Project: V6.0 Airsoft and IR Firefly Turret

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Jimster
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Re: Project: V6.0 Airsoft and IR Firefly Turret

Post by Jimster »

My wife and I each bought a T shirt from pub in Manhattan that had that on the back. We had to ask what it meant and then it was a sure sell after that.
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Jimster
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Re: Project: V6.0 Airsoft and IR Firefly Turret

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43rdRecceReg
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Re: Project: V6.0 Airsoft and IR Firefly Turret

Post by 43rdRecceReg »

:haha: ....and it would be printed on the back, of course, Jim :D .
I've been to New York (1993, when the twin Towers were still there :( )- but didn't frequent any Irish pubs. However, I did visit quite a few in Dublin once.....although...I have to admit... I can't recall the exact number :crazy: ;) :wave:
"Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please"- Mark Twain.
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HERMAN BIX
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Re: Project: V6.0 Airsoft and IR Firefly Turret

Post by HERMAN BIX »

I’ve been following this project in awe of the Sherman variations being a virtual Rubiks Cube !
Though I’m not a ‘Shermaholic’ the Firefly was my very first model, back in the day a Matchbox one with the mini diorama base, for a ransom of NZ$1.65 at the time !
I had to save lunch money for school to get it
Ahh the good old days

With your Opus Requiem, more specifically the funky recount unit and V6 control board, how does the recoil unit know when to make the cannon sound ?
Is there a micro switch or is the sound activated buy the triggering of the fire command on the arc?
HL JAGDPANTHER,HL TIGER 1,HL PzIII MUNITIONSCHLEPPER, HL KT OCTOPUS,HL PANTHER ZU-FUSS,HL STuG III,HL T34/85 BEDSPRING,
HL PZIV MALTA,MATORRO JAGDTIGER,HL F05 TIGER,TAMIYA KT,HL PANTHERDOZER,HL EARLY PANTHER G,TAIGEN/RAMINATOR T34/76,
HL AN-BRI-RAM SU-85
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43rdRecceReg
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Re: Project: V6.0 Airsoft and IR Firefly Turret

Post by 43rdRecceReg »

HERMAN BIX wrote:I’ve been following this project in awe of the Sherman variations being a virtual Rubiks Cube !
Though I’m not a ‘Shermaholic’ the Firefly was my very first model, back in the day a Matchbox one with the mini diorama base, for a ransom of NZ$1.65 at the time !
I had to save lunch money for school to get it
Ahh the good old days

With your Opus Requiem, more specifically the funky recount unit and V6 control board, how does the recoil unit know when to make the cannon sound ?
Is there a micro switch or is the sound activated buy the triggering of the fire command on the arc?
Rubik's Cube evolutionary variations- would be just about right, HB. :thumbup: :crazy: The four main manufacturers of the small hatch M4 (75) are listed here:
http://the.shadock.free.fr/sherman_minutia/index.html. All of them seem to have put their own individual stamp (and I don't mean the cast type) on the M4, with tweaks, mods, and variations (enigma variations :haha: ), that serve to distinguish them, for the Sherma-nerd community. I guess the most likely supplier of the welded M4s for Brit Firefly conversions might have been ALCO (and you could easily become one if you get too immersed in all this stuff :/ ).
Luckily for me, I had the Tamiya 1/48 M4 1c Firefly to serve as a maquette- and it will take the blame, if I've made any real howlers. For the rest, I just plotted a middle course through the variation minefield, hoping for the best.
This has, of course, a V6.0 Airsoft cannon installed, so there's no issue about recoil. It doesn't have one. :D

As with all later Airsoft guns- there is a microswitch on the gun itself, that initiates the cannon sound. If you look at the latest Diags for the HL 6.0s/6.1.5 series, you'll see the switch illustrated there. (CN6-Trigger)
It does have the IR emitter, though, and can have the receiver plugged into the terminal beneath the loader's hatch. (This is also where the BB loading chute is). I won't be using it; not unless I can train the dogs to 'man' another tank for IR battling.
I'll put a few pics of the final wiring arrangement up shortly.
"Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please"- Mark Twain.
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43rdRecceReg
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Re: Project: V6.0 Airsoft and IR Firefly Turret

Post by 43rdRecceReg »

Some pics of the wiring. I found 6mm spiral cable-tidy/sheathing to be very useful. :thumbup:
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Colours may differ slightly from model to model but, in this instance, they were:
CN1: Power switch on/off- Red/Red
CN3: Turret turn- Black/red
CN4: Elevation- Blue/Red
CN6: Black/Red Airsoft microswitch
CN10: Airsoft motor- Yellow/Red
CN11: Smoker heat- Blue/Blue
CN15: IR Emitter- White/Red
CN16: IR receiver- White/Black/Red.

