RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

And to finalize the build, here is a short YOUTUBE demonstration video of the finished model in action. Hope you liked the M3.
https://youtu.be/Kzv9h7NLIo0

Link above
Regards, Louis

Beautifully modeled tank and very very fast. The armament animation is most impressive. (Is it animation or animatronics)

Jimster wrote:Beautifully modeled tank and very very fast

Thank you Jimster and everyone for your encouragements throughout the build. Yes, it was a fast build, about 5 weeks in total, a few evenings here and there, plus at least 2 heavy weekends. I think it looks pretty good considering the limited time and budget. Finding the issues and Improving the Vandra kit is a good challenge. The custom mechanics for the turret and guns were also fun to design, specially when they end up working well. For anyone wanting to push it further, a metal hull is required to experiment with the replacement of the 3 piece transmission housing with the extra frontal gear as shown on a picture from Herman, but i think it would have complicated things a lot. Not sure it is worth the trouble and risks of scratch building something like that. However, I recommend replacing the Mato plastic gearbox by a metal one. I wanted to keep the budget for this M3 under $350 (excluding the TK) but it would have been worth investing another 60$ into a better gearbox. I am satisfied with the Shapeways spoked wheel replacements, they run well and look good. I think the Shapeways M3 suspension plugs could be easily improved by the designer to avoid the fixes i did and be more accurate but the base were a good help.

Happy modelling!
Regards, Louis

I meant the tank has the ability to drive very quickly. Although the project build was certainly kept on a fast track as well. I love your build threads and your progress posts are always essential reading material.

Another great build , attention to detail plus RC operation something most of us struggle with.

I know that elmod or clark is expensive but for me super speedy toy-like movement ruins all that work unfortunately.

Kaczor wrote:I know that elmod or clark is expensive but for me super speedy toy-like movement ruins all that work unfortunately.

It absolutelly ruins it all the otherwise excelent job for me too. That and the xenon-white leds.

But no need to worry, not even an elmod or clark is needed for super realistic driving, with just a programmable radio and a benedini board you can have almost all the Elmod functions for a micro fraction the price!

The Clark board is good. It's the Mato M4A1 plastic gearbox that needs to be replaced. Its way too nervous and difficult to control.

lmcq11 wrote:The Clark board is good. It's the Mato M4A1 plastic gearbox that needs to be replaced. Its way too nervous and difficult to control.

IMHO is not only how fast it drives but how fast the turret rotates and how fast the barrel elevates.

All those things, (turret, cannon, speed, momentum and inertia) you can adjust to behave in a realistic way with the radio. No need of new gearboxes or any extra hardware.

Kaczor wrote:I know that elmod or clark is expensive but for me super speedy toy-like movement ruins all that work unfortunately.

I've learned preferences varies for everyone. As a model builder, the exterior look is more important to me. Others give a lot of importance the the accuracy of the engine sound matching the tank engine, speakers are never big enough. Others will give big importance to the interior layout of the electronics and how clean everything is. Some will prefer realistic action of the turret and guns. Personally, after a few builds with 5.1 gearbox, i do not find slow tank, slow turret and slow gun movement very exciting to operate, at least not on all of them. I actually had a lot of fun running the M3 in the basement yesterday, as fast as it could go.