Thought I'd show what I've been doing with this tank since I have a Tamiya Panther waiting (and itching) to get started on. I went with Nick's turret and did a few mod's to it to duplicate the tank I'm building it after. Once this is finished I need to finish the upper hull and she's done.

I thought I'd post a few pics of drilling out the aluminum housing of the Tamiya gearbox for my M4A1E8 build and install the SH0029 Mounting Kit.

First, all the gears, shafts and the 2 bearings must be removed. Then just line up the holes to be drilled with a 5mm bit.





Here you can see I already finnished the right gearbox and re-assembled it. These three photos show how the mounting kit ties the two boxes together to support and reduce any flexing in the upper half, while down below I'll use Daryl Turners gearbox mounting plate to reinforce the hull area.

I'll be using metal tracks with this tank and thought I'd experiment with the stock gearbox and later before I install them in the tank, I'll replace the stock motors with some Graupner Speed 400 6V motors.







Gee ... where does it all go?



I finally got around to drilling out the stock idler wheels for my 3rd Tamiya Sherman project I have planned and pressing the ball bearings from the IMPACT set in. I found that on my set I'll have to turn the metal axle down a little more near the hubcap, for it wouldn't set down into the bearing race. These turned out alot nicer than I expected!



These are the Daryl Turner idler wheel set for the Tamiya Sherman. I wanted the extra insurance for the 2nd Sherman project will have metal tracks, and I don't want any problems.





















STILL, a long way to go but the hard part is over. I debated over this area for what seems forever but I feel I'm over the hump and can't wait to fire it up.