A single fuzzy photo of the deployed anchor appears in “Encyclopedia of German Tanks of WWII” by Chamberlain, Doyle and Jentz. This photo is very important in that it shows how the device worked. When the anchor was deployed, the trailing wheels were kicked out to the back so the heavy claws could dig into the earth to provide a strong leverage point. This meant that the whole trailing wheel support had to swing out the back. This also meant that the support had to be fairly rigid as well since it supported the weight of the anchor through its rotational arc. How’s that for being technical!

As stated before, this piece was totally scratchbuilt. The scale drawings that I had showed multiple views of the anchor, so construction was fairly straightforward. Armed with various sizes of Evergreen styrene channel and angle, I set to work.

Construction was broken down into 4 main components; the heavy anchor body, the trailing wheels with support structure, the front towing/pulley assembly and the interconnecting skeleton with winch.

The anchor body forms the main attachment for most of the other assemblies and it was tackled first. The main curved structure was cut from 2 pieces of 0.125” styrene sheet that were held together by 2-sided tape. This ensured that the 2 pieces would be exactly the same after a session with my belt sander. After this rough cut, the final shape was formed with files and sandpaper to get a semi-smooth finish. I wasn’t too concerned about finish on the edges, as I assumed that this piece was cut by torch in reality. 2 beveled pieces of 0.060” styrene were added to the tips of the “hook” to provide grips to the anchor when it was embedded in the earth. More details are shown in the photos below.

The next step involved construction of the trailing wheels and support structure. Details here were sketchy other than what was provided on the scale drawings. I had to interpolate some of the construction here in order to make this section look robust and actually function. The heavy tapered supports were cut from 0.125” stock and then sanded to final shape. The bottom axle crosspiece was cut from a section of 0.25” square stock. Chopped up sections of Panzer IV road wheel springs were used as the axle mounts for the wheels. These were detailed with some Grant Line bolts and washers and also some hex nuts from my punch and die set. The wheels themselves are actually resin copies of “The Show Modeling” Late Opel Blitz wheels. Another member of our club cast these for me. I also added a “toe in” adjustment link between the wheels as a final detail. A mechanic buddy of mine explained to me its purpose when I didn’t understand its purpose from the drawings. I also added one last item that I thought would be required. This was lifting eye that was in the middle of the axle cross piece. I figured that once the trailing wheels were kicked out so the anchor could be deployed, there had to be a method of bringing the wheels back up to the towing position. I decided that the winch would be used to achieve this. Heavy locking pins would then be used to reattach the front portion of the trailing support to the anchor body. These pins were made from styrene rod that were bent and had a section of retaining chain added to them. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it! The tops of the trailing supports were constructed from square stock and rod. Sections of brass rod were inserted to provide strength and a functioning pivot.

It was at this stage that I discovered an error in the scale drawings. In order for the trailing support and wheels to pass between the anchor body rear and bottom, I had to modify the anchor body itself. The sections of 0.060” that were attached to the anchor tips to form the “grips” had to be cut off on the inner faces of the anchor. The photos only show the remaining outer halves of the “grips”. The length of the anchor also had to be shortened as well. In order for the axles to clear the end of the anchor, I had to trim approximately 0.125” from the end and reshape the ends. After these mods. the trailing supports rotated out through the anchor with ease. Another fine piece of German engineering!

I tackled the front towing/pulley assembly next.

This was the business end of the Bergeanker device. By threading a tow cable through this pulley and, if required, through one attached to the BgPz III, heavily bogged own vehicles could be recovered. This plate usually rested on the ground when it was in use. I took an educated guess here and figured that the towing pin could be used to secure one end of the tow cable to the towing arm. I deviated from the scale drawings here and changed the construction of the towing arm in order to achieve this. This mod. also created the need to fabricate an intermediary shackle between the towing arm and the towing pintle since the junction was rotated by 90 degrees. The 2 large pulleys were built by cutting out 0.010” and 0.030” styrene discs and then sandwiching them together. These were attached to the base plate with a pin through the center. The rear support/attachment arm was built up as per the scale drawings from 0.030” styrene and had weld detail added with styrene rod. Grab handles were added from copper wire bent to shape. Various bolt details were created from a hex punch set. Since this base plate also pivoted, a sliding lock arm was added in order to lock the base during towing. This involved some artistic license, as the drawings were not clear on this. Two handles were added just behind the base plate in order to help with the maneuvering of the anchor during attachment or removal to the towing pintle on the BgPz. III.

