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| Type: |
SU-100 |
Armament: |
??? |
| Built: |
Winter 2004 |
Armor: |
??? |
| Builder: |
Will Montgomery |
Rating: |
40/4 |
| Status: |
Operational |
Battles: |
62 |
| Owner: |
Will Montgomery |
Points Earned: |
159,690 |
| Call Sign: |
??? |
Points Given: |
78,500 |
| Notes: |
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Advanced Roller Chain Tracks EV Warrior Drive System Gun Pivots and Elevates
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Click Photo For Enlargement (329 Kb) |
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Winter 2004:
The SU-100 begins to take shape from the ground up, with a very
sturdy welded steel chassis. As Will's 3rd tank built from scratch,
the SU-100 will benefit from lots of lessons learned, starting with
a strong frame on which everything is built.
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Each of the road-wheels pivot, with a spring-suspension that holds
up the weight of the tank and can take the shock of going over obstacles.
When fully loaded, the tank will weight close to 150 lbs.
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Click Photo For Enlargement (346 Kb) |
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Click Photo For Enlargement (64 Kb) |
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The suspension springs are mounted inside of the hull, running along
each side. This keeps a lot of the dirt and grime out of them, although
periodic cleaning will still be needed. The axle and suspension arms
are welded steel (thanks to Frank's 2003 Xmas present) and should last
a long, long time.
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Road wheels are made from 3/4" plywood that has been glued together,
rough cut on the bandsaw and then trimmed to shape on the lathe.
The bulk of the wheel rides on top of the large attachment chain
links, with a flange riding along the side to keep the chain on
track. Such road wheels are inexpensive, relatively easy to make
and have stood up well on the battlefield.
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Click Photo For Enlargement (344 Kb) |
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Click Photo For Enlargement (341 Kb) |
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Surplus wheelchair motors were installed to push the beast across
the field. The integrated gear-drive makes them easy to install,
with a V-belt used to drive the tracks. Unfortunately, during the
field tests of the SU-100, one of the surplus motors failed and
had to be replaced.
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A pair of EV Warriors were installed to replace the wheel chair motors,
along with a 9:1 two stage chain gear reduction. The same drive system
has been used successfully in other Tri-Pact vehicles and is now the
preferred solution. Since the SU-100 uses attachment chain tracks that
don't provide any slippage, an additional drive system stage using
V-belt pulleys is used. This allows the system to slip if the tracks are
locked up, thereby saving the motors from harm.
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Click Photo For Enlargement (368 Kb) |
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Click Photo For Enlargement (162 Kb) |
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June 2004:
During the
Maryland Massacre,
the SU-100 is on the other side of the pine tree, keeping
the Tiger from moving one way or the other. Such face-offs are common
when two individual tanks meet somewhere on the field, but they are
usually short-lived as other tanks starting moving towards that location.
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A classic stand-off when two tank destroyers meet head-on. Without rotating
turrets, the two need to either patiently wait for a high-angle side shot
or attempt a J-turn attack to get on the side of the other tank before
they can pivot and shoot. In this case, the SU-100's full-skid turning
would probably win (the Hetzer only has half-skid turning).
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Click Photo For Enlargement (109 Kb) |
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Click Photo For Enlargement (335 Kb) |
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July 2004:
After the first battle with the SU-100, it was determined that a more reliable
elevate, rotate and magazine feed system was needed. Here is shown the
new magazine system that uses a roller-based feeding mechanism with an
agitated hopper. Both the roller feed and the agitator spin each time the
gun is fired. The hopper (black object on right) allows paintballs to
be loaded quickly and ensures that paintballs fall into the roller
feed (clear plastic object below hopper). The roller feed pushes
paintballs up towards the gun through the coiled hose
(white object in center) and the copper elbow into the marker.
Although it looks complicated, it works well and should provide a steady
stream of paintballs.
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