I received DML’s kit #6690, the Neubau-Fahrzeug Nr. 3-5, as an early Christmas gift so figured I would get started on it for the holiday season.
Got this one off and rolling with the usual hurdle coming first in the form of the road wheels. The Germans were suckers for lots of wheels and the Neubau doesn’t disappoint in that area. Beginning with Step 1, I cleaned up the mold seams on each of the wheel halves with a sanding stick and assembled the pairs. 11 main wheels per side plus 1 idler pair plus 4 return rollers made for no less than 32 wheels per side or 64 in total. The sprockets were also assembled at this point to go with everything else.
Those wheels will need to be painted prior to installation into the suspension due to the way the suspension is designed which is what is addressed in Step 2. The vast majority of parts in the kit are devoted to the suspension (and tracks) due to the vehicle’s design. This step calls for the construction of the wheel pairs and their installation into the long plates that go into the hull sponsons. I checked to see if it’s possible to add the plates without the wheel pairs installed and the design doesn’t allow for that, so the plates were left uninstalled until after the wheel pairs are painted and installed. I did assemble the bogey halves, the instructions contain an error in that the parts should be paired up with D11 going with D23 and D12 going with D24. I also added the mount halves for the large idler wheel that support the 11th wheel on either side.
Step 2 also adds the sprockets and their capture plates as well as a couple of hatches for the sponson sides. Step 3 adds the hull belly plate to the large one-piece hull and also adds the rear plate and some other small details like the access hatch, brake light, and tow points.
That’s as far as things got for this round, next up will be doing the paint work and detailing on the suspension.
Excellent choice, I have the trumpeter one, wanted to do this vehicle for years, but the only choice was from Cromwell. Well good luck with this build Bill. Regards, Terry.
I was dying to get this kit when it first came out but the thought of all those road wheels scared me off. I’m looking forward to seeing this one come together.
Terry glad to have you on board! I never thought we’d see a single kit of this vehicle in styrene nevermind have 3 different kit makers fighting over it (Dragon, Trumpeter, Amusing Hobby)!
Tread you’re right, total of 5 vehicles with Nr 1 and Nr 2 having different designs while 3-5 were the same and represented by this particular kit. Easy to see why this one proved to be a dead-end…complex, heavy, but not well protected/armored and prone to mechanical troubles! It definitely has that mid-'30s ‘land-ship’ type of feel to it. The Pats-Niners game was a wild one and fun to watch…may be a preview of the Super Bowl, you never know!
Blitzwing the suspension is definitely one that requires some thought and attention. I sat and fiddled with it for a good hour or so before deciding on the best course of action for assembly and painting. Hope I made the right call! [:D]
Hi, Bill just checking back, I need to check it out properly but I think that when these vehicles were sent to Norway it was the first numbers that were only mild steel prototypes and the other 3 armoured, another point is the secondary turrets, on some they only look like pz.I but are different in that they only have one MG. I’m just rambling off the top of my head such is my interest in this wonderful vehicle, you know I love oddball stuff and it does not get any better than this baby, considering it was also called the panzer VI long before the Tiger, lord I could ramble on all day but the small screen on the iPhone puts manners on me. Keep up the good work and pace. Terry. P.s the Main armament arrangement on the main turrets are also different I think between Alkett and Rhinemetal?
Karl It only seems fast because you caught this one and the T-34 in the same pass…but there’s actually been a two week delay between the two projects and I’ve only managed to get 5 builds done in total this year, so definitely down from past years although an improvement over 2011 when I finished only 3! [:)]
Steve That’s the beauty (or curse!) of German armor…so many different vehicle types and so little time to model them all!
Anthony Yep, it’s a wierd one…but at least it did see some combat even if it was limited and not very renowned!
Bish This one will definitely put you in road wheel purgatory but worth it considering the uniqueness of the subject IMHO. You should get one!
Terry It’s a fascinating subject with a lot of info available unlike some of the other designs the Germans played around without throughout the course of things. The first 2 vehicles were mild-steel and had different turret designs and gun arrangements (one had an over-under design, the other a side-by-side but different from that on the 3-5 vehicles) while 3-5 were the same design and were armored.
The Krupp MG turrets are indeed a spin-off of the Pz I style turrets (Krupp designed those as well) being roughly the same size but only 1 MG and different hatch and viewport arrangements. It’s one of my favorite oddball designs for many reasons…and the Pz VI designation definitely has caused some confusion among modelers over the years before the Neubau-Fahrzeug designation became accepted.
I’ll be following along as I find this vehicle intriguing… nothing like a Christmas Neubau, right? [Y]
I’ll be particularly interested in how you pull off the construction/painting as this one looks quite challenging.
(It looks like Dragon puts out one of these thru CyberHobby as well, but looks more expensive and harder to find. Strange since they are probably ~90%+ identical…)
Guilty as charged Mike! Have to take advantage of bench time when it comes available! [:)]
Dave Glad to have you along! The CH kit is of vehicle Nr. 2 and has a different turret but otherwise it’s pretty similar! It’s more expensive because of the ‘white box’ limited one-time production run nature of the kit and the fact that there was only 1 vehicle produced like this, making it a true ‘one-off’! [B]
I have just seen the white box CH kit on Hannants. I didn’t realise it was the earlier one and was a bit confused. I think i will deffinatly get one of these Dragon ones. There seem to be a few on E-bay still.
Hope you’re successful Bish! I’ve always had a soft spot for the pre-war/early-war tank designs myself and never ever thought I’d see the Neubau done in styrene…nevermind by three different kit makers! [:)]
