RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

Hi chaps,

Bought a used Stug 3 to restore and am surprised to find a huge gap between the upper and lower hull. No matter how I try to shift and fit it, the gap remains. Is this normal for the Stug 3? What could explain this?

Pictures:



Thanks for any hints

Is the Hull from the same maker as the Body? ie Tamiya to Tamiya or Heng Long to Heng Long,
If the body is from a different maker to the Hull it might need extensive modification to get a good fit, I have been matching a Heng Long PZ4 Body to a Taigen Metal Hull it has taken quite a bit of work to get the front to meet, Patience and lots of little adjustments are the key.

jarndice wrote:Is the Hull from the same maker as the Body? ie Tamiya to Tamiya or Heng Long to Heng Long,
If the body is from a different maker to the Hull it might need extensive modification to get a good fit, I have been matching a Heng Long PZ4 Body to a Taigen Metal Hull it has taken quite a bit of work to get the front to meet, Patience and lots of little adjustments are the key.

Tamiya doesn't make a Pz III or a Stug, so this can't be Tamiya to Heng Long.

Yep Im fairly sure both are Heng Long Parts, just wondering if this is normal or something funky is going on

Are you sure the lower is a HL? It looks like it's metal with maybe a torsion bar suspension. It has an adjuster already installed, and there doesn't appear to be any of the screw mounts for a standard HL.

Could the problem just be that the latch system on it is out of adjustment? Maybe someone swapped the gear boxes out, it does look like they might be a tad bit too tall.

Bill

If as Bill says you have a non Heng Long Metal Hull you might want to have a look at the clearance between the tracks and the front fenders because the angle of the front fenders on the Heng Long Body means that they are angled far too low and are close to touching down on the tracks,
If this is the case then the remedy is to go to "Shapeways" and buy a pair of front fenders then cut off the existing fenders and fit a pair of hinged replacements.
Also look along the upper outer Hull towards the rear for any fittings that are stopping the body from fitting over the hull.

hi the base you have got is the taigen one and a heng long top stug if you have a stack gearbox it will interfere with the top deck
dave

I'm gonna guess that it's a HL upper on a Taigen or Mato lower. I'm pretty sure that HL has not done a metal lower like that. It looks to be metal with a plastic shell around it.

Here's a picture of the interior of mt Stug III. I tried to get the same angle. The gearboxes might not be a problem as they appear to be the same as the ones in mine. I did have to go to a lower profile gearbox when I did my Stug III Ausf A as these were too tall.

*EDIT* I should correct myself on the above statement. I'm not really sure how the clearance would be with the different manufactures pieces when added together.

As to the gap between the upper and lower, it looks to be caused by the open area under the casement. Mine looks pretty close to what you've got. This can be easily closed up with Here's mine with no changes. I'm thinking that everything is pretty much as close as it's going to be. My suggestion would be to close up the opening in the fender with a couple of pieces of thin sheet plastic. I use those cheap plastic FOR SALE signs you can pick up most anywhere. Throw on a bit of dried mud and problem solved!

Hope this helps. If you need any more pictures for reference, please let me know and I'll post what ever you need.

Bill

The gearboxes look ok, they are the low level ones.

What does look a bit iffy is the 8 pin socket on the upper hull. It might be the camera angle but it looks like it will hit the motors when the upper is placed on top of the lower. If so, try unscrewing it and shoving it out of the way, if the two halves mate properly, you just need to relocate the socket.

hello I have had the same problem even with Henglong upper stugg and lower mkiii hulls , the base of the airsoft main gun touches the top of the battery case but only when fully elevated it just misses the edge of the battery case, so it fits when the main gun is set to its lowest point but not when elevated, i spoke to several dealer who said it would fit but it didnt, so it depends on what airsoft mech you have in it