RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

Hi,

As i await material for my current build, here is a quick build i had in mind for a while, an WW2 LRDG Jeep.

The Long Range Desert Group, which were affiliated with the SAS, operated long range strikes on German bases in Northern Africa. The Jeep they used were modified for desert warfare to improve engine cooling, minimize water evaporation and were heavily armed and overloaded with ammo, spare tires, gasoline and water Jerrycans.
This is the model i am planning to reproduce in 1/10 scale. Heavily armed for speedy grouped attacks on German airbases, shooting at aircrafts on the ground and base defenses while running at high speed on the landing strips, causing maximum damage, and then evaporating into the night.
Building one of these means buying lots of expensive 1/10 Jerrycans.
A trademark of the LRDG Jeeps is the use of the Vickers GO (K model) machine gun on single and twin mount. Although someone is selling 3D printed examples of these at an outrageous price on Shapeways, i will attempt at scratch building a twin mount.
The LRDG were not using the regular Browning .50 cal M2 HB. They were instead reusing aircraft AN models adapted for ground use.
Luckily, there is a 1/10 resin bust figure of a SAS gunner that comes with a full replica of the M2 AN. I am anxiously waiting for it to arrive in the mail.
The Jeep model used is the Feichao 1/10 4WD RC vehicle sold from China for about $55, shipping included. It is also sold under the label JJRC Q65.
Upon opening the box, it does not take much time to notice a few issues that will need correction. The most obvious is the jacked up aspect of the chassis, way too high.
For a 1/10 scale, the wheel are oversized by about 5mm in diameter. The front wheel is also place too far in the back and need to be repositioned.
The electronics is cheap. Soldering is badly done as wires are falling just by touching them. There are way too many lights features here for me. I am planning to replace everything. The engine is quite small for a fairly large vehicle. I will try to see if a bigger one could fit but this will be looked at later.
Continuing on following post.

Axles and gearbox are familiar.
6V battery under the hood.
Servo steering.
Very basic interior.
To help me with the build, i am using the Tamiya Willys jeep offering, 1990s version.

From the 1/35 scale model and extrapolating to 1/10 scale, i was able to determine that the Feichao model has quite a few dimensional issues. Assuming that it is 1/10 scale, i have determined that the model is 7mm too long, and a big 17mm too narrow in width. Although it is technically possible to do something about the length, it is impossible to fix the width. So, let's say that this model is about 1/10 and not accurate in shape. An area that is obviously too long is the front seat area where a whole centimeter in length can be removed, more about that later.
Looking at the suspension of the real Jeep Willys, i am noticing that the axle is placed inside the leaf spring suspension, not outside. That explains why the Feichao model is so high and it is a good hint as to how to fix it.
First task to do is to fix the height of the vehicle, and the placement of the front wheel. All the original electronics is discarded.
The axle needs to be move inside the lead spring suspension, and then everything around need to be adapted accordingly.
Disassembling of the suspension is very easy,
continuing on following post.

I am equipping the Jeep suspension with additional leaves available on ebay, same as WPL.
The axles have been moved inside the suspension, reducing the height of the vehicle significantly while still providing the same level of suspension.
The front axle has been moved forward as shown. The plastic bottom of the chassis has been trimmed. The cheap plastic drive shafts have been replaced by longer metal ones. It runs a lot tighter and smoothly.
The huge steering plastic bar has been replaced by one made of thinner and lighter brass rod so that it does not interfere with the suspension. A new steering servo will be placed in a new location later. The previous base for the servo has been completely removed to allow for the front suspension and drive shaft to move freely.
Overview of the rearranged suspension.
Overview of the vehicle.

Now, this is looking like a Jeep. I can't believe the designer of the model could create such an ugly configuration for a classic vehicle like the Jeep. It could have been easily resolved at the design phase.
Continuing on following post.

Before / After comparison. In addition to lowering the chassis to a realistic level, the LRDG Jeeps were overloaded with heavy jerrycans, so the suspension need to show under much extra pressure.
New front wheel location.
Overview of the updated drive train.
Ok, enough for an evening of modelling. This is quite fun, and a good start. I was a bit concerned at first that my Jeep would not look good because of the height but no more.
Regards, Louis

Hi,

After a bit of analysis, i determined there is no room for a receiver and a better control board inside the engine compartment. I therefore decided to reinstall the original electronics. I had to place the steering servo with an angle to match the steering arm that is somewhat confined at the front between the suspension and the steering rod. The servo is of course higher than before. That little motor is also not very promising but there is no room for a larger WPL motor/gearbox combination. I also decided to see the lighting on this vehicle so i rewired all the LEDs to their original configuration, just to see what it gives.
The base of the battery had to be removed because the steering servo and board are higher than before, but i kept the anchor screws for the chassis.
A new base for the battery is created, a bit higher than before, but still with plenty of room for the battery and for the hood to close.
Getting ready for some running trial in the backyard. After playing with it for 10 minutes, i determined that although the remote and board offer good control, the overall experience is underwhelming. Its not a crawler at all. It runs well on flat surfaces or light gravel. But as soon as you want to climb something or go into a bit a grass, it stops right there. That little motor is definitely not powerful enough for this fairly large RC vehicle. The remote has a Throttle ratio that slows it down a bit but does not increase power. I was previously spoiled by my twin engine 6x6 TPz-1 Fuchs that ran the same trail a month ago...

