Sd.Kfz. 9 Famo / Angraf / 1:25

Not very impressive: just the right side of the main frame, and still without painted edges.... but: a first picture to show you that the mega project has started!
First impressions: a bit less 'down to the 0,1 mm' than the "Kraz", no folding lines indicated and therefore much more to find out for yourself (although the wealth of diagrams and instructions seem precise enough). But as a whole I am confident and these frame parts fit together well.)
(p.s.: still considering what plane I will build alongside with the "Famo")

Hi Michael,

Don't misunderstand me: fitting of the parts is all right until now. What I meant was that the precision in printing layout of the 'Kraz' was so terribly sharp that cutting 0.1 mm beside of the parts outlines was simply cutting wrong. The 'Famo' is just a little bit more forgiving in the way that cutting out the parts in the usual -precise- way should do the job.

A very disappointing experience: on the picture you see the round reinforcement part marked 1bL (for those who own this model: I am talking about part 4d) which is meant to close flat the larger opening of the cone form ring and -what is more important yet- is needed to attach a complete sub assembly to the frame. The diameter is completely wrong and I was forced to make a new part adding about 1,5 mm of diameter to make it fit. (see picture).
I don't want to draw any conclusions at this stage - but I can not keep myself from comparing this to the 'Kraz', where really everything fitted so perfectly (and where, by the way, the thinner paper quality made a more precise work easier).

Sorry, but this is unbelievable...
Please study this picture. (To exclude any doubt I added the diagram showing the construction in the building instructions).
Part 5p should of course correspond in diameter with part 5o, and this unit must then be fitted on 5n. Instead, part 5p is much too long because it is based on the diameter of part...5n!
As I said before: this is unbelievable.
I will correct this and continue for the time being, but my confidence in this (very expensive) model is slowly dying...

Jesus, that is an impressive monster too!

Thanks for all the comments/reactions. Don't be afraid: I will continue building the 'Famo' as long as the wrong parts can be corrected or replaced within what is reasonable. In the meantime I made some nice progress with the frame and tomorrow or this weekend I will present new pictures .

This picture shows the work in progress on the main frame: the building instructions state (without further explanation) that the front bumper is optional and that when choosing to mount it, openings must be cut out later in the mudguards (no diagram, no indication on the mudguards of how big these holes must be or where exactly to cut).
Behind the front bumper is the front crossbar with on both sides servo-motors with control rods and in the middle the attachment of the front steering bridge bar.
And finally, at the rear, what I suppose to be parts of the chain tension mechanism. (Unfortunately I have hardly any technical knowledge of these vehicles).

This is my secret: What I do is this: I scan a page of the polish instructions and then transfer the scan to an OCR (optical character recognition) program. This result is a textfile in polish that I then translate using a polish-english translating program (for instance at http://www.poltran.com). The result is a rather poor english text, but clear enough to understand together with the diagrams.

Instead of scanning you can of course type the text in polish (therefore you install a polish keybord in windows, all the polish characters are around the <enter> key, with or without <Shift>. Only the z and y are inverted, and you will need these 2 letters very often!

I saw that a textfile of the complete instructions was sent to you (and to me!)from Poland. That will save you a lot of scanning.

Hi Jorg,
You will find a reaction in your personal box.

For those who share me in building the 'Famo':
Be very carefull when buiding the six cross bridges nrs 7a-f: Central parts must have the joints facing upwards, joints of side parts must face towards the rear or they will not fit! See picture:

Hi Maniek,

You may have seen that I already pointed out some imperfections or even mistakes in the design of this model. But I did not want to be negative all the time. But now that you ask me this question about the frame I might as well let you now that the inner 1mm frame reinforcement parts 1fL and 1fP are too long for parts 1aL/P and 1bL/P by witch they are covered on the inner and outer side. On the front, i.e. where the front bumper is attached to the front cross bar, I had to cut away at least 1,2 mm of material. (These were the first parts of the Famo that I put together and I remember my surprise; I thought it was me who had made a mistake...)

Thanks Josve, for your positive comment!

Thanks Maniek. I will watch it closely.
By the way, for those who build or own the 'Famo': does anyone know where to find parts 7m (6 small strips around part 7l, see the question mark on the diagram on my last picture)? I did not find them until now!

You are right and that's just what I did, but....... ten minutes ago I discovered that parts 8dP and 8dL are missing too. Again; no real problem but why indicate parts in the instructions and on the diagrams that do not exist? Did nobody ever do a testbuild of this one?!

Thank you for the hint! For what I understand from what they say there the testbuilder it not very happy with fit of the model either; I see several times the term ''experienced builder"---- probably indicating that experienced builders will easily find solutions for the problems that might arise...

A bit afraid of what the future steps will bring with all these problems and missing parts, but knowing that I am still far from giving up, I can now show you the main frame with the six cross bridges in place:

First of all two more hints for those who plan to build the Famo:
1) Parts 11a must not be reinforced on 0,5 mm cardboard as stated or rounds 11b will not fit on the inside.
2) Please note that rings 11x must not be fixed on 11y right away as stated in the building instructions; they should only be mounted (from behind) after attaching the complete sub-assembly to the frame.

One more work in progress- picture: to the left the finished mechanism to control the tension on the chain. And in the middle six insect-tail like objects: they are in fact dampers, part of the shock absorber system:

The two parts of the front steering bridge (see picture nr 1) are now ready to install: The cross bar to the left with the 2 shock absorber cylinders (a) has a hollow, u-formed shape to receive the perpendicular(!) leafspring (c) inside and under it.
The swinging v-form bar (d) allows the 'rocking' movement of the steering bridge. Of course I could have build it from wire, but I found it more challenging (and much more difficult!) to make it from the original part that you can see under it.
N.B.: The legs of this bar must be shortened by about 6mm or they will not fit!
I did not make the steering knuckles at the ends of the steering rod (e) out of cardboard; they are essential elements in the (movable) steering system and therefore I cut them out of the flexible plastic material that you find as labels with flowerplants etc. Ideal for moving parts. (see picture nr 2).
I will soon show a picture of model with these 2 subassemblies installed.

-

I promised a picture of the front bridge with steering unit mounted to the chassis. Here it is in detail plus another picture of the model as it looks right now:

I will, Snake, I will..... but if you knew how many corrections/modifications I have to make to keep things going.....