Hi,
Finally, my Shapeways shipment has arrived and the build can continue with the suspension. In similar ways as my M7 Priest build, the exact same steps are taken, but I am more experienced this time and it goes methodically and smoothly, a 5 hour operation end to end.
Dremel time, the HL part are trimmed and prepared for the conversion.
- Shapeways M3 style suspension
Notice the position of the cut. As per my experience with the M7 where I needed to rework all my suspension, if you make the cut too high, the suspension will be too high and won't look good, specially if the sprocket and idler cannot be raised to be at the same level as the suspension.
- Shapeways M3 style suspension
The Shapeways spring housing are too large and need to be reduced in size, otherwise it won't look authentic.
- Shapeways M3 style suspension
The spring housings were cut with a metal saw (not the blade) and will then be sanded up to the middle of the small hole that you above, a significant reduction. Notice also that the center of the Shapeways part was made hollowed using a small Dremel drum sander.
- Shapeways M3 style suspension
Now at the assembly step. there are surprisingly a lot of parts. Notice that you need to make 6 shafts for the rollers out of a 6mm brass tube. You can see the result further below. Brass are better for these than plastic tube. Order your 6mm brass tube well in advance because they are difficult to find but can be ordered from China very cheaply, but it takes time.
- Shapeways M3 style suspension
The suspension spring needs to be lowered and a plasticard part inserted and glued at the bottom under the spring so that the spring does not come up to annoy the roller. I did not see this impacting the operation of the suspension.
- Shapeways M3 style suspension
- Shapeways M3 style suspension
The Shapeways main part is glued on top, the fit is good.
- Shapeways M3 style suspension
The fake spring parts are trimmed because they were interfering with the suspension spring, and then glued into their housing as shown. They are then ready to be installed back on the bogies.
- Shapeways M3 style suspension
The early M3 style suspension is ready to be applied putty and given a good polish before installation on the chassis. The plug for the middle hole will as usually be a long task to make smooth and seamless.
- Shapeways M3 style suspension
Having an M3 suspension is important to me. I think the Shapeways parts are worth the expense but require a lot of dirty work and you might cut a finger or two in the process. However, they are made of strong plastic, they can be modified to look relatively good and they do not break apart by squeezing them like the parts Vandra originally provided.
Regards, Louis