Matorro King Tiger w/ Tamiya-HL upgrade

Saxondog · Post by **Saxondog** » Sun Mar 07, 2010 11:51 pm

Valve grinding compound,what a good idea.Will have to pull the gearboxs out of my Tiger and try that.What size pinion gear are you using 11,12 tooth? Sax

xrad · Post by **xrad** » Mon Mar 08, 2010 12:18 am

stock 10 tooth with impact drop down gear.

I should have recorded what the boxes sounded like BEFORE grinding...like steel ball bearings in a steel barrel...eeeeeshhhhh

xrad · Post by **xrad** » Mon Mar 08, 2010 2:51 am

Thanks Raven! What are you working on?

OK some more pics to post.

Olive drab flat testors looks great. Rustoleum brown in flat for between wheel halves and other dark areas.

Got the motors placed best for now. They are slightly 2-3mm out of axial from one another but output shaft is perpendicular to hull so I'm happy. It is a combination of slight mounting spacer length descrepancy(Tammy variety), slight bend/flex in Tammy hull, and very slight misalignment of Impact mounting holes made alignment a PITA. I have to say that Asiatam gearboxes fit much better, but that's the hobby nature!

Anyway, to get the flex out (mostly) I soldered up a box brace and replaced two Impact philips head screws for allen heads. MUCH less flex and real easy to make.

Also , I made splash guard out of aluminum. mounts to two of the tiny hull screws and can 'open up' as seen in the pics for easy motor access. Also, it has two little side tabs so that you can;t put it in too far and hit the motor gears! Nice!

You can see some of the dark brown and olive on the drive wheels. much detailing to go but this forms a nice base.

xrad · Post by **xrad** » Tue Mar 09, 2010 3:45 am

More pics:

spray painting the wheels worked out well. you can remove the bearings so you don;t get paint inside the bearing bore. Emory paper the brass shaft so it fits easily.

Some of the wheels are cast kinda crooked and wobble. the best and smoothest wheels are palced at each end and the most wobbly ones in the middle. Less likely to toss a track.... I use one tiny drop of CA on the wheel halves (keep out of bearing!) and drive the two halves together between two pieces of wood using a small hammer. Then gently tap until gap is even.

Some of the wheels needed a little axel bore cleaning out with a smaller drill bit. Just kinda ream to fit the axel so it turns smoothly with no binding. be sure to remove the bearing before doing this!

Backside of wheels are detailed up with some real dirt and dirt colored paint, and so is the hull before wheels and tracks go on.

To paint the metal tube axel spacers (stock Tammy) just string them all together on a piece of wire (like beads) and spray them all at once. works great!

I used some grease inside the idler wheels. nice and smooth.....

[ICE]monkey · Post by **[ICE]monkey** » Tue Mar 09, 2010 7:27 pm

shes coming along very well, as to the track guards the initial ones did drop into place but after that they were fitted your way , just the bolt holes no slots
regards, ice

Saxondog · Post by **Saxondog** » Wed Mar 10, 2010 12:13 am

Xrad,what did you use after the grinding compound? Light oil or just run with the residual compound left on the gears? Thanks Blake

xrad · Post by **xrad** » Wed Mar 10, 2010 12:40 am

completely disassembled and cleaned out grind compound (comes in a small tub from NAPA) with parts in pot of mineral oil, or it will continue to grind away. repacked with clean new grease...just regular GM stuff and some marine grease, too. real sticky...does not fly off.

Saxondog · Post by **Saxondog** » Wed Mar 10, 2010 1:18 am

Now that clears the air,I have not attempted this process but for my needs a quiet running gearbox is needed.I believe valve grinding compound will do the trick but the clean-up is also important as you have said.Thanks for the heads up,Saxondog

xrad · Post by **xrad** » Wed Mar 10, 2010 2:51 am

Sax: you will have to run the paste through the gears a few more times than I did to get it quiet. It does work eventually...

Some more build pics..

xrad · Post by **xrad** » Sun Mar 14, 2010 1:40 am

Main gun build.

parts needed:
brass tubing 21/32 and smaller
tammy mantlet sprue
matorro part that fits between mantlet and recoil unit (I call it the 'adaptor')
Tammy aluminum barrel
matorro inner aluminum tube.
one new HL style recoil unit to replace the matorro BB unit (fits right into place with spring and elevation unit and mounting tabs!!)

You need some brass tubing from hobby store. I needed at least four sizes which fit into each other snugly. You need the Tammy mantlet sprue which has three mantlet parts...the main mantlet, the barrel guide (front piece with bolts) and the rear ring (Found at Jason's store ebay)

Assemble the tammy mantlet. No changes needed. Then after carefully removing the 'adaptor' from the matorro barrel and recoil unit, a short bit needs to be trimmed off end and it has to be fitted to smaller of the 4 brass tube. tube slides nearly all the way on except for last 5mm or so...this creates snug fit. you don;t want this loose.

trim the tammy barrel removing the skinny proximal end (all the way up to the thickest part of the barrel) carefully drill down the center of the tammy barrel to accept the matorro aluminum bb tube. Trim the bb tube to appropriate length and it all fits nicely together.

remember: measure three times, cut once.

since the main gun is all hollow, I can add the HL flash unit!