discussion Ian M's Sd.Kfz.8 12t half track. Trumpeter. 1/35.

[minitnkr]

Your late war PAK would be my choice as towed piece and would be looking for a position away from the bocage and with some elevation to take advantage of its' great range & optics. The AA 128 is certainly large & impressive enough to be a standalone deployed piece. German artillerymen were quite fussy so no mud/mess, light dust weathering if at all. Site would be well policed as well. Likely in suburbs of a fairly large/important bombing target. Typical site, for reference only.

 

[BattleshipBob]

Very nice Ian, being towed, nice dust cloud?

 

[Guest]

Normandy: If memory serves that was summer wasn't it?

Well, they landed on 6 June, so … late spring and early–mid summer. Pretty dry weather, generally speaking, and dust is often noticeable in photos of the fighting.

Soil colour. Is it the light chalky loam of the Dover straights or the rich red clay soil. Dark rich soil or sticky clay?

This thread on Armorama seems to cover the topic fairly well. Read all of it and not just the top, though, as the early messages get added to and partly contradicted by later ones.

Also another quick tease of the load this has been pulling around.

I’m not an expert, but that seems an unlikely weapon in Normandy (I would expect most of them to be defending German cities), or for a 12-tonne halftrack to pull: the 12,8 cm FlaK 40 weighed 18 tonnes in firing position.

Do you think an 88mm crew would work...

Almost certainly, though the ammunition was far bigger and heavier so the crew may need a few adaptations to properly (and believably) hold it.

 

[Ian M]

Cheers chaps.

for a 12-tonne halftrack to pull: the 12,8 cm FlaK 40 weighed 18 tonnes in firing position

12 ton wasn't that the load it could carry? I am sure the pulling power was more than enough, and I have seen a few photos of them pulling this gun . Also read that the gun and wheels weighed 27 ton.

You might be right about being I Normandy though.
I intend building the PaK anyway so I can choose later.

Dusty then, I like dusty.

 

[Guest]

No, for these halftracks the tonnage is the pulling power. That was the whole reason for them being designed as halftracks rather than fully wheeled vehicles. Carried load was less, only maybe a quarter of the pulling power, off the top of my head?

 

[Ian M]

Well it just goes to show that even in those days certified rating was considered as a "rough guide" The 12t was the prime mover for several things well over the 12ton rating.
And what about the FAMO with the 116 Tank Trailer. bit more than 18t on the hook there as well. (Panza IV 25t. matilda 27t PLUS the trailer. Have also seen a photo of one pulling a Tiger 1. OK on a flat dirt road but 51t none the less).

 

[Guest]

Of course, if it’s what you have available, then you use it. I meant that organically, the 12-tonne Sd.Kfz. 8 would most likely not have been the towing vehicle issued to 12.8 cm FlaK 40 units

BTW, the 12.8 cm PaK 44 in Normandy would be an anachronism: it was only made in very limited numbers (about 50) and issued from late 1944 on, mainly or perhaps entirely on the Eastern Front, where its performance was much more necessary than against the Western Allies.

 

[Ian M]

Any how. I'll get back on with MY build at some point in time. The more I look at the Flak gun, the more I find wrong or missing. the Anh. 220 is not a lot better. Very lacking in detail actually. And trying to find better photos to sort it out is rather hard. Still this GB is about the tractor not the load.
Here is a nice picture of one being collected... By a 12 tonner.

 

[Ian M]

Well This has been sitting there looking lost, so I guess I'm done here.
More photos can be found in the finished section.
https://www.scale-models.co.uk/threads/ian-ms-sd-kfz-8-12t-halftrack-daves-halftrack-gb.40505/

 

[scottie3158]

Ian, that's a cracking result.

 

[De.Mort]

I'm sorry to bring up an old thread , at least on Car forums that's a bit frowned upon , so i'm unsure here , but this is excellent .. i have a Famo to build and this will certainly help me .. to have something so good gives me something to aim for .

 

[Ian M]

to have something so good gives me something to aim for .

you are too kind sir. Thank you