This is going to be a long and slow one, fellow tankers. It's taken me two tries to get the danged kit here for starters. First try was stymied by Border Control, but that's another story. This try was successful.

This build will be a total ground up gig. First up is the idlers. You know my fetish about bearings, so the first thing I did was install some 4 x 7 flangeless bearings, two each, in the idlers. You have to ease the 7 mm hole in each half of the idler down about 1.5 mm so the geometry of the axle shaft works, because the stock bronze bushings are pretty flush with the surface of the hole. The bearings have about 1.5 mm greater thickness on the 7 mm part, ergo the hole easing. This is accomplished with a flat spiral drill, available from DeWitt in numerous sizes.

Second part is getting the road wheels, idlers, and return rollers ready for paint. I'm using stock idlers, Schumo KV0013 steel road wheel set. Each wheel has two bearings, a cast resin center disc, and uses the stock Tammy center disc center. Also being used is the Schumo KV0021 support rollers. The stock rollers take the usual Tammy bronze bushings. Again, I have eased out the bushing holes 1.5 mm down each to take two 7 x 4 unflanged bearings in the rollers. They will take the stock Tammy center discs. All the after market parts except the bearings used in this build, and there will be a lot of them, are available from Etoarmour.

I simply put a blue painter's tape all the way around the wheel, roll it on the work bench to seat all the tape, then take an Xacto knife and cut off the excess tape so only the contact surfaces are covered. Tomorrow it the weather holds up I'll blow some primer on all of them. On the idlers, I also tossed the three phillips screws in each assembly in the spares bin and replaced them with socket head screws of the same length.

Do you know how long I have waited to see a build thread? LOL

About as long as I've waited to find the time to do one. It's been a long summer, making up for the hideous winter we just had.

So I'm sitting in the Tank Fabrik chewing on the KV when it suddenly dawned on me that the bearings for the idlers and return rollers are not 3 x 7 as I originally wrote, but 4 x 7, 2.5 mm thick. I have edited both posts to the correct size bearings. Sorry for the screw up, guys.

Hey Bob,
If the worst thing that happens during this build is, you mis-stated the size of the bearings you used, then caught the error, edited the error out of the posting then went on to own it, and inform everyone that you made it, caught it, and corrected it, this will be a pretty damn good build (LOL)

But you do realize, that you are responsible for this..............with you and Yellow each having a build thread going at once, I can't help but be inspired. Guess I gotta dust off the bench and jump into somehting new!

More to follow!
Streetsquid

Now that's what I was waiting to see! You just jump right in, Squid! We need more build threads going on here!

Well, Squid, time for you to get a build going too! It's been a thin summer for that activity on this board for sure. What do you have up your sleeve?

Just in time for longer nights and colder weather. Looking forward to this.

Well boys
I too am guilty of contributing to the slim pickins of build threads here on the forum over te past 6 months. Life happens which means I've been a bit pre-occupied since I finished the Elefant earlier this year. But now things have calmed down a bit and I'm ready to jump back into the fray. Next on the bench I have one of two projects, either a Sturmtiger resin conversion on a Tamiya Tiger 1 chasis and running gear, or a Stug III aufs D conversion using the Asiatam metal hull, Profiline resin fighting compartment and Tamiya Pz IV electronics.

I only need a few small things to get either project off the ground, so I'm only a few weeks away. At this point I'm leaning towards the Sturm, as I think it will be a bit more straight forward and a simpler build to cut my teeth on, before jumping back into the saddle full bore on the Stug III.

But enough of me blathering on about my projects, lets keep focused on this thread and the KV1 at hand!

Squid

Spent most the afternoon chewing on the KV. Got the suspension supports in for starters. Now, in addition to my fetish for bearings, another little foible is I'll use bolts instead of screws where ever possible. For the suspension supports mounted in the hull sides, I used 2 mm brass bolts instead of the supplied phillips screws. Also used 2 mm steel bolts on the final drive housing.

