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Mon Jul 21, 2025 10:21 pm

Great progress again, its going to be super strong

Tue Jul 29, 2025 9:42 pm

Thank you cyberdyne systems 101 it’s coming together well I think. I am still away at work, but had some time to raid the local dump to find some pieces that I could convert to useable parts.

The pieces I was trying to make is a rear machine gun support while driving which folds up and down into a clip when not needed. In the following photo of an original and my piece you can see where it mounts:

A close up of my pieces:

I will install and paint them when home.

Thanks for following
Mike

Wed Aug 13, 2025 9:04 pm

Hello all, another small update. I managed to make some time to clean up my welds on the driver side framework, and paint all the new frameworks currently installed. I then mounted a reproduction WW2 German gas mask container to the first frame (looks like it’s hanging but is screwed solid to the frame). It now contains a small fire extinguisher for safety sake and is almost completely hidden in the gas mask container.

I also managed to mount the rear machine gun support clamp I made to the first frame on the passenger side as well as mounting the hinged support I made to the horizontal frame. I got them primed will try to paint them later this week.

Stay tuned for more updates.

Cheers,
Mike

Fri Aug 15, 2025 8:16 pm

Hello all, another quick update.

I got the machine gun rear support and the steel support underneath on the passenger side painted today.

I took the pictures when the paint was still wet thus the colour difference. Second picture is a comparison to an original schwimmwagen side by side.

Next time continue on the passenger side steel work and then the seat mounts.

Stay tuned,
Mike

Fri Aug 15, 2025 11:29 pm

Looking good there

Sat Aug 16, 2025 7:25 am

Awesome keep it up!

Sat Sep 06, 2025 11:54 am

Hello all, once again a small update for you. While away I made some mounts for the upper rifle holders mid cabin, and some strap holders for loose equipment. When home first of all I cleaned up some work on the drivers side and mounted and painted the drivers side rifle holder.

Next up mounted the passenger side rifle holder and the loose equipment holders and painted them.

Next up continued on with the passenger side framing.

That’s all for today but will update soon.

Cheers,
Mike

Sat Oct 11, 2025 11:11 am

Hello folks, sorry for the lack of updates but I managed to catch pneumonia and ended up in hospital, still recovering a month later, but starting to get some strength back to be able to do some small work on the schwimmwagen.

Based on actual upper rifle mounts I cut some leather pieces and stitched them onto the sides of each frame, as well found some rubber bumpers for the front side. The results are below.

I then purchased some webbing straps and installed them onto the spare equipment attachment points on the passenger side.

I know it’s kind of hard to see, but will show up in the future. I hope to get back to welding in the next week, wish me luck.

Thanks for following.
Cheers, Mike

Sat Oct 11, 2025 1:36 pm

I certainly wish you luck, not that you'll need it I feel. I've had pneumonia, it's not pleasant and certainly takes a good while to get your strength back, I wish you all the best.

Sat Oct 11, 2025 8:06 pm

Thanks cyberdyne systems 101, every day I feel a little bit better but taking time to recover for sure.

I did manage to try some welding this afternoon, felt good finally making some progress today. I managed to weld the vertical support on the passenger side in place and bond it to the side wall as well. Once it is dry I can paint it.

Once that was installed I clamped the for and aft vertical support in place ready to weld in place.

You can see the comparison to the drivers side in this pic.

See what I can get done in the next few days.

Thanks Mike

Sun Oct 12, 2025 12:00 am

This is great progress, well done

Thu Oct 16, 2025 5:57 pm

Thanks cyberdyne systems 101, happy to be getting back to working on it a bit, it’s my happy place.

The weather the last few days has turned nice and warm and my energy level has improved so was able to clean up my welding of the for and aft support, and break out the paint and got the vertical support and the lower part of the horizontal painted.

Then I measured cut and bent the upper 90 degree finishing rail on top of the horizontal support and got it clamped in place ready to weld.

Today was threatening to rain so spent the day doing some house work, but managed to start repairing the 2 lower rifle holders which are original and rusty. So spent some time cleaning them up and getting them ready to paint then leatherwork afterwords. The piece in the back is a piece of the original leather.

Stand by for more updates soon I hope.

Cheers,
Mike

Fri Oct 17, 2025 8:51 pm

Hello all, another nice weather day made some more progress.

Managed to finish welding the passenger side supports smoothed them out and got it all painted. Next up is to fit the seat supports.

I also worked on the lower rifle holders that are original, I cleaned up the rust sprayed them with rust encapsulator, smoothed them out a bit and painted them. Now they are ready to sew the leather pieces to them.

Stand by for more progress.

Cheers,
Mike

Fri Oct 17, 2025 11:51 pm

Great to see those original rifle mounts, they turned out pretty good considering there condition.

Sun Oct 19, 2025 9:05 pm

Hey folks a quick update to show my sewing handiwork on the lower original rifle mounts that I got done today. They are now ready to install in the schwimmwagen.

Working on another piece as well to add to the interior. Stand by for that.

Cheers,
Mike

Wed Oct 29, 2025 7:16 pm

Hello all, another update for you all. Another piece I acquired that was dug out of the ground in Russia was an ammunition holder for the MG34 machine gun. It was portable, and carried two machine gun drum magazines that held 50 bullets each. The holder was pretty rusted was missing 1/2 a rear leg and seized up. After a lot of cleaning filling and manufacturing I came to a point ready for paint. The photo shows it holding two original drum magazines that are in good shape that I’m purchased elsewhere.

Before painting I then fit the holder into its position in the schwimmwagen.

Next up painted the holder to match the magazines as per original.

Mounted it back in the car.

Next photo shows an original schwimmwagen with its camouflaged holder and magazine compared to mine now.

And finally as it sits in the car.

More updates to come soon.
Cheers,
Mike

Wed Oct 29, 2025 10:26 pm

That is a really cool detail! I love your eye for it!

Sun Nov 02, 2025 7:17 pm

Thanks VW_Jimbo glad you are enjoying the build.

Another small update for you guys. I repost a picture of my lower rifle mounts that I restored earlier. I managed to use another warm enough day to bond the two mounts to the bottom of the car. I used pieces of steel tube to line them up.

I also got the alignment of the drivers seat figured out. I have two cross bars a steel seat mount and the seat all to align. It has to be shimmed up, but the photos show where it will live. Hope to have it bolted in place in the next few days.

Cheers,
Mike

Mon Nov 03, 2025 12:47 am

54bugn wrote: I managed to use another warm enough day to bond the two mounts to the bottom of the car. I used pieces of steel tube to line them up.

You mean you didn't have two rifles hanging about for that? :D

Thu Nov 06, 2025 3:06 pm

Cyberdyne systems 101, couldn’t find my rifles lol.

So I Managed to finish the assembly and installation of the drivers seat.

Seat cushions have yet to be made.

Next up starting to work on the front passenger seat.

Cheers,
Mike