I kept the existing speaker, as it makes a decent sound for its size. I could have shoehorned the latest HL speaker in (The type fitted to the Panther), but this arrangement works well for me. :) The new smokers- designed for the 's' variants in the TK 6.0 series- work very well- for now. I really like the fact that the hideous chugging, clonk- clonk sound, is at last- potentially- an unwanted feature of the past. :/ :D
"Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please"- Mark Twain.
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43rdRecceReg
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Re: Project: V6.0 Airsoft and IR Firefly Turret

Post by 43rdRecceReg »

...and a bit more fine-tuning on the drive train.
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"Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please"- Mark Twain.
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PainlessWolf
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Re: Project: V6.0 Airsoft and IR Firefly Turret

Post by PainlessWolf »

Good Morning, Roy!
Sherman in the Sun. Covers it ( and all of the hard work ( fun ) neatly. ;o)
regards,
Painless
...Here for the Dawn...
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43rdRecceReg
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Re: Project: V6.0 Airsoft and IR Firefly Turret

Post by 43rdRecceReg »

I think it's good practice to test the drive train with the tank off the ground, at least to begin with. I use a bit of 4x2 as a stand- as per the pic above.

When I first paired the tank to the transmitter, everything worked in line with HL's traditional default settings:
all turret functions on the left stick, or STICK 1 in HL speak. Firing the gun, however, entails pressing button 'A' (left) and button 'B' (press and hold). Firing th MG simply invloves button 'A' (left)

All the drive and throttle functions were on the right stick- STICK 2

However, the forward/backward functions on Stick 2 (R), were reversed, though left and right were correct. The wiring couldn't explain the anomaly: red went to red, and black to black as normal. Somehow, the polarity of the motors was wrong, or the TX firmware had the signals reversed. :problem:
I could have swapped the MFU to Motor links over to change polarity (red to black etc), and it shouldn't be a problem. That said, there is a diode (one-way traffic) on each of the motors. It could be an issue. I could live with the forward/backward problem, but not the chance of damaging the MFU or the motors.

If you look at the latest diagrams for the TK 6.0 series, you'll see motors designated as 'M2' (assumed to be left) and 'M1; (assumed to be right). Well, I tried switching them over, and what happened was the whole forward/backward- left/right function moved clockwise by 90deg!. 8O
This now means 'Forward' is at 9 o'clock; backward at 3 o'clock- and right turn at 12 o'clock, with left turn at six. (Forward: 2100hrs/1500hrs Right- 1200hrs/Left-0600hrs for those who don't know analogue clocks!).
I preferred this orientation to the previous one. I'll stick with it (no pun intended). As everyone will have noticed, the 'trim' controls on HL latest transmitters are 'fake'- that's to say they're for the sake of appearance; as they're fixed and immovable. (Like the opinions of my late Mother-in-Law :haha: )'Tuning' is done with a combination of Button 'G' with Stick 2 for forward tuning (L /R), and button G with Stick 1 for rearward movements. I suspect that a glitch in the fine-tuning firmware caused the initial problem of having forward/backward 180 degs out.

A Cautionary note:
I discovered, the hard way, that function changes are not exactly the same for V 6.0/6.1 and V6.0s/6.1s iterations.
Example:
On 6.0/6.1 systems- Button 'G+ Stick 1 forward switches off the headlights.
Button 'G' +Stick 1 backwards switches off the rear lights
However, on 6.0s/6.1s systems Button 'G' + Stick 1 backwards will change the stick mode[/b]
By oversight, I was using a mix of diags from v6.0 and v6.0s systems- and they're NOT the same. Thus, for a moment, I ended up not only with the drive/throttle function on stick 1, but now with turret turn functions on the right/No 2 stick, with left/right turn on the Stick 1. :crazy: Jumbled, anyway- and a different stick mode.
Okay, well, I undid all of that- but do be aware of the differences. Compare the two diagrams posted here.
Meantime, for me, basic functions now are:
Button 'G' plus Stick 1 (L) forward- switch off all lights.
Button 'S' smoke- on and off
Buttons A+ B+ fire airsoft cannon (works well, incidentally)
Buttons G+K: select on of four sound packages. I use them all, from time to time- for fun.
Button V- volume control.
If future, I'll make more of an effort to decipher some of the Chinglish in the instructions. In the main, I only look at the pics. I didn't know, for instance, that the cannon will only fire BBs properly on a even surface, with the barrel level- not elevated. So, don't try firing on a slope, or you might jam the gun. ;)
TKV6.0/6/1 button/stick modifications:
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Tk6.0s/6.1s changes:
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Hope this makes sense. Just be careful how you go about customising, and tuning, your series 6 tanks using stick and button combinations.
Last edited by 43rdRecceReg on Tue Apr 27, 2021 10:45 pm, edited 2 times in total.
"Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please"- Mark Twain.
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Herr Dr. Professor
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Re: Project: V6.0 Airsoft and IR Firefly Turret

Post by Herr Dr. Professor »

Roy, thank you for posting the information on the HengLong TK6.0/6.1 and TK6.0s. Amid all the Taigen tanks running about my place, I have very few HengLong tanks. But my recent HengLong Sherman 105 bender brought me up to the more recent HengLong electronics. So this is a help.
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