Aunt Jemima Mine Roller and Sherman Hull Upgrade

Paul Heiser Models Aunt Jemima mine roller, tank front end.

Major parts laid out for final assembly.

This is a time consuming model to build but not difficult if you read and follow the directions closely.

Careful sanding and trimming is important too.

I used mostly gap filling super glue on the project.

One of my Aunt Jemima tanks is a half and half.  The upper hall is front half Roco and rear half Heiser Models.

The Roco Sherman rear engine deck is very wrong and so I am using the back half of a damaged Heiser Models upper hull to replace the Roco engine deck.  I used a razor saw to cut both hulls in half and lined them up and glued them together.  The fit is really close.  I had to do a little sanding on the sides and a bit of trimming here and there but very close.

 This is the center of the mine roller that I made out of two very thick pieces of plastic.  I used the Paul Heiser Models part as a guide.

Italian Grille

26th Panzer Division received the modified Grille and the division was deployed to Italy.

There is no information that I could find about the Grille in combat but the division operated in Italy in 1944 and 1945.

It was under strength and included Italian armor and German armor mixed together.

Being the only German armored division meant they were in near constant combat.

And likely were nibbled down over time.

Most of their heavy flak seems to have been 88s on halftracks.

So this might have been a big improvement.

Driving along a cobblestone road.
 

Painting the Grille

Manning the gun!

I actually had a package for this gun, probably 25 years old or more!

Painting outdoors using spray paint.  The stick on the side is a piece of board with holes drilled into it.  It helps me to paint tank turrets by putting the turret pin into the hole so the tank sits up straight.

It also is helpful to elevate parts so I can paint them easier.

My go to primer that I actually use as Panzer Gray also.

Always keep a bit of paper towel handy to wipe off the nozzle after about every ten times I spray.  I have never had once clog up since I started doing that.
 

More Grille

Most of the work on this consisted of trimming the hole in the base so the new gun would fit.  There was a little adjusting of the shield mounting so the gun would still turn.

I had a bunch of the Grille, so I selected one that had all the parts and that still worked.

So I am able to fold down the sides.

Here are some Revell WWII German Artillery crew figures in 1/72nd scale.

The photo looks black and white but it's color.  Preiser makes these same figures in 1/87 if you wanted a more authentic in scale experience for your conversion.

I think it looks just fine like this.

It seems to me that in real life this thing would have to have an ammo supply vehicle to follow it around since there seems to be so little on board ammo stowage.

 I think an interesting addition to the collection at no cost and used up some old parts.