But at least the trial was a success in demonstrating that the vehicle can run as good as before with its lower appearance and reworked suspension.
Headlights are good but the convoy blackout lights below them can be improved. There are red and have too much flash. Something will have to happen to them. I have some lens for the headlights made for this vehicle, purchased from Dioramaparts on Ebay Germany. They will be installed after painting.
The rear is bad. First, the main tail lights are bright white instead of being red. The LEDs will need to be changed and some details provided to the exterior. Then the reflectors on the sides are actually lit up... The LRDG likely painted over the reflectors completely. In any cases, the wires for them will be cut.
Next step is to try to see if i can install a better motor and rework the LEDs into something more realistic.

Regards, Louis

Following - I have one of these awaiting some work.

Good job with lowering and moving the axle.

Thanks Ad Lav !

I was not happy at all with the weak motor so i decided to change it for a more powerful one. I was able to fit it in.

I purchased this WPL split transfer gearbox upgrade with 370 motor 2 years ago and never used it. The shifting between high/low gears would normally be operated by a servo, something that won't be possible here because of the electronics used. But at least, i will be able to shift manually. Need to make room for it though.
The mount on both side that fits inside the metal frame need to be reduced in size so that the motor can be fixed in a lowered position by a couple of mm.

In addition to the modification to the gearbox, i had to remove some features that were on the way and about 1mm of plastic from the underside of the Jeep tub. Then, the tub is able to fit on the frame without obstruction from the larger motor.
The 370 motor and gears are a lot more promising than the little motor it replaced, the one at the bottom. These small motors are ok for 1/35 or 1/25 RC Jeep, not 1/10. Well, unless you just want to drive it in the living room and are ok seeing it having difficulty climbing over the carpet... I was anxious to see how the stock electronics would behave with the new larger motor/gearbox.
I also had to put on longer drive shafts because the shaft of the gearbox is shorter.
Although it is not connected to anything, i installed the provided servo as a way to hold the gearbox shift stick in place, otherwise, it is loose and does not hold in place while running. Shifting gear between high and low is therefore a manual operation that cannot be done from the control.
The larger motor and gearbox are lower and more prominent than the small things provided with the model, however, there is no comparison in performance.
To my great pleasure and satisfaction, the Jeep is now able to navigate through grass and heavy vegetation.
This RC Jeep is now a crawler, able to climb objects and get over them. The gear shifting works well. On pavement, the model is achieving good speed with the high gear.
Continuing on following post with a couple of Videos.

And here are 2 short Youtube Videos of the model in action with the changes performed so far.

Here the vehicle is seen at low gear and low speed. It offers pretty good control.

https://youtu.be/1EQvDfyZasQ
And here is a demo of the crawler capabilities with the new motor and gearbox.

https://youtu.be/_ISOxkGKLAQ
What a difference with yesterday. This is not the same RC vehicle at all. Now i like this Jeep a lot.

Next steps are to start the conversion into an LRDG WW2 Jeep.

regards, Louis

Hi,

The story of the LRDG SAS Jeeps is closely related to captured German Jerrycans. As seen in pictures and in the Tamiya SAS Jeep instructions, no less than 15 Jerrycans are required to represent an LRDG Jeep in action, 13 Jerrycan of fuel and 2 of water.
The short story goes that English fuel containers were bad, fragile, often leaking, a fire hazard and inadequate for rough desert warfare. The German 20 liters containers were however well engineered and solid. The 3 handles were designed so that a single person can carry one full container or two empty ones with one hand. Two men could also carry a single container. They were meant to be stackable. During the capture of Benghazi, numerous highly prized German (Jerry) fuel containers were captured and distributed to the LRDG, and given the name "Jerrycan". They were copied by the allies and the design is still in use today.
Despite the very wrong dimensions of this RC Jeep (too long, too narrow), test fitting show that the 15 containers can be properly carried in a realistic fashion. Five on the hood, two on the sides and eight in the rear.
These are the large 1/10 scale Jerrycans sold by German Ebay vendor Dioramaparts. As i needed 15 of them, it was a significant expense.
The labels meaning Fuel 20L Flammable is realistic. However, i wish the handles were a bit larger and flush with the side of the container.
Two side by side Jerrycans showing how they can be carried with one hand with the exterior handle when empty.
They are indeed stackable.
In preparation for the Jeep transformation into an LRDG version, all features and snap on details were removed from the chassis, holes filled and sanded smooth. Only a few selected items will find their way back after modifications and improvements. Notice that all rivets were removed in the process, and the missing embossed grooves for the left side shovel and axe were scribed, even though these tools will not be present.

The handles on the side and rear of the Jeep are pretty much the only remaining features of the original Jeep. The base of the handles were stripped of their snap-on joint, holes filled with plasticard and sanded smooth, base made thinner and handles glued back in place. Looking good, no need for brass replacements.
The next step is to start the LRDG configuration.

Regards, Louis