RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

I'm thinking that I might have to brace the upper hull by bonding aluminium angle brackets to it. I see that Asiatam recommend using Superglue-gel to attach the metal parts to plastic, and also metal to metal; but make no recommendations
about cement for the plastic. I use Contacta Pro. If the hull is plastic (nowhere does it state that- helpfully ) and not resin it should work well. Though I'm not 'officially' starting work on this until after the Pz IV is running, I really want to get the 'swayback' out of the hull deck. I may also try bonding a part or two to see how well cement works on it.. Do you happen to know whether the body is injection moulded plastic (PE/ABS) or resin?

Roy there is a way of successfully straightening warped plastic as used by slot car builders. It involves using magnets to straighten the plastic against a steel plate and then submerging the lot in water and heating to boiling point. Then let the lot cool slowly. It's even recommended by a manufacturer. Of course your more complex shape may not allow the process to be adequately controlled, unless you add extra bits of steel.

http://www.slot.it/Download/FAQ_PDF_en/ ... sis.en.pdf

That's a most excellent trick. I can see that being useful for a wide variety of applications to fix warpage in plastic. Great find.

Estnische wrote:Roy there is a way of successfully straightening warped plastic as used by slot car builders. It involves using magnets to straighten the plastic against a steel plate and then submerging the lot in water and heating to boiling point. Then let the lot cool slowly. It's even recommended by a manufacturer. Of course your more complex shape may not allow the process to be adequately controlled, unless you add extra bits of steel.

http://www.slot.it/Download/FAQ_PDF_en/ ... sis.en.pdf

A very interesting piece of fixit reference material, Estniche. I downloaded a copy to my bulging Rc tank folder. In fact, I've already tried something similar; but not with the same degree of severity. I straightened the errant swayback hull
by clamping it at the corners to flat steel bars. Then I put the assembly into a metal sink accompanied by near boiling water. I allowed it to cool there over time, but when I finally released it from the press I'd created (bit like a tennis racquet press)
it sprang back into its galling 'swayback' shape; like some sort of stroppy King Richard 111 I don't want to risk a more draconian process at the minute...as this is a more complex shape than a slot car chassis. When I do get round to tackling the StuG IV project, I feel that judicious use of Alloy angle bracket, or even bonding the inside of the hull to full-length flat alloy strips, should cure the warp, and also add rigidity.... Star Trek can keep the 'warp drive', I'll have no truck with one

Perhaps an engineering way would provide a fix, you could file off any faux bolt heads and pin vise a hole through each then tap a thread and bolt the body onto an ally skeleton,
That would pull it into shape and look right.
Shaun.

jarndice wrote:Perhaps an engineering way would provide a fix, you could file off any faux bolt heads and pin vise a hole through each then tap a thread and bolt the body onto an ally skeleton,
That would pull it into shape and look right.
Shaun.

I'm certainly thinking along those lines, Shaun. Two part epoxy should be sufficient to bond alloy or steel strips to the hull's interior (worked well enough in a Tiger 1), but subtle pins - faux, as you say- might just lend that extra security.
if Asiatam had sold me an unwarped upper hull in the first place, then I wouldn't be mulling these remedial measures right now...but this looks like a case of twice bitten, not shy enough
That said, i do like solving problems, it's just that this company seem to specialise in providing fairly intractable ones..
I'm having a break from building pending more parts procurements..and also the 'festive' season is looming large, with compulsory visits to red-nosed whisky quaffers (and that's just the reindeer ), and folk with paper hats and 1000 yard stares.. and then there's the family bit. Oh I do miss those tasteless jumpers I used to get from (deceased) in-laws, in the days of matrimonial wedlock (gridlock, sometimes )..
In the New Year I hope to crack on with the Tamiya Pz IV. It's almost complete externally... I'm actually looking forward to that. There's just some peculiar quality the PzIV has, that's missing in others, or not as present, let's say..

I used a heat gun on mine, to straighten it out. Its plastic allright

I'm waiting for a new consignment of bits from Axel, to move the Pz IV project on. Whilst twiddling my thumbs, I mooched around the archives and came across this thread from 2009:
viewtopic.php?f=23&t=1952
It's totally relevant to the initial theme I was exploring here: That is, what options open to the prospective Pz IV builder? 'Grompix' not only analyses and itemises options methodically, but he also prices them . ..and he's not even German, as far as i can tell
Ok, the prices are somewhat dated, but at least they can be compared with uptodate ones on Axel's website, and other outlets.
What I like is his systematic and logical approach to building a hybrid (Tamiya/HL) Pz IV. Better still, this somewhat dated- but cleverly envisioned- video gives a blitz build of the project itself, with all the key stages clearly indicated, as well as measures for the rectification of the known (HL) errorsI referred to much earlier. This is a video format worth emulating.

Do give it a wee look. The backing track's a bit annoying and frenetic, but hey..nothing's perfect

Well..after the coma-inducing festivities of the Christmas and New Year period, I'm back home with my unfinished models...and they're multiplying (fertile beasties, these ).
Oor local Postie delivered a bunch of turret parts this afternoon. They'd winged their way all the way from Germany, and what a pleasant surprise they were My Mum used to get surprises from Germany too..delivered by air to Glasgow, and they weren't so pleasant That's because they went 'BANG!!" and blew houses to pieces, and their occupants too, sometimes. That was in late 1940, and early 1941.
Ah, how things have changed for the better, eh? Hmm., well, thingies still go 'Bang!!' here and there now and then, but we can't blame Fritz for that any more, can we. Anyway, the poor blighters have been copping it in movies ever since...
Right, well this is what appeared: A subsequent order will bring the recoil motor I need to finish the Turret drive motors. ironically, the cheapest part- the recoil bracket- is the one crucial part I still need to find. If I had the dimensions, I could try fabricating one...

I found another source for Tamiya odd n'ends:
https://www.modelsport.co.uk
I don't have the parts bag containing the 2x10mm metal shafts I need to make the roller bearings for the turret ring. These rods are crucial to the turret moving smoothly (when paired with nylon rollers), and are a feature of most Tamiya tanks.
Modelsport supplied me with a handy pack of 10, and they were cheap too ('Cheap' and 'Tamiya' make a perfect oxymoron )