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Hi Chang, an excellent build and I really like the enhancements you have made. The toolbox which is such a prominent feature in all pictures of the Elefant is strangely missing from the basic kit. You have reproduced it very well, as you have done with the rest of your mods. Interestingly I have bought exactly the same 'T' pattern sheets for the top surface of the fenders as you, only I obtained them locally here in the UK. It appears to be pretty close to the original.

Your progress puts me to shame, I currently have just the lower hull etch primed and assembled with just the bogie mounting pivots attached. Think my build will run to several years as opposed to several months. Matters not, I'm really enjoying the process.

By the way, are you planning a partial 'strip down' and paint or are you leaving it in the base metal?

Dave.

Hi Dave,

Thanks for the comments. Your Elefant is in a good progress.
The most satisfaction I have earned is not the tool box, but the reinforcements I had made on the chassis, which will be more significant on strength. Both the (not functional) tool box and diamond pattern sheet are just for appearance purpose.

All AFV metal models should eventually be painted as their real counterpart. Only so far, I haven't decided to keeping on test run———— There are still unsolved issues with the Futaba T10J FHSS transmitter/receiver system————, or start to paint it. Too much things to do.....

Regards,
Lerh Chang

(3) More photos:
I will rotate the twin main motors by 90 degrees to vertical position. Of course both motor mounts are to be rotated by 90 degrees as well. Why? Just my personal preference as trying to save some inner space. Lerh Chang

The gun barrel length overhang the hull = 16.5cm. Not sure if it was about 1 meter only in real vehicle.....

More photos of the two sectional gun barrels, dis-assembled:

(1) The rear section barrel visible part ～15.50cm: Remember, there is an invisible part about 3.00cm was inserted into the gun shield.

(2) The front section barrel including the muzzle brake ～47.00cm, including 2.00cm locked screw section: The close-up view of the muzzle brake: The diagram shown in the Assembly Manual:

More minor addition:
The servo bracket (CR0703) for the gun elevation servo (CP0290) was locked on the bottom of the inner side of the front armour (CR0403). It is made by steel, yet is free on the bottom. During the bench testing, with servo was working, it shows some minor strains under a torque generated by the servo. No much but observable.

So I drilled 3 holes on the chassis, 1 hole on the CR0703, and lock in another angular bracket (white one) that connect the CR0703 and chassis. I believe that will eliminate the minor strains at all.
I always used the hardwares available from shop. So the work looks not pretty. But I believe it will work well.

Regards,
Lerh Chang

Ha ha!
Those shelf brackets are designed to be sturdy. Any bouncing of the gun when running, ruins the realism. This could be worthwhile, if you are planning on running in rough terrain.
Thumbup!

/Chris

Christoffer Ahlfors wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 18, 2018 10:13 pm

Ha ha!
Those shelf brackets are designed to be sturdy. Any bouncing of the gun when running, ruins the realism. This could be worthwhile, if you are planning on running in rough terrain.
Thumbup!
/Chris

You're absolutely right Christoffer.
Bouncing gun barrel is never pretty. Wish the shelf bracket added can reduce that too.
So far, at least while elevating the gun barrel up/down, any distortion on the servo bracket CR0703 is reduced if not eliminated.
Cheers,
Lerh Chang

More addition on reducing the strain of the CR0703 part:

Adding a rectangular plate, cut a slot and 2 holes, locked on the Motion Control Module plate, to further reduce the potential 2D strain:

After basic sand yellow painting: (No camouflage applied yet)

More photos: