RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

Sigh, stupid Pacific Ocean

Whoa! Those are little jewels!
Could you detail the drivetrain and rc brains you're using when you have a moment?
Thanks,
Mike.

Dogberry, I have the PzKFw. I kit to build OOB and static: now I am hoping to do half as well as you have with added detail and RC, too. Way to go!

I will try and explain where I am up in Motorizing a Tacom Panzer 1. An R/c Panzer 1 will never be a battler but it does look good at tank meets. I will try to explain how I do it. I know you might ask for more photos but I didn’t plan to write this when I was building them. So the photos were mainly to explain to my son some of the points of the build sometimes this was done in person therefore no photos. They are all under development and the electronics and or mechanics may be changed if problems arise. So this is NOT the definitive guide on how to R/C a panzer 1. It’s just how I would do another one.

Tracks.
I throw away the plastic track and track pins and use the metal tracks from Ebay. So far I have no problems. I like the Aber track pins set however the best part of 100 pounds for track pins is difficult to justify for all my models and making the little securing pins for nearly 200 track pins is a bore. I tried using the Aber pins with the plastic tracks but I wasn’t happy. So I went with metal tracks. But I transferred the Aber pins to the metal tracks which make a nice set of tracks

Idler

There are two Panzer 1”s the Ausf A and the Ausf B each required different approaches.
Both tanks have 2 2wheel bogies on each side. These bogies can pivot on a pin. I make a brass pin which goes into the tank and into a block and is secured with a screw. On the Ausf A I made it so the rear block could be made to move forwards and backwards a few mm so track tension could be altered. I normally screw these blocks to the hull. I cut elongated holes for the rear block allowing to move.
Obviously a corresponding cut has to made in the side bogie support girder to allow the pin to move. This slot cab be hidden behind a mock support plate
On the Ausf B there is a separate idler so I built a brass idler arm I fixed one side of the arm to the idler wheel. I then made a Delrin insert that fits inside the hull idler mount. The other side of the idler arm is then held in place with a grub screw.

Bogies and road wheels
No great secret here I put the wheels on brass axles and the glued the bogies together then built a brass bogie spindle with a small hex nut on the end which seems to mimic the pivot shaft mounting on the original. On later conversions I replaced the side girder support with a piece of brass. I also made a spacer to sit on the shaft between the two halves of the bogie. The pivot support shaft the goes into the hull into a brass or Delrin block and is held in place by a grub screw. At the moment I do not use wheel bearings. The models are so small and light I do not think they are necessary ( Famous last words)

The first wheel shock absorber and spring
This is where the fun starts. The shock absorber is a 4 mm brass rods turned down to 1mm for a portion of it. This fits inside 5mm brass tube. The top and bottom caps are soldering place. The top cap is shaped to fit into the slot in the hull. The bottom cap has a 1mm hole in so that there is a tail in it to fit into an elongated slot hole cut in the swing arm. You then have to experiment with the spring until you find one that fits in between the two piece and works with the correct tension.

Motors and gear boxes.
This is really fun. I have tried several motor gear boxes combos. I tried the Arduino’s gearboxes and some tiny motor gearboxes off Ebay. Neither with any great success I was not happy with the result. Although they do work.
Lastly I stumbled on the gearbox on the Cults 3d print site. My son printed it for me. I thought it was a wonderful piece of thinking, however I was concerned about the gears supplied with the set. More on that later.
I will try and explain the gearbox build fully.
I ended up with a bag of 3d printed bits and it took some time to figure out what went where and how.
The main gearbox frame needs some work. The output shaft holes need drilling out to 4mm and short pieces of brass tube (4mm OD 3mm ID) are pushed into place these act as bearings make sure these fit flush.
Next acquire electric motor gearbox (as recommended in the 3d print instructions). These need fitting to the gearbox frame with countersunk M2 screws. Be careful if the screws are too long you will jam the gearbox.Make sure these screws are flush or even countersunk a little.

Next acquire two 65mm long ( I think) M3 stainless steel screws select the ones that are only threaded for about 20mm. I cannot remember the exact length required. But a quick measure against the gearbox will sort you out. Cut off the head of the screw. These shafts pass through from the outside of the tank and into the two brass bearings in he frame. Make sure that the plain shaft is in contact with bearing and not the threaded part,
At this point get the shafts and hull body squared up then make and drill the hull so that the gearbox can be bolted in place.
In the bag of bits you will find too circles that are made to internally take a M3 bolt and they have a 3mm hole in the centre.. In you bag of bits you will also find a barrel of print with a 3mm hole down the centre. Put this down the non threaded end of the shaft until it sits on the threads . Now put the above bit on the threaded end put and M3 bolt on the threads and firmly push the bolt into this little piece. Screw it down until it meets the barrel. The barrel makes sure the nut and the piece it fits in is square to the shaft this barrel is removed after fitting .
Now you test fit the drive cog wheel in place making sure it is square on the shaft. You have to remove the molded shaft but NOT the little circle of plastic round it . Fit the shaft into the gearbox so that the drive wheel is in line with the rest of the wheels and trim the shaft to length.
Now thread lock or CA that nut in place and CA the drive wheel on.


Now all you need to do is fit one bevel gear to the motor gearbox and one to the output shaft as you slide the output shaft into the hull mounted gearbox—- sounds simple, that’s were things went wrong. The printed gear were too big and need trimming. The material they were printed from was too soft. several print filaments were used and would not hold a thread for the grub screws even if I lined the printed grub screw hole with a helicoil. Even when you have done all this and the gears strip after 90 seconds under light load. This is a print problem not a design problem.

After much measuring and searching the internet I found bass gears that could be altered to fit. As purchased the boss on the gear was way too long and when it is cut to fit you loose the retaining grub screw hole, so a new hole has to be drilled and taped just behind the gear teeth.
Eventually they fitted and to date seem to be working well. Don’t forget to grind a flat spot on the output shaft when the grub screw fits.

Amazing work, a great write up and pictures!

Outstanding workmanship and many thanks for such a detailed step-by-step guide. These small, early war vehicles are so fascinating, and even better now that you've got them moving!

Mike.