Thanks guys ,it's nice to know i'm not the only one .
- . . . Well , i 'spose some poor souls will be interested in what this Panzerphillia(mania) involves , so before i relate my saga I ought to explain that i'm not an armour fan . I do models , quite afew , but they are a different vein (and scale!) - the last thing with tracks i did was , oh , nearly 30yrs ago . things have changed a lot .
- Alright , enough babble .
Nitty gritty time . . . . - Pt 2 , I mentioned earlier about giving my new toy a spin around the house , frightening the cat and making mrs B roll her eyes . One thing struck me about it - it was VERY much a toy . Being the bargain basement version with the BB and two speeds - fast and faster ! ( i don't recall Tigers ever wheelspinning in real life ) obviously something had to be done .. . .Metal tracks and sprockets , recommended by just about everyone , gearboxes , 3 to 1's and a RX18 thingy so as i'd have more control . luverly . - Doesn't work like that . - need the proper receiver, and tranny too . Rats . - This was going to be more exspensive than i thought . Ah well , at this time i'd noticed that the Asiatam hull was on offer , in for a penny . . .
. . . there's plenty to play with . . .
- A couple of things caught my eye , the suspension was a bit squiffy . I proceeded to disassemle it , thinking that by rearranging all the torsion bars , collars et al would make it better ( i also teased some '0' rings into the axle holes in a vain attempt at waterproofing ) Nope , what a waste of time , still all a'cock , eventually i got them just so . - by brute force ! twisting the arms against the springs until they were where they were meant to be .
Obviously this is how they did it in the factory . which explained why some of the couplings and springs were 'wrong' to start with .
- Fitting the gearboxes . . .
. . Lesson 2 , Mato 'boxes are cr%p . they aren't a 'drop in' fit for a start . O.K. i half exspected that , no problem really , just a few extra holes to drill and screws/nuts . but worse was to come .Don't be fooled by this photo , this was taken later . . . the left hand 'box went in painlessly but the drive shaft on the right hand one was so far on the p*ss it would wreck the tracks + wheels . At this point i thought i'd got a rogue one , so i returned it asking for a replacement . SAME THING ! - I tried another supplier - Ditto . Checking online i found it was not just a bad coincidence , more curses . Botch time . . .
. . . I removed the final drive axles , and putting a 5mm round bar ( a welding rod just happens to fit
) through them showed the r/h one would line up , but needs some kind of spacing underneath . Cling flim was placed over the base plate and a largish blob of Araldite splodged on , then i quickly assembled it again - with just one screw to locate it , the rod kept it alinged until it set . afterwards i took it apart , removed the clingfilm , and drilled the necessary fixing holes . Yay !
. . . Dodgy gearbox alignment . . .
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. . . 'bout that eh ? - and there's even room for an on/off switch /charger jack . (just 