WWW.LEADWARRIOR.COM INFO@LEADWARRIOR.COM HISTORICAL MINIATURE Ebay: LEADWARRIOR Anatomy of a Build Series - 1 1/48 th Steyr Type 2000A 2cm Flak.38 AA Gun Carrier Conversion Back in late 2008, I decided to build a particular variant of a Steyr truck with a Flak38 on the back. Parts came from a variety of sources including: Tamiya - Steyr Type 1500A/01 (#32549), CMK - Steyr 1500 Cargo Truck (No. 8032), Hauler - Steyr 2000A Pritsche (HLX 48224), Hauler - Steyr 1500 Detail Set (HLX 48214), Verlinden - 2cm Flak38A AA Gun (2232) and plenty of scratch-building with Evergreen styrene. Additional information came from Wings and Wheels Publication Steyr 1500A in Detail. I wanted to closely follow LeadWarrior s 1/35 th scale LW 35029 Steyr Type 2000A 2cm. LEADWARRIOR Flak.38 AA Gun Carrier as STEYR Type 2000A shown in one of the photos. There is precedence for this CONVERSION KIT for TAMIYA Steyr Type 1500A ( kit #35225 ) And Dragon / Italeri / Tristar / Tamiya Flak.38 AA Gun particular type of mating. As you can see in the only two surviving pictures, the bed of the truck looks like the Hauler Austria s all wheel drive Steyr 1500A was one of the many personnel/transport vehicles which was variant, but the gun is designed to meet Whermacht requirement for standard army 1,5 ton truck. Presented in 1941, the Steyr was used as troop transport in all the war panzers theaters. A total of more than 20,000 were built, in a definitely a 3cm variant known wide range of variants Tamiya presents basic and command versions. The chassis of Steyr 1500A and it s reinforced variant Steyr vehicles and guns. 2000A were also used for Fire trucks, Omnibus as a MK 103 gun. Since this (Leadwarrior kit Lw35026), Ambulance (Leadwarrior kit Lw35025), universal Funk-Koffer, and different types of cargo carriers. The initial variant of cargo truck on Steyr 1500A variant exists, I am taking a chassis had opened driver s compartment combined with wooden trunk (Leadwarrior kit Lw35023). Later Steyr 2000A cargo trucks with full-metal cabin supply purposes. and reinforced rear springs were introduced, utilising leap of faith that the standard frame shassis (Leadwarrior kit Lw35027), or long frame shassis (Leadwarrior kit Lw35024). That later variant had standard wheels base, but additional frame section was added to support longer flatbed LeadWarrior, and thus my cargo platform. LW 35029 WWW.LEADWARRIOR.COM INFO@LEADWARRIOR.COM COPYRIGHT 2007 variant, may have existed. As my friend Bruce Culver says, Never underestimate a German Engineer with a blow torch and some metal! The first stage of this conversion was to scratchbuild the lower frame. The one supplied with the Tamiya kit is very minimal at best and being metal, is not very easily improved upon. This wouldn t matter so much with the kit made OOB, but since I am opening up the sides by putting a bed with a wooden box on the back, all the bottom features will be seen. Here begins my quest for the ultimate frame! 2cm. Flak.38 AA Gun Carrier 49 RESIN PARTS In second half of WWII, due to superiority of Allies in the air, Germany faced an urgent need in Self-Propelled Anti-Aircraft vehicles. Beside many official developments, utilizing and halftraks chassis (see Leadwarrior kits Lw35014, Lw35022), there was a wide range of troop improvisations made by infantry units using all sort of This kit presents the conversion of Steyr 2000A long-frame cargo truck chassis to carry 2cm. Flak.38 AA Gun. The complete gun including the field carriage was mounted. This way the gun could be used in the static position, while the vehicle could be used for (Later the official variant of this vehicle was introduced. It utilized the same Steyr 2000A chassis, but instead of 2cm. Flak.38 the 3cm. Flak.108/38 mounted on pedestal was used.) 1 To start with, measurements had to be made of the existing Tamiya frame, including all the relevant attachment points to the plastic body.
