RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

Printer is running to finally print the first draft of the upper hull - will take a couple days to print. I have to print it in 6 parts to fit it on the printer and get it to print with decent quality. Now that I have parts in hand, and a differential I like, A made a bunch of hull revisions; I'm confident the steering will work just as designed, and eager to try it out. Here's the rolling chassis before/after

Spinnetti wrote:Printer is running to finally print the first draft of the upper hull - will take a couple days to print. I have to print it in 6 parts to fit it on the printer and get it to print with decent quality. Now that I have parts in hand, and a differential I like, A made a bunch of hull revisions; I'm confident the steering will work just as designed, and eager to try it out. Here's the rolling chassis before/after

EXCELLENT

That makes 2 of us eagerly waiting to see how it runs, would love to see some videos

Great work



As for CAD programs, i am a daily Inventor user, however over the past year i have moved more over to Fusion 360 which i pay for a license so i can sell items commercially.
Inventor has great power and works great, F360 for the price i cannot complain, but some items i always struggle and sometimes it runs slow dependant on internet connection.

Did first test print of the upper hull this week. Working on the gun mech and other details now. Took me a full day to get the details of gun mantlet looking right and with the scale elevation and traverse limits. I printed in orange as it was some stuff I wanted to get rid of, and this is just first draft prints anyway (ran out in the middle of printing the front of the chassis - doh!). Everything went together well, though its a lot of prints for the upper hull (10 for the main superstructure and hatches). New driveline worked out good, just waiting for a motor coupler to get here and I can run the main drive and test the steering brakes. Need to get pinion gears for the final drive yet before I can run the full drivetrain.

Hello again, Spinetti! I was a month behind on your postings, and I am sorry about it. I missed all the amazing information about your career, racing, etc., etc.,etc. I will be more attentive again, because it sure is interesting to see what you are up to with the Hetzer as well as so much more.

Well, I've learned more than I wanted to know about making proper working hinges. I can barely see the dang things, not to mention inserting 1mm pins in them... Old age is fun lol. This is the 2nd prototype hull. I'm super chuffed as my "unique" hull assembly requires no fasteners yet is stiffer and more secure than any commercial product. Its super stiff in torsion, well beyond my hopes and fits fantastic. Overall, the accuracy of my Prusa has allowed very precise fits all around. I've got a ton of the details printed such as the shurtzen and hangers, fenders, full exhaust system etc, and now need to deburr, and assemble all of it. In the pictures, the lighter gray bits are off my SLA printer (fine detail like hinges and handles), and the rest is from my FDM printer.

The familiar look now unmistakable!
Superb work.

As HB said, 'Superb work!..' indeed it is. Don't mention 'old age' ; but, as someone once pointed out (and it's a daily mantra for me)- 'it's better than the alternative' !
Do carry on, age doesn't appear to be a(n) hindrance for you

Thanks for the kind words First iteration of the gun is done (except the front shield which I'm still struggling to get right). The guns elevation, declination and traverse are all accurate to scale, but not attached to servos yet. Servo mounts will be in the next version of the gun mount. I also ordered the last of the bearings and gears needed to finish the driveline - I hope to have it driving over the Christmas break. Swapping parts from the first proto build, I see I have some spring sag in the front - much like they experienced with the real thing. I'm thinking I may make up real metal springs, or minimally the first few leaves to strengthen the spring pack. If I don't, I'll have to make the leaves thicker which I'd rather not do as it would deviate from scale.

Got the running boards and mounts done and installed. Due to the amazing accuracy of my printer, I was able to 3d print scale sized bolts and wing nuts - threads and all - for the track holders. Those tiny little fasteners actually screw into the hull same as full scale - no trickery required. The spare tracks are the same as the regular ones so are real spares. Its the little things like this that make it worthwhile lol.

Wow this looks superb your modelling skills are superb as well, looks very professional!
Has to feel good to see it come together like that?