Tovarishch!!!
Let's discuss about this small, robust and resistant Russian bus built on the chassis of a venerable GAZ-AA 4x2 truck. We are talking about the GAZ-03-30 and the subject of this article is a field adaptation on this bus: the Werkstattkraftwagen mobile workshop!
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| GAZ-03-30 model 1938 |
History:
The GAZ-03-30 ( Russian ГАЗ-03-30 ) was a 17-seater omnibus, which was first manufactured in the Soviet Union from 1933 to 1950 with an interruption in the war years by Gorkowski Avtomobilny Sawod. The bus GAZ-03-30 was technically based on the GAZ-AA 1,5 ton. truck.
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| Soviet soldiers trying pulled out of the mud a stuck GAZ AA truck.jpg |
In the USSR, such buses were called service buses. Vehicles that were not planned to be used as urban passenger transport fell into this category. The main consumers of this bus are enterprises and organizations. They needed transport to carry their workers and employees. But the GAZ-03-30 served also airports, train stations, sanatoriums, and served as an excursion bus.
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| The ancestor of GAZ buses FordAA bus, produced in the USA 4013 mm wheelbase |
In 1929, a huge colossus for the production of cars was launched under the name "Nizhny Novgorod Automobile Plant" (Gorkowski Avtomobilny Sawod). In the early years, the long-awaited automobile plant was supposed to produce a basic one and a half ton lorry and a Phaeton body car.
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| FIRST AUTOMOBILE PLANT NIZHNY-NOVGOROD-1929 "PERFORMING FIVE YEARS IN ONE, FIRST SOVIET FORD" in the truck's banner The first Soviet "Ford" rolls of the first car assembly plant, February 1, 1930. |
Then, it was planned to gradually introduce new models into the production program: a pickup and a sedan based on a passenger car and a closed van based on a lorry. It was for these types of cars that the patents were purchased from Ford. The possibility of production of bus units during the construction of the car plant in Nizhny was not considered.
The main reason for this was the absence of a passenger transport body production department at the factory, as well as the unsatisfactory suitability of the one and a half ton chassis: the vehicle's short wheelbase did not allow enough people on the bus that justify the investment. For urban and intercity transportation, the GAZ-AA chassis (wheelbase 3.340 mm) was not suitable at all.
The Soviet Union did not purchase a license for bus chassis with a longer wheelbase from Ford, and it was with this type of chassis that bodybuilders built 99% of all buses in the United States. Ford Motor itself did not manufacture buses in its factories. The Union City factory in Indiana was one that specialized in this type of construction. In 1934, the GAZ buses were surprisingly similar to the Bus model 330A (1931-32) of this company.
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| Ford - Union City 330-A school bus - 1931-1932 4.013mm wheelbase |
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| Ford - Union City 330-B passenger bus - 1931-1932 4.013mm wheelbase |
Despite the unfavorable dimensions of the GAZ-AA light truck chassis, the factory decided to experiment with building a bus. On November 2, 1932, the first vehicle was ready, in the factory's experimental workshop. According to the designers, the Ford-Union City 330-A school bus was taken as the basis for the project. The firstborn of the family, called GAZ-1, proved to be very angular and heavy.
The vehicle looked primitive, even by Soviet construction standards: low passenger lounge, very primitive and heavy passenger windows, lack of ventilation, etc. The bus had three doors: side doors for the driver and passengers and a rear door that would be used in the event of an emergency evacuation. The existence of a rear exit would remain on all subsequent GAZ buses. This prototype bus transported workers from the GAZ plant for several years.
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| Bus prototype GAZ-1 (1932) - 3.340mm wheelbase transporting workers from the GAZ factory |
In the beginning of 1933, two more experimental buses with different bodies were manufactured: the GAZ-2 and GAZ-3. The GAZ-2 was made as long as possible: it had a curved roof to reduce vibration and visually reduce the height of the bus. The engineers managed to lower the window line. The height of the cabin reached 177 cm, practically the standard height of a man, at the time. The shape of the ceiling, so to speak, hid the height, creating the illusion of an elongated body. The rear window was oval, in a fashion rendering of the time.
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| GAZ-02 bus... Sorry about the horrible pic... (It was the only one I found ...) |
The designers managed to apply a smooth transition from the front hood to the body, but the second row of windows, above the driver's windshield, remained.
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| GAZ-2 wooden frame Notice the windshield with a second row of windows, above. |
In GAZ-3, this problem has also been resolved. Thanks to an adjustment of dimensions and the simplification of the seat structures, the new bus was able to accommodate 18 passengers. And to improve comfort and handling, it was equipped with rear shock absorbers. The shape of the new body was as close as possible to the Ford-Union-City 330, and in the end this was the type of body that was adopted in series production. One of the experimental machines was transformed into a graphic bus, equipped with typewriters, radios, telephones and dial-up cash registers. The bus was solemnly and patriotically delivered to the Pravda newspaper.
Serial production of buses:
For the start of the serial production of the bus, it was decided to use the former First Car Assembly Plant, which was like a training section of the GAZ plant. The first ten GAZ-03 buses left the factory gate in July 1933. By the end of the year, another 203 units had been built, gradually increasing production to 15 units / month.
