1/72 FAUN SLT-50 Elefant

[HWR MKII]

Next up is the revell germany Faun tank transporter. Sadly the kit as represented cannot carry a tank. That particular trailer isnt weight rated for it. So i will be putting s Fuchs wheeled personnell carrier on the trailer. The faun will be built using the eduard photoetch set for the cabin and external details. I have already completed the main chunk of the frame and drivetrain and am now detailing the cabin. This thing even has the seatbelts, shoulder straps and belt tension rollers represented in Photoetch:wtf: .Revell germany is really tooling up some great kits in this scale now. Think i know what ill be askign the wife to get me for christmas. Best thing is they are affordable!

The Fuchs on the trailer will have its doors opened and a full interior scratchbuilt for it. This will also be based on a revell kit. Seeing the big windows and seperate front doors it was irresistable to make an interior for it. Its a simple matter to make a new back plate and doors for this too.
Many thanks to Stephan (Hackore) for helping me find references for the troop compartment on this one.

[Schweinhund227]

I thought I was Crazy when I bought the LionRoar 6 sheets Photo Etch package for my 1/35th Faun ! Man! buddy ! I can't wait what you will do to that Little machine...

I ended up buying a folding machine for mine ! and Never revisited the Model since !
maybe I should !

Good luck with YOURS>> it sure will be entertaining ! Knowing ya !

[HWR MKII]

Thanks man.
I swear Eduard keeps trying to see how small they can make parts before the builder says no. Theres some that replace details that are adequately molded in scale already. like box hinges and such. Heck some are so small they would get lost no matter how little glue you use. I have found some that are better off just being scratch built from strip styrene.
Got it on its wheels tonight. The cab is just in place on the body. the interior isnt glued in yet. I still need to add more PE parts and the glazing after i paint the inside. Some details like the bits on the rear mud flaps, jerry can holders and the small round reflectors on the side arent even present in the kit but are prominent details that need to be addressed. So kudos to eduard on that one. Im getting to the part of the build on the tow vehicle that i need to start deciding how far to go with this set. Its getting to parts that small. A good example is the convoy follow light on the rear bumper. Its the sideways D shape. The eduard part is good but th raised X in the middle is so thin that you cant tell where to trim it off the fret. I decided to go with the kit supplied one since decent painting and weathering will make it look just as good.

Just to give an idea of parts size. The small jerry can holder under the rear fenders have small padlocks on them as individual parts. I hope i can paint it well enough for those to even show up!

[Hackcore]

Yesterday I was leafing through the Revell catalog and thought the Elefant would be nice next projekt for Sean. I knew the Elefant's next. :D

[HWR MKII]

Thanks again stephan. Now i have no idea how serious you are about the comment but i started on this a while back actually. Did the inside of the cab roof and decided to wait till i got a couple more 1/72 kits under my belt. I may take a break from the faun for the night and work on the Fuchs (fox) that i want to put with it. We will see, I really should at least finish up the cab interior and get it painted,

[HWR MKII]

Well the cab interior isnt finished. I concentrated on more external details today. Worked on the bigmass of machinery on the rear, 2 of the wheel chocks mounted on the fender, crew seps next to the cab, some more grab handels and getting the box ready for latches. I have 3 of the new handels on now. I also have the Fuchs on the trailer. The Fuchs is a large vehicle considering its a 6 wheeled troop transport.

[Hackcore]

Well the cab interior isnt finished. I concentrated on more external details today. Worked on the bigmass of machinery on the rear, 2 of the wheel chocks mounted on the fender, crew seps next to the cab, some more grab handels and getting the box ready for latches. I have 3 of the new handels on now. I also have the Fuchs on the trailer. The Fuchs is a large vehicle considering its a 6 wheeled troop transport.

Wow the little chocks look so cute! Clean work Sean!

[lord_stuka]

Very good show, looks very sharp.

[scaleModelAddict]

Nice job, that's gonna look pretty sweet.

[HWR MKII]

I accomplished alot more last night. Got the 2 cable winches installed. I added some thin braided wire to it. The instructions didnt call out for it to be installed but looking at refs this is an oversight on revells part. The cable really adds something to it. Also making the boarding steps that mount below the front doors of the cab. These will be installed last though. Did more work to the cab interior theres still about 5 bits to add inside. Then theres more photoetch to add to the outside of the cab. Im going to do some work on the trailer today. I need to figure out how large a wooden base ill need to fit it comfortably. No pics im afraid. I was up late working on it and didnt have time. Ill post some tonight.

