Super Pershing

[wibblywobbly]

Just to say that 3D printing these on a home printer would be well nigh impossible. There is a limit to how small these can print, in my experience anything that is less than 1.5mm is going to lose definition. Due to the way that a printer lays down each layer there is an element of squashing with each pass. Hence a hole which may be 2mm diameter in the CAD program can end up as 1.5mm when it prints. The only way to get accuracy on parts this small is to design the part, upload it to somewhere like Shapeways, and get them to print it on their million dollar printers that use a different technique to produce the finished article.

The turnbuckles are tiny rods, and holes, I wouldn't even attempt to do them at home. They could be done with styrene and milliput, but getting them all identical would be a job and a half. I see Nick has brass ones, those are works of art.

I have learnt what a printer can and cannot do, eg if a want a hole I print it smaller than I need and drill it out to the required size. I tend to use it for weird shapes where printing something as one piece gives the part strength that I couldn't get with styrene. Recoils are a good example, I can print the whole thing with a mount for a servo that takes up a lot less space than a styrene one, and where all of the parts fit and line up perfectly.

[PainlessWolf]

W.W.,
Thanks for the lesson on 3D printing. I have a lot of questions and have been guilty of seeing the process as a do-all panacea for our Hobby. My fender turnbuckle solution was a rod with 'welded' on supports that were mounted using small screws. Sturdy and looks good but not quite scale.
regards,
Painless

[wibblywobbly]

I was thinking of doing much the same with brass rod, and then sliding some styrene tube over it to create the centre section. It wouldn't be 100% accurate but it would look ok from a distance.

I did some texturing on the turret today, and gave it a once over with primer and the airbrush. Rather than buy expensive texturing stuff, all I do is apply a puddle or two of superglue, and then spread it around and tap it repeatedly with a toothbrush. Keep tapping rapidly until the superglue hardens. You end up with a nice cast surface. If you want it rougher, use plastic glue, as it melts the plastic. You can see a bit of that effect on the lower turret in the pics. The parts can be primed and painted almost straight away, as the glue dries in seconds. Any large bumps that appear can either be scraped off with a fingernail or lightly sanded. It's a cheap as chips, and gives a nice natural non-uniform finish.

My old airbrush is now playing up so badly that I will have to wait for the new one. It turns out that the £30 one is a close copy of the Iwata Eclipse, it's about £70 cheaper. I will take better care of the new one, the old one was quite badly abused but it did a brilliant job for years. In case anyone is interested its this one https://www.everythingairbrush.com/ab-2 ... brush.html

[wibblywobbly]

Did some turnbuckles, just need to glue them in place. It needs a few more coats of paint and detailing/weathering, but it's almost done now.

[PainlessWolf]

Good morning, W.W.,
The turnbuckles look really good! The whole tank is very pleasing to the eye. Following along.
regards,
Painless

[brizo58]

1st class stunning looking beast . Brian...

[wibblywobbly]

I am looking forward to getting this one running, I really want to find a way of compressing the front suspension like the real one, will have to figure that one out. I should be able to make some real progress this week.

The plan is to have two German and two US tanks, at the moment I have the Panther, Bulldog, and Pershing. So will have to see what I can do about another German one. Then I will see about two British ones, but that is a long way off.

[wibblywobbly]

Getting close, all green now, will start on a bit of rust and weathering soon. The hull machine gun plate annoys me every time I look at it, cos I know that it is the wrong shape. . grrr

[Bogeyman]

Rob, top job done in double quick time!!!

John

[wibblywobbly]

Still painting it, almost done the rubber paint on the road wheels, done some shading with the airbrush, need to attach the turret armour securely to stop it bouncing off when on the rough stuff, still lots of detail to make/add/paint etc. But its getting there!