RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

My buddy Platon is intrigued by the gun barrel flash with smoke, and especially the smell...

I can confirm that gun smoke is a good weapon to add to your cat hunting arsenal in the house.


Next step, finishing the turret and create the working mantlet canvas cover.

Regards, Louis

Outstanding modeling, sound and movement! I love the moving machine gun. Nice cat too.

Great skills on show as usual Louis

Thank you Jimster and Ad Lav.

I am impressed by the TK 7.1, it's really plug and play. After years of earlier Heng Long models, then a bunch of Clark boards and then the Elmod last year, the TK 7.1 has everything that i need. It's simple to configure, compact, cheap, a bit basic i agree but it works without any issues. The casing is high quality. Each LEDs and functions have their own port so no more piling up wires on a single 9 pin connector or trying to configure something with a TV remote or a PC interface. The speed and brake controls are excellent, it has two independent machine guns. The periscope CH5 servo port can be used for other purposes, such as for the bow machine gun mouvement. It has other intriguing functions worth investigating.

Of course, there are better boards, but more expensive and with stuff that i do not need. Everybody get the board that they need and feel comfortable with. This is the one for me.

Regards, Louis

Thank you for showing TK 7.1 functions. Even if the sounds leave something to be desired, the additional functions are impressive. Maybe I'll try it on my Mark IV...

Love it
And as a side note, it has the perfect backdrop of 'Hagenau" !!

Hi,

Thank you everyone for your encouragements !

Currently building the turret.

The mantlet canvas cover.'

Korean war Shermans all seem to have a mantlet canvas cover. No choice but to have one on this build, not just for historical accuracy, but mostly for the challenge and also because i think the Sherman looks better with one.


The Takom/AHHQ comes with a superb but static canvas cover in plastic.


When put on to dry fit it, it almost makes you want to forget about RC gun elevation and just go with it. After some thinking, i determined that it can be reused for RC with some modifications.


After some analysis of the elevation pattern of the mantlet, i determined that it is not moving that much with the elevation. I therefore decided to cut the cover in half and remove the recessed area in the top middle and then all around, and replace these by real flexible canvas, then re-integrate the whole thing the best i can. There is a risk of ruining the plastic cover completely but the alternative of building a cover completely from scratch is not ideal and it's worth the risk.


As used in other of my builds, the rubber canvas material is coming from Javex latex gloves, cheap and readily available. The trick to ensure that the paint will stick on it is to avoid any stretching of the latex material while operating the gun, free mouvement on its own is ok. If there is any stretching, the material will eventually create cracks on the paint job.


The latex bridge is placed with the rubber on the outside so that it can better integrate with the structure of the surrounding plastic, 11mm wide at the top, 8mm wide at the bottom and later reduced to 6mm, with 1 to 2mm overlay with the plastic, not much. If i was to redo it, i would probably cut the latex section one or two mm smaller on the top. It's ok to be careful but too much material also cause other issues. There are operations results that can only be seen once fielded, and then it's too late... Got to live with it.


After a first phase of finetuning of the joints, the mantlet in painted in acrylics in order to check the integration, do some putty/sanding and perform corrections, when still possible. At this point, there is danger of damaging the latex if not careful, with risks of ruining everything.


After much finetuning and it is still not totally finished, the working mantlet canvas cover is installed.


I am risking some close ups. Every little impecfection is crying out on such scratch building. Some issues can only be seen in pictures as things looked better to the naked eye... That's the best i could do in about 4 hours of work.

continuing on following post.

Canvas cover at max depression. I know that technically, the gun should go lower because it does not reach the gun travel lock position. The tip of the servo mechanism at the back of the recoil unit is reaching the top of the turret first.


Canvas cover at max elevation.


Extreme close up picture on the joint. Not easy to get perfection. It can still be improved with some putty as the first mm is pretty much static anyway because of the glue. With some weathering, it should look great. Now I have a Sherman working mantlet canvas cover.


The canvas is only installed to the top halve of the turret, still allowing the turret halves to be opened.


There is a bizarre plastic joint part at the bottom front of the turret that was installed on the upper halve instead of the bottom like it was specified in the instruction, it correctly slides into place when the turret top is put back on, providing a firm support. The bottom of the canvas cover is not glued to the turret and is let loose. It would not be visible anyway.


Continuing with the turret details.


Most of us are used to a Sherman cupola with maybe 5 to 6 parts in total. This one has 25 and is extremely well detailed.


Independent glass visors will be installed only after painting.


Someone could easily make this little latch functional. It’s begging for it but it has some complexity that made me skip it.


continuing on following post

Detailed cupola hatch interior, with periscope, lift and rotation handles, and cast markings.

Since I decided on how I would paint the periscopes and mask the visor glass, I recommend installing them only after painting.

Springs for the loader's hatch, beautifully detailed but fragile. Most Sherman makers are molding them directly on the hatch.


In order for the loader's hatch to remain operable, and to secure the fragile springs, i had to glued them to the top of the hatch, and leave the tip loose at the joint with the hinge. No way around it otherwise the springs will break when opening the hatch. These are way too small and fragile to try to drill a hole and put a bolt at the joint with the hinge. Replacing the plastic springs with real ones is something i did with the 1/6 Sherman, but it would be very complicated to do in 1/16 with the proper details and a working mechanism. Certainly doable for watch makers...

Take note of the latch for the padlock.


Beautiful hatch, with cast marks on the hinge, and the subtle difference in surface casting effect.


The hatch interior is detailed with the head cover and the locking mechanism. It's a fast build. The level of detail that would take me days to scratch build in brass strips and rods is provided in nicely cast plastic parts and installed in minutes.

However, each part requires cleaning, removal of the seam, sometimes in the most difficult places.


The side reloading hatch. Suprisingly, Takom did not make it operable. I had to drill the hole and insert a brass rod.

Notice the subtle round cast reflection on the face of the hatch. Although every producer of Sherman parts has its own finish style for this hatch, such round reflection seems authentic when looking at real life examples.


The machine gun storage area.

Notice the cast marks on the arm.

The turret will be made seamless with some putty once i am finished with the finetuning of the mantlet cover. If i have to reopen the turret one day for heavy maintenance, the finish will have to be redone at that time.


Frontal view, notice the detail of the Browning M2 gun barrel holder, which can be raised.

The model as it stands today with the construction phase getting closer to the finish line.


Next step, finishing the mantlet cover, the turret details and building the M2 Browning machine gun with the ammo.


Regards, Louis