Wednesday, July 1, 2020

SdKfz 553/A Vierbeiniger Panzerzerstörer

This is the Modelcollect 1/35 scale Four Legged Tank Destroyer.. Well... they called it something different. This is a pretty cool kit, but as with all Modelcollect 'Fist of War' Series kits, they leave room for added details... like Jerry Cans, tools, additional armor plating, lift hooks,  machine gun, and of course Bucket. So I raided my bin of Panzer parts and added stuff from PZ IIIs and PZ IV dragon kits.


All of the legs joints have pose-ability if you don't glue the hydraulics. The main joints have a locking ratchet pin which you may want to sand down before selecting positions. The problem here is that with all joints being loose, it wont stand on its own, so eventually you do need to chose the pose and glue the joints. The same goes with the positioning of the independent guns.  The catch they use is a little loose.


You may also want to add some hydraulic cabling under the leg assemblies to help with realism. I just used the insulation from old telephone cables. 



Once I finished the main assembly, I had decided to check my spare decals for DAK markings and YES, I had some. So I proceeded with a desert color and various fading and chipping techniques.

I had fun with it as well as planning the groundwork.  This is officially my first July completion build and I have a few more for later this month.

Vince B.  July 1, 2020

2 comments:

Werner said...

Nice job Vince!
I may get myself one of these.

rebelcowboy77 said...

Great job! When Fist of War came out their Fist of War models, distribution of these have been very chaotic. I've had a hard time finding some of them. I eventually found this one too so I bought two without even reading that it was 1/35. I've wanted to create a whole battalion but it hasn't been easy. Awesome suggestions. I would also think that most german armor PE would really improve the realism. Nice article and wonderful build. I appreciate your review. Between scalemates dot com and all the reviews, it helps figuring out what the manufacturers are dropping in our laps.
Cheers,
Don