Armortek

Good morning everyone, and it's a very wet morning here in Wales. I could not resist the StuG, try as I may. I did however resist the temptation by not posting a photograph of the two large heavy boxes delivered curtesy of UPS.....the poor man, ''they are very heavy mate, where do you want them''.
So, here we are again, happy as can be, all good pals and jolly good company.

congratulations and welcome in the StuG 3 build club

Some really nice activity here on the Stug forum. Keep it up guys.

Vince

Hi Mick,

Good to see more StuG's coming to life here
I have been 'playing' with it for about a week now and it's a really great kit
Enjoy your build!

Hello Mick,

The Stugs are on the prodouction line
Regards Yves

I'm looking forward to yet another entertaining build thread Mick, you are a stalwart for sure!

Hello Phil and StuG builders' everywhere, thank you all for the welcome. Made a start over the weekend, here in wet and windy Wales we have been in 'lockdown' 'firewall' etc,.for a week.
Still trying to work out what this term means. I heard this on a local news broadcast, .....'lampshade'.
Anyway, cleaned the hull parts, this will be a 'slow as you go' build. There is a need to spread it over the Winter, I'm running out of dosh. My Haynes book arrived this morning from the Tank Museum. I like the alternative Zimmerit, waffle pattern....tasty....Mick

Good morning everyone, hull parts are a nice clean fit, enjoying this....Mick

Good evening everyone, StuG production line moving steadily along. As soon as we are out of lockdown on Monday, I will stock up on Upol and primer. Just on the issue raised by Steen, holding the lower hull plate and suspension bars in line until ready to fit the suspension I used a spare M6 x 35 CSK with nut, in the opposite Fixed End CL0222 position.....remove when ready...Mick

Hello Mick,

Nice tip to use a spare CSK and part CL0222 to fix the side plates. I used two on each side just be sure ...

Best regards,

Harm

Nice to see another Mick's model on the table, watching all the builds racing along together with The Stug guys working together ironing out the glitches, really great to see.
We were lucky having Phil putting the Chietain monster together for us, though I still have trouble working out which way round certain parts go

Hello John and good morning, you are so right....Phil and others are masters of the art, well worth following. Now you brain boxes I have a small issue, never before encountered on previous builds.
Reference the gear case CL0114, the driven gear CL0115 and the 6002 2RS bearings. I assembled one of the drive cases...no problem, smooth as a whatsit.
There are two bearings in the gear case...now, with gear case number two, the driven gear is clearly out of line when it reaches the second bearing and immediately binds, unlike the first gear case. I tapped the driven gear ( gently ) with my trusty lump hammer...which made the 'pick up' worse. Slight exaggeration here Should the bearings have enough 'give' to allow some out of alinement between the bearings. Just to add, The bearing fits easily into the gear case, the problem is the driven gear tightens on the inner bearing face until it locks and will no linger turn. I had used low strength loctite and was able to remove the bearings. My working life in the Ambulance Service has been no use whatsoever in this respect...
Answers on a postcard, etc,. etc,...Mick

Hi Mick
I do not have any issues with my parts. Everything is aligned perfectly

Thanks Steen...my first gear case aligned perfectly...it's number two gear case that's the problem mick

Hi Mick,
Tricky not seeing it in the flesh, but I can only think the bearing already fitted in the housing is slightly off line.
Remove the bearing from the housing, clean up both bearings and recesses.
Try putting the inner bearing on the drive shaft first (No loctite at the moment)
Then put the drive shaft through the housing without pressing the bearing into the recess.
Then put the outboard bearing onto the drive shaft and try and squeeze both bearings into their recesses using the drive shaft to align the bearings into both bearing housings.
You should be able push the bearings evenly into the housings against flat surface, while doing so, spin the shaft to make sure it does not lockup between the bearings. If it does remove bearings and start again.
If you have a 1/2 inch socket set, you can usually find a socket that you could use to tap the outboard bearing outer edge evenly and gently home. Remove the drive shaft and gently tap the bearing home, keep checking the bearings are aligned with the drive shaft.
Hope it helps.
If you ever have to wallop bearings in there is a problem