1941 StuG III Ausf B

[PainlessWolf]

Post from IMEX arrived today and they really came through. Eric does what he says he will do. IMEX took care of this issue very quickly for me. I was dreading shipping back the tank and waiting 5-6 weeks for an Amazon refund to come through then the search for another tank ... Hot Dog! Now I can get to work. Pics:

P.S. Before I forget, I exchanged emails with the owner of Diorama Freak and he said in no uncertain terms that he definitely _will ship_ to the U.S. Huzzah! ;o)

[PainlessWolf]

After a weekend of spending quality time with Friends, I could not wait for work to be over today. I had charged the battery and checked functions previously so it was time to get down to business with a disassemble of the donor Panzer III. I was surprised to find that the idlers and sprockets were metal. Very nice pieces tho' all of the tracks and road wheels track guides and suspension pieces were plastic. The idler mounts are very nice plastic pieces and if I get a nice fit with the metal tracks, I may reuse them. Otherwise, the nice(r) metal ones only run a ten spot. Alpha is right about the close tolerances for the gearboxes. The resin pieces _just about_ fit but I will need to do some work on the frames ( or just spring for the low profile gearboxes ) Everything else is looking really good. Pics:

[PainlessWolf]

A slow day for work but some interesting Posts from Artistic Hobbies here in the US and RCTank.de and Dominique. On the regular HL StuG and Panzer III, the air intakes for the engine bay are so plain as to look molded on. HL uses a decal to simulate the grills. As this will likely be the only StuG that I build, those areas needed some dress up. Also, extra lighting is a fun thing to add to any tank. Pics:

[PainlessWolf]

A good day for the Post. The new, low profile gearboxes came in along with a set of adjustable Idler mounts. This StuG should prove to be a runner. I can now begin and finish one part of the Build, the lower hull. Still other stuff to come as well as to order. I have said that at times, anticipation of a thing is the best part of it. Pics:

[PainlessWolf]

Chasing down the mail carrier produced the last of the latest round of Post today. An-Bri-RC has some excellent things that are worth waiting for. Pics:

[PainlessWolf]

Paul, Good Morning,
This one looks to have been made on a good day for the caster. ;o) It can still benefit from some clear acetate. ;o) Your Kubelwagen is a prize indeed!
regards,
Painless

[PainlessWolf]

Kiaser,
I'm out of stuff to buy for the lower and deck so need to do some more work on it to justify the expense. ;o)
regards,
Painless

[PainlessWolf]

It's taken a while waiting for things to arrive then sorting out time to set aside to do the work but finally. I can't say enough good things about the new gearboxes. They dropped right in using two screws instead of three and are a rock steady mount. Motor wires come with plugs so they were altogether a simple job to install. I took the opportunity to do a little wire management with some removable clear 3M tape. I was tempted to to build mounts for the electronics and cut out the battery box as well but since the gearboxes required no mods, this StuG will work just as well without all of that. A tip on the metal track adjusters...go find the MATO site which has a nice pictoral layout on how to mount them. I used the sketchy German translation that came with mine and had to go add plastic back after I had filed everything smooth along the sides in the rear. They went on well but make sure that you have a pin vise available to save some time doing the drilling to mount them. They need to be precise in location and using a Dremel would have made that hard indeed. ( No need to swiss cheese your lower hull ;o) As it was, even using a Pin Vise required removal of the exhaust pieces. Worth the effort tho' as Bob is apparently my Uncle this morning. Pics:

[sassgrunt]

Painless, I'm surprised that the gearboxes give clearance for the end-to-end motor positions, but they obviously do. I think these are going fit the bill for my clearance issue I have on a build.

One comment on your idler adjusters. As they sit now, (and this is how the pictures also say they should be), the return spring doesn't give track tension the right way, (idler wheel wants to push towards the front). What I do is to remove the spring and put it on the other side of the mount - that lets the idler wheel push towards the rear and tension the track.

[PainlessWolf]

Sassgrunt,
I noticed that and since the idler arm itself is using a tapped armature on that screw, the spring is kind of superfluous. Moving the spring to the other side will help. Thank you, Sir!
regards,
Painless