1/35 Tamiya Cheiftain Mk.5

Flyboyz4 · Post by **Flyboyz4** » Tue Jul 15, 2025 1:20 am

Hi all, I've decided to build an rc tank and love the form factor of 1/35. I've gotten basically all the electronics for it now so it's mainly just mechanically putting it together. As I've seen so many videos of 1/35th rc conversions, working suspension is one of my main goals with this kit. Working suspension is one of my favorite parts of any rc vehicle whether it be tanks or cars. Since I have solidworks and a 3d printer I decided to use my creative freedom to make working suspension. Measuring off of the tamiya kit suspension I was able to make the bogie for each pair of road wheels. I decided it would be easy enough to use a pen spring to replicate the horstmann suspension so I robbed 6 pilot G2 0.7mm pens of their springs (keeping the ink cartridges for refills). The suspension arms were printed without axles for the wheels since 3d printing isn't as strong with shear loads along the layer lines. To make the wheel axles I used some K&S assorted small brass tubing to give a strong metal axle. This tubing can fit into each other and can be cut and glued together to remake the stock suspension axles (i.e. the tubing has the same diameters as the original axles). The axles pivot on 1mm steel music wire. I snipped off the pegs that are molded into the hull for the suspension arms and used a dremel to make holes for the 1mm wire. After gluing everything together the suspension works well and I'm extremely satisfied with the results. Now I need to affix the gearbox inside the hull and cut the shafts to fit the sprockets while I await my metal track kit

Flyboyz4 · Post by **Flyboyz4** » Tue Jul 15, 2025 1:22 am

Here are a few more pictures of the suspension and it in action.

modler · Post by **modler** » Tue Jul 15, 2025 3:23 pm

Flyboyz4 wrote: ↑Tue Jul 15, 2025 1:20 am Hi all, I've decided to build an rc tank and love the form factor of 1/35. I've gotten basically all the electronics for it now so it's mainly just mechanically putting it together. As I've seen so many videos of 1/35th rc conversions, working suspension is one of my main goals with this kit. Working suspension is one of my favorite parts of any rc vehicle whether it be tanks or cars. Since I have solidworks and a 3d printer I decided to use my creative freedom to make working suspension. Measuring off of the tamiya kit suspension I was able to make the bogie for each pair of road wheels. I decided it would be easy enough to use a pen spring to replicate the horstmann suspension so I robbed 6 pilot G2 0.7mm pens of their springs (keeping the ink cartridges for refills). The suspension arms were printed without axles for the wheels since 3d printing isn't as strong with shear loads along the layer lines. To make the wheel axles I used some K&S assorted small brass tubing to give a strong metal axle. This tubing can fit into each other and can be cut and glued together to remake the stock suspension axles (i.e. the tubing has the same diameters as the original axles). The axles pivot on 1mm steel music wire. I snipped off the pegs that are molded into the hull for the suspension arms and used a dremel to make holes for the 1mm wire. After gluing everything together the suspension works well and I'm extremely satisfied with the results. Now I need to affix the gearbox inside the hull and cut the shafts to fit the sprockets while I await my metal track kit

Looking good

I also like the 1/35 scale AFV models as there seems to be an endless variety. I would like to do the suspension mod as well to my Chieftain and others in my collection. Keep up the good work.

stuart666 · Post by **stuart666** » Tue Jul 15, 2025 4:51 pm

Gawd, I can remember taking this kit home to build some 40 years ago now. It must be nigh on 50 years old, but still one of the best Chieftain kits IMHO. Look forward to seeing how this turns out.

Flyboyz4 · Post by **Flyboyz4** » Thu Jul 24, 2025 1:07 am

modler wrote: ↑Tue Jul 15, 2025 3:23 pm
Flyboyz4 wrote: ↑Tue Jul 15, 2025 1:20 am Hi all, I've decided to build an rc tank and love the form factor of 1/35. I've gotten basically all the electronics for it now so it's mainly just mechanically putting it together. As I've seen so many videos of 1/35th rc conversions, working suspension is one of my main goals with this kit. Working suspension is one of my favorite parts of any rc vehicle whether it be tanks or cars. Since I have solidworks and a 3d printer I decided to use my creative freedom to make working suspension. Measuring off of the tamiya kit suspension I was able to make the bogie for each pair of road wheels. I decided it would be easy enough to use a pen spring to replicate the horstmann suspension so I robbed 6 pilot G2 0.7mm pens of their springs (keeping the ink cartridges for refills). The suspension arms were printed without axles for the wheels since 3d printing isn't as strong with shear loads along the layer lines. To make the wheel axles I used some K&S assorted small brass tubing to give a strong metal axle. This tubing can fit into each other and can be cut and glued together to remake the stock suspension axles (i.e. the tubing has the same diameters as the original axles). The axles pivot on 1mm steel music wire. I snipped off the pegs that are molded into the hull for the suspension arms and used a dremel to make holes for the 1mm wire. After gluing everything together the suspension works well and I'm extremely satisfied with the results. Now I need to affix the gearbox inside the hull and cut the shafts to fit the sprockets while I await my metal track kit

