What is this Brass Collar on my RB Elefant Barrel?

No sleeping yet.... still gotta decide if you're gonna transplant the muzzle break  It does look pretty nice I must admit.

Ha!

Figured it out - I just found a site where a guy used this exact same barrel on his Tamiya Elefant.

http://www.network54.com/Forum/619315/message/1347893541/Tamiya+Elefant+of+3.653+Getting+Pull-Through

It seems that the round part of the mantlet has to push over the barrel and collar locking it in place - this is great except nothing tells you this so everyone who decides to use this barrel as an afterthought after they have assembled the entire tank like me is totally screwed unless they fancy carrying out some surgery. I do not! This guy had to!

Looks like you guys were right - sorry!  

No probs, Kit barrel it is! LOL! At least this mystery has been solved!

I'll sleep well tonight now!

Ben

Fire up the Dremel with a cut-off wheel and amputate....very carefully

A very strange situation indeed,....

Cheers for looking into this guys,

I'd considered the option of having to put the barrel in this way but when the collar butts up against the mantlet face it makes the RB barrel a perfect length. It would be FAR too short if mounted from the inside.

If you look at the RB site and look at the Elefant Barrel it shows just a tiny part where the barrel gets wider but this is part of the barrel and not an added on part. This RB Barrel is not the same as the one shown on the site but it is the correct barrel as far as the supplier and the RB packaging is concerned!

I don't think they'd sell an aftermarket barrel that had to be assembled along with the the actual kit itself - surely they'd have to highlight this or none of these barrels could ever be used as an afterthought. The way I see it it's a simple replacement that should just push in like the kit one does? Every RB Barrel I've used has simply pushed in to replace the kit one.

Dammit this is doing my head in!

Cheers guys,

Ben

Very good point Wing Nut, I think you may be correct. I was looking at a cut-away view of the gun / mantlet assembly and there is a internal collar around the barrel inside the mantlet. I would measure the barrel length. I measured from a 1/35th  Hilary Doyle line drawing on page 75 of Spielberger's Heavy Jadgpanzer and came up with 113mm from the nose of the mantlet to the end of the muzzle brake.

Not sure if the parts are the same but this is from the sheet from a different Dragon Elefant kit.  I am thinking maybe after C12 abd C13 go together, the shank of the barrel goes in and then C25 slides down ovwer the barrel covering the collar and locking it all in place.  What you think?

A thought just occurred to me... I know... scary right?... Check the length of the barrel.  Is it supposed to mount from the inside and the collar is the stop for coming out instead of going in the mantlet?

After looking through several dozen photos of Elefant / Ferdies in the factory, before and after rebuilding, in the field and close-ups of the Aberdeen vehicle, I see no evidence for this collar. There should be a noticeable gap between the barrel and the mantlet, by adding the collar the gap is closed off and there is a change in the profile of the mantlet, neither of which appear correct. Leave it off.

Looking at all the pictures I can get to on my work pc I cant see why its there unless its for what looks like a secondary shield for the barrel mount. Must be a reason for it

Phil