[HWR MKII]

Alot more done here. I have the trailer started and have started the photoetch work on the connecting gooseneck. The main hauler is mostly assembled. Still yet more PE to add to the cab. I have also started on its cargo. The TPZ-1 Fuchs. Looking at this kit and my references its easy to see that with some careful work alot of the interior could be easily visible. The kit was made with seperate front doors. so the drivers compartment was a given. The rear doors were molded as one flat piece with th rear sides. So i took my micro saws and seperated the door section from the middle and am adding the troop compartment as well. Its pretty basic and has room for 10 troops. The variant of the Fuchs im making is for a combat engineer section. This is identified by the 2 drum shapes on the roof. I have one drum installed now. They are for holding razor wire and the associated pegs for fitting it into the ground.
For the Fuchs kit its not terribly inaccurate just simple. Adding grab handels and other details would dress this kit up nicely even straight from the box. Theres a few left off compared to the refs i have. My main reference for the Fuchs is the Concored books "German Wheeled AFVs" the book is full color and over 50% of it is dedicated to the Fuchs and its variants. Excellent resource for anyone into modern german armor.

[HWR MKII]

Did some detail work on the Fuchs today. Got the upper hatch finished, the rear door is coming along and fits snugly inside its mounts. I have also started adding the smaller details inside the troop compartment. Seats were added to the drivers compartment. These were taken from a dragon 1/72 HMMWV. Basically im working the details overall. Next up ill probably be making the 10 seats that go in the troop compartment. Id give a go at casting them but i have no resin and rubber. Other noteable details are the big wing nuts on top of the razor wire bins. These and the grab handles were very under represented as molded. On the actual vehicle these are a very large nut with 2 lengths of wire welded to them. I replicated this with a grandt line nut and stretched sprue.

[Hackcore]

Wow you put a lot of work and details in this tiny model. I love the little doors. :p
Hey your Fuchs must be one of the best detailed models in 1:72 scale on the world. ;)

[HWR MKII]

Nah Theres a 1/72 willys jeep on the small scale AFV forums that youd swear was a superdetailed 1/35 model if you hadnt seen in progress shots of it in the guys hand. I will admit im giving the fuchs my best shot though. I just pick an area and tinker on it for a bit until i lose focus then pick another area and work that. Eventually everyplace will get what it needs.

[HWR MKII]

Update for the day. Nothing photoworthy im afraid. Got the cab interior painted and sealed up, glass installed and masked. Going to try to get the finishing bits on in the next few days. Next time you see the Faun it will at least be in a Nato green base coat. The fuchs has had its smoke dischargers corrected and added. The kit molds them as all pointing the same direction. On the real thing this is not the case. The back 2 point outward and the forward 3 point progressively inward to the right . This allows the smoke grenades to provide better coverage. I also glued the trim plate in place, propellors, and the armored visor for the front windscreen. Not much extra detailing to these im afraid. I dont know how much more ill add to the interior. Ill have to find that just enough line to stop at where it looks complete and feels right.

[HWR MKII]

got alot of work done on the Faun last night. Expect some good pics tonight.

[HWR MKII]

All of the Eduard bits that i felt were sanely useable or replicated missing details have been added. Next up will be the paint. Standard nato 3 tone scheme. I may brush paint this though. In all the refs i can see the camo has a very tight edge to it. In scale there would be no feathering, its barely visible on the real thing if its there at all.

On the eduard set...They really have you replacing alot of details that are already decent like some of the details on the rear trailer or on the cab. However they really do add alot to either missing details like the reflectors running down the sides of the tractor and trailer. Also there are alot of enhanced pieces like the wheel chocks and the steps below the cab. If you want to build this kit id have to say the Eduard set is a must. Youll be surprised how much of the finer detail revell left off this kit once you use it. Im not rivet counting here either but very obvious detail that is surprising they missed.

[Hackcore]

All of the Eduard bits that i felt were sanely useable or replicated missing details have been added. Next up will be the paint. Standard nato 3 tone scheme. I may brush paint this though. In all the refs i can see the camo has a very tight edge to it. In scale there would be no feathering, its barely visible on the real thing if its there at all.

On the eduard set...They really have you replacing alot of details that are already decent like some of the details on the rear trailer or on the cab. However they really do add alot to either missing details like the reflectors running down the sides of the tractor and trailer. Also there are alot of enhanced pieces like the wheel chocks and the steps below the cab. If you want to build this kit id have to say the Eduard set is a must. Youll be surprised how much of the finer detail revell left off this kit once you use it. Im not rivet counting here either but very obvious detail that is surprising they missed.

Very nice work Sean. But how do you paint the wheels? Are the wheels still removeable?

[HWR MKII]

yes the wheels are just pressed on now. Still a tight fit but no glue yet. Thats last. This allows me to remove them for painting. The kit is made so you can make them rotate but i dont see the point. Im not going to be rolling it around. Ill have another update in a couple days. Im almost done with the camo. After that though i need to go in and add the lines to the trailer for thepneumatic and hydrolic control.

[Hackcore]

Some pics in steps would be cool. Pics that show how you weathered the Elefant after the camo paintjob.

[Schweinhund227]

Man... this is turning out pretty darn good !


Keep at it !

almost there....

[HWR MKII]

Thanks guys. Ill be getting to the decals tonight hopefully. Then a flat coat and some small final details like the wipres and small brackets holding the spare wheel on. Then its off to weathering.