RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

OK...you're just having too much fun bead blinging your tank

ALPHA

Alpha, *chuckles* The molded plastic one was a casualty of swapping out the HL phone box and adding a metal mounting strip and I didn't have a nut that small in the Tamiya pack. I noted today that a new site was recommended for super small hardware. I'll be looking them up but for tonight I needed something and the crimp bead was perfect. ;o) Keep on tanking!
regards,
Painless

http://scalehardware.com/

PainlessWolf wrote:Alpha, *chuckles* The molded plastic one was a casualty of swapping out the HL phone box and adding a metal mounting strip and I didn't have a nut that small in the Tamiya pack. I noted today that a new site was recommended for super small hardware. I'll be looking them up but for tonight I needed something and the crimp bead was perfect. ;o) Keep on tanking!
regards,
Painless

http://scalehardware.com/

OK...Explanation accepted lol.... still think you are having way too much fun with those beads though

ALPHA

Hi ,painless,I noticed on this build you have wired the tail lights with a plug could you tell me where on the rx18 they plug in.I have a pershing ,converted to rx18,& cannot find anywhere to wire them to. If I wire them into the front lights I get only rear lights,disconnect & front lights come on again.

Good Morning, Jagman,
My Pershing is one of the really old ones and the upper and lower hull and deck I was using had all the lights wired together like you were doing before you swapped out for the RX-18. The front bulbs were wired into a small six solder connect board up front that connected to the eight pin plug-in. The tail lights were soldered directly onto the RX-13(14?). On your Pershing, it will be hard to wire the lights together since the headlights are still on the upper hull and the tail lights are still on the lower hull. You could use a solderless connector for when you want to take the tank apart but you will need to add a resistor in the range of 100ohm to get them to work together. That or use very small LEDs. I am using a HL 2.4GHz set on the tank now along with a new upper and turret. HL has moved the smoker and volume controls to the handset leaving them room to designate one of the empty slots as a rear light plug-in. That is why I am using a two pin plug for those now. Taigen does the same thing on their version of the RX-18 but the tail lights only come on when the tank is reversing. I don't have one of the older HL RX-18's in front of me this morning but I don't remember them having a dedicated tail light plug in on that board. I do know that the unused ( if your tank is airsoft equipped ) five and three pin plug ins on the top of the board have a pin and ground pin that can be used for your tail lights with a two pin plug. They are designated F and G on the linked diagram I have included here. I hope that all of this rambling is useful to you and of course, Good Luck! ;o)
regards,
Painless

viewtopic.php?t=5244

PainlessWolf wrote:Good Morning, Jagman,
My Pershing is one of the really old ones and the upper and lower hull and deck I was using had all the lights wired together like you were doing before you swapped out for the RX-18. The front bulbs were wired into a small six solder connect board up front that connected to the eight pin plug-in. The tail lights were soldered directly onto the RX-13(14?). On your Pershing, it will be hard to wire the lights together since the headlights are still on the upper hull and the tail lights are still on the lower hull. You could use a solderless connector for when you want to take the tank apart but you will need to add a resistor in the range of 100ohm to get them to work together. That or use very small LEDs. I am using a HL 2.4GHz set on the tank now along with a new upper and turret. HL has moved the smoker and volume controls to the handset leaving them room to designate one of the empty slots as a rear light plug-in. That is why I am using a two pin plug for those now. Taigen does the same thing on their version of the RX-18 but the tail lights only come on when the tank is reversing. I don't have one of the older HL RX-18's in front of me this morning but I don't remember them having a dedicated tail light plug in on that board. HL must have done something tho' else how would their tail lights have worked when they swapped over to using the RX-18 boards on their tanks. I hope that all of this rambling is useful to you. ;o) Good Luck!
regards,
Painless

You're right Painless...the rear lights on the Pershing are soldered to the mother board ...only the new 2.4s have the rear light port


ALPHA

Alpha,
I have edited my post to include the two pins on the top of the RX-18, the ones I use to power the spotlight when I include one. Jagman should be able to use those with a two pin plug to power his tail lights if he has an air soft version tank. ;o)
regards,
Painless

Work on the Pershing's suspension ran late last night due to the deathgrip that the fossilized plastic suspension arms had on the push rivets that connected them to the hull. After using a soldering iron and pliers to little effect, I resorted to using an exacto saw blade to cut off one edge of the arm where it encircled the rivet. I was then able to remove the arm without damaging the rivet. I had to reuse the push rivets because the hex screws that came with the metal idler and road wheel pairs were made for the newer lower hull. I had to tap and use small screws and plastic collets as well to connect the arms together. A lot of work and time but it all ended up most satisfactorily. ;o) Pictures:

PainlessWolf wrote:Alpha,
I have edited my post to include the two pins on the top of the RX-18, the ones I use to power the spotlight when I include one. Jagman should be able to use those with a two pin plug to power his tail lights if he has an air soft version tank. ;o)
regards,
Painless

Good deal Painless... another good investment for those dealing with lights and small connections is those micro connectors they use in Helicopters.... I got a bunch of them off a seller on EBAY... sells them in packs of ten male and female... makes life so much easier when separating the top from the bottom


ALPHA

Tonight saw the last of the soldering work done *crosses fingers* when I added a length of wiring to the rear tail lights so that I could move the RX up a little so as not to stress the 8 pin cable. The motors were installed into the gearboxes and the smoker as well. A little more difference noted between the old and the new as the tubing for the new smoker is a degree bigger in diameter than the old and some trimming and sanding of the hull exit holes for the exhausts had to be done. Smoker screw holes on the bottom still lined up so go figure. ;o) Everything is in the lower hull so tomorrow, I can make some sense out of the wiring nest and plug it all in and put the tank together. This weekend should see the painting phase start up. Pictures: