And then the turret builds.... These were hard, the mechanisms even more difficult, I don't want to turrets to get damaged in event of a jam so they will be belt driven with wide belts, The first issue was finding a tube.. There were none the size I wanted ... lucky i was just about to throw two old paint pots away when i realized there massive potential. They were immediately cleaned out completely and added to the build board. I first cut two black discs these would come into play later on in the build and tested the pots for what glue would stick to them... superglue in this case !
Then I chopped the tops of and sanded them roughly... to give me grip when i needed to remove them... The lids are the spindle points and due to the tight fit they have they allow me to unscrew the turrets from the system... and remove them.... !
Next thing was to take the slow gearboxes I had bought from components place in wales ... ( cant remember the name ) and add these the the base of the frame made from 3mm plywood for strength. I fitted brass collets into all the places shafts ran and fixed the spindle for the turret base. next i added a short tube in the middle of the paint pot lid ( if you look in the light in the inside you can see the direct center ) and made sure it would stay in place by gluing a block around it.
I then measured and added a second section to balance out everything, once again colleting for the shaft from the gearbox.
Finally the sides were measured repeatedly till i was happy with the sizes then added before the unit was fixed up in place.
By holding the outer edge of the lids you can unscrew the turret and remove it from the craft, and the lid will also act as the belt wheel..
A couple of black edging strips were added to the top of the turret and now the turrets turn smoothly and easily from the drives, after painting I am expecting a small bit of sanding and cleaning will be needed , I will be using a Plastic friendly model grease on all the joints to allow for freer movement.
The bases of the turrets also got beefed up as well..
The motors waiting to be fitted in place...
And finally both turrets sitting in place .... need detailing now but are pretty much ready to have guns and outer saftey ring added.