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| One of the first serial buses GAZ-3. July -1933 |
In the fall of 1933, a prototype of a large GAZ-5 bus with a capacity of 25 seats in a three-axle chassis (the third axle with traction) was completed. In comparison to the GAZ-3, the body of this new bus was two sections larger, which made it possible to accommodate the 25 passengers. This bus should be an evolution, a step forward, and may even change the structure of two-axle vehicles, but it ended up being a very unstable bus.
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| GAZ-05 6x2 bus prototype |
Later, the GAZ plant would return to a three-axle bus model, but it would be a vehicle with a totally different structure and philosophy, the GAZ-05-193 6x4.
The GAZ-3 went into series production with a 16-seat layout (not counting the driver's seat). The bus should only carry seated passengers, so its use as an urban transport route was not considered. There was only one port for boarding (and disembarking) passengers; a second exclusive landing door was excluded in favor of the already scarce seating space. For comparison: the formal predecessor of the GAZ-3, the AMO F-15 bus, which was produced until 1931 (also with a one-and-a-half-ton chassis), had only 13 seats (and had a rear landing door).
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| AMO F-15 bus |
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| GAZ-3 bus serving football matches. Kiev. 1934 Notice the absence of the rear door, in the right side |
Compared to the standard GAZ-AA one and a half ton truck chassis, no design changes were made to the bus model. The only difference was the absence of the towing device at the rear of the bus chassis.
A 4-speed gearbox (four forward and one reverse) and a four-cylinder, in-line gasoline engine with low valves with a volume of 3.28 liters and a power of 40 Hp at 2200 rpm were fixed to the front part of the stamped steel ladder chassis. A water-cooled radiator was installed in front of the engine.
A single disc dry clutch was used to transmit the torque. The fuel tank was located above the driver's knees, behind the dashboard, and gasoline was flowing by gravity to the carburetor.
The electrical system was 6 volts, and an electrical starter was used to start the engine. The bus had a fuel consumption of 4.8 to 5.5 km / l and a maximum speed of 65 km / h.
The front axle of the GAZ-3 bus was suspended from the chassis by a semi-elliptical transverse-spring and single-acting hydraulic shock absorbers, and the rear axle was attached to two longitudinal semi-elliptical cantilever springs. Passengers were not very comfortable due to the rigidity of the suspensions.
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| GAZ front suspension: Notice the single semi-eliptical transverse spring |
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| GAZ-03 rear suspension |
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| Details of the rear suspension |
The rear axle had a differential that was connected to the gearbox via a cardan shaft, which was surrounded by a tube and rigidly attached to the gearbox.
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| The cardan shaft and rear sus´pension of GAZ-AA truck |
Steel wheels with rubber tires measuring 6.50-20 were attached to the front axle of the car, and double steel wheels with rubber tires measuring 6.50-20 were attached to the rear axle. The service brake was mechanical, without hydraulic assistance, acting by cable on all wheels and the hand brake only on the rear wheels.
The body had an ordinary wooden structure connected to the metal front end. The side panels of the body were covered with thin steel sheets. The ceiling followed the same pattern of wooden structure and plywood sheets, except that it was covered with a canvas that received no less than seven (or more) layers of paint to ensure impermeability and increase the resistance of the fabric.
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| Detail of texture of tarpaulin in the GAZ-03 roof... Layers and layers of paint... |
The bus had two side doors - one for the passengers and one for the driver - and a rear door (as emergency exit): the initial series had single-leaf door and the production versions, double-leaf, without a central pillar, closed with locks. The passengers door had no handle: only the driver could open it with a special lever device, attached to the dashboard panel by a lever.
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| Mechanism for opening the passengers door. |
Three of the four side windows and the ones on the doors, were equipped with glass that could be raised and lowered by means of handles. The last windows, nearest the rear of the vehicle on each side, was fixed. The two (or three) windows of the rear doors were fixed. The driver windshield could be raised by means of special hinges and locking levers.
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| Windshield of GAZ-AA truck. Notice the special hinges (red arrows) and single windshield wiper (green arrow) |
A single windshield wiper was attached to the upper frame of the windshield in front of the driver's face, to facilitate visibility in bad weather. The windshield wiper was vacuum operated, whose hose was connected to the carburetor intake manifold by a thin hose.
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| GAZ-AA windshield wiper vacuum operated. Observe the hose that connects the windshield wiper to the carburetor intake manifold. |
Passenger seats were arranged in three rows of double seats, with spring cushions and semi-cushioned backrest and three seats for five in the back row. The cushions and backrests were upholstered with synthetic leather. The windshield was equipped with double-layer safety glass and the cabin's side windows were movable (except the last ones on each side). These and other glasses had a thickness of 4.5 mm. The ventilation of the body was made by means of two fans in the upper part of the front wall of the body, equipped with flow control shutters.