The last item to be built was the interconnecting skeleton and winch. The main sections were built from 0.060” by 0.120” or 0.060” by 0.140” styrene stock. This was a perfect application for all that high school geometry I took years ago. I had to carefully measure each piece to length and then cut complementary angles in order to make everything symmetrical. This was greatly aided by a tool I bought a long time ago at an IPMS National show in the States. It’s called a miter sander and it allows you to sand pieces of styrene at precise angles. Without this tool, it would have been extremely difficult to keep every piece square and at the proper angle. The previous photo shows the junctions at the front towing/pulley assembly. The one below shows the difficult 5-point junction that had to be built at the top-front of the anchor body. I’m glad I paid attention in Geometry class!

The winch was fairly basic. Only one off angle photo exists of it, as far as I know, so I kept it simple.

I always got a kick of the box art from CMK’s kit of their bogus “Berge Tiger” showing the vehicle recovering a German half-track from a ditch. It depicted the Berge Tiger on the road and a single crewman winching the half-track out by hand! He must have had his spinach that day in order to do that! I figured I might as well put one of these “super winches” on my Bergeanker too.

I started by sandwiching a section of styrene tube between 2 0.040” discs. A smaller section of rod was then drilled through the ends of the reel. A spare brass gear was then super glued to this rod. Another smaller gear was then added below this one. Supports for the reel were made from sections of channel that were heat formed into a 90-degree bend. They were then attached to the upper support arms. The ends of the reel were detailed with bolts and a small box to depict the ratcheting mechanism. A ratchet handle was formed from a section of styrene rod. Picture hanging wire was wound around the reel to complete the “super winch”. I must emphasize that this entire assembly was created off the top of my head, but unless somebody can come up with actual photos, it will do.

Painting and Markings

Once complete, the entire vehicle was primed with Mr. Surfacer 500. This was allowed to dry for 48 hours before the first coat of paint was applied. I chose to base coat the vehicle and anchor in Gunze Sangyo German Yellow. I find this colour weathers better the Tamiya equivalent. The green and red stripes were applied next to BgPz. III only and were of the Gunze brand again. I let the paint cure for 24 hours before any more work was done.

Since I was going to use dry transfers exclusively on the vehicle, I did not seal the paint until the markings were applied. Markings consisted of balkencruz from Archer and tactical markings from A.D.V. of France. After these were applied, I flat coated the entire vehicle to seal the paint.

Weathering consisted of a wash of Windsor Newton burnt umber thinned with turpentine. It was applied heavier to the lower portions of both vehicles. The tracks were painted with Testor’s Model Master Exhaust Buffing Metallizer. They were then washed with burnt umber and black colours and dry brushed lightly with Testor’s silver. Pastel chalks and Mig pigments were applied after the vehicles were dry brushed with Tamiya Buff. This completed the weathering process to my satisfaction.

The vehicle needed a bit of a “tow truck” look so I added a fuel drum, cutting torch set, jerry cans, extra ropes and tools to the work platform. Extra road wheels were added to the rear deck of the BgPz. III along with a section of scratch built tow cable. Extra heavy pulleys were also added from the Tamiya “Tank Recovery Accessory Set".

If there is anything that I have missed, I have included other miscellaneous photos below from the construction and finish stages.

I hope you have enjoyed the article and photos of this fairly unique vehicle combination.

As a footnote, since I had completed this model, CMK has released a resin conversion kit for the BgPz. III. I cannot comment on its contents or accuracy, as I haven’t seen it yet.

Acknowledgements

I would like to extend a special thanks to Christophe Jacquemont for providing the scale drawings to me so many years ago. Thank You!!

Also, thanks to Dave Guertin of BLAP Models for casting the road wheels for the Bergeanker for me. With 2 kids of my own, I just don’t have the time for this kind of work.

And one final note! I did manage to complete the vehicle for our club's “1 year build” contest !!!

Construction: The Bergeanker

Painting and Markings

Acknowledgements