Second Tamiya Leopard 2A6

[zooma]

Now that the Tamiya "metal suspension parts kit" and the Tamiya Hop-Up Option kit no: 84220 "metal track tensioners" have been fitted to this new build, I can glue the remaining plastic parts onto the hull and take the wheels back off again so that I can prime the new metal parts and prepare the lower hull to be sprayed with a suitable dessert yellow base colour.

The inside of the hull is a bit "dusty" as it has been left on the bench for some weeks until I found a source for the small parts that I had missing from the kit (AFV), and also due to me filing the the unwanted sprue parts away from the square hole in the bottom of the hull ready to have the "plug" plate glued into it, so it will need a good clean before any painting starts.

I have already fitted a set of the rcbearings "rubber shielded ball bearings" to the black plastic kit axles (three bearings per axle), but when I remove the wheels I will take them apart and remove the rubber tyres so they can be sprayed in the chosen dessert yellow colour, and after they are painted I will rebuild them with a matching set of rubber shielded wheel bearings to replace the kit supplied wheel bushes. This will give a fully ball raced drive chain.

The gearbox also needs to be removed and taken apart as I had a small spacer missing from the kit. I have managed to buy a new pack of spacers, so I will fit the missing spacer and then refit the gearbox so that I can begin to make some long overdue progress with this slow build.

The missing black plastic axle has also been replaced as I bought a complete pack of spare axles along with the spacers pack from AFV. These black plastic kit axles may come in handy if any of them fail in the future, but at the moment they are looking OK on the Leopard 2A6 that I have already been running with AFV metal suspension arms and hopefully it will not be necessary to replace them with the excellent (but expensive) brass axles (also from from AFV).

Building this unboxed kit has been good for me as my other two Tamiya Leopard 2A6 tanks were not built by me. One was swapped several years ago for a Wedico r/c model truck and the other (the next one that I will fit a radio into and start driving) was bought from a very good friend only a few months before he passed away . This tank was built and tested by him (with his preferred Futaba F14 radio) but was never actually "run" or "used". I will fit my own radio into this tank and get it going as soon as the metal suspension arms from King Kong arrive. At that time I will also strip the suspension to fit a set of bearings to the axles before the kit supplied bushes have a chance to cause any wear to them or the chassis where the bushes/bearings are retained. Any "pick-up" causes the axles to lock onto the three axle bushes and this causes the "inner-most" bush to turn and grind away at its mounting position inside the hull. Fitting a set of bearings to the axles will prevent this.

Any build delays caused by the two small missing parts has not been a problem for me as the first 2A6 that I have been running has showed me what needs to be done to this Tamiya model to make it run properly and reliably, so I was never in any rush, and had plenty of time to learn about the tank and its weak points. I have been able to take the time to make any changes that are needed as I put this new build together ....and I also had time to make the decision to paint this new build in a dessert colour scheme!

[zooma]

The following pictures show the build progress to date complete with the ball bearings (visible only on the innermost end of each axle), the Tamiya metal axles and tension adjusters.......and the dust!

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[Herr Dr. Professor]

"rcbearings 'rubber shielded ball bearings' " Is there a source for these? Are they available in various sizes? I would think those who run tanks through muddles and puddles might be interested in shielded bearings.

[zooma]

"rcbearings 'rubber shielded ball bearings' " Is there a source for these? Are they available in various sizes? I would think those who run tanks through muddles and puddles might be interested in shielded bearings.

RCbearings.co.uk

I spoke with Colin Long online via Shop@RCbearings when I needed a set of bearings for an RC crawler model that was not currently in his range of bearing sets.

Colin asked me to measure the bushes that the kit came with and to count the number of each size that were needed.

Within 48 hours I had a full set of ball bearings to fit the car with a request to report back to advise if they fitted correctly. They did fit and they were excellent quality and at a very reasonable price. These bearings were subsequently added to his range so that they became easily available to anyone else that wanted a set for this particular crawler model in the future.

I contacted him again when I wanted a set of bearing for my Tamiya Leopard 2A6. He already had these in his range (I should have checked first!) and provide a choice of standard shielded or rubber shielded bearings. The price difference between the two types was marginal so I chose the rubber shielded types as I thought they would suit my intend used of my tank the best.

RCbearings.co.uk are an excellent company to work with and will custom make complete sets for anything that is not already in their range - or supply any size bearing to fit any r/c model.

