Very Nice. This is going to be a very awesome tank. I like your craftmanship. The barrel support is really cool.

Thank you.
That choice deserves a bit of explanation: I wanted the turrret to be able to perform a full 360+ degree turning. Not an infinite turning ability but maybe a couple of turns each way.
That's why I drilled a limited hole (a couple of cms in diameter) on the bottom plate of the turret: all 14 wires will run through it, about along the rotation axis.
That should avoid the cable getting stuck against items when turning the turret.
But at the same time this choice left a very limited space for barrel elevation (the turret itself has a very low profile and thick walls), therefore I had to trim the elevation mechanics to obtain a fit.
Good is that with the new IBU2 it is possible to achieve bi-directional elevation even with a stock HL elevation unit.

I heard that about the JS-3. Other than the complicated gun tube/ missile launcher what was wrong with the M60A2?

I took a moment to look it up, and according to the book "Patton" by R.P. Hunnicutt, "Although eventually issued to the troops in 1974 and deployed to Europe the following year, the M60A2 was never popular tank. Its complexity and the need for a skilled maintenance and operation earned it the nickname "Starship" With the shift of interest away from missile armament to high performance kinetic energy weapons, the M60A2 was retired from service." (Patton, A History of the American Main Battle Tank, Volume I, R.P. Hunnicutt, (1984) Presidio Press, p. 193)

Finished assembling the turret interiors, connecting all the wires, gathering them into plugs and running them through the turret floor: 18 connections in all!
Tested that everything is working so far and tuned the barrel recoil.

This machine begins to look mean!

looking very nice can't wait to see it done

Tank completed!
After the last assembling of the hulls and plugs, I have switched it on and tested all the functions of the new IBU2 Full Option which controls it, as well as the custom soundset I have assembled myself for the JS-3.
Everything runs perfectly!

Enjoy some indoor pics for now, outdoor pics and a video will follow asap.

Great looking build! Have always loved the frying pan turret and pike glacis. Any chance of a turret interior pic of the trunion/recoil workings? Would be a big help to future builders.

The recoil is done through a simple mini-servo with a rod (since the IBU2 board supports servo recoil), but unfortunately I missed to take pics of it

wow man, that some pritty good modelling , Paint looks awsome to. Now I'm all in for a video :-)

very good i like
good job

Looks really good and a video would be the icing on the cake.





Jeff

yes

"Icing on the cake": funny, in Italian it's similar but we say the equivalent of "The small cherry on the cake" ("La ciliegina sulla torta").

Anyway I am editing the captions, a demo video is incoming...

Here it comes.. posting this also in the IBU2 thread...

http://youtu.be/a8nF7qwRHK4

thanks for video and is very good

smooth.

Some outdoor pics, including one with all hatches open:

Great looking tank, awesome job.

nice job.....pics of inside of turret?

I took just those already published in past pages, sry

Hello, it's so hard take a screwdriver for unmounting the turret and let us see the recoil and elevation mod?

I noticed in the video that the recoil it's not very smooth, may be someone can help you with the mod

I missed the point where I asked for help... .. but thanks for the offer...

Anyway I'm not going to dismount the turret just to take one more picture of the inside (with 14 wires going through a ~30mm hole it's not quick nor easy), but i will certainly do that the first time I'll have to do some servicing

Hey,

Just been looking through as I've just started work on this kit conversion and found these pages and your pictures really helpful so far. You don't happen to have any more information and/or guidance of putting this kit together - it'd be really appreciated.

Cheers,

Rothy.