E-100, E-75 and E-50 tanks (1/56 3d draw and print in resin)

[Captain Darling]

Very nice work!

[Ballardian]

 Beautiful, I cannot wait to get my hands on one of these
 On a side note, have you felt the need to monkey with the turret in the name of real-world viability? The problem with the very limited information regarding its appearence, understandable perhaps in a project still largely at the the on paper phase, is that it doesn't take into account real world design necessities. In the images availabe of the Maus II turret (Panzer Tracts 20-1 etc) the TC literally has no way of seeing out of the vehicle short of putting his head through the hatch. The gunner is reasonably well provided for - the large bar on top covering the co-incidence rangefinder plus a periscopic sight for the finer gun laying - but the TC - nothing, no periscopes, vision blocks or cupola & so is effectively blind - not a practical situation. We have to assume that should this have gone into production some solution would have to be found - I'd have said a commander's cupola - but the turret's so massive it'd still leave a visual dead spot for a few meters in front of the vehicle.
 Still, aside from my geeky nonsense I'm beyond glad that you've taken up this project for JTFM & hope it's available soon.

[Rich H]

I suspect that the turret drawn is actually based on the Maus #1 turret trial weight.  It's not no finesse at all, it's massive and slab sided.   As you say it's utterly impractical for the commander.

I wasn't going to do anything in particular but it wouldn't be hard to make a cupola similar to the E-50 for the commander. 

3rd set of tracks printing now... 9 hours each... but they weren't right!

Hull will be scraped to get rid of lines I'm then going to look at a 'tool kit' of extras like starting handles, tools, etc.  That can be added after.

Might have been working on something else too..

[Ultravanillasmurf]

Were all German turrets gunner and commander on the left, loader on the right?

One possibility if that were not the case would be to have a duplicate periscope arrangement on the right plus the Commander's cupola behind the coincidence range finder bar.

[Ballardian]

 UVS - you're right, that was the usual set up - single periscope set ups, as opposed to the ring of them you'd get in a cupola, come with significant downsides - how fast you spot & respond to threats after all being dictated by what you can see - hence why most German vehicles (& everybody else's, bar early war Russian stuff - the absence on T-34/76 models was a serious drawback - Boris Kavarlerchiks ' The Tanks Of Operation Barbarossa' gives an excellent & even-handed account of what happens when the TC can't see out of the vehicle) get a cupola with 5-8 of them.
It would seem that in "March of 1944, Krupp started work on a new turret, known as Maus II. The curved front was removed, to make the turret easier to produce, and the guns (128 mm KwK44 L/55 and 75 mm KwK40 L/36) were placed on top of each other. Another important addition was a rangefinder. The E-100 was supposed to receive the same turret, but with a reduced mass to 35 tons. This was achieved by reducing the thickness of the side armour to 80 mm." This would seem to be the one portrayed in PT20-1 as the Maus II design - the slab-sided one.
I thought the cupola used on the Panther F might work (it's lower profile than that on the G - Panzer Tracts 5-4 & both Jentz & Doyles & W.J. Spielberger Panther books) - I ended up scratch building one for the Blitzkrieg Maus, along with putting a co-incidence rangefinder on it.
 WOO-HOO, a 'standard' E-50 too, very nice.

EDIT: The E-100 with Maus II turret, is of course in PT vol.  6-3 Schwere Panzerkampfwagen Maus and E-100, not 20-1 as I mistakenly remembered)

[Rich H]

The E75 is only a different suspension layout and turret too...

[Ballardian]

 Was hoping you'd say that...

[Rich H]

So after 3 attempts I've got a set of tracks I'm happy with.  If you note the first pic of the tracks shows the edge of the roadwheel is a bit melty - it's where the edge printed without proper support.  Also the idler got a bit messed up. 

That's 9 hours per set...  however, I'm now happy, couple of minor repairs and it'll be perfect.

Hull I'm in two minds about, I might reprint it, the front edge is a bit wonky and there are a coupe of repairs needed so I coudl reprint and fix them or I could jstu filler/plasticard them.  The purist in me wants to reprint so it's a complete printed project but the Yorkshireman in me (My dad's from Leeds) says just fix it.  That said a reprint would allow me to make more of the weld lines which, while visible, aren't very well defined.

The E-50/E-75 hull is done.  Road wheels done.  E-50 turret done. 

Going to see about nicking the drive sproket, idler and tracks off the E-100.  The tracks will need a trim, but the drawing seems to show them the saem as the E-100 but missing grousers form the inside to make them narrower. 

If I can do that then the E-50 will be finished tomorrow adn the E-75 by the end of the week.

Ordered more resin too (£43 per litre!)

[Ballardian]

 £43 per litre, ouch. Not too bad if you're printing 28 mm figures, but how many vehicles of that size do you get out of that? (I ask as I'm considering taking the plunge & getting a printer - I'm more inclined to go for a resin printer as I'm not really convinced by SLA ones for figures & vehicles do seem to come out better in resin).

[Rich H]

According to the software an E-100 is about £5 - £6 but I've had quite a bit of wastage while learning. 

Hollowing the models saves quite a bit.

Id go resin.  FDM is just not good enough without a lot more technical tinkering.

Remember resin need rinse with solvent (I'm using meths) and post cure (windowsill for an hour or so)

[Ballardian]

 Cheers, that sounds like the way to go then.
(A Vickers Independant eh! The worlds first self-peeling tank )

[RAD]

Hi all.

Just in case, i have for sale a 1/48 Maus for sale as well as some beautifull resin german prototype planes on this topic:

http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=118682.0

Thanks for your interst.