There is also a land line +44203 0923407. If you call in office hours you will probably speak directly to Colin. Please tell him I recommended you as I really appreciate his willingness to help as his level of service is rare to find anywhere these days.

Bob. (zooma).

[zooma]

https://www.rcbearings.co.uk/index.php? ... ct_id=2622

The above link is for the bearings to fit the Tamiya Leopard 2A6.

The options are for a Full Set of bearings, or to replace all of the Bushes Only -

This second variant covers all of the axle bearing and the wheel bearings that are supplied in the kit as bushes, but does not include the bearings that are supplied in the kit for the gearbox.

The first Full Complete Set ALSO includes new gearbox bearings and is why it is a little more expensive.

Either sets of bearings can be bought with metal shielded bearings or rubber shielded bearings.

Bob.

[Herr Dr. Professor]

Thank you for the link. I have added bearings from here in the U.S. just buying off Amazon. But I did not know about rubber shielded ones. That link might be useful someday.

[zooma]

I ordered another set of ball bearings from rcbearings late yesterday afternoon and they arrived this morning!

This set of rubber shielded bearings is for the next Tamiya Leopard 2A6 that I will be running as soon as the metal arms from King Kong arrive.

.........if only King Kong could deliver a little faster.................

[zooma]

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Faster than a speeding bullet - well maybe not - but less than 24 hours from ordering to receiving the delivery from rcbearings can't be bad !

[zooma]

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I fitted a radio into the second Tamiya Leopard 2A6 that I will be getting ready to run next and gave it a test run this morning.

The tank run as smooth as silk - very impressive - until I started to turn it when that familiar "clacking" sound started to come from the tracks suggesting that all was not as well as it was when it was running straight!

Although this tank has never actually been run since it was built is it now probably also 15-20 years old (like the one I am running now) so I decided to remove the top deck, and disconnect those impossibly short motor leads so I could lift it clear of the chassis.

A full set of rubber shielded axle bearings was fitted, and to do this I had to remove the gearbox and drive sprockets etc. This went easily enough and the gearbox was re-fitted and a set off King Kong metal suspension axles were added.

The King Kong suspension arms were well finished and fitted nicely, but the AFV front tension adjusters that I wanted to finish the job off with were an unexpected nightmare!

These AFV track adjusters are made of brass and look superb but presumably they were intended to fit the Tamiya axles that the idles wheels fit onto?

Maybe the brass moulds have worn badly - or maybe I just had a very bad set - but the axles simply would not fit into the brass body where they was supposed to fit.

If the axle hole was just a straight bore it would be easy to ream it out until the axle would slide nicely inside it, but this casting has an external "key" so it has to be opened out with very small Swiss files. This was not an easy job as the end of the socket also has a wall to stop the axle bearing pulling through so the shaping gets very awkward.

I used a marker pen on the axle every time a test fit was made to identify the "highlights" so I knew where to remove material both from the inside of the casting and from the outside of the axle until (eventually) a tight fit was achieved and the axle fitted with the bearings and wheel attached.

Each axle took about 2 hours of painstaking work to "file and check" until I had an acceptable fit. Compare this to the excellent (and far better made) Tamiya track adjusters that simply bolted into place and fitted perfectly.

Fitting time for the AFV brass castings - 4 hours plus.

Fitting time for the Tamiya cast alloy castings - about 4-5 minutes!

No comparison - the current quality and fit of the AFV brass track tensioners leaves a lot to be desired. This may be due to being unlucky and buying a very bad set of castings, or perhaps more likely is that the moulds have worn and the castings are now very rough and badly finished...but they look nice from the outside (now that they are fitted) and belie just how bad they are!

The splined shafts that fit into the splined sockets are also badly finished and needed careful work with a suitably shaped fine Swiss file to clean the poor castings until they can be coaxed into fitting each other with a nice a tight fit. More workshop was time needed to get these AFV castings to fit properly!

I do want to buy another set of metal track adjusters to fit my first Tamiya Leopard 2A6 that I am currently running (it is still running on the standard plastic kit parts), but as far as I know the Tamiya types are no longer available and these AFV ones appear to be a lot worse than they used to be, so I need to find another option.......anyone have any ideas...........?

[zooma]

After fitting the King Kong alloy suspension arms and the AFV track tensioners, the tracks were removed and weathered before being refitted.

Driving the up-graded Leo for the first time was a good experience as everything worked well and the tank drove nicely:)

I think my friend would have been pleased to see the Leo that he built running well for the first time - and hopefully it will have a very busy future!