RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

Steve, Hi. I purchased the Asiatam lower hull from Welshdragon over two years ago,solid,strong and dependable. My Tiger S13 is just over 20LBS. Runs circles around both my Tamiya King Tigers and has been the best money spent.

Now I have many upgrades like my control arms are tapped to 3.5mm and I used shoulder bolts for axles,the wheels are early model,the factory Asiatam tensioner s have been slightly modified and work great never have I THROWN A TRACK and I have driven my Tiger over and through just about every type of terrain.

The older Asiatam Metal gearboxes have worked very well after running them in properly they still run great. The hull and turret are lined with automotive wheelwrights with adhesive backing,placed over the tracks and in my turret these create weight distribution where it is needed the most directly over the tracks,and in the turret to give me a stable gun platform.

The tank drives like a tank,the wheels moving in a fluid motion with the hull remaining level,not bouncing but a solid,stable gun platform.

I have GRUAPNER SPEED 400 Motors with 11 tooth pinion gears,these have worked very well and the tank has alot of torque and pulling power. My Jagdpanther when new was chained to the Tiger back to back the Tiger dragged the Jagdpanther spinning tracks backwards,that is the benefit of the weight and the Asiatam lower hull.

I wanted you to know this information so you could make the most informed choice when you purchase your lower hull,the new metal hull seems solid,but retains the coil spring control arms,and if you consider this it may not be the stronger of the two. The torsion bar type suspension is by far a better design,and with the use of lead weights the Asiatam hull can be set up very well.

If you are interested I could send some detailed pictures of the hull and the set up of the drive system,the component tray makes for a very neat and ordelly internal hull set up and really does provide a very good layout internally. I like a neat tank,my wiring and layout are compact and simple with the turret free from any clutter.

I hope this helps you in your choice of hulls? Best of luck with your build, Saxondog

thanks very much for all that information, could you send me the pictures they would helpalot, i think i might still go with the mato hull but not sure for now, could the tamiya upper hull be made to fit my HL easy ? as i want the opening rear latches etc

i dont mean to sound stupid..

but the wheels arent meant to be lined up like this are they ? none of them are inline to me, i used the hanky box for a straight edge, it being light it never moved the wheels from the position they were in..





i got the idler wheels to sit a bit better

Stevie_Hendo

You'll find when you put the tank on the side the weight of the tracks will move the road wheels so I always remove the tracks and put two 30cm rulers where the guide horns run to see where there are out.

But back to the alignment the stock HL is terrible, I found the wheels did live a V shape spreading at the front. And whether by chance or because of the tracks I found the metal track version a lot worse than the plastic.

I upgraded my metal track Tiger to the Asiatam hull and although people praise it I found it difficult to set up. I agree it is good but is far from a simply swap. Have a look in the FAQ section as there is topic about the alignment set up. Also regarding one of your earlier comments about wanting the weight the Asiatam hull with metal gearbox, drive, idler wheels and tracks is heavy plus you could always add ballast or metal road wheels if you wanted.

thanks very much if you look back at the picture on its side, the tracks are not actually touching the wheels atall there hanging from the idler to the drive sprocket theres enough slack as do that and you can see on the phot they sit kinda V from the front as you said, and the are all out, as much as you say setting up the asiatam is difficult, im guessing it will rule out this squint wheel problem in the end though ?

stevie_hendo wrote:as much as you say setting up the asiatam is difficult, im guessing it will rule out this squint wheel problem in the end though ?

Yes as the suspension arms are metal they hold the wheels straight. But the supplied wheel axles supplied are too short for the plastic heng long wheels. I filed down the inside of the plastic wheel so would sit closer to the hull and therefore use the supplied bolts. (one of the reasons I said it isn't a straight swap of parts)

Blimp did a good topic on his Tiger build

http://www.rctankwarfare.co.uk/forums/v ... =22&t=7333" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

which has a good few pictures of the Asiatam hull which might help you.

sounds good enough to me ! another question, what type of filler should i use when chopping and changing parts ? and where can i get it from ?

am i the only person whos made an attempt of having the exhausts work properly ? asin the smoke coming from the exhaust and not the exhaust sheild ? ive done a pretty neato job like ill upload a video

heres a video of my exhaust mod in action if anyones interested

http://youtu.be/o2I3M9dODFY