StuG Ausf B 1/35

[jaxenro]

Still waiting on the new motors

I have some ideas on making working 1/35 torsion bars but of course needed to order some miniature parts and the fastest I found is in China so am waiting for them. The voyager photo etch shipped from Australia and the Aber is coming from Poland so just collecting all the parts is taking time. Once I have everything in house I think it will go ok though.

The 35rctank ACU and MTC-2 came in with a pair of 3.7 gram servos for barrel elevation and recoil. Lots of wires but it look like the instructiuons are very complete

[jaxenro]

One of the issues is the wheels are glued to the axle and dont turn. Testing on a spare wheel, I made a new axle from 1/16" brass tube (cut oversize here for the test) with a bushing and collar from 3/32 brass tube



Soldered the collar to the end of the tube (sorry for the blurry pics but you get the idea)



and glued the bushing in the back of the inner wheel (had to enlarge the hole slightly)



the new axle then slides in from the front and the collar stops it flush. The wheel now turns on the bushing and the new axle will be glued to the suspension arm and the outer wheel glued to the inner one. I need to make 12 identical ones but the wheel now turns freely

[Herr Dr. Professor]

I recently bought through Amazon some miniature ball bearings. You might want to check to see if there are any small enough for your wheels. I would think that ball bearings (which can be oiled with model train oil, safe for plastics) would take even more of the load off a small motor.

[jaxenro]

Thanks will look for them

Basically my thought was to polish the inside of the tube so there wasn’t any burrs and oil it or a graphite powder lubricant

The torsion bars are basically made from the same 1/16” tube was thinking of making 3/32” bushings for them as well

[jaxenro]

The springs finally arrived so I started the 12 torsion bars. They are made from 1/32" brass rod, 1/16" brass tube, and 3/32" brass tube, plus the spring

This photo shows all the parts. Each bar consists of an outer tube, two inner tubes, two rods, and a spring. The short 3/32" tube is the bushing I will glue in the plastic hull tub for it to ride in



This shows the spring with the two rods. The spring is soldered on each end



The spring assembly is slipped inside the inner tubes and each end soldered



and the entire assembly is slipped inside the outer tube but only soldered on the flush end (the short inner tube end) leaving the protuding tube free to rotate limited by the spring

the protuding end will then be slipped through the bushing and glued to the suspension arm and the long tube glued to the hull floor. The spring provides enough "give" to allow the arm to move but return to the original position. I can control the amount of "give" or suspension action by the amount of spring I leave free (less spring free means a stiffer ride)

[HERMAN BIX]

Very ingenious. Fantastic solution to a small sized problem for such a huge result.,

[jaxenro]

Thank you. I looked at a lot of different designs online for torsion bars in 1/35 but most of them had exposed wires what I like about this is it is basically sealed

It is amazing how quickly the part count rises. 7 in the torsion bar, 2 in the suspension arm, 3 in the axle, and 2 in the wheels so 14 parts for each wheel assembly, 4 from the kit, plus the Aber shock absorbers that are 14 parts each. The suspension alone should be around 228 parts with wheels.

[jaxenro]

The bushing in the hull



the torsion bar from the outside to glue to the suspension arm



the torsion bar from the inside to glue to the hull floor

[jaxenro]

I build slowly but here are 12 complete torsion bars ready to use

The item at the top is a tool I made for putting the bushings in the hull. Drill out the hole to 3/32", slide the bushing on the tool and use it to push the bushing in the hole. Add a drop of super glue and it is all nice and tidy

[Herr Dr. Professor]

I admire the clever resourcefulness of home-made tools to solve a problem. Bravo!