Panther F

Same here!

bowlman

Hi Dragunov
I to have Leo1 and 2 hatches was just wondering if the hatches were already movable also is the barrel hollowed out we like to put flash in it for are battle systems .
Thanks
Jimmy

Longsheep

Count me in for a set too! My Tamiya kit and Impact suspensions has been collecting dust too long.

Dragunov

The screws arrived today and I more or less finished the assembly of the prototype.

Everything fits very good, the only work that has to be done is to bore up some holes and manufacture some threads. The recoil mechanism also works very well and the spring force is appropriate. On some pictures there is a part of a toothpick visible that holds the gun barrel in its back position.

One thing that was somewhat problematic was the pressing in of the cylindrical pins into the bearings. Normally that is no problem but in this case the part that has to sustain the load from the pressing is made of plastic. I think about making some changes there to make the assembly easier.

Dragunov

bowlman

Hi Dragunov
That will look good on this

RichJohnson

Ooh, a mexas..... Neato.
That turret is looking awesome.
When you are ready to sell them I am ready to buy.
Do you have a price in mind yet?

Pnzjgr

I'm interested too.

Was wondering if you can do commission work also. I have the Perfect Scale Modellbau Leopard 1 A1A1/A5 Turret for my Leopard 1A4 kit and use Tamiya electronics for it.

RichJohnson

Are you asking me or Dragonouv?
I do custom work all the time.

Pnzjgr

Whoever wants to.

BTW Rich this is Duane (DAK Phx club)

Oh and since you're offering how about this in the future?

RichJohnson

I have one of those projects all here waiting in line to be built. I could do two at the same time....
For the Leo1. I have one NIB and I want to make a plain 1.
Ive seen your models, your capable of these things. Are you without a shop now after moving?

Pnzjgr

Yes I am without a shop or tools to do it.

I actually have two Tamiya Leopard 1A4's, one will stay an A4 and the other the 1A5, they are both NIB. I need someone to convert to Full Option on both and would supply the electronics for both.

The gearboxes will be Roland's at Modellspiegel. https://www.modellspiegel.com/

bowlman

Nice
a walk around
Plastic Models on the Internet: Walkaround vol.19: M4 Sherman cast hull with HVSS

Dragunov

Hi,
please send me a message if you are interested in the turret.

Best regards
Benjamin

Fsttanks

Just got the price on this turret! I respect that there was some work put into the design, some of it over kill and unnecessary. The majority of the internal workings will need to be discarded and replace with something else that more easily interfaces with servo recoil/elevation systems. At just under $600 delivered it is way out of the average price range of $250 (150-350) for an aftermarket 1/16 turret made from urethan or metal castings, quality 3D printing or polystyrene sheets.

I would have jumped on buying it for as high $300. But $600....I just don’t have that kind of love for the Leapard 1 given that there is a lot internal fabrication work it still needs. I have spoken with several other RCU member and they feel the same, we will likely have to pass on it for now.

Maybe consider offering one without the all the screws and ancillary internal 3D parts at a price closer to the market average for those of use that will be adding servo recoil and elevation and not using your internals.

Dragunov

Since I normally dont build 1/16 models I was not aware of that. It was some days of work to convert the 1/6 model to 1/16 scale. As I said at the beginning the kit will consist of every part that my 1/6 model also has. My goal was to sell 2 or 3 kits and conclude this project.

Maybe someone else will do a Leopard turret in the future with a quality standard that fits your demands better. Or you can do the work yourself and offer it for 300.

Fsttanks

Not putting down your work quality just pointing out for the price that there is still a lot more that needs to be done and this only adds to the price. As you can see there is more interest then just 2 or 3 kit, more like +50 worldwide as there has been renewed interest by many in the 1/16 scale to build or reworking/freshen up old Leopard 1 kits.

Have you thought about selling the print files as downloads for individuals? This is a common practice in the 3D printed model world.

RichJohnson

Yeah I was a bit shocked at the price of the turret as well when he told me. I have bought a lot of turret kits in urethane and 3d printed, not one cost me more than $200 US. The urethane turrets require a person to physically make each turret by hand, lots of work as I have done casting for model trains. That really cool M47 3d printed turret I got I bought the print files with a "Liscense" to only have it printed for myself. I am not allowed to even give one away.

I would be willing to buy a license and the print files for this turret if Dragunov sold them for a price I felt was reasonable.

I think what Fsttanks meant about the internal parts of the turret is that as you said you are not up on 1/16 scale, we have a bare gun breach inside out turrets and either buy a 3d printed recoil unit desiged to fit a specific tank like a taigen or henglong, or we make our own recoil unit which would be a bracket screwed to the inside of the mantlet with a tube that the barrel slides back and forth in, then attach a servo to that to jerk the barrel back when the tank fires. I have fabricated many of these home made systems in the empty after market turret kits I have built such as yours. Then you just find a place to hide a servo inside to attach to the recoil unit to make the gun elevate. So while you scale breech in very nice inside, its useless to RC tank guys that want a working gun. Thats all.

RichJohnson

Im curious, all of you that were as interested in this turret kit as I was, did any of you buy one at the delivered cost of $650 US?
I just wonder how many people were willing to pay that price for a turret. Since no one else commented on the price.

dsketcher

I did. Nobody else makes a cast turret for the Leopard.

bowlman

Nope I'm off from work right now and can't take the chance of spending that kind of money at this time .
Even if we did not have Covid-19 to worry about I'd have to think real hard at that price just for a turret if it had every thing needed servo or Tamiya recoil and elevation and flash already installed ready to hook up maybe .
Thanks
Jimmy

bowlman

Well he only wanted to sale 2 or 3 kits so hes up by 1 then .

dsketcher

So I guess that means I get a high quality turret with tons of potential and you don't. I don't see anything wrong with supporting other modellers that are offering a quality product.
Alot of time and effort has been put into this to get an accurate turret ( Perfect scale wasn't ).

Panther F

Please give us a review of the turret kit and some pictures too!

RichJohnson

Im not arguing about his quality. It looks great and I assume it drops right onto a tamiya hull ready to have some type of rotation system installed in it but the draw back was his scale recoil system from what I could see. Have to cut that out and install servo control which is no big deal for me.
The cost though, man all the whole body and turret kits I have bought and none cost more than 200 bucks. I bought the whole Merkava which is hand made cast urethane by a human with photo etching for 600 bucks.
3d priting is so cheap its nearly free. He could have sold 10 of these kits for 150 or even maybe 200 and made more money. Hes probably looking purely at his time to design it.

Any way, I have a new still wrapped Leo1 with a custom eto tranny for 40mph at 7.2 sitting here I dont want to build now..... But its not worth it to buy a turret for 600 bucks. I just cant do that, I could have a M51 for that...