A 47 years old love

[Frank Breitenbach]

Hello Fabrice and Stephen
The problem is to provide a Video from the Wisent - I do not have it and in the winter - all is hard frozen.
So we must wait until spring. But thank´s for your Kind words.
All the best
Frank

[Frank Breitenbach]

Hello
Some parts from the cooling system.
Frank

[Frank Breitenbach]

Hello
Next step forward.
Frank

[Frank Breitenbach]

Hello at all
The radiators are now inside.
Frank

[Frank Breitenbach]

Hello at all
The first gearbox cover with the louvre is ready.
Frank

[Adrian Harris]

I'm very impressed with the 3D printed parts.

You're getting a very smooth surface finish.

What filament and layer height are you using ?

Adrian.

[Frank Breitenbach]

Hello Adrian
I use a Zortrax M200. So I am working with Zortrax filament. It is ABS and the layer height is 0,14 or 0,19 mm when I print only vertical parts. The minimum layer height is 0,09 mm.
Frank

[Frank Breitenbach]

Hello at all
At first: Thank you to Stephen for the helpful pictures.

Well when I start the design I see a gap between my reference models from Taymia and the Centurion. So I visited the Full Museum with a Centurion. The result was that the new gearbox covers are a little bit longer. In the end of all the gap between the last crossbeam to the turret is more realistic (smaller) and all is nearly to my measurement from Full.
So here my pictures.
Frank

[Frank Breitenbach]

Hello
Now the first engine cover is ready. How every time - Stephens Report was very helpfull.
59 printing parts later








Kind regards
Frank

[Stephen White]

Superb Frank, a truly great model is emerging in your workshop. Thanks for posting. Always look forward to the next episode.

[Robert E Morey]

Beautiful work Frank. I love 3D printed parts as enhancements to these tanks. Those are some very complex grates. Very nice work.
Best regards,
Bob

[Frank Breitenbach]

Hello
The next step is the crossmember. Here the complete covers.
Regards
Frank

[Frank Breitenbach]

Hello
Now the the crossmember from engine is ready. If you see, is the gap between the turret and the engine covers are very smaller. But the turret is at the same place.
Kind regards
Frank

[Frank Breitenbach]

Hello
Now the elevation is ready. It is fitted with limit switches for both sites. I think so it is possible to give it a gun stabilization realised with a rc helicopter stabilisation.
Regards
Frank

[Stephen White]

Frank, I'm full of admiration for your skills on this top class Centurion. Glad to have helped but it's your engineering skills that are making it such a fine model.

Stabilisation is a Holy Grail and it's not so easy as it seems. The physics are complex, indeed there is a very long and tedious PhD paper on the subject. I've done some research and trials, enough to make me realise the helicopter systems are not appropriate. Directly analogous to our needs are the camera gimbal stabilisers. The Arduino based systems look promising, such as those by BaseCam. The sensors are key. It isn't sufficient to run just a rate gyro system, as they quickly lose reference, which leads to divergent oscillations. A so called six-axis IMU is essential. These combine three axis gyros and accelerometers. Given that they are so cheap, I'd also add a GPS. That combination should allow you to lay the gun onto a point in space and hold it there as the hull moves underneath. One of the axes will be redundant as you don't need roll but pitch and yaw are sufficient. The current range of controllers are designed to be used with brushless motors rather than servos, so the engineering challenge will be to integrate them with the elevation and traverse gearing. The last thing I'd say is that it's essential to balance the gun. Of course, if you also add recoil, the point of balance changes but I haven't been able to test whether that's an issue.

I'm sure that stabilisation is something we'd like to see achieved although of course, it really only applies to the Grant, Centurion and Chieftain so far.

Keep showing us your magic. Stephen