Crazy Joe's Sherman Rehabilitation

[PainlessWolf]

Alpha,
*chuckles* Plenty of room since even recessed, the top of the knob is at the same height as the hatch rim. I'm more concerned with how to turn a three pole sound pot into a two pin one since Mato uses a two pin plug for their pot and a two pin plug for the speaker. Speaker is plugged in. I'm saving the wiring for this weekend.
regards,
Painless

[ALPHA]

Alpha,
*chuckles* Plenty of room since even recessed, the top of the knob is at the same height as the hatch rim. I'm more concerned with how to turn a three pole sound pot into a two pin one since Mato uses a two pin plug for their pot and a two pin plug for the speaker. Speaker is plugged in. I'm saving the wiring for this weekend.
regards,
Painless

There you go...making things complicated again ................. Dang Painless you are supposed to notice those things before ...not after you install the part

You might be able to bypass the third pole.. but not knowing the specs.. I wouldn't be able to tell you which one


ALPHA

[PainlessWolf]

Alpha,
If I hath read the signs aright', it sounds like I can hook 1 & 2 together and that provides a sort of backup for the simple rheostat type switch I am making out of it so that if the wiper ever goes out, it won't be instant volume ON at 100% We'll see. I wish that someone 'electrical' on the board here would bestir themselves and let me know for sure.
regards,
Painless

[ALPHA]

You know Painless.. once it does work... still want to see you turn that knob with your fingers LoL...can't imagine doing it once the turret is on
What can I say... sometimes I'm just a dang pessimist
Carpe Diem Sir

ALPHA

[PainlessWolf]

Alpha, no problem, I'll post a picture once I have it all working. A neat find, some small metal clamps, always a useful item in a hobby box. 3 for a dollar at the local grocers. Friday and Saturday were very busy but I managed to set some time aside this afternoon to work on the upper hull wiring. I soldered the wires for the turret rotation gearbox on first. I was going to wire the new sound pot up since I had verified that to turn it into a two pin rheostat type pot, I needed to connect the #1 pole and the #2 pole (the wiper) into one pin then use the third pin as the ground. Walking into the kitchen, the email blipped and it was Curtis from Immortal Hobbies saying that they would have a schematic in a day or so to safely use their sound pot on the Mato 2.4GHz board. I'm going to wait to wire up the pot until I see what they are sending. No rush. Next, I configured the existing wiring for the headlights and taillights from a three pin to a four pin using a good picture of the wiring and Alphas notes from sending me the bridge board that was needed to make the new set work. Finishing up, I plugged everything in and put in a good battery. Flipped the switch, ...nothing. *chuckles* I tried a second battery, ...nothing. Checking all the connections brought the issue to light. Swapping the 2.4GHz board from hull to hull necessitates pulling the pins from the big battery plug. When I had put everything back together in the old hull, I had not seated the ground pin properly in that plug. A quick push and the pin snapped into place. I hooked up the first battery again and flipped the switch. The M4A1 rumbled to life. I have to admit, the new speaker and sounds are better than the older one. Everything worked, except predictably, the headlights, taillights and bow MG. The new airgun worked fine, the LED for firing lighting up the mantlet .30 cal. ;o) Turret rotation and gun elevation, tracks, all work, just those lights and the bow mg LED. I had to cut and solder several lengths of wire to get the lengths needed to reach the plug but I think the issue is that the wires at the lights need to be unsoldered and the whole thing reconfigured at the lights to match the 2.4 layout. I had redone the wires at the plug but not at the lights themselves. Tomorrow, I will get some new wires in single lengths and redo all of it, including removing the resistors which the 2.4 layout do not have. Pictures:

[ALPHA]

Hey Painless.. got a surprise for you on my Saunders thread

hope you approve... didn't want to highjack your premium build

ALPHA

[PainlessWolf]

Alpha! Nice Surprise! Your new Saunders Sherman is looking fantastic. So, today, some 24 gauge wire, some colored electrical tape and a massive soldering job later, the M4A1 has lights and a working bow MG. To begin with, I took close up shots of all the connections at the lights (after removing a ton of hardened hot glue) and compared them with the blow up of the picture of the underside of the upper hull of the 2.4 GHz version that Canned Heat found. I saw the issue right away, switched hots and grounds on the new version. I cut all of the solder job from the previous day off as well as the capacitors and rewired the four pin connection again carefully. I hooked up the battery and cable and flipped the switch. Working Lights! ... No Bow MG. Double checked the new wires and connections, still a no-go. On the off chance that Mato had switched the hot and ground of the LED by inserting it upside down crossed my mind so I snipped the just done connections there and twisted a new set on to test. Working bow MG! A quick resolder and that was done. Not wanting to mess with a good thing now that everything was working, I left the sound pot alone again (still no schematic email from Immortal) and organized and secured the newly soldered connections with DS Tape, a couple of wire ties and a little rubber cement. Feeling better about the build again. Pictures:

[ALPHA]

Alpha! Nice Surprise! Your new Saunders Sherman is looking fantastic. So, today, some 24 gauge wire, some colored electrical tape and a massive soldering job later, the M4A1 has lights and a working bow MG. To begin with, I took close up shots of all the connections at the lights (after removing a ton of hardened hot glue) and compared them with the blow up of the picture of the underside of the upper hull of the 2.4 GHz version that Canned Heat found. I saw the issue right away, switched hots and grounds on the new version. I cut all of the solder job from the previous day off as well as the capacitors and rewired the four pin connection again carefully. I hooked up the battery and cable and flipped the switch. Working Lights! ... No Bow MG. Double checked the new wires and connections, still a no-go. On the off chance that Mato had switched the hot and ground of the LED by inserting it upside down crossed my mind so I snipped the just done connections there and twisted a new set on to test. Working bow MG! A quick resolder and that was done. Not wanting to mess with a good thing now that everything was working, I left the sound pot alone again (still no schematic email from Immortal) and organized and secured the newly soldered connections with DS Tape, a couple of wire ties and a little rubber cement. Feeling better about the build again. Pictures:

Terrific news Painless... So friday she's all done eh... fantastic job on the electricals... and dealing with the glue Monkey's handywork

ALPHA

[PainlessWolf]

Good Morning,
Hopefully by Wednesday. Tonight is a glue on parts session followed by primer and paint tomorrow. That just leaves weathering and decals. The 'Mood' is looking good. I owe debts of gratitude to you and Sassgrunt. Your parts and guidance have enabled me to stretch my zone further in regards to what I feel comfortable attempting on one of these tanks. ;o)
regards,
Painless

[ALPHA]

Good Morning,
Hopefully by Wednesday. Tonight is a glue on parts session followed by primer and paint tomorrow. That just leaves weathering and decals. The 'Mood' is looking good. I owe debts of gratitude to you and Sassgrunt. Your parts and guidance have enabled me to stretch my zone further in regards to what I feel comfortable attempting on one of these tanks. ;o)
regards,
Painless

I didn't do nuthin ....Wednesday sounds good though...Mine should be finished sometime in the near future lol....not really rushing... already finished the contribution for Mcevoyi's June 6 anniversary build... with Valerie 2... so this one is just gravy lol..working on the wheels..ala fynsdad.. they aren't perfect..but dang good enough

Any way it would be nice to have pics of the "Mood" and "MAXINE" together

Carpe Diem Painless

ALPHA

PS. Tried putting my fingers in my hatch... yeah you should have no problem lol