Upgrading my tanks

[Arnie_DK]

Hi guys

I very recently got into this world of RC tanks and its already taking over all my sparetime, but mostly on the research side of buisness. I am out of country at the moment, so wont be able to do any actual work, until I get home, but wanted to make a thread here, to let you guys know what I have planned for the future, and hopefully getting some tips on what to do/be aware of, when I get to start the actual work.

So, in my motor pool, I currently have these tanks with upgrades waiting to be installed:

HL KV-1:
Metal Lower hull with metal road, idler, return and sprocket wheels, late version.
Upper hull with metal boxes, metal exhausts and charging port

Metal T34 with 360 turret:
Needs to have its board checked. Lights dont turn on, when tank is turned on but flash rapidly, when start switch on the controller is turned on. No sound coming from it, otherwise performs as it should(driving, shooting, turret turning, IR battle)
Have ordered a Metal loaders hatch, to try and hide the IR port, when on display

Taigen PzIV w. metal tracks:
Turret is only turning right, not left. Needs to fix a broken wire to the front right headlight.
Have purchased recoil with xenon flash unit and IR kit, to replace airsoft system.
Metal Sprocket, return, idler and road wheels. Track tensioner.
Asiatam aluminium lower hull, with motors
Metal hatches, front and back.

Metal early Tiger 1 with 360 turret.
Just needs a paint job, as I dont like the camo scheme it came with.

WSN Tiger 1 and T-34 that I'm trying to upgrade with Taigen 2,4 board and IR stuff, to work with the other tanks. Have a separate thread about theese.

But thats it. I know I have my work cut out for me with all the upgrades and fixes I need to do. More or less bought it all from RCtank.de, except the PzIV lower hull. Bought that off Asiatam on ebay, since it was around 40£ cheaper than Welshdragonmodels and rctank.de did not have it in stock.

I also want to paint all the tanks, so they kind of match. Right now its a mix of winter, summer and plain plastic colours.
So, if anyone of you have any tips to share or something I should be aware off, before starting the work on them, I would apreciate hearing them

[Arnie_DK]

Heres some pictures of the tanks and their upgrades. Some of the parts are still in the mail though, like the hulls and wheels.
Will post better pictures when I have everything and is home again

[jarndice]

Hi, Arnie I see you have decided to live to 2115 That is if you hope to finish your Tanks.
Right now the only things I would add to your list of parts for a PANZER 4 is A Spare Wheel Carrier "It fits midway along the hull below the turret" and an aeriel kit "The PANZER 111 Aeriel is interchangeable if you are going to fit the one mounted beside the Turret" Of course different Panzer 4 types had Aeriels mounted in different places, Indeed the only place they never put a Radio Aeriel was in the centre of the engine bay where Heng Long have theirs!!! I think SCHUMO makes an Aeriel kit? Otherwise I think you have it all covered, I shall settle down with my Grandchildren watching your build Take care shaun

[Arnie_DK]

Hehe thanks

I have about a 4 weeks worth of vacation when I get home, and the wife have to go to work at least for two of those weeks, so plenty of "me" time, to tinker around with these

My first priority, will ofcourse be to get everything up and running. Then all the cosmetic parts, like the wheel holders and aerial, like you sugested

In time, I would like to get them all some crew and metal MG's. Maybe upgrade some of the headlights, for more realistic ones. Especially the lights on the PzIV. Seems like they just stuck an LED through the slots in the headlights, so they have a huge "bulb" sticking out of them. Not really that pretty to look at.

[jarndice]

Arnie, If you do upgrade the MG most of us make the mistake of fitting the Infantry barrel MG34 rather than the Armoured barrel which is smooth on the outside,
An LED fitted one is available and "ABER" make a Photo Etch kit to convert an Infantry MG34.
I love your timetable I am just wondering if you have factored in time for SLEEP??? shaun

[Arnie_DK]

Hehe, I hadnt really figured on completing them all in just two weeks, but figured it would give me a head start
I had noticed there where different kinds of barrels for the MG34. These are for both the cupola mounted MG and hull/turret MG's yes?

Some of them seem way to long for the hull and turret though, or maybe thats just because I have only seen the standard mounted MG's?

Btw, sleep is for the weak and I like coffe and Monster
But maybe I should get my sleep with these things, especially when it comes to the electronics. I have already failed miserably at such a simple task, as soldering wires to an on/off switch, because I was tired. For some reason I thought it was okay to wire both +wires to one pin and both -wires to another... on the same side... melted a battery...

[jarndice]

Arnie, If you search the web you will find both long barrel (led)armoured mg34s and short barrel (led) armoured mg34s,
The short barrel fits nicely in the Turret, although in the Tiger 1 you will have to do a little preparation first,
The real problem comes when you try to get the Turret mg 34 to fire independently of the Hull mounted mg34,
The last short barrel (led) mg34 I got from
www.welshdragonmodels.com
shaun

[Blitzmgg]

Wow that's a cany selection, Taigen tanks are really popular now, so should be a few lads at your place to battle with. I'm also new to the tank thing but its infectious lol I fancy a t34 next

[Arnie_DK]

Jarndice:
I have found that tank-modelbau.de have a good selection of LED MG's for both the Tiger and PzIV.
I really love the look of the Aber MG's over the Fine-Line. Just like the price of the Fine-line better. Will wait and see. Upgrades that have no real purpose, other than looks, will have to come, after I have installed all the practical upgrades
Speaking of MG's. I have seen several pictures now, of PzIV's sporting the infantry barrel, in both the hull and turret. Admittedly, I have only seen this on museum tanks, so it may be, that they just put the wrong MG in their tank. But is it a fact, that they only used the reinforced MG barrels in the tanks, or is it plausible that they used the infantry version later in the war, after the MG34 got replaced by the MG42? And did they ever use a long MG barrel in the turrets, instead of the shorter ones?
I'm not really concerned about getting the MG's to fire individually. I think I'm just going to put a "static" MG in there for the looks.

Kiaser:
Like your paint job! Had thought about just painting it by hand, as I have never used an airbrush before, but I have painted plenty of tanks in my days playing 40K imperial guard(yes yes, cant compare in size, but the techniques are basically the same )

Blitz:
I have a tendency, to go a bit overboard, when ever I start a new hobby. Hence the more or less, "instant motor pool". And it all started, because I was trying to find a rechargeable battery, for my WSN Tiger
And the T-34 is really nice! Just need to upgrade with a metal loaders hatch. I'm not really a fan of their decision to put the IR port directly in the hatch itself, instead of under it, like they do on any other tank out there.
But not a lot of people in Denmark who are into this hobby (that I know of), so I bought a few extra tanks, so I could play with them, when ever I had friends over for a beer
The wife ain't that keen on the tanks. She likes my little helicopter better (no. Not that one!)

[Blitzmgg]

Haha is the taigen system any good