M-3 Lee Kit

[Ludwig von wigbearer]

Looking good carl, the appearance of the bogie wheels are superb, they look to have a textured effect, it
looks like they have a rubber tyre on them.

regards john

[c.rainford73]

Thank you John.

[PainlessWolf]

Carl!.
Good morning. When I first did the conversion on 'Maxene' using the MATO sprockets and tracks, either HL or MATO ( I cannot honestly remember which ) had just brought out the sprocket that would work on the HL gearbox and run with the MATO tracks. I don't remember seeing a parts number on my set. Later, I replaced the original zinc gearboxes with the black steel type and the sprocket was a direct fit on those as well. The sprockets that Mike sent you might need you to either turn down the existing shafts or go with a different set of Taigen gearboxes entirely. Following along,
regards,
Painless

[c.rainford73]

Hello Mr Painless so far I'm at a point where I may source some different gearboxes. What I have done that has worked so far with testing is I've employed the metal Heng Long metal sprockets with a small metal spacer about 2mm between the two halves and they are now the same width as the Mato ones. Doing a bench test with the tracks and my sprockets they mesh well and no binding

Thanks for checking in my friend

[Soeren]

This will be a very cool tank when finished. GRANTed it has the option to work both guns remote controlled. But it was a Lee right?

[c.rainford73]

This will be a very cool tank when finished. GRANTed it has the option to work both guns remote controlled. But it was a Lee right?

Yes Soeren it's a Lee. I've been able to wire the upper turret to rotate and the sponson mounted 75mm has servo recoil and flash. Elevation is under construction at the moment for the large cannon

[c.rainford73]

Hello again Thanks to My friends Mike (Sassgrunt) and MichaelC on the forum the drivetrain on the Lee is now fitted. The Mato tracks that Louis reccomended for his Priest build work fantastic now. They are such a leap in detail and function compared to the plastic Heng Long tracks. So thank you to you guys

I've utilized the Heng Long metal sprockets with 2mm metal spacers to make the width of the Mato tracks. My plan is to eventually use the final drives from the Mato gearset and adapt them to the Heng Long/Taigen gearboxes to fit the Mato metal sprockets. So far they have been extremely reliable as currently constructed. When I get to the gearbox design I'll post up some photos.

The tracks have metal outer connectors and I've painted and washed them with some light rust from Vallejo and some rust pigments.

Thanks for checking it out

[wibblywobbly]

That is looking A1 now, brilliant paintwork.

[BarryC]

This evening I came home to find some fantastic bits in a box from Mr Sassgrunt (Mike) on the forum for this M-3 Lee build. He shipped them a few days ago ( for free ) from Hawaii all the way to the East Coast!!!!

I am blown away by the level of kindness that is exhibited by members of the forum like Mike who do kind deeds like this for people like myself again and again.

Now I will proceed with these parts to mount the Mato tracks on the Lee.

Those are my 3 year old sons hands by the way in the picture as he is helping dad with this build

Mike thank you

Carl

Hey Carl,

Build is going Great!

I agree with your thoughts on Mr Sassgrunt, he helped me with some Mato track links for my Firefly.

Question: are those Mato sprockets in this picture? I need a set like that for my Firefly.
Do you know if they will fit HL Sherman drive axles?

Cheers,
Barry

[c.rainford73]

Hi Barry I've been working on this situation behind the scenes with the help of Mr Sassgrunt and MichaelC so here's where I'm at.

After almost cutting my hands off and dismantling a couple of pairs of plastic Mato sprockets I've been really working on this.

Sassgrunt has sent me a pair of Mato gearboxes. No the Mato sprockets don't not fit the Heng long final drives from the gearboxes so I've come up with a interim plan.

The Heng Long metal sprockets will work with the Mato tracks if that are wide enough

So what I've done while tinkering around trying to make the Mato gearset work with another test set of Heng Long/Taigen ones is this....

Take the Heng Long sprockets apart in two halves.

The Mato sprockets are about 2.5mm wider. My solution is to place a metal spacer about 2.5mm thick inside between the two halves and they worked! The two halves have a male and female that allow the two parts to "lock" together. The narrow spacer slows this function to still work and once they are tightened all runs smoothly. If the spacer was a bit larger the two halves would not seat so this was a big relief!

My first go with this setup failed because I used a 2mm spacer and it was just too narrow causing the tracks to grab and jump.

I used longer screws to make up for the space and that allows you to get the same tight fit on the gearbox.

Carl