Wednesday 22 May 2013

May Update

Been busy this month with our Big Yellow Truck getting it successfully through an MOT, giving it a spring clean in the back and doing some cleaning and painting of the chassis, With that and a weekend away there hasnt been much time for progress on the Big Panther. While I've been sidetracked however, Howard's been busy! Whats better than one Big Panther?

Yup, you guessed it, two Big Panthers!! Here's the second chassis behind my tank at the Uckfield Panzerwerks. I arrived Saturday morning with my tank to carry on working on it and found the almost completed second chassis :-)




Some close ups of the second chassis and one of the rear idler adjusters. All this needs painting which is something we hope to do soon and get it put together.

Meanwhile...we modified the bottom of the turret a little as it was rubbing on parts of the hull while traversing.
Well when I say we... :-)
The rest of the day was spent removing the moulded running boards and sanding off the moulded tool racks and details. Because the cutouts for the sponsons were wrong on the glacis, we cut back the glacis and trimmed the sides back. Not easy to explain but it makes the whole thing look that much better! Not seen in this shot but the brackets to support the front mudguards have been fitted as well.
 Here Howard's making up the new running boards. Because they are nearly three feet long, Howards folder cant fold it all in one piece so they're made in three pieces Tig welded together. Then of course we realised that we needed to make the support brackets! I was dreading this as they are a complicated thing (typical German!)
 This was the Mk1 version, made flat and the folded on a jig...
 ...to this. Nearly right but not quite! So after two other attempts...
 ...we came up with this, the Mk4 version!
This is just one of twelve (groan!). They'll need a little tidying up and the sloping fold on the far right is not prototypical, the real ones were welded but we cant weld to a fibre glass top so ours will be bolted on but thats about it!

Next weekend is the first show of the season and work will soon start painting and assembling the second chassis so work will probably slow down a bit on the first model. We shall see.


Tuesday 30 April 2013

Late April Update

Some more progress :-) This time some pics of the turret work, the fabricated stowage boxes and the result of wielding my trusty soldering iron for some hours in the shed!

Firstly the turret pics.

 The finished traverse assembly. The square base to the upright bolts to the tank chassis floor, the wires coming out of the upright are the turret power cables up to the integral three pin plug.
 Looking directly down onto the underneath of the turret showing the angle iron base frame and the centre spigot support legs.
 Same thing from a side view showing the elevation motor and recoil servo to the left.
 Close up of the frame and one of the support rollers. This bears onto the top of the hull but is purely for balancing rather than taking any of the weight, that is taken by the traverse mechanism.
 Close up of the elevation motor and recoil servo.
Close up of the centre spigot with the built in three pin turret power plug.

Next some pics of the rear stowage bins fabricated by Howard. These are superb and exactly to scale, however, they are too small for the rear panel so I'm not sure what we're going to do about that :-/ Not H's fault, I gave him the correct dimensions but the rear panel is not correct so they're about 20mm too short. Its so annoying as I'd wished I'd checked the rear panel measurements and adjusted the bins accordingly but cest la vie :-(

 Superb.
 Spot on.
Too short :-0

Next some short videos demonstrating some of the features of the working electrics.

First the synchronised exhaust smoke. Should have left it a bit longer to make more smoke but you get the idea. This uses the Benedini oil smoke module connected to the Benedini sound module but just to run the fans.

Couldnt get the short video showing the idler adjusting so here's the link to the YouTube appearance.

Idler Adjustment Video

Note how slow the idler moves and the led lighting when the limit switch has cut power to the motor.


This shows what happens inside when the idler is moving on the outside. Also shows the limit switches cutting power to the motor and putting the lighting the led on the control panel.


And to prove the turret works ok! We think the belt needs tightening as when the turret is sitting on the hull it tends to catch a bit as it rotates making it bounce too and fro.

Wont get much done this weekend as we've got some work to do on our tank transporting truck. More as and when.


Tuesday 9 April 2013

Early April Update

Well, after a couple of weekends living it up and doing family stuff we finaly have some progress!

Howard has made the turret support frame which incorporates the recoil mechanism mounted on the stout plate seen in the previous post. Last weekend I took the chassis over to Uckfield (still on the temporary electrics) for the trial fitting of the turret. Once again, things didnt work out quite to plan and poor Howard was seen to be giving me 'that look' again! Not going into detail but we have measured the hull top and turret and confirmed they are more or less right with the correct angles as well when we first got the model. So why the bloody hell doesnt it fit together correctly? lol We had decided where the turret pivot point was but when we mounted the turret it was found to be too far back and overlapped the engine hatch. This would have prohibited access to the switches and controls as well as looking wrong of course. Howard did some metal working jiggery pokery and lo and behold the turret rear sat just in front of the engine hatch, but..... the mantlet was far too far forward and stopped the drivers and radio ops hatches opening!!! We looked, we measured, we mused and we argued but eventually we worked it out, the curved turret front just behind the mantlet was too far forward. So... we cut it off, cut it down and hot glued it back on just to try it out and voila, success! Again, doesnt sound like much but that took most of the day :-( We also made a start on the flamvernichter exhausts, made from rainwater down pipe and 90 degree bends. Anyway, here's some pics.

 A view of the turret from the front. Note the mantlet's upside down! Not easy to see in this picture but the gun barrel is removable with one of Howards bayonet fittings.
 A rear view showing the disputed replacement rear sides!
Underneath the turret you can see the finished frame nicely filled and blended into the base of the sides. The turret is mounted on the traverse mechanism and this is held in the vice. To the left of the pulley is the elevation motor and above the stub of the gun barrel is the recoil arm.
 The engine hatch doing what it was designed for, holding the top in place.
Now the turret sits about right, just in front of the engine hatch...
 ...and behind the hatch panel.
 The turret mechanism mounted on its 30mm square tube post and viewed through the turret ring.
 The front of the turret with the mantlet removed to enable the curved front of the turret to be modified. You can see the trunnions for the gun barrel pivot and the barrel outer to allow the barrel to recoil.
 The view from above through the engine hatch showing the controls beneath.
 A close up of the turret traverse mechanism showing the three pin XLR connector built into the central spigot. This cleverly enables the electrical connection to be made and disconnected automaticaly when the turret is placed or removed from the tank.
The start of the flamvernichters! A lot more work to be done but a good start :-)

Hopefully more next weekend.

Sunday 17 March 2013

Mid March Update

Sorry for the lack of progress over the last couple of weekends but been sidetracked!

Progress has been made on the electrics both the main panel and control panel. The control panel will be accessed through the engine hatch on the upper deck. This is linked by an umbillical cable to the main panel. The main panel has been built up (I dont think I've missed anything!!) and is now ready for wiring up, thats not a five minute job!
Howard arrived yesterday with the elevation mechanism more or less completed. That was a surprise! He's now taken the gun barrel to make the recoil mechanism and barrel connection (to be able to remove the gun barrel, have you seen how long it is in 1/4 scale?) He's also got the old base of the turret to carry on with the turret support frame.

This is the layout of the control panel. From top left, an hour meter to show how much running the model has done, a Voltmeter, a security key switch (to knobble the model if left somewhere), the charging socket, and underneath various switches. The second and third from the left are the track adjustment switches with warning LEDs to show full travel in each direction!
 Kind of out of sequence but following on from talking about the track adjustment this picture shows the limit of travel switches on the right hand track adjuster. These will cut the power to the motor to prevent any damage and will light the appropriate LED.
 This is the underneath of the main electrics panel. In the middle the main amplifier, to the right the DC to DC converter (12v from 24v), to the left the +24v -24v and +12v connectors and main relay, bottom left is the strip of relay holders and on the far left edge all the off panel connectors.
 The top of the control panel with the three 4QD speed controllers, aluminium box for the Benedini sound module, smoke generator controller, RC Rx, RC BEC and an RC Battleswitch to turn the tank lights on and off. The red unit is an MP3 player with next to it a 4 pole changeover relay to switch the main tank speakers from the MP3 player to the Alpine amplifier when the model is switched on. To the right of the Ali box is an Electronize speed controller for the turret traverse.
 Here's the top with the steel cover over the speed controllers (not painted yet!)
 The rear of the main panel with four connectors to the control panel, turret traverse and turret power and to the right the speakers and smoke generator connectors.
 To get away from electrics, here's the elevation mechanisn. The mantlet and inner gun tube pivot just to the front of the upright steel panel. This panel will be welded to the turret support frame.
 Looking down the inner gun tube (that which the gun barrel slides in and out for recoil). The motor and gearbox can be seen mounted below the steel panel linked via ball joints and threaded rod (for adjustment).
A side view showing the pivot trunnions and inner gun tube support frame (nice and robust!)

