RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

Guido Henn wrote: ↑Mon Jan 08, 2024 11:30 am Hello,

amazing.......but how do you get the surface of these 3d printed parts smooth to produce a proper paint job?

with kind regards,Guido

Russian tanks typically have a pretty rough surface from that era so the finish doesn't have to be perfect. In fact, no tank surface is perfect even on modern tanks. It's a combo of sanding, filling, sanding, primer, sanding, primer, sanding....

The parts that are printed in resin (bluish gray) have virtually no lines from printing so a quick light sand is all they need. I'm reprinting some parts in ASA (white) which holds details better than PETG so then they only need a light sanding before primer also. Having a printer that can print fast at a .08 layer height is also handy.

From now on structural parts will be done in PETG, small detail parts in resin, larger detail parts will be ASA, and rubber tires are simulated with TPU material. Tracks will be produced going forward from industrial grade resins that are very resilient.

Hello,

I think it is very important that you use the right material and have an optimal printer.

I would be happy if you would show me your progress with the surface.

I am still the old-school man who carves everything out of polycarbonate.

with kind regards,Guido

Beast of a tank!

Been a long time since I updated this project. The IS-4 was one of the first tanks I started 3D printing so I decided it was high time to make progress on this project. I grabbed one of the Heng Long plastic dual diff gearboxes out of the stash since this is a fairly light tank with all plastic running gear. I knew it was going to be a really tight fit back there. Like I did with the Kranvagn, I wanted to give the plastic gears all the help I could so I designed and 3D printed some bearing holders to be attached to the outside of the hull inside the outdrive housing. This gives the gearbox shafts support all the way out to the sprocket. It took quite a bit of fitting to get everything to line up correctly. I also poured some resin into the gearbox mounts to just make sure there was a solid mounting for the gearbox. I had previously installed some traditional gearboxes in the tank, but they were really difficult to remove if I need to do any maintenance. Believe it or not the dual diff gearbox is easier to remove. I did have to shorten the gearbox shafts to make them line up properly.



Gearbox shoehorned in the hull.



After fighting for 2 days getting the gearbox in and running properly, I buttoned the tank up, added a bunch of the resin printed parts, sanded a bunch of layer lines off, and then threw some primer on the whole tank to see where I was at. It seems there are still some layer lines so I will sand them lightly and reprime. Looking at some IS-4 walk around, there is some additional texture and weld lines that need to be added. Having it all one color really gave me a nice warm and fuzzy to get the project finished. Still lots of work to do, but it's starting to look really good. Somehow I destroyed a could of teeth on one of the sprockets so those will both be reprinted in a better material once my printer is repaired. I guess the 8900 hours of printing has actually worn out my extruder servo motor.







That's all for now...

Jeez mate this has been 'in labour 'for some time eh!!
Certainly does have a thing about it

looking good in the pictures mate

HERMAN BIX wrote: ↑Mon Dec 08, 2025 9:38 am Jeez mate this has been 'in labour 'for some time eh!!
Certainly does have a thing about it

Sucks when I can't stay concentrated on one project...

Stormbringer wrote: ↑Mon Dec 08, 2025 12:33 pm looking good in the pictures mate

Thanks.

"8900 hours of printing" would be more than a year's time if run non-stop! It's a wonder your printer doesn't wobble like a paint-shaker. Clearly it's headed for more great projects.

Installed some fully functional spare track hangers using some brass bolts both front and rear. They are screwed into the plastic so they can actually be removed and the track pads are functional replacements for the tracks on this tank. The tracks were printed in ASA so we shall see how well they hold up. Figured I could do some detail work while waiting for the printer parts.







Started adding the weld lines around the front of the tank. It helps cover up the joints of the 3D prints plus highlights the actual construction of the tank.



Used some contact cement to install the wheel hub caps which were printed in resin. Currently shopping for a better resin printer. Mine works fine...sometimes.



That's all for now...