TamiyaLeopard 2A6 for Regular Use?

[zooma]

I saw an online review for the Heng Long 2A6 Winter Camo Leopard Professional Edition that seems to have some improvements and features over the new Heng Long Leopard 2A6 that I have just bought!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMmPUaRsMSo

One of the first things that caught my attention was the "pop-up" hatch on the glacis plate to allow fast and easy replacement of the main battery without needing to invert the tank or use a screw driver to release the battery box cover. This looks like a really big change that would have needed revisions to be made to both the hull and the upper deck mouldings.

The other detail that caught my eye was the faster turret rotation speed. Maybe not quite as fast as the Heng Long Merkava that I drove at our club the other week - but noticeably faster than my new HL 2A6.

Any ideas when this new modified HL model will become available to buy here in the UK.......or where to buy it now if it is not going to be imported to the UK?

[zooma]

This looks like a nice clean casting.

49854270-73C6-46D6-B9AD-3C8D8375D536.jpeg (757.07 KiB) Viewed 217 times

Think I will update my 2A6 Leopard with this turret addition - but was it fitted to the Leopard 2A6 in service?

[zooma]

853019DD-E3CA-4FDF-9B08-A5B3FCA83616.jpeg (860.29 KiB) Viewed 178 times

t

84D7FBD1-ADD8-4983-B52F-6DBD7737317F.jpeg (658.63 KiB) Viewed 178 times

931F4E06-F7B7-4766-83DA-F84EEBA2B418.jpeg (581.56 KiB) Viewed 178 times

The turret has been separated and the top pillars have been cut down by 4mm ready to have magnets epoxy bonded to them, but sadly I have run out of magnets due to only buying one pack of them from Forgebear Tanks and this Leo having so many screws (and my decision to change the turret screws to magnets)!

The lower half of the turret has the magnets super-glued into the female pillar screw sockets ready for when I get some more magnets.

I am not at all sure if this modification will prove to be a good idea due to the way the barrel pivot fits into an open "U" shaped cup in the UPPER half of the turret moulding (!) but it is too late to go back now so I am hoping that the nine pairs of magnets will be powerful enough to clamp the upper and lower halves of the turret firm enough to stop the barrel falling out!

Since the turret was apart I fitted the new weapons unit to the front glacis plate. This did not go to plan either as the two retaining screws pull the cast unit away from the turret as they are tightened up, so I super-glued the unit in place and only used the screws as locating pins. Maybe I can add a pair of small rubber "O" rings to act as "compliant" washers to take up the gap?

Meanwhile, the unit moved as I was trying to locate these two screws into place and has spoilt a small area of the pre-painted (printed) surface by spreading the super-glue over it! Not to worry - I would have had to paint this area anyway to colour the casting, but I think I will go and watch some TV now as tonight is clearly not going to be an especially successful one!

[Herr Dr. Professor]

I've had whole weeks that were "not...especially successful." However, I don't see any real problems here: magnets can easily be added later. Perhaps the CA glue will suffice, although I think O rings are rather a good idea. And, of course, a touch of very find sandpaper and matching paint covers lots of sins. But then, too, BBC has some great programming.

P.S. When I was 18 or so, I took a buddy to a hardware store because another friend had asked us to pick up a particular item. Inside the store, I heard my buddy ask the clerk where he could find the "Ring-Os." The clerk kindly replied, "Oh, yes, you need some O-Rings." Me? Ever a supportive friend, I was laughing aloud.

[zooma]

I've had whole weeks that were "not...especially successful." However, I don't see any real problems here: magnets can easily be added later. Perhaps the CA glue will suffice, although I think O rings are rather a good idea. And, of course, a touch of very find sandpaper and matching paint covers lots of sins. But then, too, BBC has some great programming.

P.S. When I was 18 or so, I took a buddy to a hardware store because another friend had asked us to pick up a particular item. Inside the store, I heard my buddy ask the clerk where he could find the "Ring-Os." The clerk kindly replied, "Oh, yes, you need some O-Rings." Me? Ever a supportive friend, I was laughing aloud.

Things picked-up a little after this Herr Prof - the TV was good (!) and I ordered 100 small 6mm x 2mm magnets from Magman on eBay (at a very good price) - and they turned up the next day.

The magnets were glued onto the cut-down top pillars last night using a 5 minute epoxy as suggested. I always prefer to use 24 hour Araldite in my workshop (shed) but I bought some Gorilla 5 minute epoxy yesterday specifically for this task - and to start with I thought I was going to have another "not very successful evening".

