British Cold War Conquerer Tank.

[tankme]

Yeah, you need to remove the two Philips screws to access the lower hull. There may be two more up front under the edge of the turret, but I couldn't verify that until I get home from work. There should be tabs that the upper hull has that slot into the lower hull that hold the front and rear edges.

[zooma]

Yeah, you need to remove the two Philips screws to access the lower hull. There may be two more up front under the edge of the turret, but I couldn't verify that until I get home from work. There should be tabs that the upper hull has that slot into the lower hull that hold the front and rear edges.

Thanks for that - I will take a look when I get back later.

The front cover plate in the turret also has a tab to locate it, and it is also a very good press fit.

It looks like the 3D printed tank design has been well thought out and the fit of the parts is very good, but I am unsure about the durability of the 3D printed sprockets and tracks. I have no plans to treat this tank roughly, but I do plan to drive it at our club and at home so I hope it can be driven without fear of these parts failing.

I will be looking to see if any of the currently available metal drive sprockets have a similar profile that could be fitted (if needed) and likewise for any similar pattern tracks that could be used in the event of these 3D printed parts not standing up to regular use.....but I am hoping for the best and intend keeping the original parts on the tank

The gear boxes are standard Heng Long with metal gears (not the steel gears unfortunately) so fitting alternative sprockets would not be a problem if a change was ever needed and I can't see any problems with any of the other parts being 3D printed.

[Panzer Fenris]

From what I can tell from the pictures and the placement of the screws this is the Inkor-designed Conqueror.
His designs are solid, and provided the seller did their homework with the choice of filament and print settings you should not run into many problems.
http://rc3dtanks.site/
https://cults3d.com/en/users/RC_3D_Tanks/3d-models

It is always a bit risky to buy from a third party with these tanks however. One of their chief advantages, the fact that you can iterate upon and manufacture new revisions on individual parts as they wear out or fail will be lost upon you.
Additionally, most of these sellers buy the files from Inkor for a "private-use"-fee, and then mass-print them for resale without further compensation going to him.
It's a bit scummy, but hard to crack down on.

In any case, congrats on this beauty. Hope you get a lot of mileage out of her, and if you should run into any problems or just wish to chat with the community around these prints you should check out Inkors discord channel.

[zooma]

From what I can tell from the pictures and the placement of the screws this is the Inkor-designed Conqueror.
His designs are solid, and provided the seller did their homework with the choice of filament and print settings you should not run into many problems.
http://rc3dtanks.site/
https://cults3d.com/en/users/RC_3D_Tanks/3d-models

It is always a bit risky to buy from a third party with these tanks however. One of their chief advantages, the fact that you can iterate upon and manufacture new revisions on individual parts as they wear out or fail will be lost upon you.
Additionally, most of these sellers buy the files from Inkor for a "private-use"-fee, and then mass-print them for resale without further compensation going to him.
It's a bit scummy, but hard to crack down on.

In any case, congrats on this beauty. Hope you get a lot of mileage out of her, and if you should run into any problems or just wish to chat with the community around these prints you should check out Inkors discord channel.

Thank you for your information Panzer Ferris.

I will see if I can find anything about this Conquerer tank from Inkors discord channel. It is not one of the designs mentioned on the list that you provided, but hopefully it will be possible to chat with others that also enjoy owning this excellent model of the British Cold War heavy tank..

Lets hope the printer of this 3D kit "paid his dues" to Inkor as he should be paid his fee to compensate for his design work - and to encourage him to keep making good 1/16 scale 3D printed designs to share with others in the future.

Thanks again - Bob.

[zooma]

The Conquerer will be a monumental mission

Rather not.
This is a light exercise....

Conqueror-29042024-006.jpg

Nice picture. It looks like you have clear headlight lens on your model - my kit does not have any!

[zooma]

These small parts are included with the tank along with the turret basket - but no clear headlight lens.

[zooma]

The articulated 3D printed gun clamp is really good and should clean-up nicely.

[zooma]

I have no experience with any 3D pointed models - this is my first - so I have no idea what to expect as far as the quality of the printed surface should look like.

The r/c model truckers that we share our club with have some 3D printed cabs and the surface finish on them is as good as any moulded plastic kit.

....but what I don't know is how much sanding, fiiuller, and primer was needed to achieve this?

The pictures show how "textured" the surface is on my Conquerer.

[tankme]

I have no experience with any 3D pointed models - this is my first - so I have no idea what to expect as far as the quality of the printed surface should look like.

The r/c model truckers that we share our club with have some 3D printed cabs and the fish on them is as good as any moulded plastic kit.

....but what I don't know is how much sanding, filler, and primer was needed to achieve this?

The pictures show how "textured" the surface is on my Conquerer. The flat surfaces are a lot smoother than any of the curved surfaces.

Some of those areas are pretty rough. The issues with having someone else print it is, what is the material? If PLA, it can warp in the heat easily. The other issue is, where can you get spare parts if you didn't print it yourself? Being that I've printed Inkor's Conqueror, this is his design. I would personally print the detail parts in filament (like ABS) that is more conducive to detail or even on my liquid resin printer. I know with Warprints, I bought one of his pre-printed tanks, but then also bought the STL files later once I got a printer so that I could print replacement parts. There are places that can take STL files and make metal parts from them (like https://www.pcbway.com/). For a set of sprockets, I think some have gotten quotes for like an AMX-75 for like $35. BUT...you have to have the STL files to get that done and when you buy something pre-printed you don't get the files.

The reason the round parts are so rough is a function of the way filament printers print. Anytime a rounded part is printed horizontally to the build plate, you get those "steps". The steps can be minimized by increasing resolution of the print or by using adaptive layer heights during the print or even by reorienting the print so it's not horizontal to the build plate.

As far as cleanup of the parts, I will typically sand, do some filling (with Bondo, UV resin, ABS slury, or glazing compound), then spray primer, sand, filler, spray primer, sand, spray primer....until the parts are where you want them. Since the Conqueror has a cast turret, I covered the turret with glazing compound and sanded it to a cast texture. Doesn't have to be smooth because it was cast in real life. In fact cast parts are the best parts to finish IMO because they can be left rough after the print lines are hidden. Some just prime and paint, but print lines drive me crazy. I hate them.

[zooma]

Thanks for your advice Derek,

I will buy the licence/pay the fee for the 3D print of the Inkor Conquerer and download the files so I feel happy that the originator has been paid a fee for my tank and give me the reference so that I could at least ask someone who has a 3D printer to use them to print any replacement parts that I may need in the future.

Can you let me have the correct link so I know that I am paying Inkor for his files please?

I have checked online and found two different files (at different prices) for 3D printer files, but neither of them have the Inkor name on it and I want to make sure I am paying the right person for the right files!

Many thanks - Bob.