SAMOKHODNAYA USTANOVKA-152/KV14 RENOVATORS DREAM!

[HERMAN BIX]

Good evening, Herman!
A Beast of a Main Gun there! Excellent work(fun)!
following along,
Painless

A bit like a Jagdtiger...............All gun-no personality !!
Great to have you checking in mate

[HERMAN BIX]

Zveroboy

Super cool. Love the gun barrel.

Thanks Mr Lav, there is something about these types of weapon, whether Russian or German, "Oi, we've got this massive $%#$%^-off gun, how about we build a life support system around it"
If I can just get the barrel tech sorted, I can get into the juicy bits

Whats the term in Russian for "Stalins Sledge Hammer" that would look ok painted on the side of this thing ?

[Ad Lav]

Stalin’s Sledge Hammer

??????? ????

stalinskaya kuvalda

[HERMAN BIX]

That will look ok ? If I can pull it off !!

Thanks

[HERMAN BIX]

Well, progress has been slow for one reason or the other(s).
I reckon I got a case of 'writers block'
I got a bit stumped by electronics which is my very worst suit.
I know, woopee, its only Taigen V3 say you lucky jokers that are blessed with a profound understanding of smoke in wires
For me, it just did not work.
No recoil
No elevation
No recoil flash
So as not to bore you with the emotional scaring, it turns out that on the V3 taigen MFU(well the one I got it does) there is an earth cable(or whatever it is) that comes out of the MFU, plus, the on/off switch has a ground/earth that is supposed to create the loop necessary to make the Taigen all-in-one recoil/elevation unit work properly.
So with that in mind, which one is the right one
Plus, once that was sorted(for the record folks its the one off the on/off you need) I had several functions but no recoil.
Or, if I bridged contacts out, I had flashing & recoil cycle that would not stop !!

It seems that the Taigen unit I have has a blue and a white wire that came not cannected to anything.
I had to loop the blue one from one motor to the other, AND get the right grounds joined up .
did my head in.

Once that was sorted, then I had to mount the unit into the casemate.
As thats a mechanical problem, no fear involved.
I whipped up a brass adaptor plate that picked up some existing hard points,and allowed the screwing of Taigen mounting points to the adaptor plate.
One thing that had to be done was to make a link arm from the barrel sleeve that carries the mantlet to the elevation pivot.
As I have a height disparity, the centre lines didnt line up.(of course they didnt )
Using cardboard to create templates, went through three versions before getting one that was close.
Transposed the shape onto brass & cut the shape with scissors.
To get the shape required to be secured onto the copper tube('tooob' to you left hand drivers!)I annealed the brass to allow it to be more easily shaped.
That done, I simply clamped it to the barrel sleeve & hooked up the electronics for a test.
Winner-Winner Chicken dinner.
The Taigen system has limited range of elevation & depression so the offset link I made was such that the barrel can go more up than down to maximise the elevation and compensate for the limited range of travel.
Having a JS2 here with factory settings sure did help.
Anyway, 'nuf of the blabbing..................

[Jimster]

Excellent modeling skills! Seems like you can adapt and fabricate your way out of any mess.

[HERMAN BIX]

Thanks Mr Jimster, lucky thing that, as I sure can electric my way into one

After checking the positioning of the adaptor in relation to the Taigen unit, I added solder paste into the joint & reset the thing in position.
Clamped and removed the entire internals to clear the way for the barrel sleeve to come out.
Using an old plastic container full of water as a heat sink, filled to just cover the pivot trunnions, hit the joint with the burner & activated the solder.
Worked a treat.
Reinstated the lot & added the pivot retaining bars that keep the thing secure in the resin casemate.
All I need to do now is create a link to the recoil slide from the actual barrel inner.
Again, because the centre lines are out, the Taigen link is too low.

[ronnie42]

A lot of head scratching when you use these recoil units in unusual builds, or setting up the barrel. I gave up and switched to servos . The limited elevation range is the killer, watching this for tips.

[HERMAN BIX]

A lot of head scratching when you use these recoil units in unusual builds, or setting up the barrel. I gave up and switched to servos . The limited elevation range is the killer, watching this for tips.

Sure Is Mr Ronnie, it is a killer. But for the ease of options available here without waiting & shelling out an actual fortune, the Taigen stuff will do
I managed to get a bit of elevation, and an almost flat depression setting, but not either as good as I'd like.
This is unfortunately the "doodle I have to wee-wee with" no matter the wish for better at the moment
Servo's would be the best of course, and I admire your ability to use them Sir.

[HERMAN BIX]

Now the internals are in & functioning, time to get onto the best bits.
Starting with the roof details.
Got hinge castings from Germany, but they are very fragile, way more so than the broken resin ones Im replacing.
I would prefer the Jukenburg resin versions, but thats life.
They are on & will do the job without being stellar.
A light coating of Mr Surfacer 500 stippled on with an old brush to blend the new in with the old.

Im still in two minds on the guards, but as they do add structural integrity to the overall upper hull, I might be risking the resin casemate breaking off the plastic hull if I remove the entire guard runs.