I have never used Gorilla 5 minute epoxy before but I held the two halves of the turret together waiting for the epoxy to dry - but even after an hour - this strange looking epoxy was 'still very "gooey" and stringing a lot so I was worried that it was not going to set at all, but I fitted some clamps to the hold the turret halves together overnight while I returned to the safety of the tv to watch the F1 Sprint race.

This morning, all but two of the nine pairs of magnets had glued successfully and the strange texture of the Gorilla 5 minute epoxy looked to be well suited to the task of holding the small magnets onto the spindly pillars that I balanced them on with a good blob of this stuff last night.

The surface of the magnets to be glued onto the cut down upper support posts had been sanded well to give a rough surface to help promote good bonding so I am not too sure why two of them failed to stick ?

The almost rubber-like texture of this glue (compared with Araldite) looked like it was a good choice for this particular application so I added another dab of it to the two magnets that had failed to stay fixed in place and they are currently drying as the other magnets holding the two halves of the turret together keep them in place!

[zooma]

Now that the two turret halves are held together with the 9 pairs of magnets (rather than the original 9 self tapping screws) I was able to remove the LiPo from the battery box underneath the hull and transfer it into the turret.

To do this I removed the crimped joints from the battery leads that come from the board and soldered on a pair of 4mm gold plugs to replace them. A longer pair of leads with matching 4mm gold sockets and a fresh XT60 plug on the other end replaced the original shorter lead (that was in the battery box) to pass through the turret ring up into the turret.

I was worried that the magnets would not be strong enough to hold the turret top on as the gun was raised and lowered because Heng Long only made a "stirrup" in the top half of the turret to retain the barrel pivot shaft (!) so it relies on the turret top being firmly held down to keep the entire main gun mechanism in place.

The bottom part of the barrel pivot just rests against a straight edge of plastic. I think this is a very poor idea and think that in the longer term I will need to find (or make) a proper bearing clamp that fixes onto the turret base more securely. This will also make it much easier when changing the battery as the barrel will not need to be re-aligned with this stirrup in the turret top every time, and because it cannot be seen, it has to be "felt for" and clicked into position whilst fitting the turret top back on. This is slightly tricky due to the poor pivot design - but still much better that fitting the battery under the hull IMHO.

[zooma]

73774818-AA69-47EB-B19A-8324862DB1FA.jpeg (784.07 KiB) Viewed 117 times

E7C82F0F-A6F0-47C3-AAD3-52BB8D2A6889.jpeg (626.76 KiB) Viewed 117 times

The battery sits neatly in the turret close to the turret ring to keep any weight as central as possible and away from the back of the turret to prevent the dreaded "turret droop" that the Tamiya 2A6 suffers from.

The small 4mm gold plugs and sockets are big enough to prevent any serious current loss and take up little space in the lower hull and allow the longer extension leads to be threaded up through the turret ring to connect with the LiPo battery in its new location.

[Herr Dr. Professor]

I have not yet used magnets to hold together top and bottom hulls, but I have magnets on hand. I would try JB Weld two-part epoxy. Your explanation of the process will be helpful to me, atop some online videos. Thank you.

[zooma]

I gave the Heng Long Leopard 2A6 a good long run outside in the garden yesterday and everything worked OK.

The magnets held the two halves of the turret together securely and my fears about them not being strong enough to retain the main gun barrel in its fairly lightweight mountings proved to be unfounded as despite some 'enthusiastic" off-load use the magnets held firm and everything stayed "in place".

I can now fit all of the small parts that came with the tank and probably add some small connectors to the very thin turret turning motor wires so that when I lift off the turret top I can disconnect them and remove the need to put any strain on them as they try to hold the weight of the turret beside the tank when I change batteries. One of these small wires has broken off of the soldered joint as I separated the turret halves when I had finished running and wanted to remove the LiPo.

Heng Long never designed the tank to have the two halves of the turret removed every time that the battery is changed, so adding a pair of small gold connectors and lengthening the wire slightly should make this a little easier and take the strain off of these small wires.

Later I will need to do something similar for the battle tank connector that is also located in the top half of the turret......but has currently not been re-fitted due to even shorter length of connection wire!

[zooma]

99488EB6-EC79-4945-AA15-E433BF7F1CE7.jpeg (623.21 KiB) Viewed 39 times

[atta

The wires are long enough to take the strain off of the joints when the turret halves are separated and the small gold plugs make it easy to disconnect them if required.

I had trouble finding wire as thin as the originals, but railway modellers use wire of a similar weight (wiring electric lights etc) and it was easy to find so I bought a hank of red and black.

Railway modellers use several different colours of wire, so I may pick up some white ready to extend the battle function socket.