RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

50koruny wrote:I have found this thead, finally.
Blue Star seems to be very accurate early Hetzer.Your build looks very good with this photo etched parts.

Thank you ! Your fantastic Hetzer build has inspired me to finally get this build back on my workbench. It will be far more delicate than yours I'm afraid with all the resin bits and a challenge to design the drivetrain.

Thank You for the compliments.
I dont know nothing about the resin, but i think yes.It will be more delicate.ASA (3D printing material, similar to ABS) is suprisly strong (or flexible, i can say).
Blue Star seems to be accurate, as i have said.This means, the frontal armor is very close to the axle of the drive wheels.
This is a real problem with a drivetrain for the Hetzer.You need to offset axis via closed belts or additional gear.Your choice.

Yes indeed that's why I was admiring your masterful work with your gearboxes and drive belts. I've not seen any done that way before.

Thank you.It can be hard to modificate Blue Star this way.But its possible i think.Can i see some picture of the upper half of the BS from the inside, please? (hard to say with my english)

I will separate the upper and lower hulls tonight and post some pictures.

Very good!

So here is my primary focus now in the shop. The resin tub and upper hull separated to show the space inside. The gun is simply dry friction fitted in place and will be removed for conversion to recoil elevation and traverse. It appears to me, not confirmed that Ludwig's kit has similar shape of upper and lower hulls and his gearboxes should work. I will install a simple metal reinforcing system that will be the same size and shape as the lower hull.

I've included a picture from the website for the Hetzer gesrboxes.

Carl, if you were thinking of fitting a metal plate in the bottom of the hull for reinforcing, would it benefit to have a plate on the outside underneath? That way, any screws needing to go through the bottom have one big washer in effect, plus you could use counter sunk screws to keep the bottom flush.

You are probably in the same mind, I'm just wondering out loud what you're going to do.

Hi Mick yes that is the plan. Then I can retain space inside the small hull and have a solid mount for my gearboxes

Awesome, would make sense to maximise the space inside