BENDS IN FRAME SIDES = Tamyia attachment points =.020 x.156 Styrene = Cross members =.040 x.156 Styrene = Lightening holes = New rear frame.156.04 =.08 =.0359 =.0212.08 3.6 3.118 2.59 2.499 1.912 1.272 1.005 DRIVE TRAIN SLOT.217.1.1284.1355.06.2355.3093.3093 3.829 1.942 CENTER OF MIDDLE X-MEMBER 2.0174 2.5682.06.1142.1142.1142.0981.08 From there, actual pictures and schematics were combed through to provide the necessary lightening hole arrangement for the hollow box frame. These holes were used on the real truck as a weight-saving measure, and, since these will be seen in this open frame model, they must be correctly portrayed. The accompanying illustrations show the measurements I made with all pertinent features. 3.160 CENTER OF SPRING It should be noted that I took some time to puzzle out how I would make the frame appear to be made out of a box-like set up. In reality, the frame sides were hollow to 1) save on weight (an all Proposed Total Length of Frame = 4.2663 inches. metal frame would be too heavy), and 2) to allow for the various plumbing of wires and tubing to be secured. Since I had no desire to actually build side boxes, I opted for a different approach. I built each side from two pieces of styrene. The first and inside part contained the lightening holes with a bit of reaming to simulate the openness of the hollow sides. The second and outer piece finished the side so the holes would only be seen from the inside. The reamed side was placed face in to the outer piece. Once both sections were created, they were joined together with the appropriate cross-members to create a solid frame to build upon..5863 The next step in the process was to finish the rear end by scratch-building the last two cross-members. According to plans, the outer member was just a copy of the inner one. Patience and a great deal of trialand-error were the keys to my success. At this point, I was a bit perplexed as to how to make the two sets of double springs needed for the rear suspension. I searched for similar arrangements in many kits so as to save myself from creating them, but in the end, I did just that out of styrene with a brass top plate. The brass was used to create the necessary bend in the larger bottom sections that the styrene strips would follow up on. This was important to me so that the proper look of sprung springs would be achieved. With that done, I then had to scratch the pockets that the lower springs would sit in, as well as the bumper stops for the upper springs. Each pocket was created from five separate pieces of styrene. The bumper stops were made from channel with a separate strip of styrene down the middle. 2
Other improvements made because of the openness of this variant included filling in sections of the differential housing and adding a large nut to the back of it to simulate the fluid drain hole. Test fitting was done all along the way so as to ensure that the Tamiya drive train would mate up to the scratch-built frame without any sloppiness. I was very happy with my results and you can see in the pictures that everything did indeed come together very nicely! Chalk one up for careful measurements. Now came the cab and interior portions. Please note that the tan pieces are from the base Tamiya kit, the gray ones are from the Hauler kit, and, unfortunately, the CMK kit could not be used except as a template because of some warpage that occurred. In the end, the CMK kit provided the necessary patterns for the bed and some of the photoetch used along the sides. The Hauler kit provided the necessary extra set of rear wheels, the cabin floor (to replace the Tamiya one differing configuration) and the side doors. These kit side doors closely follow the MK 103 Steyr set-up, but I wanted square doors as in the LeadWarrior kit so some extra modification needed to be done. The cabin was pieced together using dimensions taken from the Tamiya kit for proper placement of the seats and center console box. As you can see, I made my own plastic jig for this. The sides were cut down to create the square look for the doors and the doors themselves created from styrene with additional side bracing. It was around this point that the Hauler photoetch set for the Steyr came into play as the dashboard was swapped out for the brass version and the foot pedals were used as well. Just as a side note, I had used some wiring for the back of the gauges, but in the end, it would not be seen; c est la vie! The final piece was the back of the cab which I created in styrene as well. Once the cab area was addressed I mated it to the chassis with the addition of the two rear wheels from the Hauler kit. With this done, the side exhaust system was fixed in place by the addition of a couple of scratchbuilt attachment points. Also, the two brass side support rails (I believe 3
they were used for the up/down movement of the front suspension) were fixed in place towards the front end. I wasn t sure if I needed these, but a side view of the chassis and cab showed a lack of detail in this area would be seen by the casual viewer. My attention was now firmly fixed on the bed and the Verlinden Flak38 that would be going into it. As stated before, the CMK resin bed was slightly warped and unusable by me except as a template. It shows 13 boards across, but I decided with the current dimensions (1.670 wide x 2.677 long) that 14 Evergreen.04 x.125 (#142) boards with an Evergreen.04 x.04 (#142) border would better suit my needs. Building on the floor, the sides and back were created from 3 planks each of the same.04 x.125 (#142). With the back bed completed, it needed to be mated to the chassis. The LeadWarrior instruction sheet gave me the proper template guides for the bed risers and cross stabilizing pieces, with two of the stabilizers being the shorter versions (to lock into the bed risers) and the other two the higher ones located closer to the cab portion. I also drew inspiration from the LeadWarrior instructions to create the bench seat in an upright position next to the cab portion. The side locking photoetch pieces along with some brass channel completed the final touches on the back bed/box. 4
The Verlinden Flak38 was a bit of a disappointment for me. Being the only game in town at the time, I had no choice but to use it. I found the kit sorely lacking in details such as the rivets in the front shield, side grab handles, the top braces used to hold the shields, the spade at the back end, and thin diameter barrel. The seat may still need to be replaced as even in 1/48 th scale it is unbelievably small. Also, there are two internal rods on either side of the gun platform that are used to hold the whole thing on supports affixed to the bed. These need to be replaced with brass rod. I found a brass barrel for the gun, so the resin part was cut off. One other item I changed out was the side shelf used for spare magazines. I used a brass photoetch.50 caliber box as the basis for it instead of the resin version supplied. Apart from all that, the gun went together following the instructions. 5
The supports that go in the bed for the Flak38 were comprised of three different parts 2 of styrene and one of brass rod. The template for the star-shaped ring is shown. This was glued to a round base and the edges were chamfered. The brass rod came as a delightful surprise to me. I was trying to figure out what was the best way to create the grooves that run around the shaft when by shear chance, it sorted itself out. My tube cutter started to apply a thread to the outside and when I noticed it, I had enough threaded to do the job! Four supports are needed; one on either side towards the cab, and two joined together for the back. The completion of the supports came after I filed a groove for the guns internal rods to sit in. Using the LeadWarrior instruction sheet as a template again, I created a spare 2cm barrel case. After all, I need something to go in the back for that lived in look! Finishing touches included adding the additional photoetch details (such as door handles), the seat backs, and spare wheel holder under the bed. I have, to date, finished about 95% of this build. Aside from priming and painting, I have the driver s side door to place and do not yet know if I will have it closed or open, with the driver out of the vehicle. Also, the spare wheel is not fixed in place yet and once painted will be set in and the second bracket added. I hope you enjoy the pictures! - Ken Kolenovsky 6
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