Cyberhobby Panzerjäger Sd.Kfz. 164 Nashorn

[John Mohnen]

Thanks Tim
That was a missing link for a long time.
Haven't posted much lately because its a bit of a madhouse at work.
HAve progressed slowly but there are now a lot of little nibbly things
Will try to post some more pics in the near future.
Started ordering paint and purchased a new airbrush so hopeful will start soon with the painting.
Again thanks a bunch for that hint.

[John Mohnen]

Hi guys finally some time to post some pics of the progress.
Looks like this is gonna take a lot longer to built than I had in mind due to the research and collecting reference material and the limited time on hand. Hope yours don't mind that it takes this long.
Will start with some pics of the Upper Structure testfitted to the Hull. I decided to utilize the Voyager Upper armor PE set which basically replaces the whole Upper structure. The Kit parts are already nice and crisps and are quiet thin for Styrene parts and would made a great kit, but the voyager looks just that bit better and crisper bringing some extra weight to the kit.
Here is a shot from the top, the front still needed to be bend to enclosed the gun shield.
Alignment 01.jpg
The view to the rear at the right hand side, will still need some putty to close some minor gaps once it will go for the final time but I am still looking for a way to make it removable after final assembly.
Alignment 02.jpg
Here a look at the Right Side, planning to attach the Upper Structure to the gunplatform and making the whole removeable to show the Engine Compartment when required to get something out of the work I am planning to spend on the interior.
Alignment 03.jpg
View to the front showing the test fit to gunplatform, don't believe CA glue will give enough bonding so I am planning to utilise some kind of dowel pins??????
Alignment 04.jpg
And a 3/4 view to the left, to the front you can see that the front has to bend in a U shape to include the gunshield and the small arms protectors which are really kind of pain in the ass to install, more of this later.
Alignment 05.jpg

[John Mohnen]

Some quick shots to show the Gun platform on the Hull.
Its all still more to see how it all fits together and hopefully give me some clues where amendments are needed.
Here are the pics:
Gun Hull 01.jpg
The Side with the grille next to it.
Gun Hull 03.jpg
Top view with driver roof test fitted.
Gun Hull 04.jpg
And a front Side view
Gun Hull 05.jpg

[John Mohnen]

And some shots from the rear:
Superstructure 01.jpg
Superstructure 02.jpg
3/4 view from the right front
Superstructure 04.jpg
And a view from the front
Superstructure 05.jpg

[Jamie Tainton]

I love getting your updates- it's like something from Nasa or perhaps Tony Stark? Awesome work, hope mine comes out as interesting!

[John Mohnen]

Took off the Upper Structure and slowly started to add some of the equipment parts mostly part of the voyager PE set.
Here a shot of the Gun Platform. Removed the engine access hatches from the kit part and drilled out the access holes. There are three holes behind the 2 bigger rectangular hatches. Added the foot rest to the left hatch, this part seems to be a field addon and isn't seen on all of the war time interior shots. Believe the gunner would have pins and needles after a while so believe this would have been a easy and useful add-on.
To the left is the release handle for the Gun Travel lock which is located on the drivers roof to support the massive gun during travel. This replaced the travel lock on the early Hornisse/Nashorn where one of the crew members had to climb on the fronmt to release the lock. Nuts and Bolts 14 gives good and clear pics of both options. The bigger square hatch on the right gave access to the pulley for the Fan drive which could be disengaged when required during the cold winters in Russia. The pipe to the right could be opened/closed to regulate the flow of warm air from the engine compartment into the fighting compartment. There is still some work to be done here. Replace the storage hooks on top with some PE angles, replace the boltheads which secured the platform to the hull.
1 DSCN2281.jpg
Added the support brackets for the aiming 3 stakes which still need to be made from some tooth picks and metal rods and some bolt heads.
2 DSCN2290.jpg
Here the inside of the rear hull, the doors still needed to be added. What I did add are the support brackets for the MP40 Machine Pistols and the centre strenghtener. Still some parts needed to be add (Intercom box for the Commander with cabling in the left corner with a storage box for the headset beneath it, attachment hooks for the ammo pouches for the MP40 next to the brackets.
3 DSCN2284.jpg
The Left hand side with the storage box for the Gun Optical Equipment added. Beneath this will be added the large Vehicle Toolbox which is in a finishing touch.
To the front you can see the small arms protector which sealed against the Gunshield.
4 DSCN2283.jpg
The right hand side with the MG34 storage brackets added to the bottom, the barrel fitted in the forward bracket with the trigger handle held in place by the rear bracket. I made a bit of a mistake here by adding the PE rack which held two ammonition boxes for the MG34. After reading a post on Missing Linx I dug in my reference books and only can find pics of one vehicle which had this storage rack. The majority shows two attachment angular brackets, one for the storage case for the scissor scope and another unknown storage box. Looks like the rack was a field modification but decided to leave it in place and fit the other option to the second Nashorn which I am assembling from all the left over parts. More about his at a later post.5 DSCN2289.jpg

[John Mohnen]

Took a piece of Balsa and added the PE from the Voyager set and installed on the right Fender.
DSCN2310.jpg
Here a close up of the Jack Block, still have to add the wing nut to secure the holding bracket.
DSCN2309.jpg
Added the PE bracket which held the Jack which is from the AFV add on set which had the best detail
DSCN2311.jpg
Added the front Head light, the resin support base is from the Voyager Set with the Kit light with add-ons from the PE set from Voyager.
DSCN2312.jpg
DSCN2313.jpg

[John Mohnen]

Started on the exhaust which were located above the running gear.
Here a view of the right hand side installed. The entrance to the engine compartment was protected by an armoured cover. I removed the support bars on the end which held the steel boxes under the hull which were only installed on the early Hornisse which had a different exhaust system.
1 DSCN2220.jpg
I removed the support brackets on the kitpart and repaced them with some scratchbuilt brackets from some leftover PE.
1a DSCN2228.jpg
Initially I decided to made the pipes from dome tubing but it seems drilling the end out to a thinner wall seems to be enough.
2 DSCN2222.jpg
Also attached the trackpin guidance bracket which prevented the trackpins to come loose.
3 DSCN2224.jpg
And a similar story on the left side
4 DSCN2268.jpg
Thats it for today but will post more in the coming days.

[Tim Coulson]

Very nice work John.

[John Mohnen]

Thanks Jamie and Tim.
Well Jamie I found an old post of an Hornisse made by you in 2003 on Track-Link

http://www.track-link.net/blogs/13_3

and I only can say WOW what a master piece and if that beast of mine only turns out half as good I will be over the moon.
That posting will be something for me to aim at.
Again Thanks to all of you for your inspiring words and work.