discussion Heuschrecke IVb

[Razzie43]

German Tank

In 1942, Krupp-Gruson began designing very intersting construction of self-propelled gun (Waffentrager - weapon carrier) on Geschutzwagen IV chassis (as used by Hummel). It had fully rotating turret that could be removed with the use of the crane mounted in the back of the vehicle (by hydraulic mechanism or by hand). Turret could be removed and mounted on the wheeled cart/carriage (carried on the vehicle) and moved to a designated position. It could also be removed and placed next to the vehicle on a prepared concrete base as an armored pillbox. At the same time, the turretless vehicle could be used as ammunition carrier or recovery vehicle. The vehicle was seen as replacement for Wespe starting from May of 1944.


The real name was
"105mm leichte Feldhaubitze 18/1 L/28 Auf waffenträger geschutzwagen IV b"
design by KRUPP in Magdeburg

The Heuschrecke starts in 1943 and has 3 prototypes serienr 582501-582503
Engine : Maybach 12V HL "90" and for production it was "100".
One of those 3 has survive the WWII and is full restored in the museum of Oklahoma.
The turret in action :

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The Box inside of "TRUMPETER" :

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[Snowman]

What a cool find and build!!

I'll be watching!

 

[Razzie43]

Thank you mister snowman!
Step one : Tamiya putty to give the soft plastic a iron raw look.

Add some homemade welds on the back and the front of those front panels

The Red primer (all without a wash like some people here do)

To make those moveable bars working i need some iron inside the bars

 

[papa 695]

Never seen one of these before Michael, and what a great start, I'm going to watch what you do with this one.

 

[Robert1968]

Now this is very interesting indeed ( never seen it or even heard of it even in prototype form
Great that trumpeter have made it ( limited run I expect
Nice going so far and I'm defo watching this one progress

Kind regards

Robert

 

[Snowman]

Excellent stuff, keep it coming!

 

[Razzie43]

Thx Ian,Robert,Gavin...
First color that came into my mind was "Dunkelgrau"
(Donkergrijs)in Flemish/Dutch!
Then i want it more like "Dunkelgelb"(donkergeel)

I was so confused then i use both with a rust layer on it!

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Don't like the wheel color...it's the same color like the rest inside!
Maybe a little dunkelgrau will be good i think??
Or Dunkelgelb?

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Also the seat is to orange..need more the color of black leather....not to black..dark brown with a shade on it...!

 

[Mr Bowcat]

What an interesting machine. I look forward to the rest of the build.

 

[monica]

liking the look of tthis,Michaël,your done some great wok so far,interesting as well,

 

[Razzie43]

Time to paint the rusty heavy bars.
Correct the inside of the unfinishd interior turret


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I Cut the axe in pieces to have only the belts left over on the tank

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My local beer to give me the insparation of making it completed

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All thanks to the bottle of tamiya
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Now just weatering the wheels and the tracks and some equipement to finish it of.

 

[Razzie43]

O yeah forgot to mention...there is something on this tank ...who can find the difference what i did wrong ??

 

[dave]

Nice piece of work, always great to see an unusual subject.

 

[Guest]

I didn't know the Heuschrecke 10/IVb "Grasshopper" was available as a kit but you've done a really good job so far!!!
It's such an interesting concept with what looks like a tank but instead is a mobile pillbox, or a towed artillery piece, and an ammo carrier to supply the gun.

I love the sometimes odd and a bit strange designs that come as a result of conflict. Sometimes they come up with really innovative contraptions - and sometimes they seem like they've lost their marbles...
This isn't a bad idea but I can see why it never happened outside the three prototypes.

O yeah forgot to mention...there is something on this tank ...who can find the difference what i did wrong ??

I can't see anything wrong with it. I know the return rollers are hard to spot in the pictures, but I think they are there, so I haven't got a clue?

 

[Snowman]

Awesome rust work!!

 

[Razzie43]

They are two different sprocket wheels,and both i saw them on the B/W pictures.
Now i'm confused,witch one shall i use?

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[Guest]

They are two different sprocket wheels,and both i saw them on the B/W pictures.
Now i'm confused,witch one shall i use?

Well, they were all prototypes and there are two, or three, variants depending how you look at it, made by Krupp-Gruson and Rheinmetall-Borsig. There's also Sonderkraftfahrzeug 165/1.

The surviving Heuschrecke 10 at Fort Sill Field Artillery Museum has got the round holes in the drive sprockets but that was after the restoration because initially it had sprocket wheels with square holes. This can be seen if you look at the pictures of the same tank before and after restoration. (see further discovery about this towards the end!) Which of them that are correct I don't know, but the Heuschrecke IVb was first based on a shortened Panzer 4 and later the Geschützwagen IV chassis and they both, as far as I know, have the drive sprockets with the "square" holes in them by standard.

Also why are some of them called Heuschrecke 10 and some Heuschrecke IVb?
Regardless they're all pretty much just prototypes and when making prototypes you use what you have for donor chassis and who knows what configuration, or repairs, they have?

One final observation is that the sprocket wheel with the round holes are only photographed on the right side and never the left. Could it be that it's got different type sprocket wheels on each side?
This is something I just discovered and after a fair bit of searching I can only find pictures of a Heuschrecke with round holes pictured from the right side... Are we on to something secret here?

Good luck with the fabulous build! I will dig a bit further on this to see if I can find a picture with round holes on the left side or if there's some substance to my find.

 

[Razzie43]

Lucky me i have the correct wheels on.
I put the round holes are on the correct side

 

[col68]

Excellent work Michael. Rally like the paint work

 

[Guest]

Lucky me i have the correct wheels on.
I put the round holes are on the correct side

Now I see what you meant by "did wrong" when in fact you were very accurate!
I didn't initially spot that you'd used different sprocket wheels on your model - just like the only surviving example!

 

[Razzie43]

HAHA...indeed....like a third powah into my head says that i have to do that.
Very strange building i had here.
Thanks Colt!