Panzer III

[SoCalBobS]

Naw, too lazy.

[Vaseline]

Bob did you cut the opening on the inlets before you put the grill on?

[SoCalBobS]

Yep,that’s the one!

[Vaseline]

za-empire is the vendor I got them from off Ebay and they are a Torro product

[Vaseline]

I got a set off Ebay I will have to look who the vendor was, They have a lot of Mato and Torro parts. I haven't put them on my III yet so can't help you as to how to put it on.

[SoCalBobS]

Wish I could remember; eBay, banggood or Ali express, but yeah one will have them. Superglued them on, no issues.

[DavidN]

Anyone know of a source for photo etched brass grills that can replace the decals there for the Panzer III or StuG III?

Were you able to get the photo etched grills kit for your panzer III? If you did, how did you install them? Thank you!

[quitcherbitchen]

For what it is worth this guy did the adjuster mod. Granted an older chassis like mine.

[OKC_Jim]

OKC_Jim I messed about with replacing the stock adjusters with Mato ones. Check my Panzer III topic a bit below this one.

Thanks, UltraVargen.

[UltraVargen]

OKC_Jim I messed about with replacing the stock adjusters with Mato ones. Check my Panzer III topic a bit below this one.
In short:
The Mato adjusters are made for the older (pre-6.0?) hulls. The ones that have no adjuster per default.
The Mato can be installed on the 6.0 hull, like I did, but you can't use the metal swing arm (it's too short for that hull due to a slightly different position where it connects to the hull).
The stock plastic Heng Long adjuster on the 6.0 hull is cast with the rear plate of the tank and has to be saw off. It cannot be re-used after removal.

[OKC_Jim]

Wonder if Toucan would sell me a stripped lower hull with the tensioner......

Just thinking out loud.

Thanks Bob.

Jim

[SoCalBobS]

Looks similar, could work. Don't know how the Mato's adjust, in mine the screw does it.

[OKC_Jim]

They're not like the add-ons I've seen pictures of, so I'm guessing they're built in. It's a 'worm gear" setup, as opposed to an "eccentric" one. They can be adjusted with the tracks on.

Thanks Bob,

These are the ones I am looking at.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Mato-1-16-G...59.m2763.l2649

[SoCalBobS]

They're not like the add-ons I've seen pictures of, so I'm guessing they're built in. It's a 'worm gear" setup, as opposed to an "eccentric" one. They can be adjusted with the tracks on.

[OKC_Jim]

Hey. My 5.3 StuG did not have tensioners, obviously an older mold. The Panzer III is a 6.0 version. The tensioners look similar to the fake ones on the StuG, but they are in fact functional, adjustable by a phillips head bolt. By it's design, I'd say it was a tank-specific purpose built improvement.

Neither of these tanks shed tracks. If yours are coming off in the back off the idler, I'd look at alignment. Maybe a washer fell off or wasn't provided in the first place? All my tanks came with a washer inline with the idlers. Many's the time I've had to chase them around the workplace floor!

Bob

Thanks Bob,

Do the new Heng Long tensioners look like something that could be retrofitted to an older hull or are they part of the hull?

I double checked the washers, even tried an extra one on each side. Still throwing tracks.

[SoCalBobS]

SoCalBobS, what tensioners came on it? My StuG seems to be shedding tracks on a regular enough basis that it made me think about adding tensioners. I've seen the Mato ones. Wasn't sure if that was what Heng Long was using or something different?

Thanks,

Jim

Hey. My 5.3 StuG did not have tensioners, obviously an older mold. The Panzer III is a 6.0 version. The tensioners look similar to the fake ones on the StuG, but they are in fact functional, adjustable by a phillips head bolt. By it's design, I'd say it was a tank-specific purpose built improvement.

Neither of these tanks shed tracks. If yours are coming off in the back off the idler, I'd look at alignment. Maybe a washer fell off or wasn't provided in the first place? All my tanks came with a washer inline with the idlers. Many's the time I've had to chase them around the workplace floor!

Bob

[OKC_Jim]

I'm posting this because I was pleasantly surprised to see it had adjustable tensioners!

SoCalBobS, what tensioners came on it? My StuG seems to be shedding tracks on a regular enough basis that it made me think about adding tensioners. I've seen the Mato ones. Wasn't sure if that was what Heng Long was using or something different?

Thanks,

Jim

[UltraVargen]

It's what I was thinking as well: Just rig something to interface the recoil unit to the original elevation unit. You basically just need a tab that sticks out at the right height at the rear of the unit.

[Sureshot]

HL uses a couple of different mechanisms to elevate the cannon and both of them need the air soft housing to function.
When all or part of the air soft unit is removed for servo barrel recoil it's probably just easier to use a servo for elevation also.
The disadvantage of servo elevation is the smoothness and speed of the barrel movement depends on how you move the TX stick.
I don't think it would be hard to adapt a 3-d printed recoil unit to work with the original elevation mechanism with a little work and would be more scale in it's movement.
Steve

[UltraVargen]

Quick question: What's the advantage of using servo for raising and lowering the barrel? Isn't it easier to use the existing HL mechanism?