Imaginary tank

This section is for builds that are not strictly Tamiya or Heng Long. For instance, replacing the electronics from a WSN or Matorro, or even a scratch-build.
bikerdude
Lance Corporal
Posts: 202
Joined: Mon Mar 12, 2012 9:47 am
Location: Corby, UK

Re: Imaginary tank

Post by bikerdude »

Will01Capri wrote:Awesome work, really cool idea and have some fun with it.
Looks like i have competition out there doing what i do then with just having fun making stuff weird and wacky.
But your tank looks nice and robust and the kids will love it.
Make sure they don't sit on it and try to get a RC ride along haha

The track tension is going to be a bit tricky i reckon once it gets loaded off road and especially with sandy beaches.
The issue you might find is that if you have to run tight tracks to keep them working and on the drive, the plastic nylon drive sprocket may decide to split on the spline. But i do belief instead of having to buy a complete metal gearbox, you can just buy a metal drive shaft and gear which can be retro-fitted into the gearbox and prevent this from happening.

If you are going for suspension try and keep it simple with some cool old looking leaf spring style suspension. Either buy a load of WPL leaf springs, or if you have something with an old retractable mains powered ting like a hoover, the big spring steel spring for retracting the cable would be perfect for making DIY leaf springs. Then drill a hole in one end to hard fix and let the other side float. Or if getting more adventurous bend one end round a steel bolt, solder the connection and bolt it into some alloy u-channel.

Love you build by the way. Superb
I've already got plans to load it up with lead to see how much weight it can take, just in case the youngest decides to sit on it! Also if I can get it to run ok, I was hoping to be able to use it to tow the beach trolley on holiday, but that is probably far too ambitious.

Thats a good idea for leaf spring suspension, could be fairly simple, at a quick look on ebay though and can't seem to see a supply of them. My initial thoughts were for a meccano style suspension, simple upright with a spring on it, wheel bolts on to 1 end and the other passes through a bracket that the spring sits against.

The clutch in the plastic gear keeps slipping with the weight of the tank, and with planning on upping the voltage that will probably get worse, so for the cost of a set of metal gearboxes I might as well get them.

I've added more wheels to 1 side of the tank, but having issues with photobucket now so need to find another host before I can share anymore photos.
bikerdude
Lance Corporal
Posts: 202
Joined: Mon Mar 12, 2012 9:47 am
Location: Corby, UK

Re: Imaginary tank

Post by bikerdude »

Well it now seems there's little chance of getting this ready in time for holiday, it's been one thing after another the last few weeks giving me very little time to work on this. However, I spent a little time in the garage today (though my wife is now a little stroppy with me...). I've fitted the extra wheels along each side:

Image

Replacement gearboxes arrived from Forgebear, both seem to be working properly this time. But now for the issues...

First of all, I've not had time to make a tensioner yet, so I removed a link from the tracks to make them tighter, definitely ran better like this. But it did snap a link twice in about 15 minutes, although in fairness it was being given a rough test, Trying to drive up the garden steps, it managed 1, then on the next the link snapped.
I still can't seem to get the Mtroniks mixer to do what it's supposed to do. It'll go forwards and backwards, but won't turn on the spot, and seems hit and miss whether it'll turn or not, so for todays test i reverted back to twin stick controls again.
And possibly the most annoying 'problem', which turned out to be my stupidity, was a 'faulty' ESC. I replaced it with every other easily accessible ESC I had, which must be about 10, and they all showed the same symptom, turn it on, calibrate it, then it'd give a little forward or reverse, then stop and not work again. So swapped it over to the other gearbox, and it was the same, so that ruled out anything binding and stopping it. I then disconnected everything to try a different TX/RX combination, and when i connected everythign up again, it had the same problem, but on the other gearbox. Then it struck me, I wonder if the battery is flat :{ Put another battery on, and sure enough, it all worked fine. So the 10 ESC's probably are in fact ok, and will be retrieved from the bin.