The non functional suspension arm collar for the support is a glue on. I really HATE glue on parts when it comes to plastic to metal. Before you start with the adhesives, it's a really good idea to rough up the aluminum hull where the plastic piece will go. I just put the piece on, take a sharp pencil and outline the piece. I then remove the plastic part and rough up the metal with 240 grit. I do the same to the adhesive surface of the plastic part, put on a few drops of gel type ACC, and on he goes after a final test fit. Roughing up both surfaces gives the adhesive a far better chance of working forever.

Next we'll talk suspensions. I chose to use the Corleis System developed by Bernd Corleis some years ago. it is adjustable and more supple than the stock torsion bars. While it is a bear to adjust, once you get it set up the way you want it, ain't nothing better. The Tamiya King Tiger set is a bolt in, everything fits as if made for the KV. Only thing is the KT has 18 road wheels and the KV has but 12, so you'll have a few bits left over.

Now, to get this system to work correctly, you have to do a few odds and ends.

First off, the little brass cap that fits over the suspension arm where the torsion bar goes in has to be eased out just a tad, like to 5.6 mm. Only go in about 2 mm! If you go more you stand a good chance of getting in to the allen screw that holds the cap in position on the bar.

Next, you got to dress up the suspension arm itself. There's usually a slight, or not so slight, casting line on two sides of the part that comes inside the hull. Dress up the arm where it comes through the arm support bolted to the hull to smooth it out. A little goes a long way, so sand just enough the make the casting lines smooth to the touch. The attached photos of the suspension arm and caps shows an undressed casting line.

OK, we got that done. Now, it's actual Corleis Suspension time. First you have to drill out the slotted hole in the suspension brace that goes in the hull floor. There is a small round hole in the brace at each torsion bar slot. Drill this round hole out to 3 mm. Corleis recommends that you remove the tab on the outside of the Tamiya brace that prevents the torsion bar from working out of the brace on the opposite side of the tank. This does make it easier to install the bolts that hold on the Corleis anchor, but I leave them on, just for grins.

After you drill out the hole, take one Corleis suspension anchor and one bar. Test fit the bar in to the anchor. If there is the slightest bind of the bar in the anchor, simply use 400 grit cloth and dress up the end of the bar that goes in the anchor. Once he fits and works smoothly, set the bar aside for a minute. Now you have to install the coil spring on to the anchor, then set the bar locking piece in the other end of the spring. The ends of the spring fit in to a groove machined in to each piece. Make sure the spring is seated as far down as possible. Put a small dab of Tamiya teflon grease or simple oil on the end of the bar, and insert it through the locking piece and down in to the anchor. Next, install the brass collar on the bar, lightly tighten the allen screw in the collar, and now you bolt the anchor the the suspension floor brace. Since you are going to be adjusting this system, make sure the allen screw in the locking piece is positioned straight up.

After you have that one bolted on to the floor brace and lubed up, loosen the set screw in the locking collar and take the rod all the way down to bottom, then pull it out a couple mm's and lightly set the screw in the locking collar. Repeat for the next 11 sets. It's also a good idea to take a Corleis torsion bar and test fit it in to each suspension arm. Sometimes the arm slot can be a little tight. Dress the slot up as needed for a good fit but not a tight fit. You want as little slop as possible in the slot, but the bar and arm have to move a tad against each other in extreme use.

If the weather stays nasty tomorrow, I'll do some more while I wait for my HennTec idler system and the PE coming from Joey.

Hi Bob. I have a question about the suspension parts you're using. It was designed for the King Tiger, which has all of the roadwheel arms going the same direction (they point forward on the left side, and to the rear on the right side), but all of them use the same parts. The springs all have the same direction of twist to them, and as the roadwheel moves up, the spring becomes tighter and gives more resistance.

On your KV, you may run into the same problem that I am on my Cromwell build - the roadwheel arms on both sides all point toward the rear of the tank. I've adjusted the arms to give the vehicle a good 'sit' but I'm finding that under tension, the springs for the arms on the left side are trying to 'unwind' and actually get softer in resistance. After some flexing, the vehicle tends to lean towards the left.

