This will keep my options open as I work out the best way to add a track tension adjuster to my early Challenger 2 that only has a solid non-working (imitation) track adjuster moulded onto the outside of the hull.
Bob.
Last edited by zooma on Sat Mar 15, 2025 9:29 pm, edited 2 times in total.
I have had some good news from Guido regarding a possible HennTEC track tensioner.
As previously reported, HennTEC do not make a specific track tensioner to fit the Challenger 2, but (like myself) Guido is also aware of (at least) one being fitted previously, but we don't know which one was used or how much it had to be modified to fit .....and neither of us has kept a picture of it fitted.
If anyone has a picture of a HennTEC track adjuster fitted in a Challenger 2, please share it here (or send it to myself or Guido by PM) to help us identify the type and see how it was fitted.
I have provided some pictures of my Challenger 2 (as requested) along with the internal measurement across the inside of the hull at the front where a HennTEC track adjuster would be positioned if one could be adapted for the job.
As previously reported, HennTEC do not make a specific track tensioner to fit the Challenger 2, but (like myself) Guido is also aware of (at least) one being fitted previously, but we don't know which one was used or how much it had to be modified to fit .....and neither of us has kept a picture of it fitted.
Somewhere from the back of my mind, I seem to remember a Leopard 2 tensioner being adapted to fit.
I may even have a HennTEC track tension adjuster on a Tamiya Leopard 2A6 - I have not looked at it for some time (forget I had fitted it) , so I will dig it out and see how the size and fit compares with the space available in the Challenger.
As a matter of interest, I gave my much newer Challenger 2 a run in the local club hall last night and it run very well on its metal tracks WITHOUT them touching or rubbing against the underside of the lower hull side guards.
They do run VERY close, but they don't actually TOUCH.
Most Challenger 2 models have adjustable track tensioners, and the very few early types that have survived that were made without them (like the subject of this build log!) run their tracks a little closer to the underside of the lower hull track guards because the front return wheel axles are mounted slightly more vertical than those that have the adjustable tracks tensioners.
Current Challenger 2 models have better clearance over the tracks because their adjustable track tensioners move the front return wheel axles away from the underside of the lower hull as they arc forwards when the tension is tightened, but they also sit slightly lower in any case - just enough not to cause the tracks to "rub" when the slightly higher profile metals tracks are fitted.
I posted my spare TK24 CH board back to Clark Model for an upgrade to S.buss on 6th February 2024 but I have not heard anything about it from Clark even though I have emailed him several times to check that it has been received safely, and to enquire about the cost and his preferred method of payment.
Has anyone else sent a TK board back to Clark Model for repair or upgrade and found it difficult to get confirmation of receipt?
Maybe the post to Taiwan is slow?
Last edited by zooma on Fri Mar 14, 2025 11:52 am, edited 4 times in total.
Hello, pero, some time ago? sent an email to Clark for information essentially the same? Response: Please contact resellers ?? wish you the best results
I have just received an email from Clark this morning to confirm that he has received the TK24 CH board that I sent to him, and that he can convert it to S.buss for me - but he has also advised that it is a "first generation" board that has pretty old software and has offered a good price to swap it for a TK50S instead.
This sounds like a better idea, but I am just checking to see if the TK50S board will support gun barrel flash (I don't have the BB firing function) and if it could also support a barrel smoke function as well as this is a feature that I would like to add later.....if I can.
I just found the picture shown below, and it looks like the TK50S will do everything that I want it to do - including "canon smoke" so I have asked Clark to let me have his payment details so I can get one with the Challenger 2 sound on its way to me.
Good result!
Attachments
TK50S upgrade.
F25F6157-1079-4D68-99A7-6FD6AAD1E257.jpeg (240.27 KiB) Viewed 1143 times
Last edited by zooma on Sat Mar 15, 2025 9:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.
........meanwhile, my Used Challenger 2 continues to run-on its TK24 CH.
I am not sure if this TK24 CH is any newer (or older) than the one that I sent back for an S.buss upgrade, but it is working and I especially like the sound that it produces.
The more I drive this Used Challenger 2 with its old TK24 CH board, the more I like it. I am able to find all of the functions (quite often !), and I am enjoying the challenge of driving it before "taking it off the road" to make a working track adjuster for it.
When the new TK50S arrives I will be reluctant to give up on this old board as it was such a challenge learning to understand it, and to find out how to activate all the functions on my Fly Sky FS-i6 when using it with all the driving functions on the right hand stick and all the other functions (turret turn, gun elevation, sound, drive, main gun fire, MG fire and lights) on the left hand stick (phew).
It would have probably been easier to understand if I had set it up to use the "Futaba" style of driving (throttle left stick, steering right stick) as all the information I have found about the TK24 boards seem to suggest that this was the driving method that it was most suited for.
Against that - it would be a lot easier to operate with a TK50 board fitted.....
Hello, pero, some time ago? sent an email to Clark for information essentially the same? Response: Please contact resellers ?? wish you the best results 
