Tongde Matilda

[Herr Dr. Professor]

Here are some X-Rays of the Matilda. I was gone for 12 hours yesterday, so I was short on time. The wiring is rather neatly bundled and clamped down, so I had to peek in as best as I could.

The electronics seem as usual, well secured, and the wiring rather more neatly handled than in some HengLong and Taigen/Torro. Yes, its a LiIon 2S:

Low Hull Fwd.jpg (196.57 KiB) Viewed 155 times

The gearboxes in mine are enclosed, although with an exposed, forward-most small final gear on the axle. I was a wee bit disappointed that the tracks are plastic, despite the rest of the metal. The smoke unit goes up and to the rear. I will need to study up on the Matilda to figure out what's going on. I welcome recommendations for books or online information about the Matilda.

Low Hull Aft.jpg (224.41 KiB) Viewed 155 times

[Herr Dr. Professor]

Mostly hidden behind the track guard armor, the idlers and road wheels are as complicated as any I have seen on a RTR AFV.

Idlr & Rd Whls.jpg (213.57 KiB) Viewed 154 times

The track tension uses small cross-head screws (Phillips) to adjust. I think doing so will take patience, but I don't mind. I'm not sure I will even run my Matilda enough to stretch the tracks, but others will likely find out quickly after some long outdoor runs.

Trk Tnsn 3.jpg (209.71 KiB) Viewed 154 times

2 Trk Tnsn.jpg (485.68 KiB) Viewed 154 times

[Herr Dr. Professor]

I generally open up a RTR tank on first testing it, even beforehand. Yet I don't recall seeing this kind of open mechanism for turret rotation. My memory, however, is unreliable.

Trrt Rttn.jpg (161.16 KiB) Viewed 153 times

[PainlessWolf]

Herr Dr. Professor!
Good Morning! Thanks for opening up the Matilda. Mine is supposed to arrive today. We will see. Boy! That is one Rube Goldberg-esqe Turret Rotation Mechanism. Plastic Tracks you say? I thought that you had ordered all metal Running Gear. I'll have to check because I did as well.
regards,
Painless

[Kaczor]

Thanks. I split the thread and moved it to unboxing.

[Herr Dr. Professor]

Kaczor: I will be interested to know if your comes with metal tracks, as did the one PainlessWolf got. Thank you for splitting off the thread.

[Kaczor]

Yes, I ordered the version with metal tracks.

[tankme]

That rotation unit is very Tamiya like only the Tamiya unit is one housing with all the gears in it. The adjustable idler is very close to how it's done on the actual tank except that I think it's a hex head bolt and not a philips...

[Herr Dr. Professor]

Indeed, tankme, a hex head bolt would have been preferable. However, I wonder if there would be a socket sufficiently tiny for such. What fun it would be to have a 120 mm (1/16) figure to stand in place as he wields a scale wrench.

[tankme]

Indeed, tankme, a hex head bolt would have been preferable. However, I wonder if there would be a socket sufficiently tiny for such. What fun it would be to have a 120 mm (1/16) figure to stand in place as he wields a scale wrench.

Oh, I have some pretty tiny hex drivers. The set I have goes all they way down to 1.5mm. https://www.wihatools.com/products/prec ... er-7pc-set