evildave42

Well, I bought 3 sets of Panther tracks, they'll need a little cutting but should work. Most of it is hidden on the Maus, but how would you handle the sprockets and wheels on it? Just double up the sprockets and idlers and mout the road wheels so that they are in the middle of the tracks?

mustclime

Yea, double sprockets.....for the idlers' you double them as well........the suspension is a train wreck and you have to work out the outer plate, do you make it removable or not? The lazy part of me says you do not have suspension...just axels going from the inner plate to the outer plate. Mount the wheels with spacers, ever other wheel has a fake suspension arm from the boggi infront of it, the other part of me says use use moded panzer 4 ot elepant boggies mounted on cross bars like the real thing....The really sick part of me says, you make the inner and outer hulls to mount hl tiger 1 springs and arms, then connect them with rods with the wheels on the rods with spacers...the real trick would be getting the wheels that are supose to be infront of the boggi to look right.....

The biggest problem with my e100 is the dam thing weighs so much, the hl springs are over loaded...I have been looking for something stiffer but the dia of the coil is a killer....this last set up would double the springs and get around this....

evildave42

Hmm... I thought it would be complicated too. Fortunately my Maus is fairly light, I know that it is not going to be perfectly scale so I was thinking I might fudge the wheels/suspension, it will need accrual suspension though as I like to go off-roading with my tanks.
One Idea I had was to start with HL Panther or Tiger wheels, but only the double wheels placed in the middle, perhaps with some fake inner wheels attached for a better look.
The suspension itself would come from an HL Panther/Tiger too, for simplicity I may even just but two broken Panthers and literally cut up the hulls and space each suspension (with a small piece of hull attached) on a mount that extends off the chassis. It shouldn't matter how ugly the suspension is as it is almost completely hidden by the hull.

Panther F

I just wonder how much loaded suspension travel it actually had? I can see the road wheels drop into voids and depressions in the ground but do you really think it had a load carrying suspension?



Jeff

tankme

For springs check you might be able to use something like "die springs". http://www.mcmaster.com/#standard-die-springs/=pq41ts It all depends on the final weight though. I had to use them on my 1/6th scale KV-2 paintball combat tank. My tank is over 150lbs. and had to use 30lb. springs on every road wheel in order to get the tank to hold the weight and rebound correctly. I'm not on here much, but for tracks you can also check out conveyor belts from Rexnord or Intralox. They also have sprockets to push them. There is a wide variety of widths and materials from steel to plastics. Of course my combat tank is to 1/6th in scale appearance, but it's not a "model" and it's not complete when this video was shot. Too much detail would just get knocked off by paintballs. It's made from 1/4" and 1/2" PVC sheets with steel tracks. The tracks on this are carbon steel table top chains with 60 pitch sprockets. Motors are 450W scooter motors running at 24V.

Video of the tank:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bg_fDX56CJQ

evildave42

Well, I have been disassembling some Heng Long Pan-Tiger tracks and will eventually get around to cutting and gluing them. In the meantime I have looked up a lot of road wheel and suspension options, given the space (and money) I have to work with, I'm now leaning toward no suspension or partial suspension (ie; several road wheels would be attached to a mount that is then attached to suspension, 2-3 for each side). What do you think?

mustclime

don't know if you hve seen these.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZq1PE5m6Xc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUwABe-YN9o

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aOBYRuca9A

dlobmwm3

My Feedback: (2)

I am also about to embark on this build for my son. He is infatuated with this tank. What kind of gear boxes did you all use for this build? Sorry but I might have some more questions.

dlobmwm3

My Feedback: (2)

Can you anyone take a picture of the lower hull with gearbox and motors installed?

Cruiser133

Converting a Juckenburg Maus is not for the faint of heart. I am about 3/4 of the way through a E100 conversion and I had to set it down for awhile to forget the frustration. The model does take a lot of scratch building out of the equation, but there are still a host of issues which usually revolve around the tracks and suspension. Also, the kit is good, but this was made to be a model and it shows in several areas as it is not square and the resin parts can be far from perfect. A lot of cutting, sanding and fitting!!!!

Panther F

Yep... that's the name of the game.

If it was easy we all could do it. Right? Hope you get some more finished on it!




Jeff

Panther F

I would use that new ETO piece for this one. All that resin it sure will be heavy.




Jeff

TheBennyB

Depending on your budget, you may want to think about using Christian's lower hull and barrel. The resin kit barrels tend to warp if they've been laying around and they're solid.

http://www.ludwigs-hobby-seite.de/Maus.html

Panther F

What of the drivetrain? I see the cost is 35 to ship but what's the cost of the kit?

I want a Maus too... not to battle but to run over my smaller Panthers. LOL



Jeff

dlobmwm3

My Feedback: (2)

How in the world would I mount two gearboxes with a motor in the little space? Is there another type of gearbox? I was thinking of using the gearboxes that came with a Taigen T-34. But mounting the motor would make it tight.

evildave42

Hi all!
This project has been on the back burner for a long time. Well now I have a 3D printer and 3D models of a lot of details and the treads so once Solidoodle sends me a replacement Z-axis motor this project will be entering high gear!

rivetcounter

There are a number of people who have built Maus using 1/10 Panther tracks these come out at the correct 65mm width

evildave42

Well, I printed 6 tread links to scale at 0.3mm resolution. They came out nice and strong but they are a bit rough, each link would need sanding, also none of the pin holes printed.


I may have to try again at 0.2mm resolution, Also still waiting on the new Z-axis motor from Soliprint.

evildave42

Just in case the 3D printing doesn't work out, do you guys know a good place to get those 1/10 Panther tracks (just so you know, shipping to the USA is sometimes bad)

rivetcounter

Jerry (Tanque) is the 1/10 expert he will know all the suppliers of 1/10 parts

tomhugill

Also, the tracks from the kyosho blizzard snow cat are perfect size and look just right. MK modellbau in Germany make a set of sprockets and idlers for the Maus to utilise said tracks. He also does some other bits for the Maus.

evildave42

Okay, just printed 2nd and 3rd track tests at 0.2mm resolution with different settings. Not appreciably better. This may be beyond the Solidoodle Press's abilities.

At this rate probably gonna have to use 1/10 Panther tracks (and the matching sprockets and road-wheels) so I'm thinking I may look into that and just use the 3D printer for the surface details.

novaris

any updates?

evildave42

Yes actually,
The Soliprint 3D printer (and company apparently) failed and never got fixed so the project got put on the back burner.

Recently though, I got a da Vinci Mini and it works pretty good. I have also been teaching myself how to properly use SketchUp.

Currently the plan is to use the 3D printer and my new-found skills to build a 1/16th RC French Char B1 edited from a static model I found on the net.
This should give me the experience I need to eventually do a Maus, this time with the body made completely with the 3D printer instead of just the details.

For the Char B1 I am planning to use the standard plastic Heng Long Panther tracks with 3D printed bumps epoxied to them to give them the right look. I'll probably have to find something better for the Maus tracks, or just make a 3D model of a track and have them printed in high resolution by an online service.