HL King Tiger Build So Far (March 23 2014)

[Saxondog]

Cooling always is a good idea, unique mounting location for your Rx-18 unit. First time I have seen that location used.Well done.

[Marc780]

Well the tank was not a smoke and sound unit. I made the mistake of assuming they all were, this one was from hobbytron and came without s and S, and even worse, the old TK-01 circuit board (which burned up after an hours use). So thats why i upgraded.

Without the smoke gear and speaker that would normally occupy that spot it left me enough room to glue velcro to affix the box to the rear of the hull conveniently, right below the engine vents. I thought of fitting another fan in the inside of the upper hull, rightbelow the vents (not sure whether it should blow air in or out) but that idea may be just overkill... if the one fan doesn't help circuit reliability (this tank came with the crummy old TK 01 board like i said, and the mosfets that enable the tank to turn, burned up in an hours use) its not likely adding another fan would after all although it might be worth a try.

[jarndice]

Marc Hi, If you are still looking for a fan for your RX18 a company called MITOSAL are selling them for $3 each, google MITOSAL then click on accessories and scroll down. shaun

[Marc780]

I feel this might be my most significant post ever- because it might help a lot of people solve problems with their HL tanks without breaking the bank! Something I found out only by buying another HL tank...the Executive summary is this:

when your tank malfunctions DO NOT RUSH TO BLAME YOUR CIRCUIT BOARD (TK01 OR RX-18) IMMEDIATELY. DON'T FORGET THE TRANSMITTER IS ANOTHER SYSTEM COMPONENT AND COULD ACTUALLY BE THE PROBLEM AND NOT THE BOARD.

I posted about this already in general discussion but i think it's important enough it bears repeating. My new HL Tiger 1 came and I tried to drive it using the transmitter box from my King tiger. They are both non s and S transmitters so they should work exact same right? WRONG. The new tiger malfunctioned, he went crazy. Would not turn. Could not stop it sometimes, had to reverse to keep from crashing into stuff. And so on. Well, I had my new trans box didn't i to use instead, guess what TIGER NOW RAN NORMALLY meaning, THE OLD TRANSMITTER WAS BAD and i had been blaming the TK01 board all along.

The rx18 upgrade is done, and there's no reason to go back. But i spent a shiite-load of money on this upgrade, that could have waited until the board REALLY burned out. Meanwhile what i needed was a $30 transmitter from ali express!!!!

Anyway. On the King tiger i used magnets to secure the front hull. I glued the magnet to an alumin strip then the strip to the hull. Magnet itself went on the top hull, and used a steel strip on the bottom. This was so that removal of the gearboxes would not be obstructed.




I also reinforced the battery cover since it was bulging outwards. I used aluminum strip and gorilla glue and clamped it tight for a couple hours. I did not take enough care to mask the area to prevent ugly glue runs...when using gorilla glue you really MUST mask everything you do not want glue to flow onto within a couple inches as it expands to a ridiculous degree as it dries.

[MichaelC]

Marc,

I usually use rare earth magnets to mount the upper to the lower (I know lots of people in the forum do as well). If you get the 6.4mm diameter ones they pop right into the standard HL mounting post, and then it is just a matter of measuring and cutting the top post and glue another magnet. I sometimes go a little over board and actually use an aluminium tube (I think it is the standard 7.4mm ones) and actually put the magnet in. If I do all eight posts I can almost lift the tank by the upper hull, metal tracks and all. Here is one I did for the top hull for the Sherman:

The lower hull mount you just superglue the little magnet right into the post with the indent and Bob is you uncle. The reason I use the alum tube on the top hull is I don't even need to worry about cutting it exactly, I can just cut a chuck off and then the alum tube slid right in with the magnet at the end. I put a slow bound epoxy glue in the tube, slight it on top of the plastic mount and then fit the hull until I get the right fit. Fit exactly everytime after that.

MichaelC

[Marc780]

thanks Michael C for the reply...it seems these tanks get complicated (and expensive) real fast once we start to mod them!

[Marc780]

I finally got the parts in the mail and fixed the king tiger to run again. I replaced the board with the RX18, added a fan to the box and got grills from Australia to glue on. It's almost done, still need to solder on an antenna extention and a few odds and ends. Also the paint isn't quite right needs a few more touches as is evident.





New grills! The photo etched they are a nice finishing touch. Something tells me I still won't get nominated for master class yet maybe the tiger 1 will?



Tiger 1 Build

The zimmerit set from welsh dragon came (it was $25 US) . I am too ham-fisted to do that mess again by hand anymore and I'm glad the applique set was available. It is a far more neat and accurate zimmerit then I could ever pull off by hand using putty or spackle. Also it gave me an excuse to leave off the feifel and all that hardware as the mufflers and the "feifel", plus the jack and tool box have to come off to do the zimmerit right. i'm still mulling over whether to put it back on before I paint. Because now its almost ready for its paint job. I am probably going with the tried and true desert sand with red brown and green. The "modern desert sand" on my King TIger is clearly far too light a tone so I got a darker shade this time.



Also i noticed the battery cover door was bulging. So i reinforced it with carbon fiber strips glued on. Then sprayed on some primer it while I was at it.

The nut on the bottom of the hull is part of my upper hull hold on method. It isn't pretty but its fast and strong enough so far. i cut off the existing screw guides or whatever they are called, then i glued in some thread rod, one each side. I'll post a picture of it some day.

There is still a lot more to do on the tiger 1. Antenna wire came in the mail and i cut it in half, one for each tank. I soldered on the antenna wire and wrapped it around a piece of scrap plastic for now.The new antenna wire did reduce the time the tank loses signal and drives off on its own! Other then that, even though its the old TK01 board I will leave the electronics alone for now except for maybe adding a fan over the board.

