It's been a long long time

[Tiger6]

Original design shown here:

phpBB [video]

Pretty sure you have seen this one on RCU, Greg makes it work in PLA because of the altitude of his playground

[Gigantohawk]

Great Youtube clip.

My experience of printing with PLA+ has never caused any concern and I'm surprised at comments suggesting that it's a marginal material.
I've printed sailboat hulls ranging from "Footy" size to "IOM" size and these Hulls in the UK have to deal with near freezing water temperatures in Winter to 30C + air temperatures in Summer. Requiring nothing more than a surface wash with methylated spirits and a sealing coat of acrylic clear coat. Proving to be more than capable of dealing with all the Hydrodynamic stresses on the hull and Aerodynamic loads from the Rig.
Maybe I've underestimated the loads on a "Late" Panzer 3/Stug 3 idler wheel and would be better off replicating the "Early" idler wheel.

[Tiger6]

PLA can soften in strong sunlight, especially thin sections or items that are underload. Up to 30 Deg ambient, parts that are nice and chunky with plentry of structure behind them are generally fine, but with a summer like we had a couple of years ago even quite solid parts can start to get a bit distressed if they are left in the sun for prolonged periods (or even short ones if the sun is especially fierce).
I tend to design my stuff with some serious ribbing behind the external surfaces, and with quite thick walls to begin with - but having downloaded other peoples models where they have used large flat panels with little to no backing structure, theres just no way I could print them in PLA and leave them out on display at an outdoor show.

[tankme]

Great Youtube clip.

My experience of printing with PLA+ has never caused any concern and I'm surprised at comments suggesting that it's a marginal material.
I've printed sailboat hulls ranging from "Footy" size to "IOM" size and these Hulls in the UK have to deal with near freezing water temperatures in Winter to 30C + air temperatures in Summer. Requiring nothing more than a surface wash with methylated spirits and a sealing coat of acrylic clear coat. Proving to be more than capable of dealing with all the Hydrodynamic stresses on the hull and Aerodynamic loads from the Rig.
Maybe I've underestimated the loads on a "Late" Panzer 3/Stug 3 idler wheel and would be better off replicating the "Early" idler wheel.

Most of my bias away from PLA comes from it's heat transition temps as I live in a very hot climate. I never said it's a marginal material. It has it's uses, but not for my particular situation. PLA doesn't have to come to melting temps to deform. I have a PLA conversion kit SU-152 that has been run in 98+ degree F (36-40 C) ambient temps and had the sides of the casemate droop inward and the rear deck sag. Last summer here in Texas the ambient temps were hovering around 105 degrees F (40 C) for about 3 weeks straight. Add in the fact that the dark 4BO green isn't exactly a great color to reflect heat.

I speak from personal experience with PLA. If you want to print PLA, print PLA. If it fails you can always print another one. If you want to see some real data on the strengths and weaknesses of PLA and other materials, CNC Kitchen on Youtube has some great testing vids regarding pull out tests for fasteners, torsional strength, and impact resistance. I can actually get PETG cheaper than PLA so it is my choice for any thing that requires some strength and resistance to impact.

[Tiger6]

Add in the fact that the dark 4BO green isn't exactly a great color to reflect heat.

This is also an excellent point that I'd missed - the darker the colour, the more heat it will absorb. I left a Panzer Yellow truck in the Sun for 2 days at a blazing hot show, and while it wilted in places it didn't totally melt. I had the same sun catch an olive drab truck for maybe just 20 mins, and it started to swell up and soften before I put it back into the shade

[Herr Dr. Professor]

I should have realized on Thursday, the 26th that my simple question, "What type of filament will/would you choose to make that idler as strong as feasible?" would raise a few pages of discussion. It's just not that simple! Were it all simple, we would be bored and would not be gabbing back and forth across the globe. Hmm... complexities can be fun!