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

[Roy Beukeveld]

Nothing technical to write about this time, but I thought it would be nice to share some nice pictures.
Today my StuG went out to the field for the first time, great experience! It was awesome to see it driving around in the woods
I was surprised with the ease in which it climbs uphill and finds it way through the terrain.
There were some steep long climbs and the current didn't get above 17 amps over the entire driving session.
I did run off a tire so that one has to be glued back on, but other then that all went fine.











So now its back in the workshop, plenty of things still to do so back to work

[Robert E Morey]

Looks fantastic - love the ground level pix! Are you going to paint the cone points? Or leave em shiny for extra "bling"?
B

[Roy Beukeveld]

Looks fantastic - love the ground level pix! Are you going to paint the cone points? Or leave em shiny for extra "bling"?
B

Hi Robert, haha extra bling

No they will be painted too, still lots to do before the model is actually finished. This is one of those items.

Tomorrow I will continue with the gun mechanics, they are all in place but not yet connected and wired in.
My commander needs power to make his 'moves' again, wires are already in place but the Arduino has to be built in again.
The MG34 still needs a mounting, and one of my return rollers doesn't roll very smoothly, so plenty of things to do

[Björn Johansson]

Great inspiration Roy thanks it looks so

[Marco Peter]

It's so squeaky clean!

[Roy Beukeveld]

It's so squeaky clean!

Haha yes it is… well, i can always try to say i modelled it after the state in which they left the factory

[Marco Peter]

Any plans for camo?

[Roy Beukeveld]

Hi guys,

I have been working on the gun mechanics lately. And me too ran into some issues with the gun elevation.
In the original setup I haven't been able to get it working. I have tried a lot of things but no succes.

It got me thinking if maybe it could be accomplished some other way.
When extending the length between the power input point and the pivot point of the gun, the forces needed reduce. So I started with a gear (virtual centerpoint aligns with the pivot point) and placed the motor direct next to it.
Force wise this did the trick, the gun elevates fine although a little fast. But gravity made the gun lower as soon as power was cut.



So i added a worm wheel, the gear ratio is now further reduced, and the worm prevents it from lowering when power is cut.
I'm still fiddling with it, but the prototype works...

[Christoffer Ahlfors]

Awesome!
You could still add a counterweight to put less strain on the mechanism.

[florian rudolf]

I prefer to install sprngs instead of a counter weight. - Did this allready successful at my SdKfz 251/9.

[Roy Beukeveld]

Awesome!
You could still add a counterweight to put less strain on the mechanism.

Hi Christoffer, yes that is possible, but this way there is no need to

[yves mouton]

Hello Roy

Good work on the elevation system
I used a counter weight ( 1,8 kg ) and put another gearbox on the elevation motor.

Best regards Yves

[Roy Beukeveld]

Hi guys,

A technical issue with the StuG unfortunately... I'm a bit puzzled at the moment, maybe someone knows what it might be.

I drove the StuG out of the garage this morning and it functioned fine. When I tried to drive it up the ramps (backwards) into the car I noticed it started pulling to the left.
Drove it off and manouvered a bit on the driveway. Forward drive all normal, reverse drive it pulls to the left without giving any steering input.

Powered it all off, transmitter too, powered back up and it drives normal backwards and forwards.
Drove up the ramps again, issue returns. I also noticed it doesn't have the power to drive up the ramps like it normally does. In fact, it won't climb up at all.

Batteries fully charged, checked. Trims are all neutral. Resistance in the tracks, road wheels, nothing I could find out of the ordinary.
Fact that it runs okay after power up tells me the mechanics are fine.

What do you think guys? Any clues? Anything I can check or try?

[Adrian Harris]

Does it make any kind of noise when it's pulling to the side ?

Does it go up the ramps OK forwards or once it's having problems is the pulling the side in both forwards and backwards ?

Adrian.

[Roy Beukeveld]

Does it make any kind of noise when it's pulling to the side ?

Does it go up the ramps OK forwards or once it's having problems is the pulling the side in both forwards and backwards ?

Adrian.

Hi Adrian,

No it does not make any noise when driving, driving up the ramp, or when pulling to the left.

I tried some more combinations, and the same problem occurs in forward direction.
No power to climb the ramp, and after having it tried forward, it then also pulls to the left driving forward on a flat surface.
The tendency to pull to the left is stronger in reverse than forwards but it's both there.

Power down and back up, everything is fine again until the climbing in either direction is attempted again....