RC Tanks Australia Forum

Bergepanzer III Conversion

In my grand plan, May is Bergepanzer Build Month. Despite the flurry of web activity the Bergepanzer build has started. Actually, TWO builds (maybe 3) of the 'pickup tank' as my boys call it have started. How did a multiple build start? Well here's how....

The Bergepanzer III Juwa Conversion Kit

Believe it or not this was one of the first resin conversion kits I ever purchased and have only now got round to building it. At the time it was one of the cheapest kits available and remains so to this day.





Also around the same time Profiline also produced a Bergepanzer conversion kit which was more expensive but that kit to the best of my knowledge is now unavailable.



The Juwa kit contains both resin and brass parts along with some metal bolts and chain. Unlike Profiline kits there is an actual paper construction guide included which gives DIMENSIONS where needed.



What I like best about this kit is the distressed/weathered look of the wooden box along with the large wooden beams. I was inspired to build a berg from all the examples of heavily weathered and beaten up examples out there. The Profiline kit looked far too nice but it did have a much better crane assembly. When I finally got round to starting the build I must admit I was feeling a little tired of filling in resin imperfections. Unfortunately, for me there were a few areas on the resin parts that needed addressing. This is normal for ALL resin kits and by no means a reflection on the overall kit quality. Somewhere along the line I got it into my head - Wouldn't it be a whole lot easier to replicate wood by actually using WOOD?

As a conversion the Bergepanzer is probably one of the easiest to do from scratch. There are many scratch built conversions in all scales out there on the web and in magazines. Basically just a big wooden box and a crane plonked on top of a Pz III chassis.

So...... ta-daa...



A Bergepanzer made of WOOD (she's a witch, BURN HER!). Using the Juwa parts as a guide it was very simple to recreate the wooden box out of wood and styrene. I had thought of using brass and may still do so. The problem with using brass angle is that the cheap stuff from K&S is folded and DOES NOT have a nice sharp right angle. MIlled brass angle from Albion metals would have to be used BUT it is not produced in the size needed. Suitable milled angle is available from some O/S stores but I doubt it will get here by the end of May.

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rctanksaustralia.com

Well it it May and as it was in 2011, it is Bergepanzer build month? Can't believe I started this 3 years ago.... Anyhows time to do something for myself and get back to some builds and bugger making electronic boards for all you unappreciative lot I'm going to let some machine do that for me now.

2 Bergepanzers on the go so that I can finally have some dedicated repair tanks on the battlefield. Starting today (or restarting today) here is the JUWA kit on what will be a late panzer iii chassis.







Pretty basic stuff up to this point, however the crane assembly will need some custom made clevises as the instructions for the JUWA build involve simply notching the brass tube.

Update again in hopefully a bit less than 3 years.....

Cheers all
KG

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rctanksaustralia.com

Hi Kevin,

Looking good so far mate. Good to see you have some model making time now

Clevis Assembly 101

Without a doubt the support arms for the crane need clevises of some type to allow for movement/adjustment in all 3 planes. The JUWA kit provides 4mm diameter brass tube for the support rods so I chose 5mm tube to make clevises from. I'll let the pics tell the story of how to make some up really quick.

















Clevises or should that be clevii DONE!!!

Cheers
KG

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rctanksaustralia.com

Oh yeah after 3 years the scratch built wooden bergepanzer top looks like this...



I have painted it like this as I plan to lightly spray the camo over the top such that the various shades of the wooden planks comes through (that is the idea anyway)

Peace bro..

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rctanksaustralia.com

Well about time you got back into tank building, I'm surprised the white ants didn't get into the timber LOL.
Good to see you back into the builds Kevin.

Cheers
Gra

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Gra's Heavy Tank Regiment
HL Tiger 1 - El Mod, Tiger 1, K T Porsche turret, Panzer III & IV, Stug G & E, Panther D,
Matorro KT, Jagdtiger and Sturmtiger, HL Sherman and T - 34, A7V (WIP)
Panzergruppe South Member

Ha ha - close Gra, the timber box has that old musty timber smell though. Had a school of silverfish living in the box it was in.

The Jagpannzer IV build I have is even older still - wonder what will be living in there?

Cheers
KG

Crane is assembled. With a few changes from the JUWA instructions. The clevii worked well as you can possibly see that the hull attachment points needed a slight angle (bout 10 degrees) this would be nigh impossible if the 4mm tube were simply notched. Also making sure that the nothes at both ends were at right angels would also of been tricky.

A new hook type attachment for the chain at the top of the main post was also made and there is a rubber O ring at the top just to keep it all in place.











Cheers
KG

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rctanksaustralia.com

Just time for a quickie today.....

Here are the beam fasteners. Again the JUWA instructions were for a lot less detail so this is what I came up with using some size 2 long shank hooks (whiting hooks), some brass strip and 1.2 mm blots, nuts, and washers.






The rush is on to get it ready by June 14th

Cheers
KG

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rctanksaustralia.com

Gidday mate...........very nice work and not along the conventional lines. I have a similar concept for a III myself, but I am so impatient I wont wait the 3 years to complete it !!
I will be paying much more attention to your posts on this site now than I had been.
Real nice work.