I've done another short video (link below), but once again, it's not great, trying to steer using twin sticks with 1 hand while holding the phone to do a video was tricky, there's a lot of crashing, and a lot of the out of control and slipping would be eliminated with proper use of the control. In the video this is running on 2x 7.2v NIMH stick packs, though I intend to run it with 2x 12v SLA's.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-k2BdDpur0

Only really got 5 days to get the rest of it built, tear it all down again, paint it, rebuild, and sort the control issues, as the week after my shift will leave me very little free time, and what free time there is will be needed to get things sorted for holiday.
User avatar
HERMAN BIX
Brigadier
Posts: 10234
Joined: Sun Jan 12, 2014 12:15 am
Location: Gold Coast,Australia

Re: Imaginary tank

Post by HERMAN BIX »

I would say you need to be well prepared for the holiday if your lot can lift the World Cup mate :O

And the hangover. :sick:

As for a track tensioner , you could drill a hole in the upper corner that is your idler, secure the idler to the plug into a hole offset from centre, mount the idler on a wooden plug that protrudes into the hull, secure a washer to the back of it to retain the plug, and use a bit of flat bar to secure it in place like a cam.
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
bikerdude
Lance Corporal
Posts: 202
Joined: Mon Mar 12, 2012 9:47 am
Location: Corby, UK

Re: Imaginary tank

Post by bikerdude »

HERMAN BIX wrote:I would say you need to be well prepared for the holiday if your lot can lift the World Cup mate :O

And the hangover. :sick:

As for a track tensioner , you could drill a hole in the upper corner that is your idler, secure the idler to the plug into a hole offset from centre, mount the idler on a wooden plug that protrudes into the hull, secure a washer to the back of it to retain the plug, and use a bit of flat bar to secure it in place like a cam.
Hoping we go out tonight TBH, would much rather lose to Croatia than France...

Thanks, I sort of think I know what you mean, certainly something to look at when we get back. I was trying to think of a way of making a sprung tensioner (like the idler on my belt driven bike, or an auto-tensioner on a car aux belt) so that it could give if needed.
Son of a gun-ner wrote:Image

Don't think they'd need a whole cabinet to hold Englands trophy...



A little done to the body today (in between spraying over a repair on a model yacht). The top and rear will be completely removable, just being a tight fit to hold them in place. Theres a couple of small gaps that will need covering in later. 2 Bits left to make tomorrow, then the body of the main hull will be mostly done. Then just the side plates and sponsons to do, as well as the tension adjuster. Still need to sort out the mixer issue too. Here's a few photos of todays progress:

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image
bikerdude
Lance Corporal
Posts: 202
Joined: Mon Mar 12, 2012 9:47 am
Location: Corby, UK

Re: Imaginary tank

Post by bikerdude »

And the final piece, had a little help from my 3 y/o today,

Image

Image
bikerdude
Lance Corporal
Posts: 202
Joined: Mon Mar 12, 2012 9:47 am
Location: Corby, UK

Re: Imaginary tank

Post by bikerdude »

Still trying to get this usable by the weekend so today I took everything off and gave it a quick coat of filler primer, hoping after a few coats it’ll cover over the grain in the wood. Once dried I actually quite like the colour for the base of a desert camo.

Image

Image
bikerdude
Lance Corporal
Posts: 202
Joined: Mon Mar 12, 2012 9:47 am
Location: Corby, UK

Re: Imaginary tank

Post by bikerdude »

This is probably the last update for a couple of weeks, doubt I'll have good enough internet in the caravan to post from Cornwall.

Visually not a lot different now, just given it a quick coat of grey primer, it will be done in a nice shade of dark green at a later date.

Then tonight I spent several hours refitting all the wheels, with extra washers to stop the nuts squashing into the wood, and I also fitted 1 extra link in the tracks. I'll give it a quick test in the garden tomorrow, and then the next test will be on the beach at Holywell Bay on Sunday.

If I get a chance I might quickly paint some markings on the tank to break up the sea of grey. As always, below are some photos as it stands now, grey primer isn't too bad a match for the Tiger I colour.

