RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

Doc,
I am amazed by the indepth focus of the work done here. I think I will have to coat my exhaust pieces in a brushed on liquid metal before painting to avoid the breakage issue. I plan to replace the phillips head screws with scale hardware as well just to clean up the view wherever possible. (something else I should have mentioned in my email to MATO, surely they can afford hex head hardware for something this pricey?) Doc, you have made the rear end look 1000% more accurate! Following along and thanks for the heads up on the exhaust pipes.
regards,
Painless

The following is a little more detailed than it perhaps needs to be but i know a few people have had problems with their Mato all metal lower hulls in particular so I thought it would be helpful to articulate what I found on this tear-down and how I dealt with it on the build up. So, returning to the VVSS bogies:
I had, like some other owners, one or two wheels that started to bind a little, or at least not as free-running as I would like so when putting these together I tried to match the parts for optimum fit. I carefully cleaned the surfaces, sanded where necessary, and plumbed for molybdenum grease as it is relatively thin and less sticky that other options,

However, I found that when the two part axle was fitted to some wheels there was still some tightness in a few of the wheels. I discovered, in the end, that this was mainly due to the varying width of the wheel hubs. These measured roughly between 15.20mm and 15.50mm and even matching them to different axle combinations (in the case of thicker measurements) didn't cure the potential for problems. The solution was to simply file down one of the hubs (the axle halves are fixed length and lock into each other), so this is what I did with the naughty ones.

Doc Phibes,
Detailed thread full of excellently illustrated Dos and Donts as related to this vehicle. It's again interesting in these 'hand assembled' models why things ( like the retaining screws ) are left off and glue substituted. Good job on the gearbox fixes. I haven't noticed anything amiss with mine so far but that is only due to Jacks prior diligence with it.
regards,
Painless

Apologies if I've missed it but did you removed the doubled up springs front and back? I've done this on mine and whilst you do get a much more realistic lurch starting and stopping I'm not sure if it will cause issues on the roughy terrain.

Thanks Painless, yes, it's just my experience not every owner will necessarily come across the issues I have and, as you say, you had the benefit of a previous careful owner. What do you think of the 'double spring' set up on the bogies, as below?

Tom, that's interesting, I have double springs in the foremost bogies (next to the sprockets) and have left these in but not in the rear, just singles there - if I,m understanding you correctly? I did think about taking the extra springs out, and might still do because with the doubles in the suspension seems too stiff at the front to me. The only reason I haven't, so far, is that I assumed Mato doubled up the springs for some reason, but I'm beginning to wonder now. What do you think?

As I have zero experience with Sherman type suspension I can only summise, that the lead and trailing wheels are stiffened to allow the shape of the track to be retained when the lead or rear roadwheel is deflected .
If not then the whole lot could slacken enough to either derail or be baggy enough to skip the sprocket ?

Top work Doc.

It's almost like you are building the full size vehicle.

Good morning, Doc Phibes,
The suspension on my TD is softer in the rear but stiff up front so I am thinking that Jack removed the rear double spring set up ( due to stiffness I assume ) but left the ones up front because of the weight of the gearboxes. When the main gun fires you get a perfectly scaled little lurch rearwards. Same if the tank takes off fast from the start. The whole vehicle sits level when off so I am leaving it alone in that regard.
regards,
Painless

I think the reason is as Herman surmises, when stationary she does sit level and in motion fractionally sits down at the back. However I'm not sure if it will cause the tracks to bunch on grass, I shall have to give it a try!

Hi All, well at last I have found a little time to update my build thread. Progress has been slow mainly because of those annoying little features of life such family, work, all of which keep one from the important stuff! And then there is Painless, making sure that just when I thought I had it all covered....I really hadn't! (but seriously, your build has been an inspiration and education). Anyway, on to business, as they say.
The next phase in my build, still on the lower hull, was to figure out just how to get everything into what is after all quite limited floor space in the Sherman M4 hull of this M36. What I eventually come up with is the idea of having two decks. What the Mato M4 hull lacks in floor area is, to some extent, compensated by a taller hull and this makes it more viable to have multiple decks in this tank in particular.
To begin with I to come up with a rough idea of where I wanted to place everything so I decided the battery and smoke unit were best placed on what would become the lower deck. I also had to do some plumbing for the smoker to the newly installed exhaust outlets. Two things to notice in the first picture below
is the little metal tabs (there is one on the other side too) fixed to the hull wall and the cutaway on the rear bracket, both will be explained in due course. Next I made a two-piece removal clear perspex upper deck. This fits tightly between the rear idler adjuster nuts and is conveniently supported by the horseshoe blocks securing the bogies in place. The second picture better explains this.

Overall I think this has worked out quite well. The switches are in an easy to reach position now and there is more than ample space with the two deck to put in all and any extras I might want such voltage stepper, additional audio amplifier, bigger battery, bigger speaker, etc, and that's without using the 'shelf space' on the hull over the tracks.
Well as Bugs used to say, that's all for now folks, I still need to fit a volume control and one or two other bits and pieces but otherwise I should be able to move on to the exterior/upper hull and/or turret soon - even more fun I reckon