I have this suspension for the KT, Tiger I and the Panther, and all use the same direction of springs, (because all of those tanks use the same orientation of roadwheel arms). Do you know of a set that is made for a tank like the KV, that would have one set of springs twisted in the other direction? -Mike

I installed the Corleis Suspension into my Asiatam KV, which I purchased from RCtank.de. Now, I am pretty sure they say it is not made for a Tamiya. It may be owrth looking into though.

Hmmm...Until I find something, I'll simply do on the KV what I do with my Kings, Panthers and Tiger 1's. If a problem presents itself, I'll simply install the stock Tammy torsion bars in the front and rear suspension arms. I'll rummage around in the mean time and see what's out there. Thanks for the heads up!

Problem solved. Next problem is I don't know where these springs came from. They appear to be the same size and tension as Wecohe Tiger 1/Panther Corleis springs, but they are 6 right and 6 left. Anyhow, they fit like a glove. Perhaps from a P3 suspension system of some kind?

Also, looked on Mitosal sight and they do offer a Corleis suspension for the KV. However, I can not tell from the photo if the springs are for right and left. Mayhap someone can email them and find out.

My KV-2 has uses the asiatam lower hull... the Corleis suspension upgrade seems a tad expensive after already investing in metal. Is it worth it??

As it came, the torsion bars on a few axles were a bit slack, especially at the rear.. that required some careful, manual 'tweaking', ie bending them backwards. So far, so good!

The Corleis system was specifically designed for Tamiya, originally. I am not familiar with the Asiatam lower KV hull so I don't even know if the system will fit. However, if you are satisfied with how the KV runs and moves, I would let well enough alone.

The bending back is the same method used to tweak the Tamiya torsion bar system. Works!

Bob,

I am following your build with interst, as I have yet to use the Corleis Suspension System in a Tamiya WWII build.

I did finish a Tamiya KV-1 build for eBay about this time last year and found some areas that didn't work well:

1. the glacis plate rotates up & down like a motorcycle helmet visor if built per the instructions
2. the metal hull needs some bracing (flex and twists)
3. the kit idlers are to weak to run metal tracks successfully.

I teamed with Daryl Turner to find solutions and sent him my built hull during the early summer months of 2011.

The photos show DT's designed solutions to the aforementioned issues and should serve as good reference for your build.

John

PS The model is HUGE and dwarfs the Pz4J.

John, I am aware of the problems with the KV and they will be addressed as the build progresses. I have sold Dary's parts for years now and Daryl and I are quite good friends.

I am also thinking of a cross brace system for the hull itself front and rear, and possibly a different motive system, the Spiegel system if it will fit. If the Spiegel system does not fit because of physical room, I'm going to do some razzle dazzle with the stock TU's.

If you think of any other problems, please let me know. I'll be running this thing with metal tracks in the semi concrete porridge we call mud in this AO. If he survives that, he'll go anywhere.

And nice build on the KV, by the by!

i am looking forward to this build with keen interest!!! keep it coming!!!!!!!

Yes, I am aware of your long standing relationship with Daryl Turner, I purchased my first DTparts from ETO several years ago and still do.

This KV-1 lasted less than 10 minutes on eBay, went to a Danville tanker, and that ended my experience with the Tamiya kit.

The photos of the custom prototype parts DTcreated for this build in 2011 are about it for my 3 cents of opinions for this build, so that's it for further posts here.

FYI, the big and heavy Tamiya KV does need the ETO black can motors plus pinon gearing if your using the Tamiya kit transmissions.

The model ran well using ETO's black motors and heavy Impact metal tracts; after DT's work was completed: tackling tall grass yards, dirt terrain, moderate slopes & hills.

And no tossed tracks, but never ran it in any mud!

Again looking forward to learning how your correcting the kit faults and advancing the build art.

Bob, are you going to use Aber's PE sets?

John, again, thanks for your input. I will change out the motors to black long cans if the Spiegel system will not work in this beast.

Yes, Yevgenyi, I will be using the PE available for the KV, at least some of it. Time to dust off my maginfier, though. I'm not getting any younger and the glasski don't work like they used to!

Will, good to hear from you! Thought maybe you got et by the swamps up there in Drum!

I can't wait to see this one!