M10 Achilles Scratchbuild 3d Print

[AlwynTurner]

After throwing out a query for the next build Mick came up with the idea of an M10 Achilles, and as a change from all those tanks beginning with C I decided it was a great idea so here we go

and a start on the turret (still a lot of work to do on this)






At least it's a beginning on something new
Alwyn

[Son of a gun-ner]

Will this utilise the standard Heng Long turret rotation setup?

[Son of a gun-ner]

These may come in handy.
It would appear the bottom right bar of the protective barrier is meant to be curved inwards.

[AlwynTurner]

The design will provide for a slightly modified turret rotation ring but will still work with the hl turret rotation motor. I'm going to have to take out the usual turret floor as per the photos which are really useful thanks.

It's going to be fun fitting a battery and electronics into what's left of the hull

Alwyn

[Ecam]

Son of a Gunner,
That first picture shows ready racks on the left front of the turret wall. They are absent in the second. I wonder if that was a field mod, or possibly a Korean war mod?!?

Alwyn, going to be watching this build with excitement!

[Son of a gun-ner]

Son of a Gunner,
That first picture shows ready racks on the left front of the turret wall. They are absent in the second. I wonder if that was a field mod, or possibly a Korean war mod?!?

Alwyn, going to be watching this build with excitement!

Good question. I only collected those pictures for the breech detail. Maybe the pictures with the barriers are a late mod. Also there's every chance the racks were removed before the new owners acquired the tank.
I'm sure those racks were an original feature.

Edit to add, I have a Tamiya kit, I'll take a look at that, although there's no guarantee the Tamiya kit is correct.

[tomhugill]

Very exciting alwyn! I have an m10 printed shell but no gun or turret interior, might be tapping you up for some bits to finish mine!

[AlwynTurner]

Some progress on the gun





Just a start really, lots to do. I managed to open the base of the turret as much as can be given the hl turret gear limitations. I've also started to prepare for the gun mantlet. There will definitely be no possibilty of a recoil mechanism because there just isn't space.

Alwyn

[Son of a gun-ner]

There will definitely be no possibilty of a recoil mechanism because there just isn't space.

That's defeatist talk. . . .

[AlwynTurner]

Here's progress on the gun

Alwyn

[c.rainford73]

Looking great Alwyn. Could you possibly sneak a micro servo under the gun like the 88mm you printed for the Nashorn and make it recoil? Either way it's fantastic

Sent from my moto g stylus 5G using Tapatalk

[HERMAN BIX]

In other words
“ Just DO it “

[AlwynTurner]

WOW!!! Jusy received an amazing goody bag from Mick of parts for the build


Many many thanks to Mick

This build will now move to high gear!

Alwyn

[AlwynTurner]

After some brutal work on the sherman chassis to remove the battery box and associated fixtures and fittings I started to look at how the turret would be mounted. I had a goldilocks dilemma, the standard HL turret ring was too small, the large HL turret ring was too large at 140mm diameter, so I had to devise my own which is just right (that's the one on the left, the one on the right is the standard.

Having developed and printed the gear ring, the next move was to modify the turret design and it now looks much better, plus I could make a start on the upper hull. The turret floor opening is almost correct to the blueprint but I can't enlarge it any more due to the constraints of the turret gear ring.

The turret base opening is almost correct to the blueprint and the new design turret ring is still compatible with the HL turret turn motor.


The upper hull is still in skeleton form for prototyping as I don't want to waste time and filament printing something that may not work. Once I've printed and proved it I can then fill it out.

Alwyn

[whitecitadel]

Your new turret ring looks excellent, can I ask what your doing the design in is that Fusion 360?

I have only really tinkered in tinkercad, but as I look making parts for Tank's it seems I have many hours of learning ahead to try and get some basic skills in 360.

[AlwynTurner]

Hi, I use OPENSCAD and have used it for about 5 years now, I find a flexible and powerfull CAD tool and is fairly easy to learn, after all I learned it and I never had any previous experience with CAD. The link is here
https://openscad.org/
The software is free, well supported, and there are many teaching videos plus an excellent on-line help manual available. I can thoroughly recommend it. The turret gear was a design done using a gear model available on Thingiverse
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4194148

In fact there are a number of scad designs on thingiverse

Thanks for the interest
Alwyn

[whitecitadel]

Thanks for taking time to reply, I am going to investigate openscad then, and the thingiverse model for gears.

I have been watching YouTube tutorials in an attempt to understand rack and pinion for recoil in fusion360 - pretty complicated stuff!

The Achilles is going to look great

[AlwynTurner]

The first section of the upperhull is printed



Oh I do love it when a plan comes together
I'm thinking that rather than filling in the skeleton I will rather skin it, It will make it faster to print and because the skins will be printed flat there will be no desposition lines plus detail can be added without being distorted.
Alwyn

[Edumardo]

Hi Alwyn!

Fantastic work, I will stay here to see your progress

I like the idea to use a skeleton form for prototyping, thanks for share with us

[AlwynTurner]

The front part of the upper hull is now printed and I can see some minor tweaks that I need to do, but generally it's looking good and fitting perfectly.





I'm really pleased with the turret open space as the turret gear ring fits perfectly




Looking good so far
Alwyn