Week #2, Welding up the hulls - makin' em look sexy. Reconditioned the 4 needed m113 final drives. Finished prepping the swing arm outer flanges. Kevin's back on the team.
Continuation from last week. Not as dramatic but progress nonetheless. This is Luchs #3 "Omega" all fastened together. That connection piece is a common feature on German panzer construction. It ties the tub (wanne in German) together with the superstructure (aufbau in German). It welds to the sides of the tub and the underside of the glacius. Then bolts to the aufbau.
Here we see Dave trying to use his mind to weld the joints of Luchs #2 "Alpha". It didn't work... He eventually fainted and soiled his pants.
After recovery, Dave resorted to conventional methods of welding. We're using stainless steel filler to get the the flow and look of the original WW2 German construction. Stainless is only slightly off of the nickel chromium filler that was used in Panzer assembly. And, it's a mandatory for high carbon or alloy steel such as ARMOR.
Taking advantage of gravity is necessary. Stainless is like squirting on pudding. It slides, lumps, and drips off unless mother earth's tug is mitigated.
Absolute Perfection! I dare you to compare to original. Add primer and paint... ahhhhh. simply perfection.
More examples of the GLORY that is the joints on Luchs, Alpha.
Here added is the flange that the aufbau bolts to. Guess why German panzers are always scalloped like that. Here is a hint. It increases the linnial opportunity to weld. By scalloping it increases the edge distance and therefore the amount of weld. Stronger right? But the irony is... it's only as strong as the bolts holding it together. Weak ! This is why the tub/aufbau bolt together arrangement gave way to the one piece hull construction seen on the Tiger, Panther, - up to and including modern day battle tanks. No bolted joints to blow apart.
On to the Final Drives. Eddie finished reworking the 4 final drives needed. Guess how many original Luchs final drives remain in the world. I'm guessing 4. Two on each of the two surviving luchs. So its M113 finals for the alpha and omega.
Our finals came off used and target vehicles so some of them had little dings and such.
But Eddie ended up completing 4 that are good as new.
Final drives are the only part of the m113 drivetrain I have ever broken. (2 broken) They were on a much heavier and longer vehicle, a vehicle we tortured beyond good common sense. So, I think these will last till the end of time on our 25,000 lb Luchs.
WE NEED ONE OF THESE. If you have one and will part with it, please message me.
Michael finished the work on the outer flanges that the swing arms bolt into. Waiting on the inner flanges to be cut... but they don't need any mods like these did.
Then he jumped in the Omega and took to welding.
Just another day at the office.
Kevin started making fasteners parts again.
These are taper headed bolts for a couple of locations on the Sturmgeschütz IV.
Ended up the week with the Alpha welded. Next week we'll explore laying out the drivetrain.
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