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| GAZ-03 bus interior view - Looking ahead. Notice the door handles to lift windows and other details |
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| GAZ-03 bus interior view - Looking back. Notice the simple rear door (early) |
The floor of the vehicle was covered with a black rubber mat. The interior had a synthetic leather finish, glued on plywood. A reinforced folding step was installed at the rear of the body, which in the raised position was part of the outline of the rear body. Behind the step, there was access to the spare wheel. The buses of the 1933-1934 models had short bi-laminar rear bumpers on each side of the body, which were abandoned in later versions. Initially, the vehicle was equipped with 6.00x20 tires, but from the end of the 30s onwards the larger 6.5x20 tires were the standard.
In the cab, in front of the driver, a sub-panel with three instruments was affixed to the center of the panel: Clockwise - the ignition key (1), the optical fuel level indicator (2), the ammeter (3) and below - a speedometer (4), in which the drum numbers are replaced in the fixed window of the device, informing the driver of the speed. A common external lamps installed at the top of the panel served to illuminate the instruments.
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| The real instrument panel Notice the external lamps installed at the top of the panel, to illuminate the instruments. |
The steering system was worm-type, with a ratio of 16.6. The steering wheel had four spokes, in the center of which was a light switch and a horn button. There were two levers behind the steering wheel hub: the left was for manual adjustment of the ignition point and the right for fixing the position of the carburetor butterfly valve. The starter was powered by a switch, operated by the driver's right foot, next to the accelerator.
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| GAZ-03 driver's station |
At night, the road was lit by two 6 volts headlamps, mounted on the crossbar between the front fenders, to which the horn was also attached. A single rear marker lamp with a brake light was attached to the rear of the body.
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| Headlights and horn, in the GAZ-03 front |
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| Rear marker lamp with a brake light |
Improving the lineage:
In 1935, the bus plant created the prototypes GAZ-13 and GAZ-13B. They were slightly more aerodynamic and comfortable models. The plan was that the new models would not replace the GAZ-3s, but would be built in parallel as a market option. The buses differed not only in body shape. In the GAZ-13, the number of seats was reduced to 13 (as in the AMO F-15), with the abolition of the last row giving more space in the cabin.
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| Gaz-13 prototype 3/4 front and right side view Notice the lines, a little more refined |
The seats became more comfortable, with softer backrests. The bus glowed with an aerodynamic chrome cover on the radiator. The body itself has become wider and lower. The design of the second bus, GAZ-13B, became even more daring and refined. Unfortunately, these projects did not succeed. Perhaps due to the smaller number of passengers transported, perhaps due to the individual cost of each vehicle being higher, or perhaps they did not have enough "Soviet" appearance ... who knows? But they were projects that were only in the prototypes.
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| A very crude pic of Gaz-13B prototype. Notice the most elegant and fancy lines... Perhaps too refined and Western for "Soviet purity". |
In the same year of 1935, they decided to make a small restyling of the body in the GAZ-3: A multifunctional panel was installed above the front of the cabin. Its purpose included protection against rain, external signal lights and internal ventilation. The panel included a luminous scoreboard indicating routes and usage. As it was not a public transport vehicle, as a rule the name of the factory or organization to which the bus belonged was indicated.
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| Comparison between the front parts of the GAZ-03 models 1933 and 1935 (left and right, respectively): signal lights in the air intakes and luminous scoreboard |
In 1937, the bus was shortened by 15 cm, and in the next year, 1938, most likely due to a government directive on the unification of buses in wartime, the rear of the body was completely redesigned.
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| Notice the 4th window, smaller, on the side of the bus GAZ-03 1937 |
Now, instead of one door in the back of the bus, a double door has appeared. The rear doorway is twice as wide. In wartime, such buses were easily transformed into ambulances, in which the seats gave way to two perpendicular benches or six places for stretchers. The wide rear opening provided comfortable loading of the wounded.
Back in 1937, a specialized ambulance bus GAZ-03-32 was built, but the business at the car plant did not move beyond experiments. Nevertheless, during the Great Patriotic War, many ordinary GAZ-03-30 buses were re-equipped for army hospitals, where they actively served.
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| A GAZ-03-30 modified as ambulance |
By the way, the sufix 03-30 itself appeared not earlier than 1937. Prior to that, the bus was called either GAZ-3 or "GAZ-AA bus". Perhaps the early body options had other indices (for example, -10, -20). The first digit of the index - zero - indicates the chassis, the second - the body. The automobile plant introduced this practice to designate its models according to the "Ford" principle.
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| 1930s GAZ-03 folder: From the Gorky Automotive Plant The two-axle service bus GAZ-3 A car with body with soft seats and electric lighting. Rear wheels with double rubber tires. The weight of the bus 3,290 k: Price 13 863 rubles. Price with tires, spare wheel and standard set of repair tools. |
In 1938, the new engine of the car GAZ-M1 was also used in the commercial vehicle sector for the first time. The most important difference to the previous engine was an increase in output of 10 hp.
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| Soviet soldiers checking an official's documents in his GAZ-M1 staff-car Great Patriotic War - 1942 |
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| Captured field Marshal Friedrich Paulus out of the car GAZ-M1 in the headquarters of the 64th Army. Beketovka. Stalingrad region - 31.Jan.1943 |
With the outbreak of World War II, the production of GAZ-3 buses was suspended and the vast majority of civilian buses in circulation were requisitioned for military use. The military used them as a transport for soldiers, as a staff car, command car, radio car and many were converted to ambulances and workshops, because of their large body and spacious rear doors ...
