StuG III 014 - A Team Effort

[John Fitzsimons]

I used round topped screws to secure my photo etch boards on the panzer IV. EKP Supplies have them in various sizes. very nice work on the stug.

You mentioned earlier stub uniform. DID Tim Becker figure came with spare assault gun crew uniform.

[Steven Snel]

For a commander, I went for Dragon's Georg Bose. He will be getting a DID head though since those have much better features.

[Darren_Hagarty]

Crew Figures
Thanks John and Steven, it took me some time to work out what DID meant (Dragon in Dreams).
The Georg Bose figure looks good for a commander. The Tim Becker figure looked to be SS. The link I saw didn't seem to show the extra uniforms that were included. I was planning on giving my model a Stug battalion number from the Eastern front as that's where most served. If I stick to my number of 114 to honour the Armortek number of 14 it will be narrowed down to about three battalions as only about five were equipped with a complement of 45 Stugs.
John the Tim Becker figure would be good as long as the Stug uniform wasn't SS. Do you have a link as I've found the Dragon figures difficult to search I must be on the wrong pages.

[Steven Snel]

In my case, my StuG will be attributed to the StuG Abt 667, the emblem of which is also my profile picture. I strongly encourage you to look into the different stug units. Though relatively little has been written about them in comparison to the heavy tiger units or comparable, some have an incredible history that is worth delving in.

[Darren_Hagarty]

Armorpax accessories and Battery Questions

Hi all,
Been away for work trips for the last couple of months so build had stalled.
With the main build basically done after a long grind of niggly fit issues we were hoping for some clear sailing with the accessories however no such luck.
The tow rope caused some issues but eventually cleared up with a photo from Marks demo as the guide wasn't showing the correct fitting. (see our photo attached)

The Armorpax tools need to be assembled. The tools needed holes drilled to allow the parts to go together. I'd have rather paid an extra $10 or whatever to have them pre-drilled as drilling them out has been an exercise. If you need say a 2mm hole you needed to drill a 1mm then 1.5mm then 2mm hole and carefully at that. To us it didn't seem practical to hold the parts in a vice as the soft white metal would most likely be damaged. Instead we held the part while drilling carefully with the other hand.
The second issue we've had with the Armorpax parts has been fitting to the mudguards and hull. The holes on the mudguards and hull are to big so the tool is not secured properly. The holes on the mudguards and hull look consistent so I don't think that's where the issue is. We don't want to have to glue them as if you want repaint the tank you can't get them out.
So has anyone any ideas on that issue?

Also specifically on two of the parts we need photos of the jack from a couple of sides and also the rear light on the left hand mudguard. The instructions don't show how the parts go together and we can't see how the rear light is supposed to be mounted.

Now that the main tank build is basically done we're ready to start bench testing the accessories like motors etc. we have a Futaba remote control and need to get batteries. We have questions on the batteries.

1) What Ah rating is recommended? All the accessories guide says is two 12 Volt batteries. From the photo they look to be 18-20Ah.
2) Are the batteries intended too be mounted upright like in the photo in the accessories guide? From my measurements there is only 120mm above the false floor at the rear of the kit so that would mean you couldn't even have the batteries below on their side as that would need 150mm of height.
3) Has anyone tried "Absorbed Glass Matt" AGM batteries as opposed to lead acid? According to the battery shop they can be laid on their side if necessary.

These are some batteries specs that I got from the battery shop.

1) 18Ah - 12 Volt Lead Acid (5.5 Kg) 165mm * 75mm * 175mm (long)
2) 17Ah - 12 Volt AGM (6.2 Kg) 165mm * 75mm * 175 mm (long)
3) 20Ah - 12 Volt AGM (6.4 Kg) 165mm * 75mm * 175 mm (long)

I've also seen some people are using Lithium Iron batteries for their better discharge chart and larger number of cycles plus of course the weight saving. I'm open minded to Lithium Ion batteries but the battery shop didn't seem to have any and we didn't want to make a rod for our own back as we are hoping to have the build finished and running not long after its birthday on the 3rd of July.

[Iacopo Di Giampietro]

I mounted these batteries: weigh little, take a little, have a long life and can accommodate lying on its side.

http://www.lipotech.net/storeindustria/ ... er=product

But they need a system for cell balancing.

Ciao,
Iacopo

[Darren_Hagarty]

Thanks for the Battery info Lacopo.
I see these LiFe batteries are 3.4 Kg which is about 60% of the weight of the batteries I was looking at.
What did you mean by a system of cell balancing? The two 12V batteries are supposed to be connected in series. Do these batteries need a special charger or any other considerations when being used?
Also if you have time would you be able to post a photo showing how your batteries are positioned in the hull. I'm guessing they are lying on their side.

By the way Steven Snel I agree with StuG battalion 667 as probably one of the greatest and it was certainly on my shortlist but I'll probably choose a different one just to be independent. I was going to get a sign writer to do my logos so I was conscious of not getting to complicated a unit logo.
Have you made any progress on your StuG Steven?

[Stephen White]

Darren, hi.

The default setting for batteries is two 12 volt 22 aH AGM lead acid batteries. These can be laid on their sides and fit well in the Pz III hull. If your look at my Pz III thread, there are photos of the installation.

