Picking up from the Korean K9 inquiry, progress so far on the conversion:
IMG_3727 by Russel Baer, on Flickr
Aside from different stowage and tools, tow points are different and each corner at the rear of the hull is raised as compared to the K9. I’ll also have to either re-work the AS90 gun tube or start over completely.
IMG_3728 by Russel Baer, on Flickr
Admittedly half the work I’ve done up front is removing parts that are K9-only so I can do the KRAB fittings. It would have been easier to have started this conversion from the git-go, lesson learned.
The starting point:
IMG_3720 by Russel Baer, on Flickr
The K9 turret is already on an Academy Merkava 3 hull as a what-if. 
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“Waste not, want not”
Cheers,
M
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Nice progress. Have fun with the muzzle brake. 
I’m still noodling on the turret basket and the rest of the gun tube. 
Access doors on the rear are coming along though.
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I got a little more done around the rear access doors but I’m not happy with the big hinges. I also am stuck on the rear of the turret and gun rest. I may go ahead and build up the gun tube and muzzle brake, but I have a feeling this one is going on the shelf for a bit.
IMG_3765 by Russel Baer, on Flickr
IMG_3766 by Russel Baer, on Flickr
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The hinges on the big access doors were bugging me so I re-made them.
They’re much more uniform now.
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I had a little time today so I started the gun tube, using the AS90 part and some tube stock. There’s still quite a bit more to do on it.
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Great job so far Russel, nice scratch building there on those rear doors. What are they for ?
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I could guess, maybe battery access, or NBC systems? I really don’t know, haven’t seen any pics with any of them fully open.
I think I finished the base of the gun tube today, next will tackle the muzzle brake. I have a good idea of how I’m going to do it now.
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This is my first attempt at the muzzle brake.
I built it up on a wooden dowel, actually a chop stick, the best way I could think of to keep it lined up during construction.
Welds were done with stretched sprue. I’ll need to turn down the very end of the gun tube to fit it, but I think it’ll work.
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That is beautiful!
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Weird. That’s exactly what I did. Yours looks great. Still stuck on that stowage bin on the rear of the turret. I’d love to see how you tackle that. I’m almost thinking of going the soldered brass rod route.
According to the caption, there’s a APU there (but the pictured access door has louvers… )
I guess the APU could be an upgrade added to late KRAB chassis 
https://defence-blog.com/poland-orders-new-south-korean-self-propelled-howitzers-chassis/
H.P.
That’s no different than the ones represented in the photos we’re working from (I sent Russel mine) except that the cover (probably a winterization hatch) has been removed. You can still see the hinges on top and the hasp on the left has side of the loitered area.
Necessity is the mother of invention. Or is it the Mothers of Invention?
Cool idea.
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Sorry guys but I’m not really into Polish crustaceans…At least you know what’s on the right side now.
H.P.
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I could do a door with louvers, maybe… I wonder why they even fit a solid door in front of some sort of heat exchanger. Seems like a good way to cook something.
Robert, it just seemed like a win-win, but it took a few hours of head scratching. I keep a bunch of old chop sticks, skewers and dowels handy to form brass and make arbors to turn stuff on, so once I thought to just punch holes in stock and form the vertical plates around the holes, it was east-peasy, all I had to do was just do it. The hard part was making the two horizontal plates match.
I’m still noodling on the basket, but until I find good pics of the rest of the stuff on the back of the turret, I can wait. Google only has a few pics, mostly at arms shows or in action publicly and parade shots.
Funny, I’m a very good welder but still haven’t mastered soldering small parts. If it was a connection in a wiring harness or a bridge on a circuit board, no problem. For that reason I’ll leaning towards plastic rod. I’ll make the half circles using steam off boiling water, the rod wrapped around a former.
Before I left the house today I did turn down the end of the barrel so the brake fits on nicely. I’ll leave it off until I’m sure the gun tube is ready for paint.
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I think I’m happy with the gun tube and muzzle brake.
IMG_3778 by Russel Baer, on Flickr
I’m still all over Google, looking for good pics of the gun crutch and the whole rear of the turret.
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