Heng Long Challenger 2.Metal Tracks and Sprokets etc.

[zooma]

Quote:-

"One thing that always amuses me is the fascination with magnetising the joints and removing the battery box these days.
None of my venerable H/L tanks have had this.
Screws and the battery box are the order of the day.
If I need to get into the hulls of these things, screws are not really hard to get out and theres a solid reason for doing so.
Also, changing batteries is much easier or, at least present similar difficulties to cracking the hull to do so.
The Taigens I have are a PITA to change batteries(not the JS2) as the way I have completed the outside presents a problem with skirts, tow cables and suchlike.
On the flipside, manipulating a model to access the underslung battery box cover, change the battery, and reinstate the cover is also an issue in itself at times.

As I am probably an expert in bringing total wrecks back to life, the screwed hull and battery box is a go"




Thanks for your contribution Herman Bix.

EASY ACCESS BATTERY.

Being able to access the battery easily is essential if the tank is going to be run regularly - unless it has a charge socket that is easily reached from the outside of the tank.

I am not a fan of having the battery buried inside the tank if it cannot be accessed easily and quickly (especially with the use of LiPo batteries) and I would rather remove the battery to charge it than use a charging socket to charge it inside the tank.

It would be much better if it were possible to access the battery without either having to turn the tank over to access the battery box cover underneath, OR to pull the top half of the tank off after the battery has been relocated inside the hull.

None of the above three options is a "perfect" solution in my opinion.

BATTERY IN TURRET - a perfect solution?

A compromise of having the battery located in the turret is perhaps the lesser of the evils if the turret top can be easily removed (such as on the Tamiya Leopard 2A6) and if the turret has enough space to house a battery . Modern MTB's usually have larger turrets than their predecessors and so it can be easier to squeeze a drive battery inside it.

Even this "solution" is not perfect or as easy to achieve as I discovered when making this conversion to my Heng Long Leopard 2A6! Converting the turret top to be a "quick change" (but secure) fixing was easy and the magnets are a much better way of holding it on than all the self tapping screws that it came with...but the main gun pivot axle is secured by a pair of "half-clamps" that are moulded into the top half of the turret !

The gun elevation unit is also held into the top half of the turret moulding, so that will need relocating (or replacing with a servo), and with the "half clamps" cut away from the turret top moulding and fixed onto the lower halves of the bearing clamps, both can be mounted onto the turret floor so that when the top is lifted off to change the battery, everything stays in place and does not need any fiddly realignments to put it all back together again .....like it does now.

BATTERY BOX.

Having the battery fitted in its "box" underneath the tank does not impress me too much.

With the weight of the battery only being held into the tank by a single self tapping screw, this is not a fixing that makes me feel comfortable that it is a secure long term way of holding the battery into the tank. Only the one self tapping screw prevents the battery from dropping onto the ground if the self-tapped thread in the plastic hull should fail.

Repeatedly screwing in (and unscrewing) the single self tapping screw into the moulded plastic hull is not a good well engineered solution that I would be happy to rely on in a tank that will have plenty use and battery changes. With repeated battery changes the self tapping screw is bound to eventually chew its way into the plastic until its becomes a loose fit and no longer able to hold the weight of the battery in the tank.

Another worry for me with having the drive battery underneath the hull is that it will not be protected from the ingress of water as the battery box has no gaskets or seals . This is not a problem if you have no intention of ever driving the tank outside in wet weather or mud....... but I like to keep my options open!

BATTERY SIZE.

Another problem with having the battery in a close fitting box underneath the hull is that it determines the maximum size of battery that can be fitted into the tank. My T90 came with a small "half-sized" main drive battery, and the box that it fits into is not big enough to take a more "normal" size of battery.

Fortunately (?) my Heng Long Leopard 2A6 and my Heng Long Challenger 2 were both also supplied with this same "half size" battery, (rattling about in the "normal size battery boxes), so I have three of them that I can rotate, but the longer term solution will be to relocate the battery - probably in the hull as the T90 turret may not be big enough to take a "normal" sized battery..

The weight of this half size battery is minimal and so the self tapping screw that holds the lid onto the battery box has a lot less work to do to support the battery weight - but the lid is not "sealed" and it is still only secured by a self-tapping screw, so in the longer term I need to change it.

[zooma]

As a matter of interest, this Challenger 2 is running with PLASTIC main wheels and PLASIC return rollers, so replacing these with a metal set with rubber tyres may be another job for the future, but for now I am going to enjoy running it the way it is because it is now driving very nicely on its metal tracks with metal sprockets and return wheels.

