A39 Tortoise

This section is for builds that are not strictly Tamiya or Heng Long. For instance, replacing the electronics from a WSN or Matorro, or even a scratch-build.
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tomhugill
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Re: A39 Tortoise

Post by tomhugill »

ImageIt's been a very very long time but I thought I'd get the tortoise out of hibernation. There have been a few bits and bobs which had needed making before I could get my teeth into the build proper.

The main one was the gearbox. I wanted to use a pdsgb on this beast but no suitable shafts were available. I had spoken to Carson about getting some custom length ones made but he said due to covid it wasn't possible.

Luckily I was able to get in touch with Saer at full metal panzer who make these. He was beyond helpful with this and some other things. He machined some correct length shafts for the tortoise at a very reasonable price.

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The gearbox plate mounts nicely in the tortoise front end, however I did need to grind back the inside of transmission cover to get a good fit. I also milled out some channels to allow for removal of the mounting screws without removing the transmission cover.

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The tortoise was suffering the effects of some poor storage on my part. Some of the bogies had corroded and seized, same with the tracks.

The seized parts were removed and replaced with new and new tracks were found in my spares box.

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Guido Henn had been previously kind enough to make me an extra wide trade tensioner, this was finally fitted to allow adjustments to the tension and also stiffen the rear end up. Torro king tiger sprockets and idlers were also fitted at this point.

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The chassis will be recieving some alloy bracing at some point to add some stiffness, although with the top on that's pretty much none existent now.

Next up it trying to fix some of the grime and corrosion that has accumulated. Iain used untreated steel bolts which had corroded heavily. These were removed and ground back to sound metal. Whilst removed the styrene around it was sanded back and cleaned. The rivets on the engine deck had also suffered so those were also cleaned up. Some primer was used to seal things up.

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Next up I added all the missing bolts down the fenders, the template I got with it really helped here.

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Lastly I've added a thick layer of Mr surfacer 500 to the barrel to smooth down down the undulations on the printed sleeve. This will be sanded when dry and more layers added until I get it right.






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Herr Dr. Professor
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Re: A39 Tortoise

Post by Herr Dr. Professor »

Hmm... That's an unusual tortoise--good enough to fool the real ones. :clap: My two seem curious.
Whoa Wassat.jpg
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Shootermcgraw
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Re: A39 Tortoise

Post by Shootermcgraw »

Looking forward to seeing the progress on this one!

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tomhugill
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Re: A39 Tortoise

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Hey folks a little update on the tortoise. Got a chance to fit the resin printed piece that woz kindly designed for me. The quality and detail is brilliant.

I've also added the missing rivets to the one skirt side thank to an excellent template Iain had provided.

I do want to make some slight tweaks to make the hatches open. Watch this space.

It's not all been plain sailing, through clumsyness I dropped the top and damages the mantlet, (twice ImageImageImage) despite loosing some pieces I was able to repair with some old fashioned milliput. This has actually made it stronger than before so silver linings!

To make the recoil I had intended to use a Clark unit I had knocking about but space was restricted with the pivot for the gun so it wasn't an option. My solution was to cut down a Heng long recoil to use the guide tracks for the barrel to stop it twisting and give something for the linkage to attach to. I added a small styrene square to this where it needed to be (due to cutting the other 3 sides off the recoil!). The recoil servo is mounted to the remains recoil, the elevation servo was attached to another thick strip attached to the base of the trunnion. Lastly the traverse servo is mounted to the casemate roof.

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Model Builder 4
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Re: A39 Tortoise

Post by Model Builder 4 »

Nice work Tom, you've added some great looking details, it's going to be a lovely rarely seen piece of armour when it's completed :thumbup:

Cheers,Lee.
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tomhugill
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Re: A39 Tortoise

Post by tomhugill »

phpBB [video]


The gun mechanisms in action
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Shootermcgraw
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Re: A39 Tortoise

Post by Shootermcgraw »

Great work on resculpting the piece that cracked, I think it's the piece in the mantle finished product? I really like the transport support for the main gun.

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Herr Dr. Professor
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Re: A39 Tortoise

Post by Herr Dr. Professor »

...just a quick note of thanks for those close-up photos. They help me see how servos, etc., can be set up. Someday (soon I hope) I will work up the guts to go after custom guts in an AFV. Thank you.
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