Tamiya JGSDF Type 10

[a65l]

Well, happy birthday to me. Scored on ebay for a decent price. I'm really suprised how complete a kit it is... down even to a 6 cell nicad for the tank itself. But this one is the showcase, all the features they ever offered and then some. I'm tempted to use the supplied radio as well, the mechanical trims are faster when it comes to activating features. I ordered some ball bearings for the wheels and suspension, so it's a waiting game to see when they show up. And a race.. is Deutchse post faster than HK mail? Which will show up first, Gepard electronics or Type 10 ball bearings?

Anyway. Some pictures from the unboxing today. Including animal photobombs.



















I suppose I should be disappointed that there are no rubber tires for the wheels, that seems to be a Tamiya standard. But they must have their reasons.



2 speakers.. wow.



"Heightens excitement". Looking foward to that.



Thats the main board... not much to it.



And the chassis board. I expected heat sinks.





I never heard of Johnson motors.. I expected Maribuchi, but I suppose they're long gone now.



the track box was unexpectedly heavy for plastic tracks, that's b/c it contains the 2 speakers as well.

All in all, I'm looking foward to starting this one, but it may be a few days.

[Herr Dr. Professor]

I cannot offer any advice on the Tamiya JGSDF 10, as I have never had a Tamiya RC tank (only one old 1/16 Königstiger waiting to be built someday). I do recall being impressed when Tamiya released the JGSDF 10 because it showed a target tracking capability whereby the barrel would stay fixed on a given point as the tank was driven around. Does yours have that feature? I sure will enjoy seeing your build as it progresses. Enjoy!

[a65l]

Yes it does. Well, it stays pointed where you pointed it, and apparently has stabilization as well. Tamiya really went all out on this one.

[tomhugill]

I love mine! Tamiya have got some cool feature on the type 10 and abrams dmds. I really like the sound of the aux generator after you turn the engine off and flick it back on the first time

[a65l]

The last aftermarket bits showed up.



So what the hell. Let's put some other projects on hold and jump right in.



First, of course, is we build that gearbox. And what a gearbox.



Only took me 3 tries to get all the gears in the right direction and the spacers in the right place, even paying close attention to the instructions. Oh well. I did wind up with one spare gear, apparently. I spun both sides while it was apart, and everything seems to move like it's supposed to. No idea why they made it so complicated, but apparently it works, and works well. Motors are on the correct sides, by pinion, and all seems well with the world. Tomorrow the pan gets primed and we'll start screwing springy bits together.

One thing that does concern me, I don't see any easy way to paint the road wheels/idler wheel. Of course no rubber surrounds, and the tire is molded into the wheel. So looks like some brush work is in my future. Oh well.

[Herr Dr. Professor]

You think it's fun to paint 1/16 road wheel tires! Have you tried it in 1/48?
Tamiya's "Rubber Black" (XF-85) is to my eyes just flat black. I have long preferred Testor's 1183. For a while it appeared that Testor's enamels were discontinued, but I have just heard scuttlebutt that they may be offered again. (I wonder if it's true.) Testor's was bought out some time ago by RustOleum of Rockford, Illinois. I thought about driving down there (25 miles or so) and yelling at them, like some madman.

[Shagnifico]

The type 10 is the coolest most interesting tank on the planet. However, I could go on a long rant about tamiya’s rendition of the the type 10, but I don’t want to rain on your parade.

Pay close attention to the directions when building the suspension. There are some important details that are easy to miss. Save the staples from your baggies, you will need them. Also you might want to do an inventory of all the parts before you get started. Mine was missing several parts which prolonged the build a month or so.

[a65l]

Splashed some etch primer on metal parts, and started in on the suspension.

Easier by a long shot than fishing torsion bars thru and doing the little push/twist thing... and no chance of getting them in wrong!

I only had to re-do one pair of hardware to get them the right way around... hex head foward, and pan heads in the rest. The hex head serves as the stop for the arm.

The ball bearings for the suspension were a perfect fit. Looks like the wheel bearings, not so much. I'm trying to figure out what the seller is talking about having to bore the wheels, but worse case is I'll just use the oillite bearings for now and figure it out.

Anyway, some pictures...



Left and right springs.. lucky the're easy to ID...



I note that while you install the bearings before putting the housings to the hull, the bearings can still fall out.



Back side.. painting stick makes things go a lot smoother, no doubt!



And there they are....

I did skip the order of the instructions a little bit, as it looks fairly easy to install the wheels after the suspension arms are on. I might regret that, but we'll see.

[a65l]

On its feet! The suspension feels surprisingly stiff, given what I'd expected. I wound up installing the oilite bearings in the wheels. Track tension system is very basic, but hopefully no chance of it slipping! But the tracks are nylon, and fairly light, so...



Yeah I know, still gotta put the hubcaps on. Not sure I'm sticking with the oilites, so waiting untill I make a decision...



Lots of stuff going on in that speaker box. The wire from the rear speaker looks like it'll be too short, but trust me, it's not.



And then start on the upper hull. Multiple little fiddley bits to glue on, Fortunately they're typical Tamiya quality, and fit perfectly.






Guess that one's a little blurry... sorry.

And rear of hull. Next, lots of LED's. And painting, apparently, clear plastic. Gotta wait for the transparent paint to show up. How hard would it have been to use colored LED"s?

[a65l]

Wheel bearing fun. I ordered a set of road wheel bearings. Without rework of the wheels, the're not going to work.



This is the inboard side of a road wheel. YOu're supposed to extend the counterbore enough for that bearing to sit flush with the wheel boss. Problem with that is that the bearing is already a very sloppy fit in the bore.. like, move it around easily sloppy fit. So that's not going to work.



Situation is worse on the outboard side... no bore for it to slide into! The hubcap does hold it -kind- of in place, but then the hubcap sits proud of where you're supposed to glue it.

I suppose I could: drill both bores to fit the OD of the bearings, then make a small spacer to keep them apart in the wheel. I'd have to find a washer on the outboard side to keep the wheel on the axle, or find a flanged bearing of that size. If I'm doing that, might as well find a flanged bushing to fit the smaller bore in the wheel and use that.

Looks like it's bushings for this one.