You might also be interested in the debate about replacing lead acid with Lithium. Although LIPO are increasingly used, I think there is a better solution with LiFePO . They are much lighter and have longer life, don't reduce in output during discharge and with a battery condition monitor, avoid the risks associated with LiPO. There is a lot of helpful information from Armortek builders here:

http://www.armortek.co.uk/Forum3b/viewt ... 9&start=15

Hope that helps. This is a great forum for help and advice and the sharing of views and information makes things so much easier. Things which seem to be a big challenge first time around become manageable.


Hope that helps.

Stephen

[Darren_Hagarty]

Hi Steven,
I found a 18Ah 12V LiFePO4 battery do you think that two 18Ah batteries would do the job?
If its 1.5 hours runtime verses 2 hours that wouldn't bother me.

http://www.batteriesdirect.com.au/shop/ ... 12-18.html

Also I found a forum about your Africa Korps Panzer III it had 40 pages but I couldn't see any internal battery layout.
Is that the right one and if so what page should I be looking at?

[Iacopo Di Giampietro]

Hello Darren,
sorry for the delay in responding to you.
Unfortunately, the site where I was hosting my photos has had some problems and my photos are no longer visible, or at least the older ones.
However, on the third page of the construction of my Panzer III you can see the current position of the batteries and various electronic forms of Armortek.
I put a battery lying on the side at the center of the tank, and immediately after I put the second battery, straight up.
The LiFePO4 batteries, of Lipotech, can be opened for access to the individual cells, and allow you to put the wires for balancing the load on each individual cell.
To charge the LiFePO4 batteries you need a charger that loads 8S batteries and has a power charge balance.
However, the topic has been addressed in other threads on the forum, and also on the topic of building my Panzer III.

I hope you understand what I write despite my bad English.

Ciao,
Iacopo.

[Stephen White]

Darren (and Iacopo) sounds like progress. I believe LiFePO will give you increased endurance for the same capacity as lead acid AGM, because the output remains constant during discharge, allowing you to get into the last 25% which would be unusable with lead acid. If you reverse that principle, you will get comparable endurance from a smaller capacity. In other words, 18 ah would seem to me to be fine.

I can't recall which page the internal photos are on my Pz III but if I have time on Sunday after Tank Fest, I'll try to take some for you.

Iacopo has some good advice too.

All the best.

Stephen

[Darren_Hagarty]

Motion Kit Setup - Background & Amplifier Module Question

Hello all,
After a delay waiting for the LiFePo batteries I can now start on this section of the build. I'm very happy with the batteries they are 18AH and very light. I've started on bench testing the modules starting with Power Supply and Speed Control Module. I've got both motors to run nicely forwards and backwards on channel two and three. For my remote control I swapped the recommended channels around so left joystick was left motor and right joystick right motor.
One problem was only the right joystick has spring loaded self centre which to me makes sense for the drive motors. However I've ordered a $10 kit to change the right joystick to also be self centred. I expect the kit in a few days.
Photos of the above to follow however I have a question on the Amplifier Module which I'm working on now. I've noticed that the speaker cables on my module are wired the reverse of the photo in the Accessory guide. I wanted to check before proceeding as possibly my module has been connected wrong in the factory.
The green cable is for the black terminal on the speaker and the yellow cable for the red terminal. Also on the amplifier module it didn't have the stickers for + and - that the other modules had. This seemed unusual maybe they were just missed when it was put together.
Also my remote control is a Futaba T8J (using SFSS for radio). the 7C Futaba's weren't available. So far its going OK.

[Adrian Harris]

With the colour of the connections for the speakers, it doesn't matter whether the greens go to the red speaker terminals or the yellows. You can easily swap the plugs over on the Amplifier module if you would rather it followed the photo in the manual.

The output to the speakers from the Amplifier Module is an alternating current signal, which means that it alternates from being positive and negative. When going positive, the cone in the speaker moves one way, and when going negative, the cone in the speaker moves the other way.

So, as long as the speakers are wired up the same (which makes me wonder about placement), the effect will be the same.

Adrian.

[Darren_Hagarty]

Motion Kit Setup - Amplifier Module
Thanks Adrian, I've proceeded as suggested and connected the speakers. The cable layout on my Amplifier module didn't match the guide as shown above however we connected the Speed Control cables to the Amplifier Module and then back to the Speed Control Unit. A quick test confirmed the motors still run as before.
We took the lid off the Amplifier Module and ran through the initial setup process as per the guide. You're supposed to hear three clicks on start up then press and release the program button on the card. You could then hear the engine start sound, rev, gun firing etc then a repeated clicking sound at which stage the card is programmed and you turn off the tank and replace the lid.

So the speakers definitely worked and made expected noises. When we powered on again we hear about 4 clicks from the speakers on start up. Maybe this means the programming hasn't worked or its normal? The motors still work however moving the three way switch to the front of the transmitter doesn't cause the engine start sound. Moving the switch to the centre position doesn't switch to proportional engine sound either.

We've used channel 5 on the Futaba which is a three way switch on my unit. Maybe there is something else on the transmitter that's needs configuring for this channel. Also is low volume far left on the volume knob or far right? Logic would suggest far left which is where it is. Its recommended to keep volume low during run in period.

Also a separate question on mounting the motors to the front flanges the guide doesn't mention using grease or dry lube. I recall reading post once where Mark mentioned not to use grease as it attracts grit which wears the parts. What is best practise in this regard.

[Adrian Harris]

Is that a T8J or T10J transmitter in the picture ?

The Armotek modules are only known to work with the Futaba FASST system, not their newer S-FHSS system, which is signalling system used by the J model transmitters.

http://www.armortek.co.uk/Forum3b/viewt ... 934#p33628

Adrian.