Roy's StuG III (no. 2020/10)

[Roy Beukeveld]

Thanks guys
Will post some pictures of the floor plate soon, currently I'm working on some printed housings in which the electronics are held in place.
These are bolted onto the clear plate and keep things nicely organised.

[yves mouton]

Hello Roy,

I use velcro tape that i fix with tec 7 on the hull and modules,
this is easy to remove .

Best regards Yves

[Roy Beukeveld]

Hi Yves, yes that is a very good solution, simple and flexible. I have been puzzling with the layout, and came eventually to a set up that would require some parts to be lifted a bit. For instance the power module, I place that one at the front, so the display and the fuse can be reached through the far front hatches. But therefor it had to be lifted a few centimeters and that's where the printed parts come in handy.

[Roy Beukeveld]

... Have you decided on a method for quickly and easily securing the top deck and gun platform to the hull? ...

I made a concept drawing of the idea I had about this:



Two angle steel parts to be mounted on the inside (opposite the existing ones on the outside).
Two magnets on the lower one, the black strip (plastic or aluminium) has two holes in it which center over the two magnets.
That way position should be fixed, and the magnets should of course be strong enough to hold it all together.
The magnets already have a threaded M4 end for mounting and can hold 30N. I ordered a couple to do some tests with.

[Tom OBrien]

Roy,

It's a very good idea to secure the internal components to the floor, especially the heavy batteries.

I like your idea of using angle iron for the floor brackets -- I used aluminum in my Tiger build (about 30mm wide on each plane, cut to the length of the sides, front and rear of the batteries). From the angle pieces, I was able to attach velcro up and over the batteries to the other side. But later, I replaced the front and rear angles pieces for the batteries with plastic pieces cut from electrical outlet housings, which works well.

However, for the StuG, I've decided to use PVC angle pieces rather than the aluminum, as the latter is (I think) an over kill. The PVC should be easier to work with and I plan to secure both batteries (laying on their sides, one on top of the other) and secured over the top with velcro strips. I'm going to visit our hardware store this morning to see what I might be able to adapt from their plumbing supply section to use as floor brackets.

For the electronics, I plan to do the same as with the Tiger, which works very well -- velcro male-female strips against the polycarbonate (clear plastic) floor that I installed over the torsion bars. The velcro makes it very easy to remove the components if it becomes necessary to do so later.

cheers.... Tom

[yves mouton]

Hello Tom,

I think there is not enough room in the stug to put the batteries
on top of each other. I use 12V 22Ah batteries and they are on the side and
on the batterie on the back of the stug i put my speakerbox.

Best regards Yves

[Roy Beukeveld]

... and I plan to secure both batteries (laying on their sides, one on top of the other) ...

Tom, unfortunately that won't fit (unless you use different batteries). I placed my batteries on their sides, behind each other. Placed in a frame made out of aluminium angles. I use the same batteries as Yves mentioned.
I plan on mounting the speaker below the left large hatch of the engine deck. It will be above the last battery.

[Tom OBrien]

Guys,

Yes, I see that the clearance will be a challenge.

The two 12V, 22Ah batteries that I have laying on their side, stacked one on top of the other, measure 157mm with a thin poly-something sheet on the bottom, and one between the two batts. The total clearance afforded by the rear superstructure is 165mm leaving just a few mm for a thin sheet of compressed foam or other material between the top battery and the superstructure's underside.

Armortek shipped the sound and motion packs today, so I won't have them until next week, so I'll wait to see what the speakers require before worrying about it until I've had a chance to emplace them.

Regardless, I appreciate your experience in arranging the components, as I think our batteries' dimensions are not much different. I hate re-inventing the wheel. It's kind of like the first cave man looking at the round wheel and thinking, "I wonder how that would work if it were square"...

cheers... Tom

[yves mouton]

Hello Tom,

There is only one speaker in the option packs.
Ps: do you have your own stug build page?

Best regards Yves

[Tom OBrien]

Roy,

That's good to know, that there's only one speaker to have to deal with.

No, I don't have my own StuG page but probably should. Sorry for taking up so much space on yours.

Tom

[yves mouton]

No problem Tom,
Best regards Yves

[Roy Beukeveld]

... Sorry for taking up so much space on yours...

Hi Tom, No need to apologise!

[Roy Beukeveld]

Now with the suspension set right, I started assembling the floor plate and mounting the components.
I made some brackets to place the components how I'd like them.

The power module and the Motor A driver are placed higher up, this way a lot of wiring could go underneath, and the display and the fuse of the power module is readable and accessible through the front hatches.

[Phil Woollard]

Roy that's the cleanest build I have ever seen!
Regards Phil.

[Adrian Harris]

I see what you mean about the clear floor. I though you might be making it like a glass bottomed boat

Adrian.