RE: More progress on the Stuart conversion...

["flier" <FLIER-at-sbcglobal.net>]

It probably depends on the plastic used Steve.  I use 
a lot of 1/16" ABS which is easy to form.  Certainly, 
lexan up to 1/8" can be vacuum formed with a little 
more difficulty but is great for impact resistance.  
Doing large stuff is harder as you have to have a 
bigger heater/oven and you need a lot of vacuum 
capacity.  All my equipment is basically homemade 
except for the Gast vacuum pump I picked up used.  I 
can pull molds up to ~ 15"x20" if it's not too deep.

Even styrene, which is really easy to form could be 
used then covered with a coat of fiberglass.  
Cowlings on RC aircraft are done that way a lot of 
the time.  One really nice thing is once you've done 
a mold it's just a matter of time to turn out a lotta 
parts.  It works great to do cosmetic stuff.  

Regards,

Ted


--- Original Message ---
From: "Steve Tyng" <stevet-at-stcharlesmd.com>
To: "tanks-at-rctankcombat.com" <tanks-at-rctankcombat.com>
Subject: RE: More progress on the Stuart conversion...

>Ted,
>
>Great looking conversion so far.  Looking forward to 
painting your Stuart sometime in the future!  ;-)
>
>A question for you.  Could vacuum forming be used to 
produce hull and turret bodies in our size range?  If 
so, do you think they would be durable enough for 
combat?
>
>Steve 'Vacuum Between The Ears" Tyng
>
>
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: tanks-at-rctankcombat.com 
[mailto:tanks-at-rctankcombat.com]
>> Sent: Thursday, January 22, 2004 12:26 PM
>> To: tanks-at-rctankcombat.com
>> Cc: stevet-at-stcharlesmd.com
>> Subject: More progress on the Stuart conversion...
>>
>>
>> Just posted new pics out on my site at
>> www.foxflier.com/stuart/marker.htm.  The marker is 
installed
>> and the turret complete.  It fires nicely. All I 
need is to
>> do is finish up installing the new radio and mixer 
and the
>> thing will be operational.
>>
>> I've assembled a socket for the original decoder to
>> allow me to go back and experiment with making the
>> original radio work.  I've got a couple of ideas
>> cooking that should be pretty cheap to implement 
with
>> the stock radio.
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Ted
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>