RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

This is the 3rd Bulldog that I have done, it will be an IR battle tank. Although not WW2 era, I have always found that the Bulldog is the best handling tank, never throws tracks, and traverses any terrain with ease.

That said, and although it looks like a Bulldog, the HL version is flawed in so many respects that they can't all be fixed without major surgery. The best route is to fix what can be fixed using the minimal amount of effort, which is what this thread is about. The one thing I am peeved about is that for previous builds I used a hollow Schumo barrel as this allowed me to install a muzzle flash and have a recoil. I can't see these for sale anywhere now, if anyone knows where to get one I am all ears (a bit like Prince Charles ).

Lower Hull:
First job, and quite an easy one is the reduce the height of the lower hull by cutting a strip off all the way around, the easy way to do this accurately is to use a cheap vernier caliper. Set it to the width that you want, and run it around the hull using the straight edge on the top of the hull as a guide to keep one side of the jaw running true, while the tip of the other jaw scribes a line. Do this a few times then use a styrene cutter to deepen the groove until it eventually cuts through. Hey presto, a perfectly parallel strip.
Reduce the height of the mounting posts in the front and rear of the upper hull (not the lower), and remove all of the others.
Cut the rear hull below the mounting slots for the rear lights, you will use this later.

Job done.

Exhausts
The covers sit too high. Remove them and shave a strip off the lower edges. Remove the mounting posts.
The plastic is too thick, dremel the outer edge down to a thin 'tin' effect.
Turret Roof:
The D shaped covers are too high.
Remove them and lower them by shaving off a couple of mm till they almost touch the periscopes beneath.
The rear roof vent is half the size it should be, but unless you scratch one, it will have to stay as it is.
The machine gun mount is in the wrong place, it can be moved, but I simply remove mine as if the tank rolls it gets broken off anyway.

Front periscopes
There are two ways to tackle these, they sit too high and need to be slightly below the hull casting, and angled slightly.

One is to remove the periscopes and cut them down. This is very fiddly on small parts, though I have done it previously.
The other, easier way, is to enlarge the holes in which they sit, and push them in further, this is what I did this time around.
Tool Rack
This sits too high, and should have a slight slope on it.
Remove the rack, cut down the mounting posts and remount.

Gearboxes

Now that the hull is lowered the standard gearboxes will not fit. The solution is to use Stug low profile boxes, and replace the final drive shaft with the longer US ones. The more observant amongst you will notice that I do not have either. Hence there is a wanted ad.

Nice build & good to see you back

I thought I would do an easy one first.

looking good so far rob
dave

Cheers Dave, though there is a long way to go yet, the good thing about a Bulldog is that all of the mods are sanding and cutting, so it makes it a super cheap tank to work on.

Tidied up yesterdays work and did a bit more. Dremelled down the mudguards all round so that they look like thin metal that has been bashed about a bit.
Completed the turret roof and drivers periscopes.
Tidied up the exhaust covers, these will be given the bashed and dented look, and given the rust treatment.
I also noticed that the bins that are mounted over the track covers should have lids that stand proud of the bins, whereas HL have made them a flush fit. If I had a spare upper hull I would have cut the lids out of it and mounted them on top of this one. Seeing as I don't, I decided to try something that I haven't done before, and that is create an illusion of height by going around all of the bin mouldings with a styrene cutter and creating a groove. When painted the grooves will get an undercoat of black, which will create a shadow effect when the topcoat goes on.

Good Morning, W.W.
I don't know if this will work but remember running across it while looking for Pershing parts: http://www.tank-modellbau.de/m41kwk.jpg
regards,
Painless

That's the one, well done that man, you are my saviour. I could have sworn that I had bought a Schumo one, but quite obviously my memory was playing tricks on me.

Cheers

RobG

There are some major mistakes on the HL turret top also. I've made mine to correct scale and it was a job to redo all the track pads and get the thing to be the correct length and width.
The turret top is pretty easy to fix. Here are some pics of mine with instructions.

Thanks for the info, I knew someone would be along with the corrections if I waited long enough.

You aren't by any chance the guy that built a Bulldog a few years back, and diligently cut each track into three pieces, adjusted the width of each one, and glued them all back together again are you? If you are, I have never forgotten that wondrous dedication to the cause.

This Bulldog was bought as a bag of bits, I will have to search around in the boxes of stuff that I have here to see if I have the MG mounts (they aren't on the turret roof).

The rear vent should be easy to make, thanks for the dimensions.

I still only have one track, and no sprockets...after I have completed the M8E2 build I will have to get on with this one.

Cheers

RobG