Hetzer 38(t) for Bolt Action Rescue Build - Part 3: So Many Details (So many pictures)

 I'm going to keep this organized by section of the vehicle, rather than necessarily the order I did things in, because Gorram did this project keep revealing new things that needed to be modified!

*Loader's Hatch
Last time I referenced redoing the commander's hatch. I did some digging and photo-research as I was building things, and discovered I was incorrect; the hatch I thought was surely the commander's one, what with the MG, Warlord's commander figure, etc, is in fact the "everyone else" hatch.

Warning if your favourite vehicle is the Hetzer, I am increasingly negative towards it!

But, while I still assumed it was the commander's hatch, I decided I wanted to give the option to have it both open and closed. That can only mean one thing: Magnets! I find doing an increasing drill size from paperclip diameter up to the 1/8" magnets diameter is a far smoother, less painful, and less mistake-prone way.

After that it was cutting more of the bag clip to size, scoring the centreline to give two hatch pieces, adding some paper tab "hinges", and a handle made from another scrap of plastic.

Tow Cable Assembly

The tow cable seems most often to have been hung off the back of the tank spooled into a loop. I am cheating away from my "stuff anyone could have" by using model-gauge wire for this step.

Also a curious note; I can not find a single period-photo showing the horseshoe-shaped tow hooks on an actual Hetzer! I'm not saying they were never there, but as much as they're in model kits, museum pieces, and recreations, any pic I've spotted with the tow holes, they're empty!

I wound a bunch of wire around a relatively-cylindrical tool of roughly the right circumference, bent the ends into a loop, and then wrapped two pieces around as I've seen in numerous photos. Next, back to the trusty pin drill and bulk paperclips to provide the hanging hook for the whole deal.

 Once in place, everything got glued as little as I thought I would need to keep it all where it needs to be! Certainly I could have done more work on the tow cable ends, but at this size that would be a showpiece thing to do, not a gaming-table thing to do!

Spare Tracks
Since we're already on the back of the tank, and the towcables are glued in place, let's add on some spare tracks!

First, and critically, we check to make sure which parts of our rapidly-diminishing tab can fit as which pieces of track! Luckily a tiny offshoot sits perfectly in between the engine hatches, leaving the big piece for one of the rear sections.

The track pieces were then carefully cut to width, marked off using an existing section of track to get distance, and then using a rasp, dimpled to simulate multiple links at once.

Next up, tiny wee pieces of card that had been offcuts previously were glued in two parallel lines to simulate the teeth. The unphotographed hero of this stage is my tweezers, to make up for my big fingers!

Once I was certain the superglue was well and dry, it was back to the rasp, carefully shaping the strips both into teeth, and then along the channel(s) to thin them into a more Toblerone shape.

Once glued into place, a very thin strip of the bread tag's paper section was glued in place to form the track holder. Done in stages, it was 1: Glue perpendicular to tank, using side of track. 2: Once dry, glue the top in place and then, while still wet, press a craft knife such that the bottom is simultaneously held in place to glue and cut through at the right length, followed by 3: keep a close eye in case anything comes loose in the drying process!

And here we have it: the entire backside glued together, set up, and pretending to be a working tank!

Next time we'll go over a few of the other picky attachments, some of which are visible in wider-angle shots in this post!