Landships II

d_fernetti · Hero

Emhar A7Vs: 505 and 507 on Villers-Bretonneux

Peter T · General

Hi Diego

Do you own the Tankograd booklet "Sturmpanzerwagen A7V" by Rainer Strasheim? There all modifications are described!

Cheers, Peter

d_fernetti · Hero

Hi Peter! Unfortunately I don't, and in Argentina getting this volume on the mail has proven to be a very frustrating experience. So that's why I'm relying on the forum's members expertise to guide me!
I have gathered a few photos and articles online and that's how I made the summary above, but I'm still insecure about the sliding door on top of the turret for these two machines. I have at least one photo of Cyklop showing something like a bump on the middle of the turret roof, so I assumed it was equipped with the compass housing. However the production number seems to contradict this feature on both tanks.
I have been following Orso's build logs with attention, and this seems to suggest that I should erase the compass housing and sliding door as well. And then on some forum I saw that the roof seems to have a round hose in one of the corners! This I never observed on any of my photos.

Peter T · General

Diego, please send me your e-mail-adresse per PM!

Orso · Major

Here are my notes for a build of the 505 and 507 that I collected from different sources:

505 "Baden"

Röchling Single Plate Hull

Gun mount
B = Buck Mount. Seen from the outside it looks like a rectangular semi-cylinder moving from side to side, covering most of the Gun Shield

No exhaust pipe = Hole

No additional applique armour.

Side Flaps covering sprocket and idler, were in two pieces.

90 degree Angle Mudguard Flaps Configuration
(Note: Mudguard Flaps were cut by rounding lower corner (vertical edge forms 90 deg angle with lower main hull side)

Rear Flap Line (covering sprocket from rear) were bent (dog-leg)??????????????

Front plate made out of one piece
Note: Most converted Females had 2 mg flaps, "true males" had one small pistol port instead.

MG Aperture: 4 bolts beneath apertures, 2 pairs on each side

MG Shield Type 1-2
Type of:
1 = Only a cylinder, with a large openings up and down
2 = Cylinder with smaller cut-out and sight-hole on the top
3 = Hole smaller still
4 = Guide plate attached to the tanks outer side

2 Front Flap Hinges

No seat on the inside of the door.

Vehicle employed hooks for towing
(Note: They were usually covered by fairings to stop wire from catching.)

Special recognition marks:
Large rounded tow hook covers front and rear.

Known modifications:
Before 21 march: Bogie armour plates removed, corners of forward and rear large inspection flaps rounded; steps on forward and rear doors removed; vision slits cut close beside machine gun apertures (rear left and right, right side front, left side rear).
Central hinges on forward and rear large inspection flaps taken out of service before the battle of Villers-Bretonneux.
Splash protection covers for machine gun mounts installed by B.A.K.P20 after the battle of Villers-Bretonneux.
Following the established Abt.3 habit, add-on turret armour seems conceivable but but has not been observed.
Addition of compass with casing on the turret top plate in mid-1918.
Addition of compass in casing in mid 1918 is possible, but again not verified by available photographs.

507 "Cyklop"

Röchling Single Plate Hull

Gun mount
B = Buck Mount. Seen from the outside it looks like a rectangular semi-cylinder moving from side to side, covering most of the Gun Shield

No exhaust pipe = Hole

No additional applique armour.

Side Flaps covering sprocket and idler, were in two pieces.

90 degree Angle Mudguard Flaps Configuration
(Note: Mudguard Flaps were cut by rounding lower corner (vertical edge forms 90 deg angle with lower main hull side)

Rear Flap Line (covering sprocket from rear) were straight

Front Plate made out of one piece with 2 mg flaps.
Note: Most converted Females had 2 mg flaps, "true males" had one small pistol port instead.

MG Aperture: 4 bolts beneath aperture, 2 pairs on each side

MG Shield Type 1
Type of:
1 = Only a cylinder, with a large openings up and down
2 = Cylinder with smaller cut-out and sight-hole on the top
3 = Hole smaller still
4 = Guide plate attached to the tanks outer side

2 Front Flap Hinges

No seat on the inside of the door.

Vehicle employed hooks for towing
(Note: They were usually covered by fairings to stop wire from catching.)

Known modifications:
Before 21 march: Bogie armour plates removed, corners of forward and rear large inspection flaps rounded; steps on forward and rear doors removed; vision slits cut close beside machine gun apertures (right-side front, left side rear).
Splash protection covers for machine gun mounts installed by B.A.K.P20 after the battle of Villers- Bretonneux.
Following the established Abt. 3 habit, full add-on turret armour should be assumed but can only be proven for the turret sides.
Addition of compass in casing in mid 1918 is possible, but again not verified by available photographs.

d_fernetti · Hero

Hi Orso!

Thanks for your notes. I have some questions:

- MG shields: as far as I can tell, they are the simplest form as (more or less) in the kit. My kit has them slightly mismolded, and they don't look too tidy once the flash is removed. Might try making them from scratch, but they're so inconspicuous that the effort might be too much. Still undecided on what to do.

- For the side flaps of sprocket and idler, would you scribe a line in the join? As the kit goes, the rivets of the two parts are molded there and the line is faintly recessed... maybe should be redrawn. The first photo show my clumsy attempts to erase the steps leading to the front door. Hopefully I would erase those scars later. I also tried to thin down the edges of the openings of the door, as the thickness of the plastic was too much for scale. Perhaps no one would notice that once the model is painted.
The second photo shows the idler side flap, and it has the faint panel line.... so faint it's almost undetectable but with a magnifier! However the supporting rivets are there...

- Rear panel: is that the mud flap in the lower portion of this part? Is the correct shape, apparently, for both 505 and 507?

- Main gun mount: worked quite a bit making a scratchbuilt gun barrel, still not perfect but better than the oval section cigar provided in the kit. The gun mount shields needed lots of adjustment but they are even capable of certain movement! I improved the gun shield but didn't tried to cut the "T" shape above the barrel. I assume that both 505 and 507 had this type of side doors with two parts, as Mephisto does.

-Finally, I added an "axle" below the tank, because even if no one sees it it vexed me that that was no connection between the gears and the engine:

Maybe I'll must keep this thread in the modelling topic area...

D.

-- Edited by d_fernetti on Thursday 6th of June 2024 04:54:23 PM

Orso · Major

For the side flaps of sprocket and idler you could search for the 506 Mephisto to see if you want to scribe a line or not. I think that it is rather visible.
At:panzerserra.blogspot.com/2018/04/a7v-sturmpanzerwagen-wwi-german-tank.html there is a pic of a tank being digged out. I have a not saying that it is 507. The side flap is visible there.

The notes after Known modifications: is copied from a book so I haven't looked in to them as my build plans doesn't include these tanks

d_fernetti · Hero

Thanks Björn! Very useful link!

D.
PS: As for the intended scene where to place tanks 505 and 507, according to my references, these two tanks followed a path roughly paralell to the town's "chemin de fer" and checking Google maps I found out that the road still exists, albeit covered in overgrown vegetation which possibly didn't existed back in 1918 (or else why would you drive a tank there?). Here are two images of the place, one at ground level and the other showing the path from above:

chemin lateral 2.jpg chemin lateral.jpg