Second Tamiya Leopard 2A6

[Herr Dr. Professor]

I am one to be happy with NiMH batteries for the extra weight in AFVs and safety. Nonetheless, if the AFV uses a LiPo battery, it makes no sense to me to take away one of the advantages to LiPo: power for the size. So why the black plastic cover around the LiPo battery in Haya's Chieftain? Is it to make the battery look like the NiMH batteries in other RTR 1/16 AFVs? It cannot be much fire protection.
Most importantly, why not get rid of the LiPo's extra cover and save space?
If there's no safety or other gain, with extreme care, I will be taking my saw to that black NiMH Hallowe'en costume.

[Ecam]

I'm sure it was an early attempt to use the "six stick" Ni-cad/NIMH style to fit existing battery boxes. The last couple Heng Longs I've received came with the case-less NMMH battery, although in black shrink wrap instead of the blue in my picture.

[zooma]

I'm sure it was an early attempt to use the "six stick" Ni-cad/NIMH style to fit existing battery boxes. The last couple Heng Longs I've received came with the case-less NMMH battery, although in black shrink wrap instead of the blue in my picture.

As a matter of interest Eric,

The battery in my HAYA Chieftain is a Li-Ion battery - not a LiPo.

I will look up the "layman's" explanation to find out what the difference is, but I know that my charger has a different setting for charging Li-Ion batteries and LiPo batteries so there must be some difference - but I don't know what it is......or why yet another battery construction/type has been chosen instead of a LiPo.

Being a bit old fashioned, I always used to struggle with all the various new types of 7.2volt NiCad battery (Red Cells, Green Cells etc) that were developed to give more power for the r/c car racers, and then they were all replaced with NiMH batteries as they were environmentally more acceptable.

Now we have Li-Ion batteries - are they a possible long term replace for LiPo's....are they safer...etc??

[zooma]

I found this on the "eejits lantern".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium-ion_battery

I am not much wiser as far as knowing if it is a better/safer/lighter weight/less expensive type of battery etc.

Yet another battery type to add to LiFe, LiHV, LiPo, NiMH, NiZN, NiCad, LiFePo4 (yet another derivative?).

They all look like a random collection of letters and numbers, but sadly we need to know a little bit about them if we are to use them in our models as they may well need different handling and charging methods.

[zooma]

Last night (when in our model club hall) a fellow member suggested that the Li-Ion batteries may be more tolerant to being discharged below the recommended level than a LiPo (a LiPo battery is intolerant to falling below its minimum voltage) - often resulting is a failed LiPo that cannot be used again.

We need to check this, but if it proves to be the case (my friend is not 100% sure of his facts) then the Li-Ion batteries may be a good choice for powering r/c model tanks as the ESC that we use do not usually have any LiPo protection circuits built into them and so it is easy to run a LiPo down to below its minimum residual voltage - rendering it useless.

The light weight and (possible) resilience to abuse (running below its minimum voltage) could make the Li-Ion battery the perfect battery to use in the turret of the Tamiya 2A6 Leopard to help retard the "sagging turret" problem that this model suffers from?

[Rad_Schuhart]

I am using li ion batteries for years. I get near 7 hours run time non stop on my Panzer IV.

I wrote an entry talking about batteries here:

https://radindustries.wordpress.com/201 ... batteries/

[zooma]

I am using li ion batteries for years. I get near 7 hours run time non stop on my Panzer IV.

I wrote an entry talking about batteries here:

https://radindustries.wordpress.com/201 ... batteries/

Thanks Rad,

Nice informative (and sometimes funny) well written article about some of the different battery types - including Li-Ion.

Much appreciated,

Bob.

[tankme]

Been using 3500mah Li-Ion batteries for years also. I've never run one dry enough to hit the low voltage cutoff during a battle day, but I also don't battle a single tank for the whole session. I also like them because they are more stable for long term storage. NiCds will discharge tremendously just sitting on a shelf.

[zooma]

My new build 2A6 that I am making from an unboxed kit is coming along nicely (in the background) but I have noticed that one of the rear drive sprockets is a bit wobbly !

I need to investigate this further, but it seems a bit strange that one of the drive sprockets is OK with very little "free play" but the other one is a loose (wobbly) fit.

Has anyone else had a problem like this when building a new Tamiya Leopard 2A6 kit?

[zooma]

My new build 2A6 that I am making from an unboxed kit is coming along nicely (in the background) but I have noticed that one of the rear drive sprockets is a bit wobbly !

I need to investigate this further, but it seems a bit strange that one of the drive sprockets is OK with very little "free play" but the other one is a loose (wobbly) fit.

Has anyone else had a problem like this when building a new Tamiya Leopard 2A6 kit?

I have now "sorted" the wobbly rear sprocket with a thin shim so the new kit build can continue (in the background) as I bash on with upgrading the two Tamiya Leopard 2A6 tanks that I already have.

As previously mentioned, both of these "almost new" tanks were acquired some years ago........if only I knew then just how expensive it was going to be to equip them both with the metal AFV parts that are necessary for them just to be able to run properly and without suspension arm breakages, I may not have bothered! (I probably would - its just infuriating that they so not work properly out of the box!).

.......they are very nice tanks - but Tamiya should have engineered them better so that they stood a realistic chance of running well and reliably without needing such expensive upgrades just to make them work properly.

My old Tamiya Sherman and Tiger 1 kits are still running well after many years of enjoyable use so I had no reason to suspect that their Leopard 2A6 would be such an expensive nightmare to live with!