Hetzer 38(t) for Bolt Action Rescue Build - Part 1

I have finally gotten off my rear to start posting something again! I am terrible at taking pictures, so many of my builds pass quietly without good documentation or stepping.

That said, I was lucky enough recently to secure an old, second-hand, Resin-and-metal Bolt Action Hetzer! It is definitely showing its wear and missing a few details and components. I of course do not hold the seller or the original owner to account for this, because the more I dug into the research portion for this kit, the more I discovered apparently Warlord just didn't supply some of the gubbinz visible on real-life models of this tank!

I obviously needed to bring this up to a rivet counter's standards, but also wanted to experiment with 'low tech' solutions along the way. Sure I could just order a parts kit, or 3d-print components I need, and sure I have access to fancy plasticard, but what if someone doesn't? How would someone go about making a higher-tier looking kit despite not having higher tier supplies?

First and most importantly, why not try replacing Plasticard of various thicknesses with... a bread bag tag! (Or in my case, a bulk food store tag.)

Note above that the Hetzer has had a nice long bath in some Simple Green, followed by a gentle scrubbing wtih a metal brush I have. Whatever primer first base-coated the tank, it was better than any I use! Normally just a toothbrush clears it off, but this one I had to scour.

The easiest place to start getting this up to needed shape, and the one that required only a pin drill (not shown), was to hollow out the exhaust tube.

Next, we fix the gun. It glues on strangely at the best of times, but as I looked to see exactly how it should go together, I also discovered it sits in a really odd spot on the vehicle anyway. "Shot Trap" immediately came to mind. For my purposes, even after gluing it in place, a casual side-on glance shows a weird terminus to the gun I could not allow for.

Luckily, some greenstuff crammed under covered the problem nicely, and adds some much-needed stability not provided by just pinning the thing in place. Also visible here was my drilling out holes for the tow cables. Curiously, while I know there should be horseshoe connectors here, I can't find a single period photo that shows any in place! I'm going to leave mine off in solidarity, and totally not because I don't want to bend modelling wire into consistent size and shape four times...

Now, on to those mudguards.

First up is measuring out the space for the mudguards, adding a bit more for 'shrinkage', and cutting them out. The Hetzer mudguards have an interesting L-shape, so those were glued in place using a scrap cut after the first pieces were removed. As always, I glue more in place than I will need, and then trim down to exact size after.

Next, once the angled pieces are dry and cut down, we glue in the square sections. The left front mudguard has a waffle pattern on it, which was accomplished by shaving down some of the pieces to very, very thin, and then spreading superglue across the entire mudguard, gluing the pieces in place, and then trimming them down when dry.

Since I have fat fingers, I was using the craft blade itself to 'stick' the pieces to, trusting that once in place  the glue bond will be stronger than the knife bond.

Once the mud guards are well and truly dry, we can use strips of the paper part of the bread tag to form the front flap of the mud guards. Especially for these, glue in more than you think you'll need, and then shave it carefully down. It's tough to guess beforehand and not worth being wrong.

Finally we can see the sloped front of the mud guards, as well as some liquid green stuff to gap-fill and assist with curving. The last step is to glue in a small piece of wood (craft wood stick is almost ideal thickness) to represent the wooden block I believe to be used as a base for the jack.

On part 2 I'll show the process for Schurzen, as well as a few other next steps.