M3 Grant (Lee?) scratchbuilt... or that's the plan anyway...

[Rob1970]

Yeah...


Early peperpot-style exhausts... that's a thing now. Functional too...

;D

The cheese-and-booze-filled Limbo between Christmas and New Years Eve is at least good for -something- it seems...

[Sappo]

Keep drinking and eating cheese mate, seems to be doing wonders for your creativity

[Rob1970]

Mwuhahahahaha!!!

[Barmonkey]

Nice!

I will be praying for your liver...

[Rob1970]

Nice!

I will be praying for your liver...

Thank you. Note to self; stop drinking the embalming fluid...

[Rob1970]

I've uploaded the first version of peperpot-style exhausts to Thingiverse. Might do a few versions, since there are a few variants around.
Next; hatches!!! Here's a sneak preview of the driver's hatch. It's still a 3-piece affair in these pictures, but a new version is printing now...






Pre-supported...


...and I will know if it works out in about an hour...

[Rob1970]

Yes...


...this gives me joy...


Just the right amount of detail for a spot few people will see this close up...

[Vaseline]

I don't have a resin printer yet. Just wondering how they would turn out with filament printers?
They look amazing

[Rob1970]

I don't have a resin printer yet. Just wondering how they would turn out with filament printers?
They look amazing

Well...





It's a world of difference... and with resin printer getting cheaper all the time...
I picked up a new resin printer last night (whiskey, good cheer and browsing Banggood = not an ideal combo...) for about €120...

[Vaseline]

Right will look. I have no experience with the resin printers at all and I don't have any idea what resin or printer to even consider
Thanks for the help

[Rob1970]

Right will look. I have no experience with the resin printers at all and I don't have any idea what resin or printer to even consider
Thanks for the help

I have a Anycubic Photon S which is pretty nice once I got the hang of it, and now I bought a Creality Halot One. That one is advertised as foolproof... (I think they are still on Fool 1.0 while the rest of the world is already on Fool 3.2 build 6...) but the review on Youtube are nice, and it was cheap... For some reason €115 shipped from CZ, but €256 when shipped from PL... dunno why, didn't ask, just hit Buy It Now...

[Rob1970]

[SoCalBobS]

Have you assembled your parts yet? Even dry fitted? How's it look? Have you decided what gearing and electronics you'll use?

[Rob1970]

Have you assembled your parts yet? Even dry fitted? How's it look? Have you decided what gearing and electronics you'll use?

The parts I have made sofar have been dry-fitted and eyeballed and they look good. Pretty pleased with how the exhausts and the driver's hatch came out, probably going to do a redesign on the large hull doors. The turret's been on including the HL donor Sherman's rotating motor and turret ring and works smoothly. Still pondering what to do with the movement within the limits of the donor parts. Traverse, elevate and fire the sponson gun and keep the turret static? Just fire the sponson gun and make the turret fully functional?

All things to consider. I -might- go with a new board if budget allows. Or try to make a board myself using Arduino? So many questions, and some answers still a good way outside my skill set. For now...

Pretty happy with the conversion I did on the bogeys, and those are working fine and holding up well. The bare hull has had a good testrun around the house and nothing broke.

There's still a fair bit of scratch building and 3D designing to do. The riveting of the hull alone is going to take while... But it all seems to be coming together nicely. And there's still decisions to be made. Sand skirts, yes or no? Fenders?

But sofar I'm happy...

[Rob1970]

The last few days I've spent mostly snacking, drinking and avoiding people. I hope to keep up the last bit of that routine until nobody wants to hug/kiss/shake hands anymore to wish me a good 2022...

But all that means a lot of time relaxing on the couch with Netflix documentaries (they have a bunch about tanks... oh joy!) and my PC to tinker with 3D designs.

Now, based on the Tamiya and Airfix kit and the Chieftain's youtube video's about the Grant, I made a passable commander's hatch...


Very nice sofar, still some details to add...


...but the hinges work and there's even a latch on the inside. Still have to do the MG mount and add some screws and nuts. Still getting to grips with the fact I can add sooo much more detail when resin printing.

[Rob1970]

Commander's Hatch...


...now with MG mount...


...and periscope...


Fits like a glove... well, after some minor sanding of the hole...


...but it certainly looks the part.

;D

[Rob1970]

Not much to report, besides that I've been a bit off physically and mentally the last week. Getting back to work (on a therapy basis...) combined with that not going as well as I wanted has me bit down. But we struggle on...

Mainly been tinkering with new types of resin, and I found one they advertise as "ABS Like". And it works well. Bit more bendy and less brittle than the green stuff I've been using sofar...


No noticable shrinkage (the bane of resin printer users on technical parts)...


...and my hinges still work.


Oh and for those of you who ever stepped on a Lego... try discarded resin supports... Those will rrrreally mess you up. Luckily I was wearing my flipflops...

TTFN,
Rob

[Rob1970]

Redid the driver's hatch. Didn't look quite right to me...







A lot less bulky around the edges... Finally figured out to do a nice corner fillet in Tinkercad.

TTFN,
Rob

[Rob1970]

I've been a bit under the weather the past few weeks (A nice combo of bronchitis that turned into a flu/viral respiratory thing, but no 'rona...) so I didn't get much modelling done. Also need to sort my workspace because my workflow was getting horrendous and was getting very frustrating. Too much stuff and too little space...

While me and the workspace are slowly getting better I decided to focus on some reverse-engineering on the Grant. I did most of the scratchbuilding of the upper hull "on the fly" adjusting as I went along and I decided it was time to get some measurements down on paper.

So with callipers and some other tools I have made a start of documenting the parts...


...and this is what I have sofar.

When I'm done I will make these available along with the printable parts. Probable as a pdf so people can cut them from ABS sheet, or maybe even as files for laser- or CNC-cutting. Might even export them as files to print too.

TTFN,
Rob

[Vaseline]

Glad to here your on the mend. I too am recovering from my usual winter head cold,
Hard to focus when you feel under the weather