Looking good I also like the 1/35 scale AFV models as there seems to be an endless variety. I would like to do the suspension mod as well to my Chieftain and others in my collection. Keep up the good work.

I remember looking over your posts when looking for inspiration on building this kit in RC. I’m glad to hear you like it!

Flyboyz4 · Post by **Flyboyz4** » Thu Jul 24, 2025 1:19 am

More progress on the chieftain! I received my metal tracks in the mail after about 3 weeks of waiting. I put them all together and they are stellar (still waiting to install rubber tracks pads). I did do a little adjustment to the suspension in order to lower it as it was sitting higher than the real deal. I used a diamond bit in my dremel and removed a loop off each end of each pen spring to get me where I needed. Now I need to 3d print a sliding tray for the gearbox so I can secure it and set some track tension. After that I’ll worry about creating the turret mechanisms.

Herr Dr. Professor · Post by **Herr Dr. Professor** » Thu Jul 24, 2025 2:30 am

Although I have long been hooked on 1/16, as that scale suits my fifty-years' interest in U.S. 1/16 farm models, I have all along admired the choices you have in 1/35, the scale of my long-lost youth. Even if I am generally quiet, I read all the 1/35 posts with admiration.

Flyboyz4 · Post by **Flyboyz4** » Sun Aug 10, 2025 4:46 am

I figured an update on my progress is in order

I officially have the Chieftain fully operational! It took some fenagling but I have it in a state where it's solidly operating. I did end up figuring out my esc problem, which was that I had bought a cheapo esc that didn't work. I did a little research to find a replacement and it just so happens that there was a robotics store online selling various dual-ESCs with skid steering capabilities. That dual-ESC was from Repeat Robotics for Ant Drive class robots. This was the answer I needed to get it moving with the low speed precision I wanted. For the gearbox I decided against any tensioning systems and 3d printed a solid mount and glued it in place. Once I got everything into place I used some clear gorilla glue to set all the polycaps in place, and in the case I need to do some repair the clear gorilla glue is rubbery and can be removed with some force. For the front Idlers I decided to replace the plastic kit axle with a brass tube of the same diameter to give it some more rigidity. I also 3d printed hex adapters from the 3mm axles to the 6mm sprockets. Installing each individual track pad is the last step I needed to do to finish up the lower hull.

Moving up to the Upper hull I needed to find a way to make both a gun elevation mechanism and a turret rotation mechanism. I decided that with the 9g servos I had that the servo would have to be mounted inside the turret. The Chieftain luckily has a fair amount of space inside the turret to install goodies. I first cut out some 2mm styrene parts to make an arm for the servo to connect to the barrel. I snipped off the pieces that make up the gun pivot from the upper part of the turret and glued it to the lower part, allowing me to make the turret top removable. Since the distance between the point on the servo horn and the point on the barrel arm change throughout the motion, I made a telescoping mechanism. I utilized the brass tubing again and glued a larger dia to the barrel arm and the smaller dia to a wire coming from the servo horn. This worked wonderfully and provides a really smooth gun elevation. The turret rotation was a bit more complex and required a lot of time in CAD to workout an acceptable design to 3d print. The turret rotation motor is an N20 with a 90 degree gearbox for a gear reduction. To affix it I made a mount that housed it snuggly, and designed two mounting tabs that I hand trimmed to match the inside of the upper hull and then glued in place. Additionally to make the N20 motor work I ordered some really small ESC's from amazon that run off the power supplied by the receiver.

After all that I now have a fully functional tank and am extremely pleased with how it runs for something so small. My next steps with it will be to glue any pieces that I didn't feel comfortable installing during the crafting process. I'll also have to do some research as to what color scheme I want this tank to be before I order paint. I'm thinking a two-tone woodland camo would look particularly swell.