M18 hellcat

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tomhugill
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M18 hellcat

Post by tomhugill »

Another one I've had on the bench for a while and not documented.

This is a Frank Heritage shell that I think Andy Croxon had originally. I obtained it looking a little worse for wear. Had ab elevation and rotation in but the barrel was fixed in

Plan for this one is add recoil, steel gears, tk40 and a nice big speaker. There is also good scope for adding extra detail which should be quite fun. ImageImageImageImageImageImageImageImage

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Exhibitedbrute
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Re: M18 hellcat

Post by Exhibitedbrute »

I could use some measurement of this one to have a jab at building one
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Kaczor
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Re: M18 hellcat

Post by Kaczor »

Nice! I've always liked this little bug.
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tomhugill
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Re: M18 hellcat

Post by tomhugill »

The trickiest thing on this build something far has been the recoil. Usually when I add a recoil unit the servos attached to a recoil unit or something solid which moves when the unit is elevated.

Here that is not possible as the roof is open and I have some gun breach detail. I wanted to have a moving breach with the recoil as that's got to be one of the perks about an open topped vehicle right?!

First thing to do was make the barrel slide and get a working elevation. Originally the Sherman elevation units lifting arm was in a slot on the side of the breach.

However with the breach moving with the recoil this wasn't possible I had to make a long arm with a slot cut in it which attached to the trunion to get the pivoting.

Image

It's hard to see (thankfully) but highlighted in red.

The next stage was getting a recoil that had a servo fixed to the turret floor but also still worked when the gun elevated and depressed. On option considered was hiding the servo in the bustle and have a rod running through the fighting compartment to the breach. I discounted this at it would be visible and would limit and ammo storage I could make for the bustle.

In the end I placed the servo arm as close to the pivot point of elevation so when the gun was at extremes of elevation or depression it wouldn't move the barrel in and out.

ImageImage

Plan is to box the servo in with more detail and crew so the workings should be as inconspicuous as possible.

Steel gears were added at this point and metal tracks and sprockets from the panzer iii. I plan on either getting some more accurate sprockets made (panzer ones are a little big) or new covers which better imitate the early sprockets m18s used.

Image

The Clarks and speaker are just in to test it all works, I'll be making a proper speaker box later and tidying the install.

Image

A couple of bits were missing so I've made them back up, she also has had a new barrel with muzzle break from my bits box.

ImageImageImageImageImageImageImage

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Exhibitedbrute
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Re: M18 hellcat

Post by Exhibitedbrute »

Interestingly enough I’m planning a re-coiling breech on my Achilles and the only thing I can think of at the moment is remounting the whole thing on some sliders that will go over the elevation rods and fixing a servo directly bellow the breech out of sight with some sort of retract system fixing to the very front of the breech where it meets the gun barrel. I’m not yet sure of weather to make a retraction arm or just use what’s with the servo
It’s your tank it’s what you make it
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Raminator
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Re: M18 hellcat

Post by Raminator »

You're a regular plate-spinner Tom, I have no idea how you can keep this many builds going all at once! I can't even maintain progress on one at a time. Looking forward to see you work your trademark magic on this one, you've got a great start already.
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