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| GAZ-03-30 as Staff bus. Notice the mast for radio antenna in the front left corner of the body Soviet Red Army - 1940. |
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| Same vehicle, with the rear mast visible... |
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| The roomy interior or the GAZ-03-30 staff bus. Rear view. Notice the partition wall between the salon and the driver's station |
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| GAZ-03-30 (1938) 16-seater bus in Soviet Red Army Soldiers transport
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A German newsrell reporter films the consequences of a close impact of a high-explosive shell on the left side of this Russian GAZ-03-30. With the blast of the explosion, much of the left side of the vehicle was blown off, as well as the roof lining. The bodies inside and outside the vehicle are sad evidence of the destructive power of artillery. Rostov-on-Don - 1942 |
The Germans, whenever they could, used these robust vehicles, when captured in good condition ...
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| War booty: a GAZ-03-33 being transported in a railcar, by its new owners. Notice the Notek light in the right fender... |
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| German troops from 79. Infanterie Division Russian front - September, 1941. |
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| A proud German driver besides his Soviet girl... captured GAZ-03-30 somewhere in the rear front |
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| "Say cheese" A GAZ-03-30 in complete white cammo Russian front - winter -1941. |
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| A rare vehicle for Kriegsmarine!! A GAZ-03-30 with a soldier of German Navy. |
All the forces of the bus branch were devoted to the manufacture of military products and to the maximum production of M-55 ambulances (GAZ-55). From 1942 to 1944, only 28 buses were produced, and all of them were used for factory needs. Some sources cite the non-production interval from 1942 to 1944. Other sources assure that this interval was from 1941 to 1945.
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| War effort: an attempt to adapt the gas generator set to the bus. The vehicle performed horribly |
With the end of the conflict in 1945, the serial production of buses has been resumed. A distinctive feature of the new GAZ-03-30 was the presence of simplified L-shaped, squared front fenders. In the same year, the development of a new model of the GAZ-51 chassis began under the GAZ-71 designation.
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| GAZ-03-30 1945. Notice the squared L-shaped front fenders |
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| Unloading a GAZ-03-30 bus body at the Gorky Bus Plant - 1946 |
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| Production of GAZ-03-30 buses at the Gorky Bus Plant - 1946 |
From 1946, Gorkowski Avtobusny Sawod (GZA) took over the production of the GAZ-03-30 buses. This production was also discontinued in 1950, after the construction of a total of 18,613 buses, with the GAZ-03-30 4x2 model being succeeded by the GZA-651 bus.
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| GZA-651 bus |
Despite the relatively low price (13,863 rubles in 1937–1938), the process of building the bus body took a long time and was very time consuming. The complex structure was made of wood and had many small pieces of wood, which made work very difficult. The GAZ-03-30 bus had 508 different wooden elements between them! These bodies were short-lived - they quickly rot and wear out. The buses that survived until the mid-fifties mostly had structures completely rebuilt on the chassis. The four vehicles that have survived to this day have barely preserved part of the original coating, along which the structure has been restored; all the wooden elements were destroyed by time. Two buses survived in St. Petersburg, one in Riga (all with a 1938 model body) and one, with a well-restored body, appeared in 2011 in Moscow (model 1937).
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| GAZ-03-30 - 1937. Moscow - Russia - 2011 |
Specs:
......................GAZ-03-30...................... | |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Gorky Bus Plant |
| Years production | 1933 - 1941 1945 - 1950 |
| Number built | 18.613 |
| Full weight | 3.290 Kg |
| Empty weight | 2.270 Kg |
| Max. speed | 65 Km/h |
| Bus class | service bus, staff bus |
| Seating | 17 |
| Full capacity | 17 people +driver |
| ............................Dimensions........................... | |
| Front wheel track | 1.405mm |
| Rear wheel track | 1.600mm |
| Length | 5.300mm |
| Width | 2.100mm |
| Height | 2.530mm |
| Wheelbase | 3.340mm |
| Number of doors | 3 |
| .............................Engine................................... | |
| Engine model | GAZ-MM |
| Supply system | carburetor |
| Fuel type | petrol |
| No.cylinders | 4 (in line) |
| Power | 50 Hp |
| Volume | 3.285 cm³ |
| Fuel.consumption | 5 Km/l |
| ........................Transmission............................ | |
| Transmission | mechanical |
| Number of gear | 4 |
| ..........................Suspension............................. | |
| Suspension type | cantilever springs (rear) transversal spring (front) |
The kit:
If I were to build a standard personnel transport GAZ-03-30, I could use the MiniArt kit 35149... |
| GAZ-03-30 MiniArt kit (#35149) |
...but for this commission project, my client specifically requested this Workshop version. The kit is the
Werkstattkraftwagen typ.03-30, from MiniArt (#35359)...
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| GAZ Werkstattkraftwagen typ.03-30 |
Well, since that is the challenge, Kojak answers I'M HERE !!!
