Cyberhobby Panzerjäger Sd.Kfz. 164 Nashorn

[John Mohnen]

Still have some pics left so here we go again.
Started to assemble parts of the running gear, I have never worked with the individual track links but found some usefull tips and hints on the web. One of them suggest to glue the return rollers in situ and leave the rest removeable.
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The Idler and Idler arm are only held in place with some blutak, The spring assemblies are glued in place and the sprocket wheel can be removed with a screw.
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And with the other half installed.
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Something of a bit of confusion was the fact that there are two different kinds of the spring hubs on the spring assemblies. The second one from the front differs from the first, third and fourth one.
The first picture shows the one for assy 1, 3 and 4.
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And here the one installed on assy number two
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[John Mohnen]

There is a good portion of brass etch work in progress but here are some pics of the ammo boxes which were located against the side walls in the fighting compartment.
Some pics show the boxes installed on top of some square support bars which would give them some additional strength and also prevented the accumulation of water underneath them which would made them much more vulnerable for rust. I decided to install the support brackets and cut some pieces of brass and glued them on the fenders.
Here is a top view of them
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And a side view
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I decided to use the ammo boxes from the voyager PE set which has the best detail. The kit part is nice and crisp and would give a great addition to the model. There is only a set included in the AFV additional add on set and I will use one of these in my second Nashorn which I am planning to include in the diorama.
Here is a front view of the brass PE box from Voyager
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It is still not finished, the brackets on the left side need to added as the 3 part hinged lid and the Wingnuts to secure the lids.
The two top brackets secured the box to the Upper Structure walls.
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[John Mohnen]

Here some pics of the front compartment roof which include the access hatches for the Driver and Radio Operator. I am planning to make a diorama of two Nashorn in a maintenance fieldworkshop. To show the interior I am planning to have this front roof been lifted off by an bock Crane as would be required to change say the transmission. Because the roof will be hanging on the crane I will need to detail the inside of the front roof.
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Replaced the kit parts with PE from the Voyager set.
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Still trying to work out how they opened the access hatches. Maybe someone can give me some clarification in this. Did they use a tool? Were they spring loaded and open up a bit after using the tool.
They look quiet heavy and with no graps or brackets how did they manage to open them?
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Here a shot of the Radio Operator hatch which had a rain guard installed as seen in some war time pics. Don't know if this was a later standard mod or add-on or a field add-on.
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And a view of the inside. I still have a fair bit of work to do here, add weld seams, side visors, nuts for the hinges, hinge for the front visor and clen up and fill some of the mould holes.
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[John Mohnen]

Started to add the Brackets for the two Umformer and added the wiring for them which will be going to the Radio Rack in the front. Tim again thanks for these pics which gave me an indication where and how they were installed. I only had pics of the interior of a Hummel but because they carried the Funksprechgerät f they differ from the later nashorn which had a Fu5 onboard.
The Umformers and Radio are still in progress and are part of ABER's PE set which is a great add-on.
The Main Battery power switch which could isolate supply from the batteries will also be included on the firewall as will be the main 80Amp fuseholder.
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Also added some bits or replaced the flimsy resin parts to the transmission from CMK.
The springs at the back broke straight away and I made some substitutes from tubing and small diameter solderwire.
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The 2 interconecting rods on top were not included in the CMK kit so I added them from some small tubing.
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Looking from the Front shows the added top bar
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and a side on view.
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[Jamie Tainton]

This is great, I'm sure this will all be very useful to me in the future!

[Tim Coulson]

[John Mohnen]

Will have to concentrate my effort on the front compartment. The CMK kit comes with pedals for the Brakes, Coupling and Throttle but they were intended for a STUG which differs from the Nashorn due to the torsion bars. They were also very flimsy so i scratchbuilt some from some PE fret left overs and alu tubing. The Linkage from the coupling pedal to the transmission was missing so I added this from some steel wire flattened on the ends and attached to the pedal.
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Similar story for the Brake pedal.
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A view from the top, the parts are still not glued in so position is not correct
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The connecting bar at the rear is included in the kit but I believe I will remade this one too from some rod and tubing with the connecting bracket to the transmission. Will need to see how it all fits together when the brake ventilation pipes get in place.
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Finished the Throttle pedal today but the pics are still on the camera. Hope to post some more next week.

[Tony Lee Watts]

I'll tell you what John, i've really enjoyed your work on this,Thanks so much.

Tony lee

[Roy Schlicht]

Very detailed and complete. How is this going to be displayed? A lot of that detail will be hidden forever if closed up.

Roy