M7B1 Priest

[Ecam]

Yesterday it was time to work on a driver. This is my first attempt to work on or even paint a figure.

This is my version of Crazy Joe (dedicated to PainlessWolf). It took two, one for the head and the other for the torso, some grinding/filing (plastic surgery) and Presto Joe.



Joe ended up being too tall so I worked on another.


These were from the Tamiya kits. His arms are from the Tammy Tiger I kit.



He needed a lower half as he can be partially seen.





I thought I took a picture but it wasn't on the card when I looked. Filled the "skeleton" with Bondo and sculped it a bit.


Ended up modifying the front of my inner hull to get him in a reasonable position.

[Ecam]

Today's work, the dashboard and the traverse mechanism on the 105.



The white card in the spring is to hold the gun at a lower elevation until I build the hidden RC elevation contraption. Last picture shows my cheap home built u-joint. Simply a hole drilled in small tubing, then slice and sand.

[PainlessWolf]

Ecam!
Crazy Joe Respect noted and appreciated! It is not often that we have to build figures from scratch but you have the knack of it. The Driver is a great job all in and of himself!
Following along,
Painless

[Ecam]

More work on the no cost if possible build. So far all has been stuff I had around the hobby room.

9mm brass was used to make the air intakes in rear wall of the fighting compartment.




Had plenty of unused spot lights and needed just a little to make tapered fuel tank valves. Modified .243 casing was used to punch disks out of .020 card.

[Ecam]

Now it is time to laugh (or not) at my next step in the build.

My counter balance spring assembly does keep the 105 at full elevation. My thought was to attempt to pull the gun down and let it spring back up. I wanted to come up with a cheap solution. I first modified a servo to work off the HL electronics but getting the force desired was just not in the cards.

Here goes. I've several (around 7) unused air softs removed from the turrets. Have about 5 more in the untouched German and Russian tanks. Took the teeth off of the gear that moves the air soft mech. Added two discs to create the drum.

It lifted the hammer pictured without even loading down! Not sure I want to fully explore the capacity before killing motor or worse, the receiver, but my guess is several pounds.

The gun traverses on and 1/8" rod. My intent is to use a 1/8" OD tubing for traversing and run a cord/cable through the tube to pull the gun down.

[dgsselkirk]

Always love scratch building! Coming along nicely...

[Ecam]

I modified an unused smoker into a winch as well but the speed was too fast. The traverse will take about 1.5" (40mm) of travel and the smoker has only two reduction gears. A momentary blip on the transmitter would swing the 105 though all of its limited travel.



Decided to modify another air soft for use in traverse (and a third for some pictures).




These 5 teeth need to be removed from the gear. Then create a couple discs......




Gears go back in from bottom to top. The two gears on the right are identical.




And finally some simple boxes to keep things in place. One screw for each is all that I need to keep them secure.

[Herr Dr. Professor]

Almost daily here on RCTW I read of reports of amazing resourcefulness. Yet can anyone recall a posting of a clever transmission rebuild (so to speak) like this one? And to boot, we have an example of how to make a winch. Love it!

[SCHWEREPANZER]

The enterprise and inventiveness of the brain trust that resides here never ceases to amaze. Ingenious work.

[sassgrunt]

I would LOVE to take credit for "teaching him everything he knows," but I can't do it. Eric creatively figured all of this stuff out on his own, and I am just as much in awe of his resourcefulness as others. (Just don't tell him I said so, or his head will get even more swelled up)!