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| Kojak ready for duty!! |
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| The engine is done... |
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| Alignment, is the key word of this kit ... Aligning the chassis ... |
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| The damn MiniArt wheels ... The engineer who designed this system must hate his own mother ... The question that remains is WHY ??? |
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| WHY did you do that, Miniart ?? WHY??? |
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| After this outburst, we will complete the construction of the wheels ... You aligning treads is just ridiculous !! |
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| You align a chassis, I agree !!! |
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| And our girl, on her own paws !!! |
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| Replacing the plastic rods (fragile and brittle ...) with metal parts !! See if you learn, MiniArt !!! |
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| Installing the cabin floor and the lounge floor on the chassis ... |
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| Closing the snout of the bus and adding the front wall of the vehicle... |
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| Sorry...no pic of the black belly of the girl, but the interior with Russian green is present!! |
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| Doing the internal painting in two tones ... |
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| Dry-run of the roof...Ok... |
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| Doors in position... My client chose to keep only the rear doors open. |
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| Sooo cute!! |
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| Time to start the weathering of the interior... |
While I wait for the interior to dry completely, I will study the construction project of the kit, as proposed by MiniArt and I face a doubt: The kit's proposal is that this bus was captured by the Germans and used (because of its internal space) as a mobile workshop. So far so good ...
The Devil is the cargo rack that was mounted on the roof of the bus. And this rack (according to MiniArt ...) would be full of cargo ...
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| The rack is full of things ... heavy things !!! |
But as we saw in the bus history, the structure of the roof and the body of this vehicle was made of wood and plywood. The ceiling itself was covered with painted canvas ...
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| Notice the roof is supported only by those wooden columns marked with arrows |
The kit figures show on top of that rack nothing more, nothing less than a barrel of fuel (200 liters) + 6 jerrycans (20 liters each) + 2 cans of oil (20 liters each) + 1 complete spare wheel (about 10 kg), plus two bags of potatoes (I think about 50 kg.) I know that 1 liter of fuel does not weigh 1 kg, but taking this parameter, we only have: 200kg + 120 Kg + 40 Kg + 10 Kg + 50 Kg = 420 Kg ... Not to mention the wooden boxes, the log saw, the heat radiator and etc...
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| The suggested things to be installed on the ceiling of the GAZ-03-30 |
You do not agree with me that 500 Kg of load in one wooden structure alone would be excessive... Even more if we consider the oscillations of the vehicle in motion. I think MiniArt exaggerated a bit in this regard, what do you think ??
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| The pendular movement of all this mass would inevitably break the wooden struts, which support the roof... |
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| You can, but it's weird ... |
Well, the solution to carry the fuel drum and all jerry-cans and oil canisters is scratch a little trailer and attach the trailer to the rear of the bus ... But the rear of the bus is faired, without a towing hook (this is even the differential detail between the GAZ-AA and GAZ-03 chassis).
But I remembered that photo, with the GAZ-03 dragging a gasogen trailer ... Hmm ... that opens up a whole range of possibilities:
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| GAZ-03 towing a gasogen trailer... |
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| Let's see in details... Hmmmm... The rear skirt looks cut, with the body "ending" at the bottom of the doors, in the area of the tow hook ... |
But, meanwhile... let's continue with the party: ... As Kojak started a "contesting" phase with this kit, it seems that he really got a taste for it ... The fact that this vehicle has only one seat (the driver's) bothers the bald one a lot! ! A workshop usually works with more personnel ... Engines, transmissions, axles ... are heavy parts and always the presence of two mechanics would be the minimum necessary for handling these parts. And with that thought in mind, we will modify the MiniAt kit once again: we will call another mechanic to be part of the crew of this bus:
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| This is how the bus is according to MiniArt configuration: just one seat ... and for the driver ... There is no room for an assistant... and Kojak cannot work without his lovely assistants... |
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| Gerta, one of the German assistants at Kojak |
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| That would be the intended ... |
The kit comes from the factory with two seats (sprue tree Jb), but mine edition come with one, only.
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| Only one Jb sprue tree in my kit... Thankfully, the glass-lifting levers will not be needed on the sides of the bus, because of the position of the workbenches ... |
I thought about using a solid two-seater seat, typical of GAZ-AA trucks (this part comes as an additional in the GAZ-05-193 kit and today it is part of my wonderful spare parts box ...), but the part does not fit smoothly on the bus. The solution will be to reproduce the original piece.
When I want to reproduce a single piece only, I don't use the expensive and laborious silicone, to make the molding form. I use dental material that can be reused infinitely; o REVERSIBLE HYDROCOLOID AGAR. It is a gelatin that when heated, liquefies in its viscous and liquid form. Upon returning to room temperature, it gels, with very acceptable elastic properties for parts that are not very retentive. It is relatively fragile and tears easily, but if your piece does not have as many retentions, this gelatin is fast, economical and efficient.
