RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

I recently bought the HL StuG III and found the bracket that holds the commanders duel periscope was missing from my tank. Rather than return an otherwise excellent tank over a small piece of plastic, I decided to make my own way of holding the periscope in place that would also work as a dust cover for the IR receiver socket.

It's a simple modification. First I cleaned up any visible mould lines on the periscope and cut a disc out of plastic card (styrene sheet) 26mm in diameter, then removed a small notch at the front to fit around the periscope base. I also took this opportunity to remove the peg that would've fitted into the original Heng Long bracket as is wasn't needed, and glued the periscope to the plastic disc. 



While it was drying I test fitted and added a straight piece of plastic card that fits tight against the front edge of the IR socket mount. Once dry the excess plastic was trimmed to follow the curve of the plastic disc. I then marked and drilled out 2 holes that matched those on the IR mount and hold the Heng Long "IR mushroom" in place. Using a waste piece of plastic kit spru, I heated this over a lighter and stretched it out until it matched the hole sizes in the IR mount. I trimmed and glued these 2 "pegs" into the plastic disc, checking they aligned with the holes in the IR support, filing where needed. I then sanded the top of the pegs down until they were flush with the plastic disc.





All the parts then received a good coating of liquid poly glue and were left aside to fully dry... and that's it.




So far its worked well, doesn't jump out or bounce around while the StuG's moving and you can still fit a commander figure in the cupola without effecting the periscope. To fit the Heng Long IR receiver you just need to open the hatch, lift out the periscope and plug in the receiver "Mushroom".

I've read quite a few posts about problems fitting the commanders rangefinder/periscope,
but this is the best fix I've seen. Nice work Crispy. 

John

What a clever idea and so simple ( just wish I had thought of it LOL ). I will be doing this one myself on the Stug. All the best for now
Alan

its a another good idea from the crispy ideas factory , i'll bare this in mind for when i get a stugg

              Tony

And i thought it was just mine that had this problem.

Anyway just a quick update. I decided i wanted to add a little weight to mine just to make sure it stays in place and was thinking to glue some washers to it when i noticed that the plastic disc is the same size as a 2p piece. So after a little dremel work i had this. So far its stayed in place for the steep hill climb on the "Ardennes photo shoot" in the General section.

Crispy wrote: So far its stayed in place for the steep hill climb on the "Ardennes photo shoot" in the General section.

Unlike me. Maybe you stick me to a large coin that way I could stay upright longer? ::)

I doubt they make em big enough for that brov.

Awesum idea! Thanks for posting this tip!

Ever since buying my StuG III it's been getting on my nerves that you can't have the periscope "installed" at the same time as the IR reciever, but this way I could use my modify my old commander and still use the periscope at the same time.

Cheers, Jens

Hi yer great fix , I left my one of

Andy