Gift for the new year, All metal Mato Panzer III

[c.rainford73]

Before you hammer the heck out of that very expensive hull maybe get a dremel and sand it flat. Like Aussie said it would be best to file or sand these brass bushings down hammering might throw the entire hull out of alignment or worse. Even if you are gentle damage may occur. I'm assuming the bushes are bottoming out or are too tall to fit in all the way?
Or are they too wide to go in all the way?

[SteelBird]

Instead of saying the brass bushing are too wide, I think it's the holes on the hull that are too narrow because one side fit and the other not fit. OK, I'll stop use hammer. I did use sand papers to sand it shorter. Will try more this evening. Now only three roadwheels left and the lower hull will returns back to normal. By the way, I love the upper hull and the electrics.

[SteelBird]

After several days of work, I finally restore the Mato's PzIII back to working condition. The suspension is not perfect as expected but at least it's working now. Will take it offroad tomorrow.


Here are some photos after restoring. Does the bucket look odd? I never see any Pz3 with a bucket though.

[c.rainford73]

Running good now I see. Nice to see its back together!

[Tiggr]

Good to see it sorted.
The acid test for the tracks is to do a "demented Dalek" spinning on the spot on a thick pile carpet.

[SteelBird]

I don't have that type of carpet. however I test it "offroad" last evening on three different types of terrain -- gravel, thick grass (scaled forest) and sand (didn't make a video though). when doing sharp turn on gravel, there is a chance that the track may throw off. I didn't think it was able to maneuver through the thick grass but thank to its all metal construction. the total weight of the Mato's Pz3 is about 4.5kg, nearly the same weight as my metal upgraded Pantiger. It maneuver excellently on sand and didn't show a single problem as my Pantiger did. I think if Mato pays a bit more attention in its lower chassis production quality, this should be an excellent tank.

Further, I always people complaining about the over weight of all metal tanks, I think the Pz3 doesn't have this problem due to its small size. at 4.5kg, it would make an excellent maneuverable tank.

[SteelBird]

So I've made a video of my Mato's Pz3 running offroad. I'm not good in video editing and I'm alone. No one helps me. What you see are raw video. Get your Christmas surprise at the end of the video!

[Tiggr]

Doh !
The idler wheel has sheared

[SteelBird]

Doh !
The idler wheel has sheared

... and it never goes straight that I can't control the tank with single hand. I know most tanks have this problem.

[c.rainford73]

Never been a fan of that idler design. Time to upgrade