SdKfz 9/2 Famo 10/5 DONE. (Now just Building)

[BJ]

Well started a new Project, .. Go figure Huh.. I have been wanting to do this kit/conversion for 25 years and recently I got access to photos of the only one in existence (That I know of) so most of my questions have been answered so it was finally time to tackle this beast.

Like most of my projects I always start in Rhino and create my drawings.
The started the frame. Had to splice in a whole new section so doing that and adding more detail the what is in the Tamiya Kit.
Then moved on the base frame of the crane.
Now that I have that in its preliminary for ready for added detailing I can the make the frame connection of the two.

I am also playing with making press/stamped/pre-formed fenders from brass. We'll see how that goes.

This is the clliffnotes version as I know many of you are friends on Facebook so this old news to you.
Hope you enjoy..And yes.. This one will be finished.. I am hoping to release it June/July.

[Leon]

WOW....This looks awesome so far Billie Jean!

[dierk]

Too cool for words!

[panzerjager2]

Billiejean

WOW
Very impressive

[TRM]

Some solid work as usual BJ!! Love seeing a great scratch piece come together!

[vindicareassassin]

I think I just soiled myself just a little bit with excitement!!

[afvfan]

Great start to the project, Billie Jean.

....and I'm glad to see someone with a work bench messier than mine!

[dierk]

Apr 25, 2016 9:23:32 GMT -5 vindicareassassin said:

I think I just soiled myself just a little bit with excitement!!

Predictive text? I thought it was spelled 'excrement'

[jsteinman]

[wbill76]

Now that's really something you don't see every day! Off to a great start.

[vlpbruce]

Pulling up a chair on this one.
Great start Billie.

[deafpanzer]

That's in ASL version... my language!

[BJ]

Small update. There is now a Turntable, Frame Mount and Boom.
Now on to the Boom Pulley setup,Generator and all the controls. Not a lot of building as I am putting together drawings for Photoetch.

Once finished drawing the PE I will make the final decision on how much to add so the release date will probably be pushed out a little as I am not sure of the lead time. I was trying to avoid PE but some parts would be fairly fragile or Grossly out of scale in resin. Mostly the Wire mesh deck, Pulley covers, new windscreen frame and a lot of the controls.

[Leon]

WOW.... That looks awesome Billie Jean!

[jsteinman]

Pretty swell!

[panzerjager2]

BillieJean

OUTSTANDING

[deafpanzer]

Freaking awesome!

[wbill76]

Impressive work BJ, it's going to be huge!

[BJ]

Started the Crane Head assembly.. This part slides up and down the Crane Boom,Started with 1/2 aluminum and 5/16th Brass tube, Manually turned on my lathe and slots milled manually with a rotary table..No Cnc as this was so thin that you have to "feel" the cut as you cut it.
Sometimes the smallest parts take the longest.. 6 hours on this little bugger but I am pretty proud of it.
Will finish detailing and "Welding" it tomorrow.. Then figure out to cast it. The main pass through will be a slide mold but not sure how I will sprue it yet.

[BJ]

For those of you not familiar with this vehicle here are a few photos of the real one and the only existing on in Belgium from the Becker Collection.. This is the vehicle I am using for my reference.. Some of the parts have been modified/repaired so a little difficult to confim that it is 100%

[armorguy]

Impressive BJ !

[Leon]

Very impressive indeed BJ!

[panzerjager2]

I really like this build, specially the way you post pic's of the part, and reference photos.... And let's not forget the work is awesome

[desertrat]

WOAH!!!!! superb keeping me eyes glued to this one.

[deafpanzer]

Amazing how much you can work with very limited amount of reference pictures... this is going to be very epic build!

[BJ]

Thank You all..
Fortunately I do have around 100 Photos of the Becker Famo, But Unfortunately, I was asked not publish them publicly, so I do need to respect the owners request as I don't want to burn this bridge as this allows me access to 100 or so more rare German Vehicles for future porjects.

[dupes]

Damn...that's some killer scratch work. And sooooooo much sprue on your bench!

[dierk]

You're a true craftswoman with enviable skills and your work is wonderful to behold.

[Ray Dunakin]

Holy carp, this is stunning work, and a really interesting, unusual subject!

[BJ]

Sunday May 15th Update.
We have a completed Boom Head assembly and Lifting Block. (The final "Cable" is not attached so I can take it apart to make the mold along with new pulleys as these were rejects and I didn't want to take a chance of ruining the fragile masters while running the rigging)
As of right now there is 16 feet of "Cable" in this beast. Time said and done I estimate around 22 feet.. I will be including 25 feet in the kit for Just in case scenarios, and not responsible for any 4 letter words that may occur while running the rigging.
I did just a 3 section boom for testing there will be enough pipe for the 4 section boom.
Now for the real fun part.. The counter weight.
I think I have my tooling figured out for my fender press so there should be pre-stamped brass fenders included and I am going to dabble to see if it is feasible for me to stamp out the counter weight or at least some parts of it. May not be worth the hassle though but I don't want some big blob of resin either so more on that later.