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| A plastic container to contain the gelatin ... the reversible Agar gelatin and the piece to be reproduced ... |
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| The gelatine is cut into cubes, to facilitate liquefaction under heat ... |
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| The cut gelatin is placed in a mug, to go to the microwave |
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| ATTENTION. Do not allow the gelatin to boil. Make small increments of time when heating the gelatin ... it liquefies with little time ... If it boils, air bubbles will be incorporated that will ruin the surface of the future casting form ... My gelatin, in that amount, needed only 15 seconds of heating in the microwave |
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| Liquefied gelatin ... You have a working period of one to two minutes at this stage, because gelatin retains a lot of heat. BE CAREFUL NOT TO BURN |
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| Previously, the piece was fixed in the form of plastic with adhesive tape. The gelatine was poured, filling the plastic form. Notice that the form with the liquefied gelatin and the seat was placed on a plate with cold water, to accelerate the gelation of the liquid ... |
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| The rest of the solution can and should be returned to the gelatin jar. It is reversible, remember ?? Zero loss !!! |
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| Note that gelatin has a high surface tension ... it should almost overflow from the mold ... |
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| When the gelatin cools and gels, it contracts a little, reducing the overflow aspect. Touch with a finger and feel the consistency. If it’s firm, it’s time to remove the master from the mold |
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| Removing the tape and, with it ... |
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| The master and the mold, in negativa... |
In this casting phase, you can use self-curing dental acrylic resin. DO NOT USE POLYURETHANE RESIN. Polyurethane hates humidity ... and the agar is almost 100% water. Because it is heat-soluble, you also cannot use lead or molten metal ... In my case, I will use dental acrylic mixed with powdered talc, to decrease the acrylic stiffness.
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| In the photo, in clockwise sequence, liquid acrylic (monomer), acrylic powder (polymer), talc and in the foreground, a small glass jar for handling materials, the gelatine form and the original part |
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| 70% acrylic powder (polymer - pink), 30% talc (white). Mix with liquid acrylic in sufficient quantity to make a homogeneous, non-sandy solution, with good fluidity ... Be quick ... The acrylic hardens in 1 to 2 minutes ... |
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| The manipulated acrylic ready to be poured into the ... |
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| Fill the entire form with a little excess ... The acrylic contracts when it hardens ... Notice the bulging aspect of the acrylic in the form. |
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| While the acrylic hardens completely (from 5 to 10 minutes ...), it removes what is left of your tools ... It is much easier while the thing is just sticky ... |
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| The acrylic is newly poured into the form. Note the excess placed to compensate for the contraction ... |
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| And the new seat, in pink, ready to be used ... Note that the shape is still perfect ... It allows you to reproduce two or three pieces, in sequence ... |
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| Using the same shape, but mixing with graphite powder, instead of talc ... Testing ... testing .... |
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| The acrylic pigmented in black, with graphite ... |
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| Cleaning utensils with toilet paper ... |
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| The new black seat... The talc is better than graphite... Acrylic is easier to cut and sand with talc ... And, after everything was cleaned, the mold returned to the gelatin agar jar ... |
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| Now, Kojak can take Gerta with him ... |
Solved the passenger seat problem, we will build the workbenches. Here, I found another discrepancy: the main bench seems (to me...) too wide for the size of the bus. Look at the photos: the bench is 22mm wide. If we multiply by 35 (the vehicle scale), the bench would be 770mm wide. I know that a big bench is always useful, but the vehicle has a total (external) width of only 2100mm. More than a third would be just the bench ... Let's reduce this to more coherent levels !!
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| Workbench with 770mm is sooooo big!! 560mm is good enough, for this little bus!!! |
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| Cutting the workbench ... Dremel with steel cutting disc. A true danger for the fingers ... |
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| The "original" workbench... |
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| And after resizing ... it seems more logical to me ... Kojak is a big guy and needs space to work !!! |
But the worst comes now: the auxiliary bench on the rear is the same auxiliary bench of the staff-bus GAZ-05-193, only installed inverted. In the instruction, she leaves the right side and goes to the left. But the furniture table simply does not fit in the space indicated: a sharp angle adapting to a rounded corner and vice versa ...
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| Shame on you, MiniArt... |
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| And we still have the two holes in the entry support handle, which in this case are useless ... |
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| One option would be to invert the board, sanding the groove. With that, the internal angles are perfect (green arrows) , but the external ones not ... |
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| Best option: make a new board, with plasticard of the same thickness, but with all the curves in the right places !!! |
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| Important detail: placing the workbench as far forward as possible, with the edge ending at the driver's door (red arrow). |
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| New board with corrected angles... In the red arrow, the bench ledge calls for a special notch ... |
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| The notch executed ... |
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| And in position!! |
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| Like a glove!!! |
As I have the Devil in my body, I decided to open the "dead" space on the secondary bench (another inheritance from the GAZ-05-193 kit: this piece is the central desk of the staff bus), which would be the top of the drawers that open from the two sides of the table. But that would only be justified if the central position was maintained: as the table is now on the side, when opening and eliminating the drawers "on the other side", we won a shelf !!!
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| Cutting the bottom of the drawers, to gain a shelf |
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| And now, the table board is small ... and very thin. More scratch ... I didn't increase the width too much, I just made the wood touch the side of the bus. |
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| The right workbench in position, with new table. Much, much better!!! |
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| And the interior of the bus, with new (and more coherent) ergonomics !!! |
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| The auxiliary cabinet in the right side |
And continuing with the quest to adapt the furniture to the interior of the bus ... You remember that the main bench was very wide and the auxiliary (which serves as a support for the column drill) had a board with the wrong shape, which it would allow parts and tools to fall between the bench and the bus side wall.
