John, I have found that 3/4" is probably overkill. I have 3/4" axles on the Sturmtiger. After the KV-2 is finished, I will be rebuilding both the my M113 chassis and Sturmtiger chassis in PVC sheet. There are aspects of both of those builds that need to be addressed. The KV-2 I'm currently building is using 5/8" axles. I think you will find most tanks use 5/8". A well supported 5/8" axle is probably ideal. Folks have been known to bend 1/2" axles. Of course the Russians were allies in WWII so it is nice to see more ally representation especially since no one has actually finished or battled a Sherman. Quite a few have come really close to being fully operational (see T020 and T041), but their owners don't post here very often. Personally I like the Sherman, but lack the skills to build one with all the curves and such. I like them since I've spent a lot of time wrenching on real 1:1 Shermans and even had the opportunity to drive them on occasion.
Welcome! Derek T065 On Tue, Dec 29, 2009 at 2:14 PM, Morgan, John <jmor...@greeley-hansen.com>wrote: > Thanks for the welcome! Remind me again who won the war... Sometimes > reliability trumps leaky, smelly, really big guns with lots of armor. OK, I > love the Panther, but the allies are a bit underrepresented for WWII in the > group. And frankly my technical advisor's specialty is Shermans. We expect > to have a rolling chassis by the end of February (I am shooting for the end > of January, but I may have to double the pay of the other team members to > get there). We want to field test by the end of March and be combat ready > in May. An aggressive schedule, but the huns are at the gate. > > Steve will be happy to know that we are going with the TTS system. We have > similar woodworking backgrounds and setups, so it is the easiest for me to > make. Can anyone recommend a diameter for the drive axle? > > I will send a private message. > > -----Original Message----- > From: rctankcombat@googlegroups.com [mailto:rctankcom...@googlegroups.com] > On Behalf Of Frank Pittelli > Sent: Tuesday, December 29, 2009 3:01 PM > To: rctankcombat@googlegroups.com > Subject: Re: [TANKS] New Tank > > Morgan, John wrote: > > I am the body man with a full wood shop and engineering background, > > my friend Curt is the electronics guy, having run several robotics > > teams. We also have a technical advisor who is a member of the > > Washington Armor Club. > > > > We have chosen the Sherman M4A3 HVSS (76mm) for our tank. > > Welcome aboard!! > > Given the extensive experience of you and your team members, which > exceeds that of many veteran builders, I must ask the obvious question: > Why build a Sherman? Clearly, building a German tank would have > demonstrated more of your advanced skills :-) > > > I would like to catalog our progress, but I can't find > > anywhere on the web site to register our vehicle. Could someone > > point me in the right direction? > > We used to provide a "Pending" designation for those in the building > process, but it seemed to be bad luck for those builders because nobody > ever finished one of the "pending" tanks. So we discontinued that > practice. Instead, we encourage newbies to post images periodically to > the mailing group along with a message describing their latest > achievements. If the images are too large to post to the mailing list, > feel free to upload them to the Google Groups web site and then > reference them in your email. > > Once your Sherman has reached the "rolling chassis" stage (able to roll > on it's tracks under it's own power - either remote controlled or simply > with on/off switches) you'll be given an official designation and a tank > album where you can post images, construction details and videos. > > Official designations not only provide you with all the esteem and > financial rewards associated with being an R/C Tank Combat member, but > various members have reported a significant increase in their social > status as well. > > Finally, if you'd like to be added to the regional mailing list for the > Mid-Atlantic region (which is used primarily to discuss logistics for > local events) please send me a "private email" with the email addresses > for the rest of your team. > > Frank P. > > > -- > You are currently subscribed to the "R/C Tank Combat" group. > To post a message, send email to rctankcombat@googlegroups.com > To unsubscribe, send email to rctankcombat-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com > Visit the group at http://groups.google.com/group/rctankcombat > > > -- > You are currently subscribed to the "R/C Tank Combat" group. > To post a message, send email to rctankcombat@googlegroups.com > To unsubscribe, send email to rctankcombat-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com > Visit the group at http://groups.google.com/group/rctankcombat > -- You are currently subscribed to the "R/C Tank Combat" group. To post a message, send email to rctankcombat@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe, send email to rctankcombat-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com Visit the group at http://groups.google.com/group/rctankcombat
