Hull Bracing on my Taigen Tiger

[jeman]

Hi all, just a few pics of what I did to brace the Hull on my Taigen Tiger. It makes the hull solid with no flexing at all ! The bars top,and bottom are held in place with pop rivets so the plastic hull is sandwiched in-between. You can push and pull the hull, but it won't give.....my Taigen weighs 15.4 LB at the mo. Also it reinforces the crack that sometime occurs and the front brace has a section between the gearboxes to support them a bit.....Hope this helps folks

[edpanzer]

Looks really strong nice work

[jackalope]

Is this the metal lower hull?

[jarndice]

I like the bracing but if you are using an IBU2 plus a Tarr smoker and decent speakers and of course with the IBU2 you will need space for a receiver and with all that wiring and complexity plus a decent battery such as a 5500 LI-PO what you won't have is free space in the hull.
All of this means you need easier access, so rather than rivets I would tap a thread into the brace and use bolts or countersunk screw headed bolts.
but a cracking bit of work and it means running off carpet and onto the back garden might actually make worrying about the Tank falling apart a thing of the past. shaun

[jeman]

Cheers guys......it is the metal lower hull with torsion bars and metal plates inside with all metal wheels and tracks. Also has the metal turret upper deck with metal reinforcement on the inside that I added for a tad more weight..... turns on grass fine....I did have a couple of problems but they have now been sorted thanks to the help of guys on here !
The bracing really makes the lower hull strong

[jeman]

Hi Shaun......sorry the last post I did, I missed your one lol. Very true about the space....I was keeping this one standard on the electrics.....as I'm not confident on that side of things just yet, but when I do another one the bracing will be restricted to the very front end with the gearbox housing. Space is at a real premium with these little brutes lol
Cheers buddy

[jarndice]

Jeman Hi, I would keep the brace exactly as you have made it, the only change is as I suggested, tap a thread and use bolts, so that the frame can be easily removed when you need access rather than have a semi permanent structure using rivets. In every other respect it is fine. shaun

[jarndice]

Jeman you mentioned bracing the gearboxes,
Well the way I do it is to use a bit of Plastic channel (the Panzer 4 radio aerial storage channel is what I use)
Cut the channel into two 2cm lengths ,
The aerial storage channel slot is 1mm wide, so, glue the two pieces of channel to opposite sides of the hull immediately behind the gearboxes.
Cut a piece of 1mm thick plasti-card to size and slide it into the slots formed by the installed channel,do not forget to make a hole for the gearbox cables to pass through.
DO NOT glue the bulkhead as you will need to move it sometimes.
Job done, and it has the added advantage of keeping any lubricant from the gearboxes being thrown over the electrics.
This is a modification that works with any Tank with front mounted gearboxes. shaun

[jeman]

Soooo true Kaiser ! You would think it would be an all metal hull, but sadly not. I have seen the all metal hull on Fleebay though.......but at a price ! I would like to get one....but no time soon lol
Jaundice......that sounds like a great way to brace the gearboxes ! I will defo look into doing that when I do another one......that's what I luv about this forum......so much great info, help and advice from people who are passionate about there hobbies......tanks guys.....(I know it's a poor joke) lol