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!

Hetzer 38(t) for Bolt Action Rescue Build - Part 2

 Today, we create some Schurzen for the Hetzer build.

Luckily, the bread tag I used for this had a piece of cardstock attached to it that was eerily perfect length for this next step. it took a few cuts to get it down to the right size, but the advantage of using cardstock paper over some thick plastic or metal, is that we can bend the spaced armour up like often happened in real life.

The nature of Schutzen and tank drivers (and tank life) was such that these thin pieces of metal routinely banged into things, or rubbed against trees, walls, fences, etc. Being that they were less than an inch thick, we also have the benefit when using cardstock of making them approximate more closely the accurate thickness.

If this wasn't a "low budget" build, I might go digging up some old scraps of photo-etched brass pieces I have, see if any would work for this!

First up, we measure and cut the paper in half, for obvious reasons. In dry-fitting and testing, I discovered that the paper was actually way too thick for the Hetzer, whose schurzen barely reached past the top of the road wheels. You can see in the second image where I was drawing an indicator line for how high up it will need to be trimmed back.

Next up we cut down the pieces, and glue them in place! Simple and quick, and looks as good. At this stage, don't be afraid if the pieces aren't entirely lined up. In most cases I've seen, these plates were fairly roughly held in place as well, and often look like no one who stuck them on was aware of what a level even is.

Also at this stage (but unphotographed for the time being), I took a set of tweezers, and delicately bent the plates, trying to simulate the typical damage and weather these would see. Don't go too extreme, unless you really want to indicate severely damaged plate and a tank that has seen some heavy combat!

Now that the mudguards and spaced armour is done, we can have some fun with those tiny details that will make this project feel 'just right'.

This is the top of the gun housing. For anyone who's really up on their Hetzer tech, we are missing the gun swivel! This gave me pause for a bit, since it requires me to somehow carve in an almost-bullseye shape.

After overcoming my fear of potentially messing something up, I carefully traced two circles in the right location, and as close as I can figure to the right size.

Next, using a metal dental pick I was very kindly given years ago, I gently and repetitively gouged a trough following the outer circle line. It's best to do this carefully, assuming it'll take a few times around to get to the right depth and width, as pushing too hard could both break the pick, and if it jumps, scar the model in the wrong way.

Finally, using a drill bit, I cut out the inner circle, followed by a bit of a touch-up with a 1/8" drill bit. Later, this will get filled with a bit of liquid greenstuff to flatten out the divot, but still a world better than "no pivot at all"!

And now we're pretty much caught up to where the build is. Unfortunately, in process of receiving this as used, one of the commander's hatch covers has gone missing (if it was ever there to begin with.) To fix this, we will be using more bread tag pieces, magnets, glue, and just a little bit of madness. That's all for next time though, since the build is still in-progress.

See you in part 3