RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

A view of the interior of the hatch
Something similar is scratch build.
And this is the hatch after a first round of detailing. Final detailing of the model will be done at the end of the build.
Regards, Louis

Hello Louis, thank you very much for this great construction report.
The Boxer is an impressive vehicle with a strong engine sound.
I look forward to more pictures.

Regards Matze

Matze wrote:I look forward to more pictures.

Hello Matze, with the completion of the Sd.Kfz 234/2 Puma and arrrival of some parts, i can now work on the Boxer.

I notice and ordered a beautiful all metal version of the gearbox for the 1/10 Axial SCX10, nicer than the plastic body version i had, and not much more expensive.
As i was concerned the Boxer would be too fast, i also ordered the 1/3 ratio planetary gearbox for the 540 motor. At that price, its worth the cost just to check it out. For sure i will have some use for it one day if not on the Boxer.
The metal gearbox is indeed beautiful and of great quality, ball bearings and so smooth. I was pleased to notice the gears are more fine than on the Plastic version, which should provide a better ride.
The 1/3 ratio planetary gearbox is also impressive. A lot bigger and more solid than what we see used on the 1/16 scale world.
I mounted the motor and the planetary gearbox on the Axial gearbox.
I did a field test with this arrangement. However, the vehicle was way too slow. It became a real slow moving crawler, not what i need for a GTK that goes at 105 Km/h.
As it was determined not to be needed, I removed the planetary gearbox so that the 540 motor is now mounted directly on the Axial gearbox.
I had to re-install the new gearbox, the third time i had to design a scratch built gearbox mount for this vehicle. Electronics are loaded and made ready for testing.
All the wheels got their alignment job allowed by the newly installed all metal suspension and steering pull rods. A small drop of superglue is applied to the pull rods adjustment screw areas to keep the adjustment fixed, as they otherwise all get loose by themselves as the vehicle is operated and shaking.
And here is a short Youtube video of the testing of the vehicle drivetrain in a gravel pit of the backyard under renovation. All is working well at low and top speed. The suspension does show its tough RC Buggy origins as i did thing i would never do with a Puma or more fragile military RC vehicles. A wheeled vehicle is a lot more at ease in the backyard than a tank. I cannot imagine running tracks in that small gravel...



Next step, the FLW 200 remote control station.

Regards,
Louis

Astounding

Mechanics have all come together perfectly Louis, it's great to see it hauling ass over such rough terrain and handling it with ease. Those gearboxes look like a steal at that price, it'd be interesting to see if we could adapt them to tank setups somehow.

Its a pretty much set in stone deal for the layout of gear/motor combination of tank gearboxes being too close together to allow the fitting of dual motor/reduction gear sets in the space allowed.
But the hardware available is simply astounding as to what is available today for trucks & light vehicles.
I'm sure the 'Einsteins' amongst us will find a way !

Thanks Herman and Raminator. Agree, its not obvious how to reuse this gearbox on a regular tank.

This set of posts are for the FLW-200 remote weapon station that are equipping most versions of the Boxer in the Bundeswehr. As this is the only armament on the Boxer, it requires special attention as i want to make it the showcase of the model.
This is an old friend as i have built one last year for the TPZ-1 Fuchs. Although this time, i will equip it with a Browning 12.7mm machine gun instead of a 40mm grenade launcher.
Starting with the Boxer A1 version, the weapon has been raised by 300mm to give it more angle of attack. Notice that the M2 still have its handles at the back.
This is the material assembled for the FLW-200 build-up, including the Ludwig 3D printed basic kit, Tamiya M2 Browning, Heng Long smoke grenade dispensers, servos and wheels for elevation and rotation. It will also have flash and sound.

DKLM RC now offers a better 3D printed model of the FLW-200. More complete and more expensive, it might need to be backdated depending on the vehicle. But at $80, I prefer to update the Ludwig kit my way.
Assembly of the Ludwig kit has started. A 14mm brass tube is used as a base that will connect to a rotation wheel. The raised extension for the mount is a 22mm graphite tube available on eBay from China. Getting tubing of that size has proven difficult but i found a vendor that sells these.
A hole is made for the elevation
A brass hook is attached to the bottom of the platform which will later be connected with a push/pull rod.
The FLW-200 on the Boxer is equipped with a LAZ400L sensor head, and this is obviously not one. My guess is that this is a model of an earlier model. It needs to be modified for an accurate model.
Starting with a 5mm plasticard extension to give it the proper size.
A new sensor plate is created, eyeballed from reference pictures.
Continuing on following post

On a best effort basis, the FLW-200 now has something that looks like the proper sensor head for it.
Switching to the machine gun for now. I have done this many time now. The Aber 16L-04 is used to replace the Tamiya M2 plastic barrel. However, because i want flash, a good portion of the Aber barrel (the thin section) will be replaced by a 2mm brass tube because it is impossible for me to drill through that solid thin barrel. Shown here is where the Aber barrel has been cut, the small section is discarded.
However, on the larger and nicely rendered section, it can be drilled through to allow a small fiber optic cable to be inserted inside. You can see where the drill bit exited, not all the way through but on the side. At that point, the barrel is inside the Browning body and this is where i want the fiber to be coming out.
A 2mm thick body brass tube will be the new barrel starting at this point. A small hole is made for it in the Aber section to insert it for a strong connection. It is glued in place.
A gave the 2mm brass tube a nail filing job in order to recreate a shape of the barrel, reducing towards the tip, and i added a brass tube at the end to replicate the muzzle. The two sections of the barrel are now ready for assembly.
This is the new M2 barrel with fiber optic.
A 3mm yellow LED will be embedded within the Browning body. The LED plastic body needs to be trimmed a bit, and made flatter without impacting the LED element inside.
A good connection between the LED and the fibre optic is created by drilling a small hole on the head of the LED, without touching the LED element of course, then glued together.
Room is made inside the Tamiya body for the LED and fibre optic that runs under the barrel brass stub. I have opened a window to the breech in order for the yellow light to illuminate the breech with fire when the browning is firing, this should provide interesting special effect when shooting at night.
Everything is tested before closing the Tamiya body and sealing the LED inside. Here we have a LED armed Tamiya M2 machine gun.
Continuing on following post

As usual, i gave the M2 the Aber treatment with brass and PE enhancements.
However, i did keep the stronger Tamiya handles on this build. Because i have to do a lot of work on the FLW-200 mount with the machine gun on it, putting in the fragile Aber handles would have been a risk.
The M2 Browning is installed on the mount.
A lot of work is required on the base kit to make it closer to references. I did my best by eyeballing a few reference pictures.
The whole feeding mechanism need to be scratch built.
The feeding mechanism scratch built in plasticard. Not everything can be 3D printed.
I put in large cables as seen in reference, trying to repro something instead of leaving the area empty.
The wires under the base are the ones for the LED, connected with cables running inside the tubular mount.
This is the 300mm extended base with addition of Meng nuts.
Continuing on following post

The FLW-200 is equipped with 6 smoke grenade dischargers on the front. Notice how the caps are connected with a wire instead of a small chain.
I will use Heng Long Leopard II grenade dischargers instead of the 3D printed ones provided in the kit that show a lot of printed lines and have no cover cap.
Overview of the mostly completed FLW-200. I say mostly because i do this by eyeballing pictures and i find new things to add (or to correct) all the time.
Continuing on following post