I made some test fitting of the new RB Model barrel for the Dragon M103A1 kit and below are some of my observations and suggestions.

First I tried to fit the gun barrel to the original kit mantlet (the barrel was specifically designed to fit it):



The fit is a bit tight, but no modifications of the mantlet is required - just a little force to push the barrel in the hole:





I strongly suggest one, purely cosmetic, modification once the barrel is in place. Using a sharp needle, scribe a line around the aluminum barrel in the matnlet sleeve:



Here with a black wash in the groove to make it more visible:






And now a few words about the mantlet I designed for my modified turret. The part was designed in 3D and printed by Shapeways. The part was not designed to be used in its 3D printed form - it requires small modifications, as I decided it would be easier and quicker to modify the part using sanding stick than it would be to include all the curves in a 3D design.
Also my mantlet will not fit the unmodified kit turret - it is much too wide. It would probably look weird on such turret, but I don't have one anymore to show it.



The tolerances in my 3D files were quite tight, so 3D printed parts require some trimming to their mating surfaces to make the parts fit, as the printing process creates quite rough surface in some places. Two photos below show parts assembled after some trimming:





As the RB Model gun barrel was designed to fit the kit mantlet, I included an "adapter" part in my design to make the barrel fit to my mantlet properly.This part requires quite a lot of trimming to fit well:



And now mantlet with the RB barrel:





The coaxial MG and telescope apertures require some deepening for better appearance (with 1.2mm and 1.8mm drill bits respectively):



As I already wrote the mantlet requires some shape adjustments. The areas maked in black need to be rounded with a sanding stick or a fine file:



Left side as printed, right side modified:



Now comparison of complete mantlet with the Dragon kit part:



And complete mantlet with RB barrel:




I'm still not sure if there is a point in offering my mantlet for purchase through Shapeways, considering that it is in fact an incomplete product, requiring some manual modifications. Let me know what you think.

Hey Pawel,

Thanks for showing the results. I for one would like one. Yes, some work is needed, but that goes for most model kits. Point is, if and when I'm going to tackle my M103, that mantlet is going to stick out like a sore thumb, so yes please

Cheers,

Olaf

Okay Olaf, as promised earlier you will be able to order it one way or another

Oh, one more comment about the RB barrel: it is HEAVY! So the fit of gun trunnions has to be very tight, or they just have to be glued in place. Otherwise the barrel will droop.

And yet one more comment, about my mantlet this time. It actually isn't perfectly accurate: while it is correct width, it is not tall enough. It should be about 1.5mm taller. I was not able to make it taller, because I had to adjust it to my turret front height, which is in turn based on Dragon kit turret height. As the Dragon kit turret is a couple of mms too low at the front, so is my turret... It is not very visible, but the mantlet should be a bit more square viewed from the front.

Outstanding work, Pawel. I think to really be marketable you're going to have to offer the turret as well. Now I want to see you finish the upper hull...

I' m not really interested in making the parts marketable. It is just that in my own experience the turret shape can be improved using some very basic modeling skills, but scratchbuilding a new mantlet isn't that easy. And not everyone has skills and tools to design the part in CAD, so I think some modelers (like Olaf) would find my part useful. I do not plan to make copies of my turret and hull.

By the way my hull and engine deck is already fully modified to correct length, but now I need to scratchbulid new fenders and I lost momentum....

Hi Pawel,

Will you be covering the modifications you are making on your web site?

Cheers Rob.

Most likely I will, but I want to see the finished result first, because I don't want anyone to follow me just yet, in case I made some mistakes.

On the one hand I applaud your efforts on this PoS kit and also for helping us get a proper turned barrel (which I ordered the same day you posted it was available!). On the other hand, I almost wish you wouldn't post comparison photos like the improved mantlet with the kit part as it drives home just how massively screwed up the kit is. Sadly I preordered the thing so I will build it but man does it suck the energy out of the project when you are reminded how wretched it is. . .

So, just as a recap: For those thinking of maybe ordering Pavel's (really nice!) mantlet on Shapeways, you absolutely must widen the gun mount area on the turet even if you do nothing else, otherwise the new matlet will stick out past the sdies of the turret at the mounting, making the tank look, if possible, even worse.

If you are not prepared to widen ther mounting, then don't order the new mantlet. They're a matched set.


And Pavel, regarding the fenders, I feel for you. When I scratchbuilt my M103A2 years ago, the funky fenders and mounts were possibly the nmost tedious thing on the whole job.

Knowing I have to do it again fills me with some trepidation, but I do believe I can salvage some bits from the M48 fenders that seem to be in the M103 kit to save me some time.

:)

Paul

Paul,
Actually on the M103A2, the fenders were a combination of M103 and M60 fenders. The M103 parts are the front half, ending just behind the large sponson boxes and the M60 parts start with the air cleaners & cat walks, rear sponson boxes and the rear fenders. If you need some pics, well, let me know...

John

Yeah, I know they are a combo of the old in front and the newer in back. I was mostly thinking of the M103A2 and the locations for the air cleaner boxes. Forgot to mention that bit... :-)

The M48 fenders seem to have much of what I want, but I have some M60 kits as well that I can scrounge from if need be.

Thanks!

Paul

Have you thought about publishing a pattern for the cuts and the fill parts to correct the turret?

Thanks! And my barrel's on the way from Poland.

Olaf

Hi Vodnik,

I'm new to this forum, but have been following your work on your M103A1 build. I'm not sure if you have decided to offer your mantlet forsale yet. I am very interested to purchase a couple of your mantlets.

Thanks!