Panzerkampfwagen E-50A2

[Mig Eater]

I'll be joining the GB with another of the German Entwicklung tanks, this time an E-50 upgraded with a new turret, engine and running gear to make a what-if 1950's version, or a "missing link" between the E-50 and the Leopard tank etc.

Last year in the kitbash GB I took the turret from a Flakpanzer E-50 kit and put it onto a Panther tank (still need to finish weathering that build!). Now I'm going to use up the hull of the Flakpanzer along with some resin parts from Paper Panzer Productions (RIP)






Paper Panzer Productions Einheitsturm "1947"




Paper Panzer Productions GT103 gas turbine engine. I cut out the original Maybach engine deck and added the new resin one about 5 years ago in anticipation of this build. The E-50's Maybach deck then ended up on an E-100 after I bunched it and need a replacement  




Lastly to give it an even more upgraded look I'll 3D print new suspension, wheels and tracks based on Porsche's B-PS 102 "Indian Panzer" concept from the 1950's. I'll need to spend a few days on the computer designing the parts first tho...

[Buzzbomb]

Oh yes... 

[Mig Eater]

I'm not the first to come up with this idea BTW, most of the time when I see this Paper Panzer Production turret its used on builds like this

[Claymore]

Nice! 

[Kerick]

Interesting!
That turret has a Soviet look to it.

[Mig Eater]

I made start on my build, I glued the upper and lower hull together along with a new resin rear plate. I had a bit of trouble fitting the hull together, I'd presumed the issue was the resin part but on closer inspection I found that the plastic hull was warped and the resin was perfectly straight After some sanding and clamps I managed to fit it together tho.

The hull is covered in locating holes for the various tools and tow cables, I plan to move the tools around to different locations tho so I filled them in with bits of leftover sprue. Looking a bit spiky at the moment but after cutting off the excess and a bit of sanding I should have a smooth surface to work from.       




I also made a 3D model of the new running, I used the Indien Panzer as inspiration but I had to modify the design a bit to make it fit the E-50 hull.   

[Buzzbomb]

Very nice. Got the proto-Leopard vibe as well. Like it 

[finsrin]

Am liking this 

[Old Wombat]

Very nice. Got the proto-Leopard vibe as well. Like it 

What this gentleman said! 

[Claymore]

Looking good! 

[Mig Eater]

The Paper Panzer Productions turret is very nicely cast with beautifully sharp details, the bottom of it however is an uneven mess (The raised edges are level but the center has sunk in during casting)




To fix this I used strips of plastic card and Milliput to fill in the rear, which I then vigorously sanded down creating a blizzard of plastic and resin dust in the processes, but I eventually got a nice flat surface.   




Another problem with this turret is that the rear sticks out quite a bit, which results in it colliding with vents and hatches etc as it rotates. So I added more plastic card this time to the front of the turret to raise up the rear, giving it enough clearance to now freely rotate 360. Lastly I 3D printed a new turret ring to keep it in place. 






I've had this turret for about 8 years, but every time I took it out of its box the gnarly looking bottom put me off building it, I'm glad to have finally gotten it done    

[Buzzbomb]

Sometimes you gotta do what you have gotta do. Especially with old school resin conversions. Sounds like you have it sorted.

[Mig Eater]

By the way, the sever that I host my photos on is having some technical difficulties (its being overloaded by bots) so the images might be working intermittently :/