The above combination is very smooth now it is powered by the RED motors and it has enough power it drive it over grass and undulating ground without any hesitation. The steering is also much improved - probably because these motors can handle the weight of the metal tracks better. The standard motors tended to slow down during any turning manoeuvres - a problem that is now fully overcome.

Before making any more changes to this tank I decided to throw some paint at it in an attempt to replicate a BATUS Challenger 2.

Several references books and pictures were used to work from and I soon discovered that there was no such thing as an official BATUS paint scheme - every one I looked at was slightly different.......and some were quite a bit different. This becomes a lot more obvious when trying to paint one!

I do not have any pictures of the same tank that covers the front, back, both sides, and the top - this would have been very handy!

At first I thought I would paint the left hand side and then the right hand side and then join them together with reference to a picture of a BATUS tank from overhead......and this is when it became obvious that every tank that I had pictures of had a different paint pattern!

Looking at the tank again this morning, it looks OK, but I have no pictures of the rear engine deck on a BATUS painted tank, so this is the only area that I don't feel too happy about - so mine has been painted "free form" as I had nothing to reference it too.

If I can find a picture of any BATUS Challenger 2 I could see what sort of percentage the the dark yellow and NATO Green paints were used in on this area and make any adjustments.

As for the rest of the tank, the colour scheme that I have ended-up with is OK (ish), and I will make a couple of minor adjustments to it today, but overall the percentage of the two colours looks about right.....its only the engine deck area that I am not too sure about.

[Herr Dr. Professor]

Zooma, you are putting much more time an money into your Challenger 2 than am I. So keep showing your results, while I hide mine (even if I am having fun). I am sticking with the NATO camouflage paint scheme, and there seems to be a serious lack of choice of markings (the standard HengLong press ones and one Peddinghaus decal is all I can find). I have thought about packing up after assembly and paint and waiting for markings, but I am also eager to try out more weathering on the tank. Sigh...

[zooma]

Thanks Herr Prof.

I took the BATUS Challenger 2 to the club hall last night and run it, and I have to say it was nice to see it running around in its new colours - even though the paint work is far from finished yet.

As far as I can see, BATUS Challenger 2's do not usually run with the supplementary fuel tanks fitted, so I think I will need to remove these, and this will also make it possible to complete the paintwork on the rear of the tank. This area is quite difficult to get to with the fuel tanks in the way, but the ones on my tank seem to be quite keen to stay in place - I must have used a really good super-glue to fix them!

This tank is running nicely and so I am going to enjoy it "as it is" at the moment as I still have plenty of work to do on my "Used Challenger", so it is nice to have this one "ready to run" and finishing the paintwork can be done at any time without taking the tank out of action for any longer than it takes for any fresh paint to dry!

This tank came with metal tracks and sprockets along with a 360 degree turret turn - and needed a bit of "sorting-out".

The only thing I have added to it is a pair of red motors (just over £20 for the pair), a pair of axle bearings, two longer screws (to help keep the drive sprockets on), and some paint. Even the paint was made up from some old Tamiya jars that I had left over from the last 1/35 scale plastic kits I had completed some years ago, so I have not spent much cash on it since I first bought it.

I may replace the screws that hold the two halves of the chassis together with some spare magnets that I have in the workshop as the tank is still running around with these two halves only being held together by gravity! (these screws were not replaced since I fitted the RED motors).

[zooma]

My old iPhone 7 SE has served me very well, but it was getting a bit tired, and its ability to hold a charge for any length of time was reducing every day and so last week I finally gave in and bought myself a new iPhone 16 - something my family have been telling me that I should have done years ago when my old iPhone 7SE lost its ability to hold a charge for anything longer than a couple of hours!

The new iPhone 16 battery is far better and it is able to hold it's charge for a couple of days .......but with it came a problem that I was not expecting.

I have not been able to upload any of the pictures that have been taken on my new iPhone 16 on to rctankwarfare.

Whilst this could be seen as a positive advantage for some of you that are getting fed up with seeing my pictures, but it has been baffling me as I had no idea why this should happen.

History and current technique. I have never been able to upload any pictures on here directly from either my iPhone 7SE or my iMac computer as the files are "too big" and there is no way to reduce the file size during the uploading operation.

Some amateur juggling about discovered that if I wait until the pictures appear on my very old iPad (years out of date) I can upload add them to my rctankwarfare text easily (!).

This afternoon I found my old iPhone 7 completely flat and with no Simm card in it (this has been fitted into my new iPhone 16) so I plugged it into the mains charger and took a picture of a tea cup.

