Tamiya 1/35 Pz. III L RC conversion

[modler]

The road wheels and track guid wheels had to be modified for movement. The stock kit had these items glued in place.

For the road wheels I used some 1/32 piano wire that was small yet strong enough to attach the road wheels. If I was to do this again I would also use some small tubing to help secure the piano wire like a bearing sleeve. The suspension arms had the plastic axles cut off and drilled out to allow the piano wire to fit through. Some homemade securing nuts were made from plastic sheet and glued on the back side. (Not pictured) before I secured the road wheels and track guide wheels I tested out the rubber band tracks to make sure everything was spinning freely and as always making sure track alignment was good.

Up next is the motors.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I just noticed this picture with the mods to the road wheels, yes there is a problem with the road wheels on this model. I went a different way to solve this but looks like you may have a better solution.

[Herr Dr. Professor]

philbibbey and modler:

"I will do a new thread on it in this forum if any interest." Yes, there's any interest from me. Even though I do 1/16, I watch carefully because I am learning to use small electronics.
"Might get use a smaller 3ch receiver." Would a 3 channel receiver be physically smaller? Hmm...

[modler]

philbibbey and modler:

"I will do a new thread on it in this forum if any interest." Yes, there's any interest from me. Even though I do 1/16, I watch carefully because I am learning to use small electronics.
"Might get use a smaller 3ch receiver." Would a 3 channel receiver be physically smaller? Hmm...

The answer is not necessarily. You just have to use a Ultra Micro receiver, ESC's, connectors.
The Tank I show here has a small 6 channel DSM2 rx with external twin UM Esc's. They run on a small 1 cell Li-polymer. As soon as possible I will post info on UM radio gear that I use in small 1/35 models in a new thread in this forum soon.

[modler]

Well, I did it again, I thought this was my thread and posted this info here, Looks like I don't have my own Panzer III thread
I apologize for the mistake but will leave this info here unless the thread owner tell be to "bug out"

SDM - Static Display Model

Says on the box ACCURATE STATIC DISPLAY MODEL

These SDM models are pretty tricky to convert to any type of Remote control.

1. No gearbox mount
2. Sprockets do not fit standard gearbox. Moderate modification required to fit standard Tamiya gearbox Axles.
3. Axles openings need to be cut in as they are different on this model and not workable as is with standard gearbox Axles.
4. Road wheels have no polymer bushings and have a lot of play and are meant to be glued in place and require tedious mods to work with the suppled road wheel Axles.
5. Track supplied in Kit is different composition of materials than that of the motorized track versions. Softer rubber which gets too much traction and causes tracks to throw off during tight turns.
6. No body mounts to the chassis supplied in kit. It says in the instructions to glue the upper hull to the lower hull.

other than that its a piece of cake

I figured out how to do a video and drive the tank in the video So now I will be doing more videos

I programed in a mix that allows me to drive the tank mostly hands free with just a few yaw commands now and then. The mix allows the tank to keep a constant low speed setting that allows me to hold the camera in the other hand.

So now is the long awaited video of the SDM Panzer III

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYl7ut1os40

I made a mistake in the video when I said it is a "dual motor metal gearbox" It is actually a dual motor plastic gearbox with metal parts in it like the drive axles. The GB is from a 1/35 motorized remote control Academy M60 and fits perfectly in this SDM PANZER III chassis. Some mods requires to the Track Sprockets and Axle openings in the lower Hull or chassis.

[davepriddy14]

Could you tell me the motors and gearboxes that you used to do this 1/35 scale rc tank conversion? I have been watching lots oof videos and reading quite a bit to learning how to do one of these conversions. Any help or information that you could provide would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Davepriddy14

[modler]

Well first thing to do in a 1/35 R\C conversion is to convert the right model. Below is the right Panzer III to convert. It comes with a single motor Gearbox and that makes things a whole lot easier. The road wheels, tracks, drive sprockets, track idler wheels are designed for motorized operation. This is half the battle. Now all you need is a twin motor gearbox.

All the gearboxes below can be modified to be used in a multitude of 1/35 tank models. I sometimes buy a model just for the GB parts.

more on this topic as I get time.

[modler]

Here is the SDM Pnz III that I converted to R\C about 2 years ago. With what I know now, I would pick the better candidate for conversion.

The road wheels, Drive sprockets, Idler wheels, all need modification to work as a R\C model.
The tracks that come with this kit are not really suitable for motorized operation. They are early PNZ III tracks\Sprockets. Hard to find suitable replacement tracks for this version PNZ III. There are plenty tracks available on the newer M/N version of the PNZ III.

No motor mounts either so more mods required to position the twin motor GB in the hull.

It is a nice scale model but really too much work to convert to R\C but here it is anyway. The 1/35 Academy M60 gearbox works for this conversion.

I will do a new 1/35 PZR III R\C conversion using a more suitable PZR III model in its own thread soon.

[modler]

Here is the SDM Pnz III that I converted to R\C about 2 years ago. With what I know now, I would pick the better candidate for conversion.

The road wheels, Drive sprockets, Idler wheels, all need modification to work as a R\C model.
The tracks that come with this kit are not really suitable for motorized operation. They are early PNZ III tracks\Sprockets. Hard to find suitable replacement tracks for this version PNZ III. There are plenty tracks available on the newer M/N version of the PNZ III.

No motor mounts either so more mods required to position the twin motor GB in the hull.

It is a nice scale model but really too much work to convert to R\C but here it is anyway. The 1/35 Academy M60 gearbox works for this conversion.

SDM PZR III Video
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/W77zDDFa ... ture=share

I will do a new 1/35 PZR III R\C conversion using a more suitable PZR III model in its own thread soon.

[modler]

...

[modler]

...