Every ending is a new beginging.

Everything in life does not end the way we thought it would. This is very true where my Hetzer is concerned. An ambitious project to be certain, but achievable. However, it will not come to fruition. My biggest mistake with the Hetzer was not fully articulating the projects goals. I said early on that I had no idea what I was going to use it for, I just wanted to build the thing. As I continued to work on the project, I began to realize I had some serious design flaws. No not in a mechanical sense, but in the capabilities of the finished project. It simply was not enough to just build it; I wanted it to be able to do more than it was designed for.

Specifically, I wanted it big enough for more than one person to fit in the thing. The Hetzer, even at full size, is not very big; knock it down to 60% and one person is all that is going to fit in comfortably. This "problem" is made worse by the fact there simply is no way to make it bigger without re-doing everything. So, several months ago I made the decision to scrap this project and start another. I used the winter hiatus (read: cold weather) to chose a new tank and work up the CAD drawings for it. I also made several key upgrades in my little tank factories capabilities. In the Hetzer project, I tried to use as many parts as possible "off the shelf" due to my limited fabrication skills/equipment. This made me make many compromises in how close to scale I was staying. I added a plasma cutter, metal bending equipment and a new welder to the arsenal. Moving forward, I will fabricate almost everything from scratch. Outside the engine/hydraulics package, about the only thing I am not making myself is the bearings and nuts & bolts.

So , last week the Hetzer was cut up for parts. I salvaged the longer pieces of square tub and will use the springs and bearings in the next project. The hubs, rims and wheels will be sold or traded away.

So what is the next project you ask?

The Brummbär......