Something I've been doing the past days

[HERMAN BIX]

Love the wine bottle !..................great label, just change the date to suit tank and its sweet as.

[atcttge]

I've finished drilling the lightening holes on one sprocket. Not perfect but who cares. Will continue later for the other.

[atcttge]

I used an HHS drill bit 3mm and two tungsten carbide grinding bits from Dremel. The first hole was done with a dull drill bit. Getting a new one made drilling much easier. Then used the bigger of the two grinding bits to enlarge the hole, with final shaping with the smaller bit. Then cleaned up with a steel brush bit. I bathed the sprockets periodically in 4-in-1 oil and did some grinding while the sprocket was under the oil to make grinding easier and reduce heat build up. Removed the oil and cleaned the sprockets using liquid detergent and lots of brushing with an old toothbrush.

Drilling/grinding on both sprockets are done, and tomorrow I'll be painting it. Installing on Sunday or Monday night.

[atcttge]

One thing I am learning in this build is that: I cannot have my cake and eat it too.

I've finally got the oblong speaker from Ian. Apparently, I misjudged the height of the speaker. So I installed it on its side like so:



So far, so good. The sound quality is so much better than the FS7 speaker.

But apparently, the airsoft unit is so bulky, it is hitting the base of the speaker.

So I am now faced with the removal of the airsoft unit completely. This will indeed fix a couple of issues I have but I really like the airsoft unit because I can physically hit stuff with it. I am thinking of going IR, but not anytime soon.

Looks like I'm removing the airsoft unit to solve the gun elevation issues. Oh well....

At least the Leo still has the airsoft unit.

I am so getting an IR battle unit next year (looking at the Vampire from Ian).

[atcttge]

Well, I posted too soon. After looking at the electronics, I figured all I needed was move the speaker forward. Which I did and now there is room for the airsoft unit and still room for Pikachu at the driver's seat. Excellent.

[greengiant]

You would be surprised how much more sound you will hear just by opening up all the rear decks molded in grills and putting in fine screen like I did, even with the stock speaker. I'm sure you notice a difference in volume just having drivers hatch open or closed.

[atcttge]

Volume isn't my problem. It's loud enough in my opinion. Sound quality is wot I'm after. A less tinny, a cleaner sound.

[greengiant]

I see and understand. The stock HL speakers are not known for their sound quality.
I just wanted mine to be louder even though the engine sound is wrong. The main gun firing didn't match the volume of my other HL's that have deck grills with molded in openings.

[atcttge]

How to quickly and efficiently paint sprockets:

Install motors and electronics in box. Insert sprockets. Switch on electronics and radio. Put rock on stick so that motors keep on running. Then hit the spinning sprockets with paint.

[greengiant]

Have been doing it that way for years when doing overall paint jobs with the tracks off and it does work very well.

Also use that method to more quickly brush paint tracks mounted on the tank, Just use hand control of speed so I can stop and reload paintbrush.