PART 1 - this post
PART 2 - post #25 (http://www.northeastshooters.com/vbulletin/threads/266308-DIY-Tank-SU-76m-(rated-PG-2-lots-of-milk-drinking-and-cartoon-watching)?p=4227194&viewfull=1#post4227194)
PART 3 - cannon test fire (
I am making an exception by posting a build that's not yet "done" because after 1.5 years I realize that it will never be trully done. I will try to post a bunch of write-up and photos as I hunt them out from various places, every week. I will keep the table of content on this page/post so that people can see the progress and find other relevant posts.
Last year's sumer, my then 2 yo and I decided to get together some father-son project. We considered a bird house, a pine derby car ... and then we decided to build a tank.
SU-76m is not a tank, it's the most produced self-propelled artillery by Soviets in WWII. Built on the extended chassy of light BT tank, it was designed to make the "God of War" agile, following in the lockstep but slightly behind the advancing army. Not something typical artillery setup could do.
The lightly armored body wasn't meant to defend from anything bigger than small arms fire. But in reality it frequently went to the heart of battle.
hence of nickname: "grave for four brothers". In terms of nicknames, it's most common nickname was "sooch-kah" (little female dog ... yeah, B-word) based on Su pronounced as "soo" Reality is that Soviet soldiers have outstanding propensity to nickname just about anything without rhyme or reason, even German nebelwerfers were "little Ivan's" ... go figure.
We figured that we wanted to make a scale copy, small enough to fit into a car (for a trip to the range) but big enough to help around the house with moving lawn or clearing the snow while packing something at least 50cal, so 1/4 scale seemed like a good place.
The frame was made from inch square tube, something real Sus never needed, because boxed heavy plate could support it's shape just fine.
A lot of goofing off delayed production
until the snow was on the ground
Once inside the house, there was no retreat on this project. Electric engines make controlling both tracks infinitely easier ... but don't worry, there will be noise and smoke.
Actually the engine location is something that can let you distinguish variations of SU. Original configuration SU76 had two automobile engines on each side of the driver. Hence the front of the SAU had two transmission access hatches.
Later M-modernized models had two engines working in tandem to the right of the driver, so you can only see the driver's hatch and a single transmission access plate.
They also went from completely covered gun grew compartment on 76 to partially covered on 76m
This is actually the post-war production 76-m when back was covered again with steel
Wheels were stamped out, so we did the same thing starting with blank steel.
The original forming was slightly different
I stamped the basic shape
and rolled the rims
then joined them together
here are the all stages of the wheel being made
One thing to keep in mind when building tanks, you will have to make a lot of identical parts
and mount all of them
As a joke we moked up what would a 50cal barrel look like on the tank. It immideately attracted cat's attention
taking all the measurements to evaluate potential for world domination
parts constantly needed to be taken off and on to fit various components
finally "plating" was put on and like any real tank it immidiately started to rust
each side was assembled from two plates, joined by a set of giant rivets that was duplicated
like I said, fitting requires parts to be constantly put on and off
so having enthusiastic comrades eager to build tanks is a big plus
well, the story is faaar from over, but I need to get some sleep
continued on post #25 http://www.northeastshooters.com/vbulletin/threads/266308-DIY-Tank-SU-76m-(rated-PG-2-lots-of-milk-drinking-and-cartoon-watching)?p=4227194&viewfull=1#post4227194
PART 2 - post #25 (http://www.northeastshooters.com/vbulletin/threads/266308-DIY-Tank-SU-76m-(rated-PG-2-lots-of-milk-drinking-and-cartoon-watching)?p=4227194&viewfull=1#post4227194)
PART 3 - cannon test fire (
I am making an exception by posting a build that's not yet "done" because after 1.5 years I realize that it will never be trully done. I will try to post a bunch of write-up and photos as I hunt them out from various places, every week. I will keep the table of content on this page/post so that people can see the progress and find other relevant posts.
Last year's sumer, my then 2 yo and I decided to get together some father-son project. We considered a bird house, a pine derby car ... and then we decided to build a tank.
SU-76m is not a tank, it's the most produced self-propelled artillery by Soviets in WWII. Built on the extended chassy of light BT tank, it was designed to make the "God of War" agile, following in the lockstep but slightly behind the advancing army. Not something typical artillery setup could do.
The lightly armored body wasn't meant to defend from anything bigger than small arms fire. But in reality it frequently went to the heart of battle.
hence of nickname: "grave for four brothers". In terms of nicknames, it's most common nickname was "sooch-kah" (little female dog ... yeah, B-word) based on Su pronounced as "soo" Reality is that Soviet soldiers have outstanding propensity to nickname just about anything without rhyme or reason, even German nebelwerfers were "little Ivan's" ... go figure.
We figured that we wanted to make a scale copy, small enough to fit into a car (for a trip to the range) but big enough to help around the house with moving lawn or clearing the snow while packing something at least 50cal, so 1/4 scale seemed like a good place.
The frame was made from inch square tube, something real Sus never needed, because boxed heavy plate could support it's shape just fine.
A lot of goofing off delayed production
until the snow was on the ground
Once inside the house, there was no retreat on this project. Electric engines make controlling both tracks infinitely easier ... but don't worry, there will be noise and smoke.
Actually the engine location is something that can let you distinguish variations of SU. Original configuration SU76 had two automobile engines on each side of the driver. Hence the front of the SAU had two transmission access hatches.
Later M-modernized models had two engines working in tandem to the right of the driver, so you can only see the driver's hatch and a single transmission access plate.
They also went from completely covered gun grew compartment on 76 to partially covered on 76m
This is actually the post-war production 76-m when back was covered again with steel
Wheels were stamped out, so we did the same thing starting with blank steel.
The original forming was slightly different
I stamped the basic shape
and rolled the rims
then joined them together
here are the all stages of the wheel being made
One thing to keep in mind when building tanks, you will have to make a lot of identical parts
and mount all of them
As a joke we moked up what would a 50cal barrel look like on the tank. It immideately attracted cat's attention
taking all the measurements to evaluate potential for world domination
parts constantly needed to be taken off and on to fit various components
finally "plating" was put on and like any real tank it immidiately started to rust
each side was assembled from two plates, joined by a set of giant rivets that was duplicated
like I said, fitting requires parts to be constantly put on and off
so having enthusiastic comrades eager to build tanks is a big plus
well, the story is faaar from over, but I need to get some sleep
continued on post #25 http://www.northeastshooters.com/vbulletin/threads/266308-DIY-Tank-SU-76m-(rated-PG-2-lots-of-milk-drinking-and-cartoon-watching)?p=4227194&viewfull=1#post4227194
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... because a lot of times you won't and you have to re-make it. Honestly, even at 10-15k, I don't see how these sellers make any cash. It takes incredible amount of time and effort and buyers market in that range is pretty small.
