RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

S.O.A.G,
Have a good night, my friend. ( I have all of those things but had heard good reports on the zip ties and went that route. If needed, I will go another. )
regards,
Painless

P.S. You got me to thinking about why the zip ties are recommended for this application. Looking at the sprocket shafts, it was obvious. The metal hose clamps _would_ work but will gouge up the surface as they are tightened down and stand the risk of crushing the whole works if you are heavy handed on the screwdriver. The plastic shaft on the sprocket has a slight taper on it from bottom to the top so some shaving of the plastic shaft would be required to get a tight fit if using a brass tube. That thing is thin enough already. Brass is recommended to make bushings for the road wheels so I will see about that. For now, I'll stick with the zip ties. I won't glue them on in case cracks do develop and I am forced to epoxy and wrap the whole thing in a tube.

I see your quandary Mr Wolf............would a heated brass tube(tooobe for you left hand drivers) forced over the drive spigot work perhaps ?
Measure the size differential from the top of the taper to the bottom, and if possible pick a 'tooobe' size in the middle median.
Heated enough and driven over the plastic will make the size right, without reducing the material volume too much I reckon.
Once dressed it should well strengthen the drive spline section.
If there is any cavity remaining, that could be filled with epoxy or liquid steel to further strengthen the structure.
The liquid I refer to is a compound I know as "Halliburton Weld" or Halliweld.
The Oilfield method of securing the casing Shue to the bottom of the casing string is made by a liberal application of this 2-part composition that the guys from Halliburton bought with them onto site.
Im sure it has a 'civilian' use as well, but the stuff was/is immovable and sticks better than shit to a shag-pile rug.
I will have a squiz around for a 'normally available' alternative & you can see if its available up there.
I guess there might be a branch of Team Red not far from you , as they sure do cover the globe and might sling you a pot if you ask nice !!?

Good morning, Gentlemen,
Mick, I did indeed miss Carls note about the hose clamp gambit. Carl knows I value his advice and seriously, without him popping in to give encouragement to me and many others who at times, feel like we've taken on more than we can chew, a lot of this stuff wouldn't get finished. I have screw driven hose clamps ( many years of driving antique Lincolns has given me a lifetime supply of those and glass fuses and filament light bulbs ) and brass tubing but went with the ties since my sprockets are currently good as new. No scratches, no cracks. If anything develops, it will be 'Katy Bar The Door' on all these options.
Herman, I did computer phone support for Big Red for years from their main sites in Texas all the way to little Sat Shacks in the Sahara. I miiiggghhhht be able to dig up a pot of that metal epoxy. * winks* Thanks, guys. This will be my first ( and probably only unless the Mate goes insane and buys me that 1/6 Tiger 1 I've been pining over for years ) 1/6 scale build.
regards,
Painless

Nothing much tonight but I did get the beginnings of what will grow to be a pile of 1/6 gear for the tank Commander. Aside from that, I discovered that the filler I had previously used on the bogies had dried and shrunk so a new layer was required. More soon. Pics:

Today was a Grocery day after work so nothing got done this evening upon returning home. The hour is a little late and there are still a couple of work days before the weekend. ) I did get in a pretty nice piece of additional gear for the Stuart today to kind of make up for the loss of 'funtime'. It will be a great 1/6th addition to the vehicle. Pics:

Working on the research model for this build, a 1/35 Tamiya M5...I have noticed that the lower hull of this tiny kit is the one shipped for the battery powered version from 30 years ago. Just for fun I search for the components but even Tamiya stopped manufacturing those decades ago ( I think ) The General convinces me to buy an inexpensive 1/48 scale LaserForce tank off of EBay. He has had some success using those components to RC 1/35 scale American armor. Roughly 5.00 US later I have the tank, a Pershing knockoff. All things considered, it is fun to play with, ir with a rotating turret and a sound module. I could actually make this conversion work ..._IF_... I had a set of the Tamiya gearboxes for the Stuart. Otherwise, it is a No Go. The gearboxes on the knock off are just too different to mount. It would require a complete rebuild of the little Tamiyas lower hull to even come close to reliably working. So, I'll throw it out here just in case, cash for the parts and shipping if anyone has the 1/35 Stuart M3 or M5 electric motor gearboxes? If I don't hear back in a reasonable time, I'll build it into a static version. Pics:

Mr Painless this is very cool indeed. I've a few older motorized kits that I've built and they are fun to build and enjoy

Carl!,
I agree! I built a lot of those when I was a kid. They were worth all the lawns I had to mow to save up the cash wherewithal to buy them with. *chuckles* Whether or not I succeed in RC-ing this little Stuart, it will still make a dandy paint and detail kit for its 1/6 scale big brother.
regards,
Painless

No RC for this little guy. I took the Laser Force tank apart completely and figured out a way to swap the components and partial pieces of the lower hull into the Stuart ( since _no_ Tamiya gearbox components for this kit could be found anywhere ) The problem was that the amount of time to do it right would set back the 1/6 build a considerable deal. So, no go on that. My concession was to build the kit so that should gearboxes ever be found, the rework for RC-ing it could happen then. I finished the little kit today. It was quite intricate for the tank it portrayed with lots of tiny parts indeed. I am ready to paint and mark it and will then have the research tank to inspire and guide me as I work on it's big brother. Pics so far:

Mr Painless, that picture of the donor tank could almost end up as a Goliath !!
A bit big I know, but its got the look about it