LeadWarrior’s 1/35th scale
Steyr Type 2000A 2cm.
Flak.38 AA Gun Carrier as
STEYR Type 2000A
shown in one of the photos.
2cm. Flak.38 AA Gun Car rier
There is precedence for this
particular type of mating. As
you can see in the only two
surviving pictures, the bed of
the truck looks like the Hauler
variant, but the gun is
definitely a 3cm variant known
as a MK 103 gun. Since this
variant exists, I am taking a
leap of faith that the
LeadWarrior, and thus my
variant, may have existed. As my friend Bruce Culver says, “Never
underestimate a German Engineer with a blow torch
and some metal!”
The first stage of this conversion was to scratchbuild the lower frame. The one supplied with the
Tamiya kit is very minimal at best and being metal,
is not very easily improved upon. This wouldn’t
matter so much with the kit made OOB, but since
I am opening up the sides by putting a bed with a
wooden box on the back, all the bottom features will
be seen. Here begins my quest for the ultimate
frame!
LW 35029
WWW.LEADWARRIOR.COM
INFO@LEADWARRIOR.COM
Ebay:
LEADWARRIOR
LEADWARRIOR
HISTORICAL MINIATURE
CONVERSION KIT for
49 RESIN PARTS
TAMIYA Steyr Type 1500A ( kit #35225 )
And Dragon / Italeri / Tristar / Tamiya Flak.38 AA Gun
Austria’s all wheel drive Steyr 1500A was one of the
many personnel/transport vehicles which was
designed to meet Whermacht requirement for
standard army 1,5 ton truck. Presented in 1941, the
Steyr was used as troop transport in all the war
theaters. A total of more than 20,000 were built, in a
wide range of variants
Tamiya presents basic and command versions. The
chassis of Steyr 1500A and it’s reinforced variant Steyr
2000A were also used for Fire trucks, Omnibus
(Leadwarrior kit Lw35026), Ambulance (Leadwarrior
kit Lw35025), universal “Funk-Koffer”, and different
types of cargo carriers.
The initial variant of cargo truck on Steyr 1500A
chassis had opened driver’s compartment combined
with wooden trunk (Leadwarrior kit Lw35023).
Later Steyr 2000A cargo trucks with full-metal cabin
and reinforced rear springs were introduced, utilising
standard frame shassis (Leadwarrior kit Lw35027), or
long frame shassis (Leadwarrior kit Lw35024). That
later variant had standard wheels base, but additional
frame section was added to support longer flatbed
cargo platform.
LW 35029
WWW.LEADWARRIOR.COM
In second half of WWII, due to superiority of
Allies in the air, Germany faced an urgent need
in Self-Propelled Anti-Aircraft vehicles.
Beside many official developments, utilizing
panzers
and halftraks chassis (see
Leadwarrior kits Lw35014, Lw35022), there
was a wide range of troop improvisations
made by infantry units using all sort of
vehicles and guns.
This kit presents the conversion of Steyr
2000A long-frame cargo truck chassis to carry
2cm. Flak.38 AA Gun. The complete gun
including the field carriage was mounted. This
way the gun could be used in the static
position, while the vehicle could be used for
supply purposes.
(Later the official variant of this vehicle was
introduced. It utilized the same Steyr 2000A
chassis, but instead of 2cm. Flak.38 the 3cm.
Flak.108/38 mounted on pedestal was used.)
INFO@LEADWARRIOR.COM
COPYRIGHT 2007
To start with, measurements had to be made
of the existing Tamiya frame, including all the
relevant attachment points to the plastic body.
1
= Tamyia attachment points
3.6
= .020 x .156 Styrene
3.118
2.59
= Cross members
2.499
1.912
= .040 x .156 Styrene
1.272
1.005
.217
.06
.08
.06
DRIVE TRAIN SLOT
= Lightening holes
.1
= New rear frame
BENDS IN FRAME SIDES
.156
.08
.0981
.1142
.1142
.1142
.1054
.1054
.1054
.1054
.1054
.1054
.3093
.1054
.3093
.1355
.2355
.1284
.04
3.829
1.942
CENTER OF MIDDLE X-MEMBER
= .08
= .0359
2.0174
2.5682
= .0212
From there, actual pictures and schematics
were combed through to provide the
necessary lightening hole arrangement for
the hollow box frame. These holes were used
on the real truck as a weight-saving measure,
and, since these will be seen in this open
frame model, they must be correctly
portrayed. The accompanying illustrations
show the measurements I made with all
pertinent features.
3.160
CENTER OF SPRING
.5863
It should be noted that I took some time to
puzzle out how I would make the frame “appear” to
be made out of a box-like set up. In reality, the
frame sides were hollow to 1) save on weight (an all
metal frame would be too heavy), and 2) to allow
for the various plumbing of wires and tubing to be
secured. Since I had no desire to actually build side boxes, I opted for a different
approach. I built each side from two pieces of styrene. The first and inside part
contained the lightening holes with a bit of reaming to “simulate” the openness of
the hollow sides. The second and outer piece finished the side so the holes would
only be seen from the inside. The reamed side was placed face in to the outer piece.
Once both sections were created, they were joined together with the appropriate
cross-members to create a solid frame to build upon.
Proposed Total Length of Frame = 4.2663 inches.
The next step in the process was to finish the rear end by
scratch-building the last two cross-members. According to plans,
the outer member was just a copy of the inner one. Patience and a great deal of trialand-error were the keys to my success.
