Russian SU76M

[wibblywobbly]

I was at Bovington and saw one of these, my brain immediately starts converting shapes into drawings, so I took a load of pics that are uploaded into the research area of the forum.

Over the following days I kept thinking about doing one, and decided to design the whole tank in CAD on the basis that if it all fits together on screen, then it will all fit together if I print it.

Parts like the lower hull will have to be cut in half to print as they are too big, but the rest of the model is separate parts, all assembled on screen. This has the advantage that where possible I can print say a hull sheet, complete with all of the attachments moulded in.

Anyway, this is where I am now, still need to do the gun and citadel internals. The tracks and sprockets will be a problem to solve. A close match to tracks can usually be found off the shelf, but these are unique, so I will either have to compromise on them, or try printing my own.

[AlwynTurner]

Rob that is some awesome piece of CAD work - I'm gobsmacked!

What a great start, at this rate you will need to buy at least 2 extra printers! - No forget I said that it just multiplies the maintenance problems.

Alwyn

[wibblywobbly]

Thanks Alwyn, amazingly it is easier to do it this way than do all the parts separately and then find out that tolerances result in a misfit.

I may at some point design some tracks...that will be the biggest challenge.

As a test I created a hollow hull sized box with an open top and loaded it into Cura. It would be a 17 hour print time, gulp, not that it would fit onto my print bed anyway. Imagine that going wrong after 16 hours??

[AlwynTurner]

The longest print I've tried on my printer was 4.5 hours and I had two failed prints after an hour, the final working print was babysat into the wee small hours and I needed much refreshment of the alcoholic variety to calm my nerves afterwards. I don't even want to contemplate 16 hours!
Alwyn

[silversurfer1947]

I was having a look on line and along with a load of blueprints, I found a couple of photos which may or may not be of any help.

76m gun.jpg (40.52 KiB) Viewed 4562 times

Needless to say, they are photos of models.

[wibblywobbly]

That's the Tamiya 1/35 kit, I have looked at a few of those for inspiration, to see how they designed their kit. I can print tracks, it's the track pins and making them strong and reliable that are going to be a pain, might be worth a go though, just to see.

[AlwynTurner]

Would Sherman tracks be any good?
Alwyn

[RobW]

Would Sherman tracks be any good?
Alwyn

I was wondering about those. There's a cavity in the HL ones that could take a drive sprocket.

[wibblywobbly]

I have Sherman tracks here but they are totally flat on the inside edge. It's still looking like a DIY job. Bogeyman has a 3D printed Scorpion, which has printed tracks, and those are incredibly good.

[Raminator]

Hell yes, Rob. I'd love to build one of these, I have a real soft spot for little T-70s and SU-76s. This has been on my far-future wishlist for a long time, I've always thought it such a shame that the most common (and successful!) tanks never get models made.

Really excited to see how you go about this, I'm expecting great things.