Panzer II “Luchs” - Week 3

Week 3 of the Panzer II ausf.L "Luchs" build. Things are diversifying. Looking toward suspension, drive train, and final drives.

Catching Luchs #3, "Omega" up to #2 "Alpha" Were putting a lot of stainless wire into these buckets.

And the welding goes on, and on, and on, and...

Pride and Joy of the builds, so far, are two (2) International Harvester RD450 inline 6 cylinder engines. Both have been fresh rebuilt with all new guts.

Note: The panzer boys rarely miss an opportunity to practice their modeling poses.

The RD450 is the ideal substitute for the Maybach HL 66P. It has basically the same displacement, stroke, Horsepower, Torque etc. as the Maybach.

It fits in the hull similarly with the same length, width and height.

Steering differential is FV432. Amazing piece of machinery. Strong and does its job of transferring power, braking and steering perfectly. The braking is contained within this differential unit. This is much different than the original Luchs.

The brakes on the Luchs are outside the differential and mount over by the side walls. We are relegated to substituting since original parts dont exist. But the good news is, the working capacity of the 'fv432 differential is far beyond the stresses our 26,000 lb Luchs will ever apply.

Luchs "Alpha" will get an automatic transmission. An M113 Allison TX100 unit will transfer the power from engine to Differential and provide for gear selection.

Once again I go to the M113 box of goodies and find a transfer case that I can use to house the torque converter in order to remote mount the transmission downstream from the engine.

Transfer case pre-surgery.

Let the operation begin.

Successful separation doctor. Now it can serve as a mount to hold the torque converter and cap off the back of the transmission.

Now to find a way to have power enter the setup through this little hole. Input shaft with u-joint yoke so a drive shaft can put some spin into it. Hmmmmm wonder where that's going to come from and what it will look like.