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That hatch looks great Glen.

Vince

I think the reason they point outward is that it provides some vision to take a corner. The driver has tunnel vision through the front and can look left through the periscope. With the assistance of the radioman, they have vision to the right.
Anyone with better knowledge?

Was always curious why the periscopes were set at that angle. Would it have been more convenient if the periscopes were able to be rotated from inside?

Vince

Could they have been prismatic so they had more than a straight on view?




Glen

The view was straight - no wide angle optics or multiple prisms. I suspect the placement has much to do with the driver's and radio op's heads. Move the periscope and the head would be in the way.

Been busy with the hatches gluing and painting parts. I have to be careful not to paint/glue myself in a corner. Today finished painting the periscopes before gluing them to the hatches. Not a great result but it will have to do.
I also did a little alteration to the turret escape hatch hinge to make it look like a June 1944 production Tiger.
Vince

Finished work on the brass hinges and have etched primed them.
I have changed the M2.5 tapped holes to M3 through holes as it will make removal of the hinges in the future much easier. I also fitted the Armorpax white metal springs. This required a little modification. At first I wasn't going to fit them as they are hardly visible from the outside but then decided otherwise. I also experimented with an alternative to these simulated springs with solder wire. It's very easy to form these springs with solder wire but did not use this method as the solder wire I have is too thin and I did not want to buy thicker solder wire. A thickness of around 1.5 mm would be ideal.

Vince

This afternoon I was going to glue the locking arm mechanism to the hatches but noticed that the three holes in each locking lever had different positions. A quick email to Dave at Armorpax confirmed that they should be different as they are "keyed". One lever belongs to one particular hatch whilst the other one belongs to the other hatch but off-hand he couldn't remember which is which.

So another quick search on the internet found the answer that I needed.
Vince

Hatches nearly finished. Whilst waiting for the glue/paint to cure I started the final operation on the hull deck. I don't have any excuses for putting it off any longer so today started milling grooves for the weld seems on the edges and middle of the hull roof.
Vince

Finished the hatches. Well, nearly finished. I still need to apply the weld seams to the periscope guards but I thought that I would do them when doing the hull roof weld seams.
A big thumbs up to Dave's white metal parts and Mark's brass hinges.

Vince

An update on the recoil mechanism driven by a stepper motor

Took a break from milling the grooves on the hull deck to try out the recoil triggered by the radio control system. I changed the A4988 driver module to a DRV8825 driver module and it was worth it as the stepper took a new life and became much stronger. I suspect that the A4988 driver module was not giving all the current that the stepper required. In fact I also increased the spring tension considerably and the stepper is not losing any steps. I have been bench testing it for quite a while now being triggered by a switch.

Today it was time to test it being triggered by the tank's radio control system. I am using the signal that was originally meant for the recoil servo. Uploaded the new software into the Arduino and crossed my fingers.

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Although the test was successfull, I will still continue testing it in the coming days. I still have not decided if I will be using this system, but even if I don't it would still have been worth it as I learned how to use steppers and the Arduino.

What I might be doing next is to change from an Arduino Uno to an Arduino Nano and devise an enclosure for the electronics.

Vince

I like that, and with such a powerful spring it makes a good clang as it hits the lowest part of the cam!

Thanks Phil. I have been looking at my own video and was wondering if I should slow the cam down a little.

Vince

Finished the grooves in the hull roof for the milliput weld seams. I left a lip in the edge of the plate in the hope that it will provide some protection to the milliput seams when handling the plate.
Cleaned up the aluminium plate and was going to start applying the weld seams when I started having doubts about something.
It's been nagging me for a while. Should there be a weld seem at the back of the hull roof plate? I have looked at other builds but it seems nobody has done it so I guess there shouldn't be one. Can somebody please confirm it?
Vince

on the rear edge no there should not be any weld, problem with the main deck is the missing centre part, this is the full width of the hatch, you will notice once the engine deck is in place there is a recess, this should be the same height as the main deck like the picture below


if you need any tips on making weld lines