RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

Hi,

The new project will be a conversion of the 1/16 scale Takom Pz.Kpfw. I Ausf B into an RC vehicle. After a complex RC build of the M3 Lee, I was about to do a quiet and relaxing static build of the Takom Panzer 1 without posting anything anywhere. Then the RC conversion ideas started in my head, could not stop it and here i am starting a new RC build...

This will be a budget build, i am not expecting this whole RC model to cost me more than $200, excluding the control board that i reuse from pre-wired vehicles to another. The model will have the following features;

- Takom kit no 1010
- 35RCTANK MTC-2 control board and ACU combat unit
- Arduino DIY gearbox
- R-Model Panzer 1 metal tracks
- Aber brass machine guns
- Turret rotation, MG elevation, flash and sound
- Headlight
- Conversion of static parts for RC like suspension, road wheels, idler, etc

A Panzer 1B as seen in Aberdeen in the days. This small panzer could go up to 50km/h at top speed. So, for the guys who appreciate slow crawling tanks, you might want to stick around heavier panzer builds. I am warning you in advance that this one will run like a rabbit.
Graph from Japanese Panzer File book. References are rare on this model.
Takom box art. I also have the Takom A and the MIG special Spanish turret versions on inventory. I selected this one to start building as it is most popular. Quite cheap, it sells for about $58 on ebay with free shipping from China.
I decided to follow instructions, starting with the rollers. I am right away impressed by the details.
I installed the rollers in similar fashion as a Heng Long Panzer IV, but with hex bolts, nuts and washers to keep them loose.
After grinding the inside of the outer wheel to give some room for the bolt head, it is glued to the other half. No issues, they roll perfectly and strait.
Amazing details. You do not get that with anything else than a true scale plastic kit.
Moving on to the road wheels, 5 on each side. The frontal wheel has a shock absorber and is independent from the other wheels that are combined in a suspension arrangement of 2.
The road wheels have an outer ring that need to be installed on both side of the wheels. This part is thin, a tad oversized, difficult to clean up and glue correctly.
I am equipping each road wheels with two ball bearings of dimension 6mm external, 3mm inner, and 2mm wide, purchased on Amazon. They do not fit directly into the roadwheel center hole which is just a bit too large. So, i had to give them a 6mm brass tube to fit into.
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Each road central hole is drilled a bit larger to make room for the 6mm brass tube new center. Its good to have a selection of various brass tubes from different makers. There are light differences in sizes and thickness in tubes that allow for the selection of the material that best fit the need. An alternative would be to buy 7mm ball bearings, drill the proper size holes and fit the bearings directly against the plastic.
The brass tube is prepared to accept a ball bearing on each side. A brass layer inside the tube is cut with a blade.
Then the ball bearings are squeezed in with plyers for a solid integrations.
All axels on this build are using 3mm thick wall brass tubing.
Suspension units are prepared as per instruction. They are quite sturdy. No need to replace the leaf springs by anything else. Eight units that are part of the main modules are given a small rim with the brass tube center. The two frontal roadwheels on the right are different and have a brass tube that is flat with the wheel surface, as per original layout.
The plastic axle is cut and a hole is made to accept the brass tube.
Suspension units are created, two on each sides.
They are given an axels that span both sides for a solid suspension.
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View of the frontal road wheel suspension with shock absorber.
These are the main parts provided by Takom. The arm is good and quite strong, but its plastic axel for the road wheel needs to be replaced by 3mm brass tubing. The fake molded-in plastic spring need replacement by a real one.
The suspension arm plastic axel attached to the suspension housing is also cut as it is replaced by a brass rod that will go across the tank
The fake spring on the shock absorber is removed by hand filing. The tips are cut, salvaged and cleaned up for reused with the real spring. Two overlapping aluminum tubes are replacing the main plastic part to which the plastic tips are solidly put on, allowing for suspension compression like a real shock absorber.
The new shock absorber is ready for testing.
Sadly, the spring i had selected is too strong for the suspension, the tank is too light. I had to replace the spring by a much lighter one on inventory. Its compressing correctly but the look and feel did suffer a bit. Good thing a purchased a small spring assortment kit from Amazon, always handy.
The front road wheels are installed. A small screw is holding the wheel in place on the brass axel. The screw is sanded a bit, the cap interior is made hollow and glued on top of the screw to hide it. The cap will not spin with the roadwheel.
The front suspension is finished and working well.
The outer suspension bar is installed, the suspension is now complete and fully RC operational.
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The shock absorber is held at the top, and simply rest on the suspension arm at the bottom. Looks like its the way it is on the real thing. It works well but i would not send this tank in a rock pit.
Moving to the idler. An RC vehicle with metal tracks needs a track adjuster. The outer plastic ring at the back need to be removed.
After some study, i determined that a MATO Sherman track adjuster has the required parts for a Panzer 1 adjuster. At the front is the Takom plastic idler arm. It seems too thin and light to reuse for RC operation with metal tracks. They would also be no easy way to convert such plastic stick for the idler rotation.
Although larger than the Panzer 1 plastic part, the shape of the Mato Sherman idler arm is close enough, exactly what i was looking for.
I also salvaged the 4 ball bearings from the Metal Sherman Idler wheel.
A new center hole is made in the Panzer 1 idler wheel to accept the size of the ball bearing, just small enough for the ball bearing to be squeezed in with a set of plyers for a solid fit, exactly like it was with the Sherman road wheel. Careful not to drill all the way and damage the idler outer wheel cap.
The new Panzer 1 idler adjuster is made ready for installation on the hull.
Here we are, Panzer 1 track adjusters. Perfect fit... Later in the build, the idler adjuster screw will be cut and the plastic cap will be put on top for a totally hidden adjuster. It does not come better than this, with ball bearings... and quite cheap, about $15-18 on ebay.
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Moving on to the motorization and sprocket wheel arrangement.

I purchased on ebay a few Arduino Do It Yourself small robot tank hulls for about $22 each with free shipping from China. They come with a super cool and small individual gearbox with 130 motor that i was pretty sure could fit the Panzer 1. The motor is small, but so is the model. I have experience with this gearbox on the Renault FT build, and i was satisfied.
The sprocket will combine element of both sets.
The Sherman style plastic sprocket of the DIY tank is trimmed into a hub that will connect to the back of the Panzer 1 sprocket so that it can be mounted on the gearbox.
After some grinding and trimming of the gearbox outer shelf, the gearbox fits into its allocated space at the front. It will be totally hidden inside the hull without impacting the exterior look of the model. Here, the left gearbox is temporarily put in place for some testing before going further. If this does not work well, i will have to purchase a Ludwig gearbox arrangement, but i am not sure the Ludwig metal unit would fit the Takom kit. The room for the gearbox at the tip of the Takom kit is extremely small, with angles.

I know this plastic gearbox is a fast one and it should be ok for the panzer I that had a top speed of 50km/h. If you setup this Panzer 1 to slowly crawl like a 72ton Jagdtiger using a super slow gearbox, it might look weird and not really fun to play with.
Showing the trimming required, and the sprocket attachment to the gearbox.
Graphic view of the Panzer 1 tracks.
The R-Model 1/16 Panzer 1 tracks are sublime and work very well. They sell on ebay for about $48 with free shipping. The metal is a bit soft but that should not cause a problem.
Close ups of the track links.
The tracks are metal but light.
The left track is mounted.

Overview of the R-Model tracks. The question is not whether you should buy these or not, the question should be how many should you buy. Although i still have to finish the track for the right side, be aware that there does not seem to be any spare links provided...
Overview of the working suspension.
Ok, that's it for now. Next step is to install the electronic and test this integration. I will provide video.

Regards, Louis

Wowzers, that’s just what I was hoping for, thanks for sharing Louis, I’ll be watching very closely
Cheers
Wayne


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I never stop being amazed at what you guys can come up with, and can do with these static kits. Very impressive; perhaps some day when I have more time and thus more patience, I'll try my hand at some of the modifications and various other "custom" work that you guys pull off so easily!

Regards,
Eric.

That is some great engineering there! It looks like building a ship in a bottle if only that ship is motorized too... This tank is really very good.

Fantastic work as always! Following & thanks for the tip on the Arduino robot tank gearboxes! Perfect for my needs & already found on Taobao.