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| The position of the workbenches and the column drill, according to MiniArt |
We should never leave a "gap" like a carpet-monster to swallow our parts in the workshop. Even more so when this case is solid, with no possibility of picking up parts through the supports. Here's the problem ..
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| In pink, the gap between the side wall of the bus and the solid cabinet for the column drill... A true carpet-mosnter... Notice the solid aspect of the cabinet's base... |
When correcting the width of the main bench and the new table of the column drill cabinet, the pink parts (and space) were eliminated and the column drill no longer fits in the corrected space. Notice the electric engine of the drill practically leaning in the side wall of the bus. We'll have to fix this too ...
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| In summary, the column drill is also very long ... |
The solution is simple: decrease the length of the column drill, cutting some segments of the skin, as shown in the diagram below: Let's remove the pink parts, gluing the resized partson the new position (green arrows) and repositioning the base locking lever (red arrow). It looks complicated, but it is not ...
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| Left side: MiniArt drill; right side: the new Panzerserra one!! |
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| The "new" drill in position... Notice the absence of the gap at the rear of the drill and the base perfectly positioned on its cabinet (red arrows) ... |
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| The new Panzerserra's column drill, after painting, in close-up view... |
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| Kojak is really uneasy: he changed the air compressor transport bow for something more "correct" ... |
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| Testing the various components ... |
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| Applying white primer to some parts very well injected by MiniArt ... |
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| And the work of painting the details starting ... |
This detail painting step is a pain, in my opinion ... really a pain in the ass ... And to liven things up a bit, let's build a trailer for the heavy load to be able to be loaded, because the roof of this bus it really wasn't made for a lot of weight ... the proposal would be this:
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| The trailer's concept... Notice the same wheelof the bus. |
The fitting of the trailer to the rear of the bus would look something like that photo of the gasogen trailer, with the cut on the lower rear of the trailer for the installation of a tow hook for the GAZ-AA truck.
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| Again, the detail of the fitting of the gasogen trailer to the rear of the bus. The cargo trailer will be something like that... |
The concept of the idea would be to use components compatible with the Russian bus. Wheels, tires, the load structure itself and the chassis made from captured Russian trucks scraps. The most important item is the standardization of the wheels, with the trailer and the bus sharing the same wheels. With that in mind, let's start ...
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| Cargo bay cutted from an old part of Zvezda GAZ-AA truck. (the dimensions are 48mm x 53mm) The wheels are from MiniArt kit and the tires from my spare parts box. |
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| The trailer's chassi, made with Plastruct. The axle is Plastruct too and the springs in resin, from my spare parts box... |
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| The spare wheel of the bus cannot remain in its original location because of the tow hook. So, this is your new location ... |
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| Testing the triler in the rear's bus... Notice the electric tools in place (electric cables pointed by arrows...) |
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| Let's do some reinforcements in the trailer loading area ... Increase the height of the cargo flaps (red arrows). Notice the tow eye of trailer, made with cooper wire. |
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| Rear door locking hooks, from the Zvezda kit ... |
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| Rear door locking hooks, from the Zvezda kit ... Rear view |
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| Reinforcing the trailer chassis. Kojak is a knowledgeable and competent guy ... |
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| Testing the bus-trailer set. |
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| Detail of the oxyacetylene welding set. Hoses are computer mouse wires. There is still no painting of pressure gauges and weathering ... |
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| The trailer with an example of typical load: two fuel drums and something else ... |
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| Kojak is calmer now !!! |
A Facebook friend, Greg Beckman, sent me the photo of a model kit of a Russian trailer, very similar to the Kojak trailer.. THANKS A LOT, GREG!!
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| The Maquette kit box art. In B&W!! |
This kit is also injected by Micro Scale Design (MSD), a russian company:
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| MSD box art...in colors, now!! |
Researching about this type of trailer, I liked the engineering solutions for stabilizing the trailer, when not attached to the bus. See the red arrows:
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| 1-AP-1 russian trailer specs Notice the the supports that stabilize the trailer horizontally (2 and 3, in the top) |
But don't forget: the Kojak's trailer is not a 1-AP-1 russian trailer, but a field construction with field scrap material... Scratch time, my bald friend ...
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| The trailer with the stabilizers in position. The rear are telescopic and the front is an articulated "A" type support. |
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| The rear stabilizers. made with Plastruct and metal pin. The metal slides under friction inside the plastic tube... |
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| The front stabilizer; "A" frame with articulation, in closed (transport) position. Notice the lock and chain made with metal scraps... |
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| The "A" frame, in open position... |
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| The movement of the rear stabilizers. The plastic shoes were glued with super-glue and epoxy. |
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| The trailer, horizontally, stabilized by its own paws ... |
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| The trailer, stabilized by its own extended legs ... |
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| and with the paws retracted, stabilized by the bus towing hook |
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| Panzer-gray!!! |
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| The end is near!!! |
Well, we have already decided that our young lady will be a cousin-sister of the GAZ-05-193 staff bus project, serving under Guderian's orders, on the Russian Front, in the 4th Panzer Division, in 1941. But let's see some more constructive details ...