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image
User avatar
HERMAN BIX
Brigadier
Posts: 10234
Joined: Sun Jan 12, 2014 12:15 am
Location: Gold Coast,Australia

Re: Imaginary tank

Post by HERMAN BIX »

Love it..............sure is hanging for a turret I reckon ;)
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
bikerdude
Lance Corporal
Posts: 202
Joined: Mon Mar 12, 2012 9:47 am
Location: Corby, UK

Re: Imaginary tank

Post by bikerdude »

HERMAN BIX wrote:Love it..............sure is hanging for a turret I reckon ;)
I think you're right, but not sure on what style to go for, and theres a few other things to sort out 1st.
Son of a gun-ner wrote:Great stuff, I do hope it goes well for you :thumbup:
Thanks, it was interesting...

So, we took it to the beach last Thursday, first run the tracks were too long, as I thought they would be, but I was hoping to reduce the tension on tracks to stop the bolts bending any further. I split 1 track and removed a link, using a pair of pliers and a big needle. Splitting the 2nd track to remove a link, I slipped and stuck the needle about 1/2" into my hand, just at the base of my thumb! Without any plasters, or anything to hand I made a makeshift plaster rout of a tissue and some gorilla tape, held fast, stopped the blood and kept the sand out of the cut, thankfully.

Anyway, tracks shortened, the tank moved ok without the sprocket slipping in the tracks, sand didn't clog up between the wheels either, unfortunately the lack of ground clearance and the soft sand meant it kept beaching itself. It worked well on the wet sand, just next to the river, even survived a brief dip when my son got the controls wrong and drove into the water. The tracks snapped a couple of times so quickly replaced while there. Once again, the mixer wouldn't work as described so I only have a few photos of it and no videos of it working.

So a list of things to do over the next 11 months ready for next summer:

1: a track tension adjuster, so it's tighter than with an extra link, but not so tight they snap.

2: the bolts holding all the wheels are bending inwards with the tension on the tracks, especially at the front. I plan on solving this by adding the side plates, hopefully made out of some thing metal sheet, and then using threaded bar through the outer plate, through the wheel, and then through the main hull.

3: the mixer unit for steering, I'll be phoning Mtroniks to ask their advice, and hopefully getting it sorted, if not, find an alternative route.

4: increase the ground clearance, I'll start off by using the belt sander to shape the bottom of the hull, should easily be able to get an extra 6-7mm of clearance this way without making it too flimsy. If it still looks like it's not enough, someone has suggested using some thin aluminium sheet to drop the wheel lower than the hull.

There'll be plenty more to do on top of that list but those are the main issues.

As always, hopefully some photos are below, of it on the beach, the 1 in the water with a track broken.

Image

Image

Image
User avatar
Will01Capri
2nd Lieutenant
Posts: 2704
Joined: Tue Jul 18, 2017 5:34 pm
Location: South Scotland

Re: Imaginary tank

Post by Will01Capri »

thanks for sharing, but to stop bolt bending, you need to hold the axles in double shear maybe with the tension you are using!
Currently maybe the wood is soft that is still allowing it to sink in a little possibly!
Its just because your track length i guess and the movement which is why you need such high tension to try and hold it there. Because the bolts are bending inwards with hubload generated from your track tension, the tracks are riding to the point of high tension. But the wheels and sprocket will fight this and cause it to spit out and maybe cause uneven loading across the track width.

You need to be able to compensate the slight variances of the track running the length of the system and then you will also be able to reduce the track tension.

sorry hard to explain, but can be sorted

family beach holidays are always cool
HL camo E' Tiger
HL L' Tiger
M26 Pershing WW2 project
Tam K'Tiger project
HL Walker Bulldog project?
HL Panzer IV Munitionsschlepper für Karl-Gerät
HL Sherman project?

1/24 Leopard 2 Custom mod

2 many trucks to list!
Post Reply

Return to “Other Builds”