By the time I returned to my desk, this picture of a teacup had uploaded itself onto my ancient iPad.

By way of an experiment, I tried to upload it onto this thread...............and here it is!

It looks like I need to keep charging my old (dead) iPhone 7SE (even though it has no Simm card in it) if I want to take any pictures that I would like to add to any of my rctankwarfare threads.............until I find out how to upload them from my "more up to date" phone and computer.

This is OK for now, but my old iPad is more or less worn out and my iPhone 7SE is also just about "finished" so I am not sure how I am going to add any future pictures using my current iPhone 16 or my iMac computer?

Any ideas?

Could it be that the current site interface is not compatible with newer iPhones or iMac computers?

I would obviously like to use my new iPhone 16 or my iMac computer to upload pictures onto this site, and in the future (when my knackered iPhone 7SE and iPad finally kick the bucket) I will have no other option, so I need to find out how to upload picture on here with current (and up to date) iPhones or iMac computers.

[Pavel]

What category of tea lovers do you belong to?
Do you pour milk into tea or tea into milk????

[zooma]

What category of tea lovers do you belong to?
Do you pour milk into tea or tea into milk????

Hi Pavel,

I add the milk to the tea.

That way it is easier to get the colour and taste the way I would like it .....each and every time.

For many years previously, I had always put the milk into the cup and poured the hot tea over it.

I now know that this is NOT the best way to do it, and since making the change of technique I can produce a much more repeatable "brew" - every time!

Although I am happy to help with this vital piece of tea brewing information, I am hoping that someone reading this will let me know the correct technique of adding pictures on here direct from my iPhone 16 or my current iMac computers.

Uploading pictures to other sites (including eBay and Facebook etc) works perfectly with my new iPhone 16 or my current iMac computer, but I need to find out why my current uploading process, or uploading directly from either of them, does not work for rctankwarfare with my (more up to date) iPhone 16 and current iMac computer. ?

Enjoy your tea!

Bob.

[zooma]

Thanks to my old iPhone 7SE (it no longer has a Simm card) I can share some pictures of my first attempt to replicate a Challenger 2 in BATUS colours that I am working on with my Toucan supplied "green" Heng Long model.

The tank was delivered in an overall dark green colour that did not look much like any of the green colours that I could find British Challenger 2 tanks painted in.

Tamiya XT-67 NATO Green and XF-60 Dark Yellow paints have been used by myself to date and I think they will make a good base to work from....unlike the AK Tactical Markings Colour RCM003 RAL 3020 "Signal Red" that I used on the fire extinguishers (that looks positively pink !).....but it will make a good undercoat!

The "green and sand" colour areas are not that clearly defined in places just yet as I keep changing my mind (with every new picture I see), but I am getting close to finalise a scheme that I find acceptable and I think that I only need to do a bit more work on the engine cover area to get the percentage "mix" of sand and green and the "pattern" shape looking "right".

I have yet to find a picture of any BATUS Challenger 2 that shows the left hand side, the right hand side, the overhead plan view, the front elevation and the rear elevation to make it possible to replicate any specific tank, and if I did, it would probably only be the colour that it was on the day it was pictured and would not guarantee that it would stay that way.....but I would still like to see it!

There are some semi-constant camouflage shapes - such as the moustache shape the runs across the front of the turret and the base of the main gun - every one is different - but it is a feature that every one I have seen has, along with the continuous line of green that runs diagonally across the cupolas - again every one is different - but it is a constant feature that can be used when working out a "typical" BATUS paint scheme.

Once I am happy with the colour ways I will tidy them up and make a better paint finish.... before I spoil them with some weathering!

[Pavel]

I am also an adherent of milk in tea!
But I recently watched one program with British scientists, where they conducted experiments on this issue.....
The world is divided into blunt-ended and sharp-ended, there is a war between them!
And everyone proves that his method is the best!

[zooma]

The auxiliary fuel tanks are seldom seen fitted onto the BATUS Challenger 2 tanks when they are in the depot - or when they are out playing their "war games" exercises when they are used to play the "opposing forces" tanks.

I have yet to fill in the slots that the fuel tank carriers would normally plug into (I have some plastic card that I can use for this) but without these tanks fitted I can begin to work out the paint areas better and experiment until they look acceptable.

Final detail work will follow, but for a tank that will not be seen any closer that 1-2 yards (or metres) at the closest point as it drives past there wont be too much time spent on fine detailing....as it will never be seen!