RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

A very nice bit of building, nice work

As for the wheels, do you think you could fit small metal ball races in them to run on the metal shafts?

I am very impressed with getting that suspension working aswell as it does. Be great to see when tracks and sprockets are available inthe market and see it getting a good run outside

Will01Capri wrote:As for the wheels, do you think you could fit small metal ball races in them to run on the metal shafts?

Hi, as you can see below, the other side of the roadwheels are not detailed. It would be difficult to modify without plugging the gap with some structure. But honestly, the roadwheels are well mounted, strait and turn freely on their new metal shafts. Not sure if messing with them would improve operation. I do not think the tank will see enough action for wear and tear on the roadwheels to become a problem. The whole idler arrangement is the biggest concern, specially if metal tracks are to be used one day. Studying it right now. Regards, Louis

What you can’t see won’t hurt and would it be worth running the risk of adding detail to something you can’t see if it compromises the work you have done to make them spin

Hi,
This post is for the idler wheel which also serves as a road wheel.

Shown here is the suspension housing bracket holding the idler arm and volute spring on the real tank. These are bolted to the side of the hull. The wheel has open spokes with rubber tires on the rim. It is the same as provided on the kit. However, the kit is also providing parts for the spoke covers that were installed later so that outside elements do not interfere with the wheel. I decided to put them on.
The suspension arm can swivel up and down.
Other than the idler wheel spinning on thin plastic axle, the kit provides static parts for the idler, no spring and a plastic square axel to be glued to the hull. For an RC model, the idler need to be made functional. This part would normally be cast in metal for RC purposes but in this case, some basic reinforcements can only be made. An obvious weak point is the connection of the spring bar to the suspension base and arms.
As this area is mostly covered by the suspension housing bracket, i decided to reinforce it with a thick brass strip going around the base and to the back of the spring holder where some tension will be felt. After a basic shape is made for the brass reinforcement, it is then inserted on the base and squeezed in place. Glue is then inserted inside for a solid hold around the axle, spring arm and suspension arms.
The whole base of the suspension arm and connection to the axle from the hull are therefore solidified at little expense.
A brass tube is also inserted at the base for the mounting of the suspension on a brass axle coming out of the hull. That's the pivot.
The kit plastic road wheel axle on the right is replaced by one made of overlapping 5mm and 6mm brass tube (for thickness) for the axle itself, and a 7mm aluminum tube for the road wheel.
After the proper drilling, the 7mm aluminum tubes is inserted and glued into the roadwheel for the connection to the brass axle.
The axle tips were filed in order to fit the suspension arm idler adjuster.
On the suspension arms, the pre-positioned location points for gluing the plastic axles need to be removed. The idler adjuster need to be made partly functional for later when the tracks will be fit in.
Continuing on following post.

Holy cow! That’s some great model engineering and dedication! Very impressive.

The roadwheel with the newly build axle are inserted into the suspension idler adjuster, allowing for the selection of the right position when the tracks will be mounted.
The axle coming out of the hull is made using a 2.5mm thick and solid brass rod.
It goes end to end for solidity.
For springs, i selected some spare springs available from shock absorber upgrades for WPL trucks, leftover from the TPZ-1 build.
After cutting the fake plastic stick, i attached the spring to the remaining section and the suspension is mounted on the hull. The spring then need to be cut at the right length after the proper resistance is determined when the housing cover is installed.
The suspension spring housing cover and bracket are installed.
Overview of the tank with its working idler wheel and suspension. Some weights were added at the back to simulate the weight of the battery and electronics.
The spring suspension is working well, providing good support for the rear of the tank.
View from under

Close up pictures of the suspension spring housing bracket. It is well detailed and the working suspension is realistic. Once the position of the idler wheel will be determined with the tracks, the plastic part for the idler adjuster will be glued. Some builders will certainly push this further by creating a working idler adjuster. But i am satisfied with about 3 hours of work for the functional idlers created here. Nothing fancy and no special tools used, only pliers, hand file, cheap tube cutter and a good selection of overlapping metal tubing, a must have for these kind of builds.

There are a few very small and fragile parts for the suspension that will be added at the end of the build so that they are not damaged during the heavy construction.
Notice that i selected to close the idler spokes on my Stuart, as per late model but it seems to be optional. Most Stuart i see in pictures have open spokes.

The idlers are now surprisingly solid and strong. They can likely take a set of metal tracks in the future. The only real weak point are the suspension arms. I hope they will last. The idea will be to go slow..
Next step is to install the rollers, finish the tracks and create the sprockets. I can't wait to perform some running trials.

Regards, Louis

Excellent work Louis you're making great progress with the running gear, look forward to seeing more progress

Cheers, Lee.

(shakes head & sighs!)
The solutions you come up with are almost clairvoyant Mr Mcq11 .
I hope the folks at the joint making these things get a hint from someone & pay close attention to what folks here are doing to otherwise static models to make them multi-dimensional.
Like you say, low cost and pretty simple(or at least made to look simple) & surely a practical level to include in mass production.

Hi, thank you all. Yes, so far, this build is relatively simple, fast and low cost. After the Leopard C2 Mexas build, this is what i needed for a few weeks. And its nice to discover a new tank i have not built before.

This post is for the rollers.

There are six rollers. These are the parts coming with the kit for each. Although the rollers can be made to spin, the plastic axle and washers are inadequate for RC.
The roller mount is intricate, allowing the track connector teeth to run through. I had to find a way to put a metal axle in the middle of it, without interfering with the tracks.
The kit parts are reworked. The axle is an M2x16 Hex bolt. The flat roller drum base is given a metal axle housing to spin freely on the axle and its extended a bit so that the roller will remain strait and horizontal. It would otherwise have a tendency to fall at an angle. The plastic mount is drilled through for the axle to go all the way into the hull. A couple of washers, there is nothing complicated.
Partial assembly of the rollers.
The plastic mount is glued to the hull, then the hex bold is screwed in, leaving some space for the base of the roller to spin freely on its metal axle. The axle is taking away some room for the track teeth but not enough to interfere.
The roller drum is glued on.
View of the inside. A 2mm plasticard square was previously added behind each roller mount, drilled through so that the screw axle can have a solid base when screwed in,
Overview of the Stuart suspension with its functional return rollers.
Next step for this weekend; the tracks, the sprockets and the cutting of the gearbox shafts to align everything. Then a running trial.

Regards, Louis