Sunday 27 January 2013

Late January Progress

After an idle weekend last week because of the snow a bit of progress this weekend!

Firstly, a panel was made to mount the 6x9 car speakers on and the aluminium sheet which will be the control panel reached through the engine hatch. Then we assembled the chassis for an all too brief test run. Unfortunately, one of the batteries was flat so we had to lash up something to do the test run which meant we couldnt try a neutral turn or find out the chassis running speed :-( However, it ran smoothly and we were both pleased with it :-) Next week we aim to finish the sheet steelwork and make the electronics panel then it'll be painting time!

 Howard welds the 10mm square tube frame up which will support the pvc sheet speaker panel with his new toy, a Tig welder! It makes a very neat job.
 Here's the panel mounted on the frame which in turn is mounted onto the rear of the chassis.
This side view explains better than words. The chassis is standing nose down and we're looking at the right hand idler shaft. The speaker panel is hinged at the rear for access below.

 This is the bare chassis frame with the transmision towards the right with drive shaft pointing towards the camera, and the idler arrangement to the left with the idler shaft poking out.
 Now with the wheels and sprockets on.
 A close up of the suspension arrangement. Neat eh?
 Now with tracks on...
and with the top on. We were quite pleased with the suspension as it worked well. Even with me stood on the chassis the springs didnt bottom out!!! Its a bit low towards the front (not surprisingly!) so we need to beef up the front couple of wheel stations but otherwise all was ok. If the idler looks a bit too far forward, its on its maximum (or minimum!) travel and as far forward as it will go. We'll make sure it goes more midway when we put the chassis together for keeps. In the foreground is the offending battery on charge (yes I know we should have checked it before hand)

And to prove it all works... :-)

A major step forward this weekend and one we were both pleased with! One thing we did decide on (and fix) is some limit of travel micro switches for the idler adjustment as with the top and tracks on, you havent got a clue where the limit of travel is!!! Onwards and upwards :-)

Sunday 13 January 2013

Mid January Progress

In deepest darkest January, work progresses on the Big Panther! This weekend most of Saturday was spent altering the second drive chain tensioning arrangement as it was found to foul the suspension components of the first wheel station. Not much to show for this but we had one half of the gearbox running and it runs like a dream :-) Howards radio made more noise than the transmission! We had a rough measure and we reckon its doing approximately 6 km an hour in real time so does that equate to 24 km once scaled up??? Anyway, we wont know how fast it will be until we put it all together and run it which hopefully will be next weekend, yay!!!


Sunday was spent finishing the smoke generator mounting plate and fixings, and the smoke generator and exhausts itself. After this we started thinking about the speaker/controls panel but thats another story.

 Here's Howard working through the turret ring on the smoke generator assembly. This view gives you an idea of the sheer size of the bloody thing! Just putting the top on and off the chassis is a two man job.
 This view is looking through the turret ring towards the back of the chassis  and the smoke generator.
And here's a close up of the smoke generator itself. Its a larger version of a twin element smoke generator I'd made before. Two elements (12v+12v=24v) in series to run off battery voltage and there will be two fans driven by a Benedini smoke generator control board giving proportional smoke with the engine noises. The idea of the big box is to give a nice reservoir for the smoke to be stored in before the initial start up big puff of smoke!

And lastly, a couple of views of the engine hatch complete with Milliput weld detail and a coat of paint. Not so exquisite as Kent Wiiks example maybe but a close second :-) I'm happy with it and thats all the counts!



Sunday 6 January 2013

Progress in 2013!

This weekend its been mostly finishing the engine hatch. Its not 100% accurate but as I've said before, its all about capturing the look of the real thing and I think you'll agree this certainly looks the part :-) The cheek peices and supporting wings are all bolted together and to the main hatch with high tensile bolts so this will be capable of towing! Once the hatch was finished, we spent some time getting it all line up at the back of the model, the pics should tell the story. This took some time as its a two man job to move the chassis and top around and cramped in Howards workshop! After this, the battery support frames were welded into the chassis and a mounting for the turret traverse mechanism. At the back, a plate was added to mount the smoke generator and plumbing for the exhaust pipes but I forgot to take a picture of this!







Just some Milliput to add for the welds, some chains and some paint and voila! As you can see from the bottom picture, its huge, and heavy! Like I said, not 100% accurate but I'm happy with it :-)

 Next we took the chassis and top out into the garden to offer the two up and get the alignment right for the rear hatch to screw into. This wasnt a five minute job!
Look how small the hatch looks now in place on the tank!  The hatch screws into a steel threaded bush which is a sloppy fit in the rear chassis rail. Once done up tight and the top checked that it was in the right place...
 ...the bush was welded into place. The above pic is looking up under the engine deck...
... and this pic shows the bush position in relation to the rest of the chassis.
 Here's the chassis laying on its right hand side on the bench looking underneath with the longtitudinals for the batterys to lay in.
And now its laying on its right hand side looking inside at this post which will be the mounting point for the turret traveres. The mast, as Howard put it, is bang on dead centre of the turret ring.