RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

After spending a crazy amount of time on trying to rebuild the M4A1 in Fusion, in which I didn't succeed yet, because of the many complicated shapes, I had to do something else because it was giving me headaches

The reason I wanted to rebuild the M4A1 in Fusion is that it creates models (or bodies) that are easier to modify or change where needed.
I won't abandon that project, but for now it is time for something else.

So what to do? After the M4A1 I wanted to do a proper M4A4 Firefly with the longer hull. The hull is easier to build (welded plates) and the turret is easier to replicate as wel. Yesterday I started with my bottom hull, and lengthened it. Next I built the rough shapes of the main hull and turret.
After getting excited I spent almost all day today finetuning the model and adding all the details, and it's almost finished now (visually). It's so much easier to build something from scratch in Fusion instead of messing with a mesh from another modelling program (or downloaded mesh from the internet).

This model really is completely scratchbuilt by me, no parts used from the internet or other models, so I'm quite happy with how it looks now!
Still some things to do, for instance the transmission cover has to be the 3-piece version and the sprockets are the wrong model, but that will be fixed!
And a render of the current model:
Any thoughts and/or ideas are always appreciated

Making good progress!
Its a pity that they have stoped file sharing between hobby users and comercial users, otherwise I would be able to contribute some parts

Tiger6 wrote:Making good progress!
Its a pity that they have stoped file sharing between hobby users and comercial users, otherwise I would be able to contribute some parts

M32.JPG

Wow that M32 looks superb! Very well done!
You've got a good idea on mounting the bogies by the way, I may use that on mine if you're OK with that

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As I said on FB group - great!
One thing: commander's hatch have little "buldge" on the side (example is from Zvezda drawing). I suppose rounded shapes are not easy in Fusion. Even more challenging will be pistol port.

Kaczor wrote:As I said on FB group - great!
One thing: commander's hatch have little "buldge" on the side (example is from Zvezda drawing). I suppose rounded shapes are not easy in Fusion. Even more challenging will be pistol port.

For such a shape, that would be very easy to pull off in Fusion360
If working it in solid becomes an issue, making it as surface part and then later attached is a way around it
Its a powerful package

Kaczor wrote:As I said on FB group - great!
One thing: commander's hatch have little "buldge" on the side (example is from Zvezda drawing). I suppose rounded shapes are not easy in Fusion. Even more challenging will be pistol port.

Good observation! I've studied different Firefly Turrets and they somewhat differ a bit, one bulge is bigger then the other so I made something that is in between
Someone on FB also noted that the turret sides should have a small angle instead of being 90 degrees, So I fixed that as well.

RiskyR wrote:You've got a good idea on mounting the bogies by the way, I may use that on mine if you're OK with that

Can't take any credit for that idea, it was copied straight off the Heng Long hull with the intention of using their bogies

Tiger6 wrote:

RiskyR wrote:You've got a good idea on mounting the bogies by the way, I may use that on mine if you're OK with that

Can't take any credit for that idea, it was copied straight off the Heng Long hull with the intention of using their bogies

Oh well it's safe for me to copy that then

So I've been busy designing the turret rotation, gun elevation and recoil. All controlled by micro servos and the rotation is done by a continuous rotation servo.
Saves a lot of space and as this Firefly is most likely going to be controlled by a OpenPanzer TCB, all servos can be adjusted as needed.

Don't worry, I'll probably design a second configuration for the HL items, but that is something for later!
I've also progressed a lot on slicing the hull and turret for printing, and (hopefully) accurate and strong assembly.

The last few days I've been refining the design, making the correct road wheels, made the correct transmission cover and finished the rear end with the idler wheels and track tensioning system.
Also redesigned the bogie for better printing and easier assembly/disassembly.

New PLA has been ordered for the bottom hull to be printed, so hopefully a finished (lower) hull in a couple of days!

Not much progress unfortunately, as I'm still waiting for some parts to be printed before I can assemble the bottom hull.

I did buy a used HL Tiger to use it as a reference for the dimensions of parts, so I could create adapter brackets to fit Heng Long parts in my design.
The gearboxes are something I'm going to use in the prototype, as they actually don't look too bad and seem like the best option (not expensive at all).

So here you can see the Heng Long turret ring and rotation motor, which should fit like this.
The gearboxes also seem to fit nicely, even though I thought that the Tiger gearboxes would not fit, as they differ from the Sherman ones. Maybe I'm lucky? Don't know, but I'm happy they fit They do need to be modified a bit, otherwise they won't fit under the transmission cover.