At this point, I was a bit perplexed as to how to make the two sets of double springs
needed for the rear suspension. I
searched for similar arrangements in
many kits so as to save myself from
creating them, but in the end, I did just
that…out of styrene with a brass top
plate. The brass was used to create the
necessary bend in the larger bottom
sections that the styrene strips would follow up on. This
was important to me so that the proper look of sprung
springs would be achieved. With that done, I then had
to scratch the pockets that the lower springs would sit
in, as well as the bumper stops for the
upper springs. Each pocket was created
from five separate pieces of styrene. The
bumper stops were made from channel
with a separate strip of styrene down
the middle.
2
Other improvements made because of the openness of this variant included filling in sections
of the differential housing and adding a large nut to the back of it to simulate the fluid drain hole.
Test fitting was done all along the way so as to ensure that the Tamiya drive train would mate up
to the scratch-built frame without any sloppiness. I was very happy with my results and you can
see in the pictures that everything did indeed
come together very nicely! Chalk one up for
careful measurements.
Now came the cab and interior portions.
Please note that the tan pieces are from the base
Tamiya kit, the gray ones are from the Hauler
kit, and, unfortunately, the CMK kit could not
be used except as a template because of some
warpage that occurred. In the end, the CMK kit
provided the necessary patterns for the bed and
some of the photoetch used along the sides. The
Hauler kit provided the necessary extra set of
rear wheels, the
cabin floor (to replace the Tamiya one – differing configuration)
and the side doors. These kit side doors closely follow the MK 103
Steyr set-up, but I wanted square doors as in the LeadWarrior kit
so some extra modification needed to be done.
The cabin was pieced together using dimensions taken from
the Tamiya kit for proper placement of the seats and center console
box. As you can see, I made my own
plastic jig for this. The sides were cut down to create the square
look for the doors and the doors themselves created from
styrene with additional side bracing. It was around this point
that the Hauler photoetch set for the Steyr came into play as
the dashboard was swapped out for the brass version and the
foot pedals were used as well. Just as a side note, I had used
some wiring for the back of the gauges, but in the end, it
would not be seen; c’est la vie! The final piece was the back
of the cab which I created in styrene as well.
Once the cab area was addressed I mated it to the chassis
with the addition of the two
rear wheels from the Hauler
kit. With this done, the side
exhaust system was fixed
in place by the addition
of a couple of scratchbuilt attachment points.
Also, the two brass side
support rails (I believe
3
they were used for the up/down movement of the front suspension) were fixed in place towards the front end. I wasn’t sure if I needed
these, but a side view of the chassis and cab showed a lack of detail in this area
would be seen by the casual viewer.
My attention was now firmly fixed on the bed and
the Verlinden Flak38 that would be going into it. As
stated before, the CMK resin bed was slightly
warped and unusable by me except as a template.
It shows 13 boards across, but I decided with the
current dimensions (1.670” wide x 2.677” long)
that 14 Evergreen .04 x .125 (#142) boards with
an Evergreen .04 x .04 (#142) border would
better suit my needs. Building on the floor, the
sides and back were created from 3 planks each of
the same .04 x .125 (#142). With the back bed
completed, it needed to be mated to the chassis.
The LeadWarrior instruction sheet gave me the
proper template guides for the bed risers and cross
stabilizing pieces, with two of the stabilizers being
the shorter versions (to lock into the bed risers)
and the other two the higher ones located closer
to the cab portion. I also drew inspiration from
the LeadWarrior instructions to create the
bench seat in an upright position next to the
cab portion. The side locking photoetch pieces
along with some brass channel completed the
final touches on the back bed/box.
4
The Verlinden Flak38 was a bit of a disappointment
for me. Being the only game in town at the time, I had no
choice but to use it. I found the kit sorely lacking in details
such as the rivets in the front shield, side grab handles, the
top braces used to hold the shields, the spade at the back
end, and thin diameter barrel. The seat may still need to be
replaced as even in 1/48th scale it is unbelievably small.
Also, there are two internal rods on either side of the gun
platform that are used to hold the whole thing on supports
affixed to the bed. These need to be replaced with brass rod. I found a brass barrel for the gun, so the
resin part was cut off. One other item I changed out was the side shelf used for spare magazines. I used
a brass photoetch .50 caliber box as the basis
for it instead of the resin version supplied.
Apart from all that, the gun went
together following the instructions.
5
The supports that go in the bed for the Flak38 were comprised of three different parts – 2 of styrene and one of brass rod. The
template for the star-shaped ring is shown. This was glued to a round base and the edges were chamfered. The brass rod came as a
delightful surprise to me. I was trying to figure out what was the best way to create the grooves that run around the shaft when by
shear chance, it sorted itself out. My tube cutter started to apply a thread to the outside
and when I noticed it, I had enough
threaded to do the job! Four supports are
needed; one on either side towards the cab,
and two joined together for the back. The
completion of the supports came after I
filed a groove for the guns internal rods to
sit in.
Using the LeadWarrior instruction
sheet as a template again, I created a spare
2cm barrel case. After all, I need something
to go in the back for that lived in look!
Finishing touches included
adding the additional photoetch
details (such as door handles), the
seat backs, and spare wheel holder
under the bed. I have, to
date, finished about 95% of
this build. Aside from
priming and painting, I have
the driver’s side door to place
and do not yet know if I will
have it closed or open, with
the driver out of the vehicle.
Also, the spare wheel is not
fixed in place yet and once
painted will be set in and
the second bracket added.
I hope you enjoy the pictures!
- Ken Kolenovsky
6
7
8