The first thing I did was red primer. With all the parts out there'd never be a better time plus the primer had plenty of time to harden. The hull was not perfect, some of the gearbox standoffs were broken. I used nuts and bolts, with spacers to hold the gearboxes in place.
I had some new motors coming from a Mato sale so when I got them broke them in first thing...I clamped the new motors to my poor boy's work bench (a wooden TV tray table), hooked up a battery and ran in the gears. I stopped every 5 min to swap gearboxes to let the motors cool. Ran them in for about an hour each gearbox. Then I hosed off the gears with rattle can, electric contact cleaner and blew the gears out with compressed air. After all that I bolted them in place.
Then I set about hooking up the radio. I had a spare 2.4 Rx waiting, and even bought a spare wiring set mostly to get the 8 pin wire. I dug up a binding wire and tried to bind the Rx to a transmitter and...nothing. I checked for voltage at the power connector from the switch, it was intermittent. Removed the battery and checked for continuity from the battery connector to the Rx male plug, showed good. Well like a dummy i realized hadn't masked the power plug before painting. So I cleaned it well with some thinner, reassembled and tested again - voila, bound the Tx and tested the motors and they run now.
Still waiting on the Jagdpanther upper hull from Rcparty. I'm thinking if I chose I can order a panther upper hull and have one of each? Once I get the JP running will decide if i even still want to do that by then.
Update:
So the tracks and sprockets came in the mail. I painted the tracks red primer, since they looked out of place in their shiny black plastic. Going to touch up the tracks with silver, later. Also I made up some grease shields for the gearboxes - I had short shaft gearbox and just had to swap the shaft to the 48 mm, that I had around from leftover factory plastic gearbox. The metal gears swap easily they are just lightly pressed on.
The grease shields are thin gauge tin, that i decided to prime and paint this time..note the magnet on the side, that holds them on securely. I cut out the grease guards freehand, and they are pretty straightforward as you'd think. Except if you want to use the magnet feature, I added on a tab of metal to bend over, for the magnet to glue onto (it's covered in red primer but its the rectangular thing). If you wanted to add it later you can cut and glue on the tab.
Compressors: Break-In, Lubrication, a Couple of Mods
I made a couple mods on my compressor since this is the last one i want to buy, and perhaps someone will find this useful. I wore out the old "oil-less" compressor some time ago and, even though it lasted quite a while, I am now convinced that oil-filled is the only type of compressor to get even for occasional use. It is only a little bit more and these compressors are so endlessly useful it's a false economy to get a cheapo "oil less".
I got this compressor earlier this year, a "Husky" brand, for $75 from some old man on Craig's list, Orange county Ca. It was a very good price, and he said it was new and so it seems to be. I think he fixes them and sells them as a side line so he knows something about them-but he told me much wrong info on the oil to use! Like it only needs 3 ounce of oil-not half a pint like he said!
(I emailed the company that makes them, twice)...also the old guy said to use car engine oil, this is also false. Use compressor oil only, motor oil causes the piston to carbon up. Also the detergents in car oil just help any dirt to circulate to all the parts, so you need non-detergent compressor oil. Breaking In an Oil-Filled Compressor
While looking up the exact amount and type of oil to use and other maintenance information, I browsed a few forums on air tools and compressors (didn't know they actually had forums about them but they do!). If you buy an oil filled compressor, it is probably better to break it in. Some manufacturers say to do a break in their compressor and some do not. I preferred to perform a break in process on mine. First thing to do is check the oil level. If yours has a sight gauge for the oil level, the level is usually supposed to be dead center of the site gauge. If it is lower or not visible, add a little bit, if the level seems high, drain out the excess.
One other thing, your compressor should have an air filter for intake air. Usually a foam rubber element is used. Make sure there's a filter inside, and thats its not torn or degraded.
Breaking in is straightforward, the object is to run the unit without a load while not overheating it and allow the parts to wear in for a while. To break in, open the air drain valve all the way - so there is no load on the unit - and turn on the unit. Allow it to run for several minutes, maybe 3 to 5 minutes. Shut off the unit and allow to cool completely...maybe at least ten minutes or longer. Once cool, repeat. Run the unit a few minutes, stop and allow to cool, repeat this procedure until at least an hour of unloaded running time has been reached. When done wit the break in process, change the oil.
One last thing, your compressor, oil-filled or not, has a drain valve on the bottom of the air tank. Has a dual purpose of releasing the air quickly when needed, but the main purpose is to drain out water build up inside the air tank. Please do not forget to use the drain valve every so often - open the valve and drain out the water every month or two, or after every use of the compresser. If this not done so water will build up inside the air tank and possibly cause it to rust from the inside out.
The arrows show the small mods i did. Top arrow shows a cork on a tether to block the vent port from airborne dirt when not in use. This vent port is also where you add the oil after a change. if you forget to remove the cork, and run the compressor before removing it will just pop out on its own. Don't know why they wouldn't just add some kind of spring loaded flapper when they made it.
Bottom arrow shows the brass valve i added to replace the plastic site gauge. The sight gauge tends to leak after a while, then you need to buy another one, anyway. For changing the oil the big brass nut comes out.
To check the oil level is a little more effort, but all you have to do is open the valve and wait a few seconds. If oil dribbles out the bottom (the valve is a tee of course, the black thing is a cover from a tube cap) you have enough.
Not shown in the picture, on the legs of the compressor are holes to fit the threaded caster for wheels, which i did. (I have a bad back). The wheels i bought cost $15/4 of them, and not knowing any better got wheels that are only about 3" or 4" in diameter. This size wheel is too small to be really useful, if you also want to add wheels to your compressor get at least 5 - 6" diameter! Plus that size wheel usually has on it a stamped metal piece that pivots, to act as a wheel lock when you don't want it to roll, which my cheap little wheels don't have.
