Hey everyone, I hope you're having a wonderful day!

In this post I want to show you where things are headed for the rest of this year and what you can look forward to. So let's dive right in.

Contents

• New standard parts

• Model updates

• New models

If you've been here from the start, you can really see it. From my first model, the Leopard, to the Abrams and now the PzH 2000, the quality has kept going up. Developing a single model often takes several hundred hours, so I actually started this back with the Abrams and have now fully rolled it out. New assemblies that are becoming standard parts for my tanks and will go into every future model. It saves a huge amount of development time, and thanks to a solid design it keeps the quality consistent, so I'm not starting from scratch every time.

Turret rotation mechanism

Driven by an N20 motor through a worm drive, which still lets the turret rotate very precisely and with a lot of force.

New turret ring

This one comes with a special feature: a mount for the barrel. The barrel hooks onto two arms and can be swapped between the modules quickly with just two screws. On top of that, the ring now has a mount for a slip ring.

Barrel modules

Probably long awaited: going forward there will be two modules for all tanks, the new recoil unit and the new firing unit. For platform reasons the firing module won't be officially available on MakerWorld. I'll share more about it through my newsletter and Instagram. As for the details, both modules share the same mount, so you can switch between them without much hassle. The sizes are matched, which means the gearing for raising and lowering the barrel is identical.

For the firing module I've moved away from the Bambu gears. This time it runs on a 150 rpm servo through a worm drive. That gives it a lot more power, and no more gears snapping off.

Model updates

The new standard parts are gradually making their way into every model:

• PzH 2000: currently in the pre-launch phase of the crowdfunding, and the first model built fully around this new approach.
• Abrams: already a solid base, getting a big update soon to make it fully compatible.
• KF51 (1:21): also getting an update for the e-commerce launch. When it launched on Bambu Lab I received a really thorough review, and a bunch of users put a huge amount of effort into improving the project. Thanks to all of you! 

New Models

KF51 (1:16)

The elephant in the room: the KF51 in 1:16  I know this is the one most of you have been waiting for. The reason it's taken so long is that the KF51 became the basis for something bigger, and it's going to be seriously cool. What exactly? I'll reveal that first on Instagram and in the newsletter, so definitely swing by, otherwise you'll miss the reveal. The base model itself is basically finished.

Newsletter: https://0k7izg.subscribepage.io/

Instagram: tobideve_makerworld

Tiger II (King Tiger)

The Tiger II has actually been in the works for several months. Unfortunately it got rejected during the crowdfunding review. To be honest, that was most likely on me, probably because I had uploaded it as a firing version. I can't say for sure since I never got a fully clear answer, but I really don't want to point fingers at MakerWorld here. For now it's open what happens with the model. Like the others, it will still be rebuilt on the new standard parts, since it was developed before them. Maybe if I resubmit it with the recoil simulation it will get approved. I do want to be upfront though: there's a real chance this model won't be developed further or released.

PZH2000

My current flagship model is now in the pre-launch phase of the crowdfunding. Here's the link again →
For more details feel free to check out the crowdfunding page. https://makerworld.com/de/crowdfunding/323-1-16-pzh2000-cyberbrick-tank

Truck with lowloader

I also tried my hand at a little side project and built a truck with a lowloader trailer. It's powered by a strong 540 motor paired with a heavy duty gearbox. The goal was to create a proper hauler for my tanks. A lot of you have noticed that the more complex and detailed the models get, the heavier they become too. It wasn't an easy task and I'm still right in the middle of development. This could also turn into the basis for all kinds of different trailers or modules down the line, like a tipper and so on. But here's a first preview of how it could look in the end. A lot of it isn't finished yet though.

Outlook

Behind the scenes I'm working on something bigger that will really expand what my models are capable of. All existing models stay compatible as usual, no worries. 🙂 What exactly is behind it I'll reveal first on Instagram and in the newsletter.

👉 All the details, behind the scenes looks and what's coming next, first right here:

📸 Instagram: tobideve_makerworld
✉️ Newsletter:  https://0k7izg.subscribepage.io/

This goes deeper than what I post here, so come by so you don't miss anything!

Cheers,
Tobi