Sd.kfz. 254 - Saurer wheeled/tracked armoured car

Dave Ward

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I'm considering building this shortly:-hobby boss 254.jpg

I'm thinking of showing it on its' wheels, as the boxart. The question is, why do the tracks not sag? I would have thought that the weight of the track would make it drop away from the road wheels. It doesn't, as any pictures show ( reference & discussion only )reference saurer.jpg
Were there straps that held the tracks up, or was the tension of the suspension/idlers enough to keep them tight?
It's not going to make any difference to the model, but I'm curious.
Anyone any thoughts, ideas?
Dave
 
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Jakko

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If I had to guess, I’d say that the roadwheels (the ones in the track, not the pneumatic ones) get pushed down by their springs because they’re not supporting the weight of the vehicle, which leads the front and rear roadwheels to pull the track tight around the wheels.
 

Dave Ward

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Jakko,
yes, that's my thoughts as well. I wonder how it went from tracks to wheels - powered jacks, manual wind down? - I've seen pictures on tracks, and on wheels,but not the transition
Dave
 
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I've always thought that the steering on the road wheels must be limited by the track mechanism. There doesn't appear to be much room to pull a tight turn.
 

Dave Ward

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Michael,
The front ( rubber ) road wheels have a wider track than the rear pair, giving some clearance for steering..................
Dave
 

Jakko

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yes, that's my thoughts as well.
I would expect the front and rear bogies to be angled, not level, because of the track tension, but as they’re obscured by the pneumatic wheels it’s difficult to tell whether they are. The middle bogie would be level, though: if the second and next-to-last roadwheels get pushed down further than the first and last, the wheels in the middle have more room, and because they’re on a common spring, both would get pushed down equally. Probably only far enough to just rest on the track without deforming it.

I wonder how it went from tracks to wheels - powered jacks, manual wind down? - I've seen pictures on tracks, and on wheels,but not the transition
I’m not sure about that either. There’s a large bar connecting the lower suspension arms on each side of the hull, but I suspect those to be torsion bar springs rather than part of a mechanism to crank the arms up and down.
 

JR

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Dave.
Well what ever the thoughtS on the tracks/wheels I ve never seen this before so will pull up a seat.
Russians had a tank BT 5 that could run on wheels, once the tracks were removed , the front wheels were able to turn for steering.

John.
 

Dave Ward

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John,
this is high in the 'to make' pile, but not at the top! - I'll start a proper blog for it - there's the starter set GB beginning on the !st April, and I want to build one of my stalled build TKS tankettes, as well.
Dave
 
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Well, that's more than I thought but still not much lock. Wouldn't like to try a 3 point turn in that :confused::confused:
 
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I notice that the Notek doesn't appear in any of the pictures.
 
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Well, that's me proved wrong again. Interesting that it's in a different position from the box art.
 

Jakko

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Hi Dave have you seen this one Sd.Kfz.245 mit Kran (crane truck).


View attachment 334343
That makes me revise what I said earlier. I couldn’t work out how the track bogies were set up, but it turns out the first and last roadwheels are separate, sprung by those big angles springs you see, and the middle four are on two bogies. In that case, the first and last wheels probably push the track taut and the other four wheels more or less hang free. If you hold a ruler along this photo, you can see the lower run sags ever so slightly (as you would expect it to), so if the model has link-and-length tracks, just putting a very small bend into the lower run will probably make it look better than if you put a dead straight piece there.

This photo also gives the impression that those longitudinal rods are part of a mechanism to raise and lower the pneumatic wheels: there is some kind of lever-thing on the top in the middle, where there appears to be a hole in the side as well that could be for an actuator.
 

Jakko

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I notice that the Notek doesn't appear in any of the pictures.
That light wasn’t fitted early in the war and was retrofitted later to many/most/all surviving vehicles. IIRC, location can vary a bit on vehicles that were already in service for this reason.

The retrofit part, BTW, is even borne out by the pics Pete posted, because they seem to be of the same vehicle: it’s hard to see because of JPEG artifacts in the second photo (with Notek light), but the registration number seems to be WH 616658 in both pictures, meaning the second photo was taken later than the first.
 

Dave Ward

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The model has individual track links, so no problem in putting curves, sag, anywhere
Finish options :- WH-800920 3.Batt., I.leichte Abtlg., mot. Artillery Regiment 119, 11th Panzer Division, Balkans 1941 in Panzer grey & WH-616663 4.Batt., II.leichte Abtlg., mot. Artillery Regiment 33, 15th Panzer Division, North Africa, 1942 in Dark Yellow.
Also WH-616658 6.Batt., II.leichte Abtlg., mot. Artillery Regiment 78 ,7th Panzer Division no date [ Panzer grey(?) not on the colour sheet ( info from PMMS )
DaVE
 
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Jakko

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That last marking option is the vehicle Pete posted the photos of :smiling3:
 
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