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| Clor-base: Panzer-gray . The girl with her windows covered with paper-tape... |
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| 3/4 front left view... the little white dot is the compressor air manometer... |
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| Right side. Notice the electric grinder, in red... |
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| While the paint dries, Kojak will weld the controversial roof rack. The use of a small electronic welder makes perfect joints. Kojak is a purist !!! |
And speaking of purism, let's reinforce the rack to redistribute the weight that will be supported on the roof structure. I chose to make three transverse girders, with Plastruct with "U" channel profile.
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| Three transverse girders, made with Plastruct. |
These girders will rest on two longitudinals ones, on the roof of the bus. As a result, the weight of the rack would be supported by ALL the wooden structural parts of the roof of the bus.
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| The two longitudinal girders on topo of the bus... Notice the better distribution of forces... |
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| Final results... Chuck is happy...and Kojak, too!!! |
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| front view... Indeed, Kojak is a wise guy!! |
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| Replacing the "fragile" headlight arch by something more "rough" |
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| The installation of folding auxiliary ladder rack and testing in position... |
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| The bus, almost ready for closing the roof... |
It's time to call Kojak's assistants to clean up the mess inside the bus. Kojak's assistants are organized and orderly.
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| Kojak's cleaning team: Monique, Lysette and Antoinette! |
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| Notice the tools and details in the bus interior... The Kojak's maids are awesome... left side |
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| Interior bus - rear view |
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| Right side |
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| The chair is in the transport position ... |
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| Kojak found a good place to tie the log saw |
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| Next step: close the roof!!! Chuck approves!!! |
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| But before closing the roof of the bus, let's install the lighting inside the bus ... Kojak needs a lot of light for his work ... |
Markings for the bus:
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| GAZ-03-30 color and markings guide |
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| Notice the roof in black!! 4th Panzer Divison - Russian Front, 1941. Guderian rules!! |
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| The rear doors will stay open ... |
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| Markings in the rear door... Notice the steps in the left door... |
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| Time to start the weathering... |
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| The end is near... |
In the meantime, let's return to the trailer ...Barrels of gasoline, oxy-acetylene, oil cans, jerry-cans, metal boxes and a space made of wood to transport coal. The use of activated carbon from aquarium filters is perfect for reproducing coal in scale.
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| The trailer with full capacity... |
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| Coal and cargo separated by a board ... |
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| The gas pump hose ... Thin electrical wire without the copper "core". |
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| Notice the oxy-acetylene device ... |
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| Now with the gauges ... Kraut is happy !!! |
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| Tied barrels ... And oxyacetylene is marked with chalk: Voll: full !! |
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| A bag of potatoes tied up outside ... It is prudent not to mix food with fuel !! |
After organizing the heavy load in the trailer, we will take care of the light load on the roof of the bus. I will make a load wrapped with canvas, in the technique already demonstrated here with tracing paper + PVA glue
Lets start... |
| Tracing paper + PVA glue + styrofoam block |
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| The "light" cargo in the rack of the bus |
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| Water jerry-can, crates, potato bags and a spare wheel... |
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| Cargo in the top of the bus... |
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| Kojak is happy, now... |
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| A "spoiler" of the project... |
Final touches:
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| Lenses for big eyes!!! |
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| The gauge of air compressor... little big details... |
And finally, the girl was ready: Meet GAZ-03-30 4x2 Werkstattkraftwagen, providing duties with Army Group Centre, 2nd Panzer Group (Guderian). XXIV Panzer Corps - 4th Panzer Division - Motorized Repair Shop Company in Panzer Division. Captured GAZ-03-30 modified as mobile workshop bus, in Orel - Russia. Operation Barbarossa, October - 1941.
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| Captured GAZ-03-30 4x2 Werkstattkraftwagen Army Group Centre - 2nd Panzer Group (Guderian). XXIV Panzer Corps - 4th Panzer Division Motorized Repair Shop Company in Panzer Division. Orel - Russia. Operation Barbarossa, October - 1941. |
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| GAZ-03-30 4x2 Werkstattkraftwagen with Kojak and Rover, the dog. |
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| Trailer made in field conditions... |
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| GAZ-03-30 4x2 Werkstattkraftwagen with trailer |
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| GAZ-03-30 4x2 Werkstattkraftwagen with trailer Kojak and Rover are very proud. |
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| GAZ-03-30 4x2 Werkstattkraftwagen with trailer side by side with GAZ-05-193 Staff Bus DISCLAIMER The publication of any images or informations related t nazism, fascism or any other totalitarian regimes must be understood as the reproduction of historical accuracy and not as apology to these regimes, leaders or symbols. |
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| Captured GAZ-03-30 4x2 Werkstattkraftwagen with trailer Army Group Centre - 2nd Panzer Group (Guderian). XXIV Panzer Corps - 4th Panzer Division Motorized Repair Shop Company in Panzer Division. Orel - Russia. Operation Barbarossa, October - 1941. |
See you soon, Kameraden!!