[Markocaster]

Looking good Marc.

[freddytoo]

Marc, I like the idea of a quicker way to get the top off. I also have a Tiger 1 that I recently started and I really dont like going through the hassle involved in getting the top off. I am going to look into doing something similar to what you have done. Of course, I will give the credits for the idea to you if I ever show it on here.

I noticed the battery door. I solved the bulging problem on one of my tanks by cutting the locking arm of the battery connection off. Now it fits nicely beside the over sized lithium 3800Mh battery. In my other tank I replaced the stock connection with a computer hard drive connector. It leaves even more room.

I am also trying to figure a reasonable way to get all of my switches on top of the tank, and get the battery inside and do away with the battery door.

The Zimmerit effect is nice. The kit you mentioned is working very well for you and looks great. Bet its saving a lot of time.

Hope to see more installments.

[Marc780]

I added magnets to mount the top hulls to the Tiger and the King Tiger. The results are not neat but they work. That excess glue needs to be trimmed away...I use gorilla glue a lot, because it works on almost anything, no mixing and very strong...but as the stuff dries it expands and kind of whooshes for inches around.

Masking the area is called for but sometimes even that's not enough...The best time to trim the excess is half an hour once the glue sets. If you can fit a clamp on the objects the bond usually turns out very strong, indeed. Sometimes I'll make a glue "sandwich" if the part might slide out of place - droplets gorilla glue on the inner portion and super glue on the outside edges to hold the object in place. This technique has worked well for several small projects I've done. I always sand or file the surfaces good and rough to lend the adhesive tooth also.... I've mistakenly left the surfaces glued too smooth -for some reason carbon fiber beam resists roughening and wants to remain smooth-and later the thing just popped off with a screwdriver. Good to know if you want a Semi permanent bond i suppose: I glued the rx18 box into my tiger with one or two drops glue only, on purpose, , because I may want to move it later -and when i do the box will (hopefully) pop loose easily.

I also added more bracing to the king tiger hull, using aluminum strip. I don't think the hull will flex very much now but still thinking about reinforcing the floor and sides with carbon fiber...the CF bar stock is a nicer appearance then the little sticks, which are quite ugly -but for locations where they will not show, such as the hull underside, they might be wgat i will use anyway. The CF sticks are so thin you can make them fit anywhere and so light and strong they're just about the ideal hull bracing material, perhaps.

Considering how much even the plastic version tank weighs, hull bracing is almost a required project I think. Of course there's always the metal hull , for $100 more...but the taigen one for instance is basically a plastic hull with sheet metal insert...then you have to buy metal suspension Arms, wheels, tracks, and on and on...The more weight you add the more you will have to KEEP adding, it seems to me. If I ever go that far with the hobby I will bite the bullet and pay $500 for the all steel tanks! I'd sure like to know what battery and motors go into one if those, must weigh 50# for such a tank!

Back to the regular plastic tanks being modded by us peasantry- I bought some sheet styrene and considered adding that for strength. But after reading what otherpeople have done with tgeir tanks, the plastic seems too flimsy to be worth bothering with. Anywhere I'd reinforce with little old 1/8" styrene that you can literally cut with scissors, such as the hull floor, might as well use carbon fiber instead...

If I spot cracks in my hull one day, a spare hull is only about $20. Maybe I'll try resin next like some people do...perhaps even a quarter inch layer of Bondo would do the trick? Strong as concrete, very cheap, easy to work with and sticks to anything (but dam heavy so you would not want to use much of it).



Above is the king tiger. I fitted the top hull beforehand and decided another brace would not block anything.

The black substance on the aluminum is heat shrink, to help insulate the braces in ccase of stray wiring.
The rear magnet to hold the hull, can be seen immediately above the RX18 unit. I switched to the 2.4 Ghz radio system and glad i did-works flawlessly. If i did it over again, i would simply start out with this system! It would save a lot of money and trouble.



This is the tiger 1, with one brace added. I ran out of heat shrink...i just primed the aluminum, for now. The front magnet to hold the upper hull to lower is visible at the front of the hull. Two more magnets are glued into the hull, onto the cut down posts. They are the rectangular grey objects visible either side of the battery bay.

Since you need to add magnets in the upper hull, or at least a hunk of steel of some kind, this requires careful fitting, pretty much pin point needless to say! Because the posts have holes, and the magnets have holes, I cut down the posts a bit at a time and used strong glue for the magnets. I covered sheet metal screws in grease and screwed them in temporarily, to hold the magnets in place as the glue dried. Then I cut down the posts a little at a time with the dremel, until the two sets of magnets mated. I think i still need a magnet for the rear of the hull though.


After driving the tiger for a while, and watching the regular rx18 lose signal all too often-tank stops responding to the transmitter for several seconds, etc. - i decided then and there to just quit fooling around and throw money in attempts to fix these things and just sent away for the new radio system!
Planning to add another Heng long 2.4 Ghz system to this too, it works very well on the king tiger, as in flawlessly well. Since i had bought one before from the the vendor was nice enough to give me a a bit sweeter deal on the second system.


I still have a lot i want to do to the tiger1 , want to add a solid rear axle, more hull bracing, move the on off switch under the drivers hatch and sent away for those from artistic hobbies which cost $10 for two hatches. And Im getting antsy to repaint the KT...it just doesn't look right.


Does this KT look right to you? I think the paint needs redone, completely. Also zimmerit applique wouldnt hurt..thats a future project alright.

I really need to take a break for a few days-the wife is getting seriously jealous of all the time i lavish on my "mistresses"!!!