Assembling the Möbelwagen

Assembling the Möbelwagen "Re-arranging the Furniture" With Jeremy The new Möbelwagen model has a number of different ways it can be assembled. It can be assembled with the fighting compartment shields up, partially down or fully down. When the shields were in the raised position it usually indicated that the Möbelwagen was in transit, and not immediately ready for combat.

The partially down position was used for firing at aircraft. The fully down shield position was assumed when firing at low flying aircraft and ground targets. I will now go through the steps required to assemble the Möbelwagen with partially lowered shields. Afterwards I’ll look at the other two variations.

Step 1 Firstly clean up your model parts with a file and/or craft knife to remove flash and cast lines. This not only makes the finished model look better, but also helps with the fit of the parts. More on preparing a model…

Glue the tracks to the hull and then the track rear guards on to the tracks (though these can be left off if you choose). The pack will contain four shields to go around the 3.7cm FlaK43 gun’s position: two side shields and a rear and front shield. The side shields are identical and require no assembly. The rear shield is distinguishable from the front shield by the addition of a small round plate. This is the vision port cover. The front and rear ports need the shield tags attached before mounting them on the resin hull. The notched end of the tag butts into the small tabs on the outer side of the rear and front shields (see photograph).

Step 2 The next step is to attach the shields to the hull. I started with the front and rear shields, but I kept a side shield at hand to keep the spacing correct and to dry fit (without glue) the pieces to make sure I have them in the correct positions. I then glued the front and rear shield on as shown in the photograph. I used bluetac to hold then in position until the glue had dried. Remember to use a dry side shield to make sure the spacing is right. Before the glue dries you can nudge the bluetac to get the shields into the final correct position.

Step 3 Next you glue the side shields on. These glue to the hull side edge and line-up with the outer edge of the shield tags fitted to the front and rear shields. Once again I’ve used bluetac to hold the shields in the correct position until the glue dries. Once you have the side shields in position and glued you may like to give the front and rear shields a quick pinch to make sure the tags and side shields have contacted and the glue has gripped (try not to stick you model to your fingers).

Möbelwagen in Transit To make the Möbelwagen with the shields fully raised follow the steps above, but instead glue the shield tags on to the front and rear shields in the folded-in position. This means the tags are butted to the inside of the tab (see photograph). The shields are then glued on fully upright.

Möbelwagen firing at ground targets To model the vehicle with the shields fully down you need to attach the shield tags as described for the Möbelwagen in Transit. Then you glue the shield in the folded down positions as seen in the photograph.

Assembling the Gun The Flak43 gun comes in six parts: gun, gun mounting right, gun mounting left, ammo clip, and two shield halves. Step 1 Glue the right side of the mounting to the gun. This isn’t immediately obvious as the flat section with a hole initially looks like it may be the bottom, but is in fact the part that glues to the gun.

Step 2 Next glue the left mounting side to the right side and the gun. The rectangular notch fits to the bottom of the flat plate the gun is attached to on the right section. Then glue the gunner to the seat on the outer side of the right side gun mounting.

Step 3 Before attaching the shield glue the ammo clip to the slot in the side of the gun (see photograph).

The two halves of the gun shield fit together along a staggered joint. The gun shield is then glued to the gun mounting. The left-hand part of the mounting has a plate that juts out in from of the gun. The gun shield sits on this. More Möbelwagen pictures…