Renault FT17

[Günter Gäbelein]

Hi

last couple of weeks I have started assembly of my FT17. Design have been completed and I have started milling of metal parts and printing of ABS parts. The hull is completely in aluminium, the turred is assembled of printed parts.

The hull is assembled by 3mm an 2mm rivets






The gear and the driving motor, but the steering brakes are still not assembled




The tail spur


The turret pre-assembled






















Some detail for the driving compartment








Rear axle


Turret structured and rivets placed






Roller carriages






Support for left track












To be continued

[Christoffer Ahlfors]

Goodness!

A beautiful scratch build!

[mark lawson]

Outstanding as usual Günter, I will be watching this build as it evolves.

[Robert E Morey]

Very cool project Gunter. I've always wanted to build an FT, but my scratch list is too long at the moment. Curious will the turret eventually be metal, or always 3D printed? Same with tracks? I will be interested how you do the track braking with single motor.
Best regards,
Bob

[Günter Gäbelein]

Hi Robert,

I think the casted turret will be printed also in the future but the angular turret could be produced in metal.
The single motor drives a worm wheel which is assembled to the differential gear. When braking at the right side the speed of left track will be increased while the right track will be stopped and vice versa. I hope I can assemble the brakes during the next days.

[Pete Nash]

Wow, Wow, and Wow again. Gunter that is a truly remarkable project, it looks fabulous.

Pete

[Günter Gäbelein]

Hi all,

I have an update on my FT17. I have now nearly finished the track drives. Next will be some detailing and production of tracks. But look to the images below:

[Robert E Morey]

Really lovely work Gunter! Great to see so much progress. I like the combination of printed parts and machined - the melding of two technologies. I'm using more printed parts myself these days. Will the tracks be printed or are those just the "prototypes"?
Best regards,
Bob

[Steve Norris]

Günter
What a fantastic job you are doing with the FT. I love the detail you are putting into it.
Looking forward to seeing a video of it driving and stearing with those track brakes.
Regards
Steve

[Pete Nash]

Be careful Gunter, you may be starting your own business.
Looking forward to more updates, you are credible.

[Pete Nash]

Be careful Gunter, you may be starting your own business.
Looking forward to more updates, you are credible.

[Robert Reid]

Absolutely amazing scratch build... since that is what it appears to be!!!

It's a kit I wish Armortek would build... because it would be an incredible tribute to the birth of Allied armor!

Beautiful work, sir!

Cheers,

RPR

[Günter Gäbelein]

Hi all,

I made some progress with my FT17
It is running!!!! The gear and thesteering brakes are working well after some modifications. Also the tracks are moving like the original. Below some new pictures with added details:

A stowage box


The track tensioner


The steering arms


The modified gear and the steering brakes


Shovel added


Hammer added


The speaker is placed inside the radiator


One of the Dubois brother has taken place at the driver seat


Video from first driving to show the steering and track tensioner working
drive test (5,5MB)

[Dave Dibb (Armorpax)]

Absolutely love it! One of my 2 favourite Tanks.

Best regards

Dave

[Vince Cutajar]

that is looking great Gunter

Vince