Thats it for now. We're off for a week down in Somerset this next week so there wont be much to report for a couple of weeks but I shall crack on with wiring up the electrics as and when I can.

Sunday 3 March 2013

Late Feb/Early March Progress

Progress has been slow but steady on the Big Panther. Last weekend I was working on the electrics panel, while Howard made some modified spring assemblies and springs then we both made a start on the turret.

This weekend has been all about the turret! Yesterday (Saturday) Howard made the turret traverse mechanism which incorporates an electrical connection which is automatically made when the turret is mounted. This is something I thought about while watching others struggling with their 1/4 scale turrets and umbilical cables but H turned my thoughts into reality (as usual!). Today (Sunday) we made the replacement rear sides and fitted them. We had to do this twice as the first time it didnt go to plan. I think they're about right now but that was using the Mk1 Eyeball rather than relying on measurements which were proven to be pants!!! If in the future you see these parts and think they are wrong, take my advice, keep your thoughts to yourself as if Howard doesnt sock you I might!!! LOL.

Anyway, after this, a start was made on the internal space frame for the turret. This will have hardpoints for the gun trunnions, electrics, speakers and dolly. This will be next weeks job now.

In the background I have been spending money like water :-( One order to 4QD for the speed controllers and Interfaces for mine and A.N.Others tank and we were £660 lighter! Add up other bits and bobs and the electrics becomes expensive. All neccesary stuff though unfortunately. I hope to progress with the electrics panel during the week and when I have something to show I'll get some pictures of that and post them.

 This is how the turret looked when we started hacking it about!
 Although the rear sides were at the correct angles with respect to the sides and rear they were too short.
 So after a lot of measurement and more application of Eyeball Mk1 the cuts were made.
 Also while we were about it, the mantlet and curved front for the turret were removed so that new locating points could be made attached to the turret spaceframe.
Here's an example of one of the front wheelstations modified spring assemblies. The triangular metal plate bolts the the chassis frame tube and the yoke to the left engages with the swing arm. We found that the springs could move on the first swing arms and the first drive chain would run across the coil springs making a juddering noise, the longer tube welded to the triangular plate brings the spring well away from the motor and chain.

 This is the start of the turret traverse mechanism. The pulley is attached to a large tube which sits in the blue bearing housing. This all sits in the hull of the tank. In the middle is the start of the turret, which for now is just a steel tube...
 ...with a keyway for locating and an electrical plug and socket within. The plug is arranged (not in this pic) so that the steel tube and keyway engages first within the pulley tube before it makes contact with the socket. This should ensure the reliability of the plug and socket and prevent them getting bent or broken.
 Howard Tig welds the motor mounting bracket...
...et voila the finished article. The spigott out the bottom of the bearing block will fit in the 30mm square tube of the turret mount (remember in one of the previous chassis pics a tube sticking up from the middle of the hull? That will be cut to length and this assembly affixed to it!)

Here's a short video to show the mechanism working. This is a 24v motor working on a 15V power supply so the mechanism has the potential to spin a bit faster if need be!

 These are the Mk1 sides before cutting...
...and these are the Mk2 sides after cutting. I'm happy with these although it was a bone of contention: see above note!!!
 This is the start of the turret spaceframe looking towards the front of the turret. This will have mounting points for gun trunnions, electrics, speakers and dolly. Obviously it will support the traverse spiggot which plugs into the traverse mechanism as well.

Hopefully by next weekend we'll see some progress on the electrics panel and I can show you the layout of this. Onwards and upwards :-)