Me again! I just received my Vandra StuG IV conversion kit for the Heng Long PzKfw IV. I got it from USA's Vandra distributor, DAK RC. Kenny the owner is great to work with.
Short backstory: I'd attempted Vandra's Mobelwagen conversion but stopped. For various technical reasons, it wasn't what I wanted. I'd already prepped the PzKfw IV chassis, so this looked like it had good potential.
Most of the build seems quite straightforward, so the singular feature I'll be focusing on is barrel elevation and traverse, I believe ~10 degrees left and right. IR will be in the barrel. This last presented the first "challenge". Vandra supplies a resin barrel with an internal aluminum tube, but it is not large enough for my IR bulb. Also, it was slightly warped, hard to remedy with resin over aluminum. Having anticipated replacing the barrel, I'd bought a metal barrel from China. To make it fit I had to drill out the whachamacallit sheath. (Anybody know the proper term? Mantlet?) fun to do with a hand drill, but I prevailed.
Here are most of the parts sitting on or spread around the chassis. Metal barrel in the whatever.
Short backstory: I'd attempted Vandra's Mobelwagen conversion but stopped. For various technical reasons, it wasn't what I wanted. I'd already prepped the PzKfw IV chassis, so this looked like it had good potential.
Most of the build seems quite straightforward, so the singular feature I'll be focusing on is barrel elevation and traverse, I believe ~10 degrees left and right. IR will be in the barrel. This last presented the first "challenge". Vandra supplies a resin barrel with an internal aluminum tube, but it is not large enough for my IR bulb. Also, it was slightly warped, hard to remedy with resin over aluminum. Having anticipated replacing the barrel, I'd bought a metal barrel from China. To make it fit I had to drill out the whachamacallit sheath. (Anybody know the proper term? Mantlet?) fun to do with a hand drill, but I prevailed.
Here are most of the parts sitting on or spread around the chassis. Metal barrel in the whatever.
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