1944 M4A3 105mm

PainlessWolf · Post by **PainlessWolf** » Thu Jan 23, 2014 11:02 pm

54th Day: Cody, thank you for the kind words, Sir. The Mate tells me often that "if you don't quit fiddling with it you're going to break it (again) As an example, on the searchlight LED contacts, I have rubber cement coated the hot lead and then painted it and the ground and as an extra (and hopefully final) touch today, put a couple of drops of the Ultra Gel cement I use on the point where the wire is soldered to the LED contacts to stiffen them against breakage. Inside the turret, I ran a length of heat shrink tubing to protect the thin wires up to the LED from the turret and air gun gearing when the turret is being used. Hopefully that is enough protection for now. Later, I may replace the searchlight with an articulated one that will use the grain of rice LED. If I do so, I will make mounting points for the LED wiring and attach it to the inside of the turret, safely out of the way. Today, I got my rattle can trigger grip out of the garage and tested the Rustoleum plastic primer I had purchased. I hit the area on the lower hull where I had filled the switch opening with putty and saw that one pass resulted in one coat smoothly covering it. What that tells me is that this primer will be unsuitable for the rest of the tank. It seals as well as primes so it will run to fill depressions then level itself out while drying. A lot of detail would be lost and on complicated surfaces like the rear deck and turret and this feature would produce an uneven primer coat. I will go down to Hobbytown or Hobby Lobby this Saturday and get the right hobby grade flat primer for enamel. Pictures:

ALPHA · Post by **ALPHA** » Thu Jan 23, 2014 11:37 pm

Wish you were here to help me last night Painless

I would have probably not burned my mother board

...such is life eh?... looking at your RX makes me giggle a little... because when I was hooking my elevation fire wires up.. and tested the unit... both fire and elevation made the gun go up and down...I can't tell you how many times I looked at that connection you have pictured

...luckily I had a second turret to work with ... and after some troubleshooting found I had the "three" pin plug on backwards

Isn't working the electrics fun???

Yeah I know...maybe afterwards... because during... it wasn't ...for me anyway

By the way...Looking good man !

ALPHA

PainlessWolf · Post by **PainlessWolf** » Fri Jan 24, 2014 12:29 am

Alpha,
If you need to, PM me at any time. I am far from a knowledgeable sort when it comes to the electrics in these tanks but I am learning. ;o) I know, I am one thought away from yanking the existing LED and Searchlight housing and replacing it with a spare housing and lens that I have and ordering another grain of rice LED. That setup was so much cleaner than what I am using now and since I know where to plug it in, no more burnt LEDs. ;o) All I will have lost is the time I have spent trying to make it work to where I am satisfied with it. (and apparently, I am still not completely) Thanks, Alpha. Fun can and will be had. ;o)
warm regards,
Painless

ALPHA · Post by **ALPHA** » Fri Jan 24, 2014 7:08 am

PainlessWolf wrote:Alpha,
If you need to, PM me at any time. I am far from a knowledgeable sort when it comes to the electrics in these tanks but I am learning. ;o) I know, I am one thought away from yanking the existing LED and Searchlight housing and replacing it with a spare housing and lens that I have and ordering another grain of rice LED. That setup was so much cleaner than what I am using now and since I know where to plug it in, no more burnt LEDs. ;o) All I will have lost is the time I have spent trying to make it work to where I am satisfied with it. (and apparently, I am still not completely) Thanks, Alpha. Fun can and will be had. ;o)
warm regards,
Painless

Hey thanks Painless... sometimes it's good to just talk things out ....I don't expect true expertise when it comes to electronics... as one thing I do know for sure is things can go wrong really fast..and end results are generally permanent

One thing for sure... it does take a lot to destroy the package that HENG LONG provides...... what happened to me was due to fatigue more than anything else...that and maybe the excitement that everything finally worked .... it was a really stupid mistake....and though I usually try to learn from things like that.. I will probably do it again lol

It is one of the benefits of the board though... I get to meet people who at least understand the problems. and a dialog can be struck...will go back and revisit the stuff I replaced to see if anything is recoverable... but that's of minor importance

Once again... thanks for the support and friendship

ALPHA

PainlessWolf · Post by **PainlessWolf** » Sat Jan 25, 2014 10:34 am

55th Day: The optical fiber I had ordered from Germany arrived today and I used the Tamiya brand section to test the bow .30 cal. I followed Tamiya's instructions and sanded the shaft lightly until it was dull in appearance leaving both ends glossy. It looked great, very bright from all angles but the HL LED must be slightly larger than the one that Tamiya uses because I ended up taking a very tiny slice off one end using a #11 exacto to leave just a small portion of the optical fiber showing. Next I took up the tools. I was planning on using heat shrink to define the molded on mounts and use a bent staple for the buckle, similar to what Phil had done on his excellent Sherman build. Looking the tools over, I was once again struck by their similarity to the Tamiya tools and in the end, since the night was getting late, decided to just do a detailed paint job and see how they looked on the tank after it was painted. I could always revisit them and add heat shrink strapping and metal buckles if they were needed. I used Olive Drab and Steel and Flat Black for the metal portions and used a mix of Wood and Flat Brown to make a realistic looking set of handles. Pictures:

cupoftea · Post by **cupoftea** » Sat Jan 25, 2014 3:03 pm

Very nice work Painless. You are putting my humble build to shame.

PainlessWolf · Post by **PainlessWolf** » Sat Jan 25, 2014 6:34 pm

Good morning, Cupoftea,
I do not think that your build is humble at all. Your Sherman stands on it's own merits as a great build of a great Tank. *bows* Please continue with the pictures of your Sherman as I have learned a lot from your hard work.
Regards,
Painless

palepainter · Post by **palepainter** » Sat Jan 25, 2014 6:47 pm

Hey Painless,
Loving it!! The tools came out great!

Pale

doc larsson · Post by **doc larsson** » Sat Jan 25, 2014 7:55 pm

very nice work painless ! 30 cal looks so much better ¬

PainlessWolf · Post by **PainlessWolf** » Sun Jan 26, 2014 7:45 am

56th Day: Pale, thank you, Sir. I was pretty tired at 3-ish when I finished the last piece. I looked them over again today after the paint had cured and yeah, I'm satisfied. HL did a good job with the accessories on this Sherman. They are worth putting some time and effort into. Doc, Thank you as well, Sir. I really like the Tamiya hybrid .30 cal bow MG. For a little bit of scratch and a little modding, I got a much better bow MG out of it. Tonight, I started the painting process for real. I picked up some of the excellent Tamiya Surface Primer and a new spray can trigger ( my old one was worn to the point that Off or Full Spray were it's only operating parameters ) I sprayed the Primer in my kitchen with the exhaust fan running and was pleasantly surprised by it's low odor. The same was true for the Model Master Olive Drab I sprayed the Sprockets and Idlers with. In fact, the most odor-iffic part of the evening was using a cherry stain pen to stain the front stowage board. Lastly, I tested using a tiny paint stick to red dab the grease zerks on a couple of the road wheels ( including the spare I made up and painted ) They turned out well so all of the rest of the set will get the same touch up. Pictures: