Next AFV Whiffer - German Radar Trager Vehicle - Finished.

[buzzbomb]

Ok.. I have done the Rheintochter SP AA missile vehicle so it made some sense to do the radar tracking vehicle for target aquisition.

I had bits left over from the 38T base MorserTrager vehicle (two Tamiya Marder kits were used) build so I decided to whizz up a Marder/38t based Radar Vehicle

This is based on the Tamiya 1/35 Marder II vehicle with a scratch hull and radar array

My thinking is that the Germans would use obsolete vehicles for second line jobs. The 38T is the radar carrier with perhaps a SdkFz251 vehicle as the crew vehicle for the radar tracking crew. Clearly there is more to come over the next few weeks.

That 251 will be the next build in this series.

wotcha reckon ?

[Mossie]

Definately looks the part to go with your Rheintochter carrier, can't wait to see this one done, as well as the attendant 251.

[RussC]

Interesting. Minor nitpick is that any big vehicle antenna should have an ability to fold up or fold down to avoid problems with tunnels and narrow streets and bridges. Yours looks like it has the ability to nod fully down. The cab looks big enough for the system and two operators plus a driver. Maybe a second vehicle with a small wurzburg to actually guide the missile and track the target ?, or one with a co-mounted optical telescope or large binocular with a searchlight.

[rickshaw]

You may be forgetting that this is the age of tube electronics.  You'd be very lucky to most of what was required to run a radar of that size on the hull.   Early radars tended to have large cabins directly attached to the mount, in order to prevent signal attenuation.  One only has to look at the early radars like the Freya and Wurzberg to see what I mean:

Freya:


Wurzburg:

[Mossie]

Should be okay, the Brits mounted a Type 11 on an Austin K6 in 1942 that didn't fold.  They followed it up with more compact versions before the wars end.  The hull is maybe a bit tight, but okay for whiff purposes.

[buzzbomb]

You may be forgetting that this is the age of tube electronics.  You'd be very lucky to most of what was required to run a radar of that size on the hull.   Early radars tended to have large cabins directly attached to the mount, in order to prevent signal attenuation.  One only has to look at the early radars like the Freya and Wurzberg to see what I mean:

Thanks for the feedback, but quite aware of most of that actually.
Hence why in my whiffworld I postulated that perhaps, maybe, possibly, to have attendant vehicle/s which carried the actual operators, CRT's, tow generators etc. This is merely the array carrier vehicle and size wise the array is smaller than the Freya you have most excellently provided the pix of.

Russ, The gears are the start of the fold down mechanism. The array will rotate through 180 degrees and fold down.. well that is what my minds eye reckons anyway.

May even become a ground search radar yet. 

Thanks
Brian T

[RussC]

You may be forgetting that this is the age of tube electronics.  You'd be very lucky to most of what was required to run a radar of that size on the hull.   Early radars tended to have large cabins directly attached to the mount, in order to prevent signal attenuation.  One only has to look at the early radars like the Freya and Wurzberg to see what I mean:

Thanks for the feedback, but quite aware of most of that actually.
Hence why in my whiffworld I postulated that perhaps, maybe, possibly, to have attendant vehicle/s which carried the actual operators, CRT's, tow generators etc. This is merely the array carrier vehicle and size wise the array is smaller than the Freya you have most excellently provided the pix of.

Russ, The gears are the start of the fold down mechanism. The array will rotate through 180 degrees and fold down.. well that is what my minds eye reckons anyway.

May even become a ground search radar yet.  

Thanks
Brian T

 Interesting idea, because there were ground search radars built, as soon as the wavelengths got short enough, to detect artillery and even small mortar rounds incoming- giving a short but useful warning time. These were in use for Korea, so could be whiffed into the 40's.
 In the whiff-world, technologies either came earlier or not all all, so think about the Reich having early semiconductors and miniaturized tubes like the Nuvistors (I used to use these salvaged from TV's in my tech school radio experiments, got excellent grades and a few FCC violations!).

 I think your on the right track where your system would work a bit like Himmelbett where big fixed radars like the ones rickshaw provided pics of would give the early warning to control centers which would alert your mobile teams and they would use the set you have made to acquire the target and give the optimum launch time and bearings/elevation to the launcher vehicle. From there you can think of the guidance and either go optical with telescopes and remote controls or go with a pencil-beam radar system, think dish antennas- small ones about a meter or so in size.
 
 Rhientocter looked like a troublesome system for the aviator to deal with, but the Wasserfall looked really dangerous, built like a small V2 and was probably meant to pepper a small formation or a part of a larger one. You could even go whiffatomic with that one like the Nike Herc or the Spartan  

[Doc Yo]

 Neato! Great concept and execution so far, Buzz-looking forward to the finishing!

I find myself wondering if airborne sets like the Lichtenstein and later Berlin could be adapted to ground use? I've been
toying with a Schwerflak E-100 ( got the 1/72 Dragon kit )...

[buzzbomb]

Had a spurt of "get it done" energy and finished a few things in the couple of days off I have had so far.

Calling this one done at this stage.






Not much added to the first pix. Although looking at it if I was to do it again there is heaps of stuff I would change.
Lets call this the Mk 1 version
Finished in a non specific scheme.

Cheers and have a great Christmas to one an all

Brian T

[NARSES2]

Terrific stuff 

[Mossie]

Good finish Bryan!!!

[RotorheadTX]

Dig it!!

[rickshaw]

Nice!   

[RussC]

Great results.
 
Also, for some reason, it could almost serve in a diorama as a mine detector vehicle, sweeping roads ahead, on the prowl for the IED's of the era. The central antenna radiator is a lot like the minesweeping antennas fitted to period ships.

[Old Wombat]

Great build, Brian!

Is there no end to the (whiffing) development potential of the LT vz 38 ?


(In RW it even became the Swedish Pansarbandvagn 301!)