STUG III Asiatam Heng long

[xrad]

I have just ordered a few christmas/birthday goodies:

1) HL IR Stug III
2) Ostkette (not winterketten) tracks
3) 3:1 High grade brass motors ( Ilove the low speed and power these little guys have..I don;t know who makes them but they fit the Asiatam hull perfectly. And they have BB on the main outputshaft, and many brass bushings, and crewed in housing braces.)
4) aluminum barrel
5) Photo etch grills upper and lower
6) Asiatam hull and wheels
7) Modellbau recoil eliminator
few other goodies


I was so pleased with the quality of the asiatam PIII hull, that I decided to build another tank based on it. Hopefully, this time all my build pics won't be deleted or lost.

[xrad]

THANKS to Bill at RCCommand, I now have the parts to start on a new project!! Everything arrived in perfect condition and as ordered.

Wide tracks look good. the Stug top fits the Asiatam lower perfectly. Asiatam low gear motors are very nice. Just removed the electronics from the HL hull and will transfer to the new hull. HL barrel is metal and has bright LED, no flash .

The ostketten are very nicely made with very good detail and covered pin guides.

[xrad]

Although the Asiatam hull is very nice, it could use a few upgrades.

Remove everything. I noticed the road wheels have bronze bushings. This is different from my older Asiatam hull which has no bronze bushings.

I will replace the return rollers with the 'all steel' late war variety

all philips screws that are visible will be replaced with bolt head of countersunk with allen screws.

shocks removed and all casting slag will be ground off, same with rear tensioners. I add a 2.5 mm tapped hole to rear of tensioners (where the screw for the idler wheels sit) for extra security to the idler wheel screw...see pic. All motor mount screws and hull bottom screws will be with countersunk allen head srews and locking nuts.

A new smooth armour plate will be added to hull front. some work on rear panel for copper exhaust plumbing and some new bolts to secure the whole thing as the cheap little tabs came already broken.

I did all most of this to my PIII Asiatam hull, so the second time around is much easier. Also, you don;t really see any of this work, but I know it's done.

[xrad]

Pops and I did some more work on the Stug today.

1) all parts grey primered
2) ALL Asiatam phillips screws removed and allen head or bolt head replacements, countersunk where needed
3) fit motors after running through the 6 motor mount screw holes
4) metal return rollers installed (PITA to remove the pins)
5) Extra bronze spacers added to return roller mounts
6) plans for additional frontal armour in bronze drawn up
7) rear plate tow mount fabricated
test fit ostketten (note that only one track link is cast so that one track set is facing forward and one track set faces backwards by necessity...UNFORTUNATE!)

[Saxondog]

The wide tracks look good,to bad about the casting being one sided,still they look really wide.How does it run at top speed,does the tracks direction effect steering?Which vendor supplied your tracks? Most sets are left and right,don't understand these being different?

[xrad]

Bill at RCCommand says this is how they come. I am guessing that it is easier to cast one link than two and have buyers get confused. Not really noticeable more than 2 inches away. The track detail is awsome and all but one casting was perfect. Comes with 5 spares and pins. Speed of these motors is a little more than 1/3 less than HL standard gearbox, but the torque is much better and they don;t strip or stall.

Here are some pics of ostketten. I got these pics from the web:

Panzers In The East - (2) Decline And Defeat 1943-1945
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=79855

The detail is very close to originals. Size is almost identical. But you are right , they do stick out just about 1.5mm too far (translates to about 1 inc real size) compare the frontal views...Look at the traction/hinge bar and you will see three little dark rectangles. The most lateral one is in the wron place. Neither is something to fix as would require much work.

I will post video of speed when electronics installed.

[xrad]

Unfortunately, this seemed to have missed quality control at the Heng Long plant...I guess they don't test every one..that would take too much time...

almost better to check ALL tanks BEFORE hooking up battery...

[xrad]

Some more fun:
1) located control items. Took some doing as the hull is for PIII. The recoil unit of the Stug travels much lower and easily interferes with stuff. So I mounted the receiver to the rear deck(crysta can fall out so secure will secure better later). If done like I did, the mount screws are hidden beneath the cooling covers and not seen on the top(slick!)
2) one gearbox cover done. Make paper form first....then cut out thin alu sheet. Exchanged two gearbox phillips screws for 3mm allen head screws...muchy better! will do same for other side.
3) located the recoil control unit. all wiring will run as low to the bottom as possible.
4) Tip: have gun in full UP position when trying to fit everything...saves much time later!
5) Left out lame smoker unit for now....
6) ground off all Asiatam mounting lugs on white plastic floor. Floor mounts well to aluminum hull with standoffs provided.

with this setup, I have plenty of clearance and everything secured well.

No doubt it cost some cash to get these items...so far about 650$. But the Asiatam and HL pieces go together very well and are worth the extra cost. The tracks are superb in detail and have very smooth function. The saved time in lower hull and electronics assembly will allow me much more time and effort to concentrate on the upper hull details. I spent much time on the Jagdpanther to get the hull and drive gears and suspension and weight right. This time I will take the easier way out and just add lead to the Asiatam hull!

Planning for late winter eastern front look...not sure yet..Any thoughts?

[xrad]

Did some wiring tonight. Got everything hooked up and repaired the broken wires to the LEDs. turned on remote...nothing! Ahhh...wrong crystal in remote...changed crystal...nothing. Hmmmmm.

Undid everything and hooked up spare HL MFU...starts right up! Nice...QC at HL is not good (or very good for the one out of 10 tanks checked).

Sound..works
recoil mod...works
forward/back motion...works
mg sound and led...work
cannon flash...no work
recoil...works
IR..can;t test sender or receiver

I am not upset at HL, typical for 99$. Just have to get another real flash unit and mod the recoil like the Jagdpanther. everything fits nicely. Here is a vid of the motion..full speed turns through slow speed. My battery is almost dead and the antenna is not hooked up so some motion is jerky...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwnIXNX6O1U

[xrad]

some work on recoil done. Very easy to do now.

Stug gun unit is somewhat hard to remove, but go slowly and it will come out in one piece. Only two screws hold the mount to the upper hull. Undo these. then gently pry off the hull piece behing the mantlet. Then with some effort the whole unit is removed(have to bend some plastic a little below gun mount. Once out, you can gently pry off the elevation mount and then the four screws holding recoil to mount. Note that the mantlet holding the led has a front cover which prys off genlty, not to break tabs. Underneath is the IR led and two mounting screws. The barrel is SCREWED into the recoil unit, so do not pull it out.

Tested spring action on recoli and motor gearing alignment...works perfectly...now to get a microswitch.

I realized something: instead of having the flash fire from a micro switch, I can use the 2 volt trigger wire that runs the motor recoil inhibitor! just need to find a relay that operates on 2 volt signal...

All in all, this HL stug III hull and gun mount are very well made for the price. Much better than some of their other items.