Electronics and control boards

[Jib]

People with larger scale metal tanks, what electronics do you use to control your tank? I’m looking at HL’s 1/8 scale Abrams, but it looks like their MFU has a built in receiver link to the same crappy HL controller you’d find in their regular 1/16 models.

I’m looking for a way to either modify the included Series HL-8.0 to use a PWM based receiver, or use a different set or collection of electronics to make it run and also use my own receiver.

There’s a lot of 1/6 models out there, so I’m looking to see what you all use to make your model go to see if I can find a work around.

[tankme]

PersonallyI would probably go with the Open Panzer TCB now that Torro is selling it, but it does have a decent learning curve and you would have to supply your own motor ESCs and sound card. It may even require a step down voltage regulator depending on what voltage the HL tank is using. What's adding a couple hundred bucks when you are spending $9000? I know zero about the HL 8.0 they are using in this tank. It may use a hobby grade radio for all I know.

[Jib]

They initially told me it was included with the tank, but the said they would check to see if it was actually built it. In a video I could see a little black cable sticking out of the MFU box that didn’t connect to anything, like with the TK MFU, and also they were controlling it with the same controller that comes with the 1/16 scale HL tanks. But, I’ll cross my fingers they come back with a different answer. Voltage is 24V I believe.

I’ll have to look into Open Panzer on Torro and see if that’s something I can wrap my head around easily. Thanks for the tip!

[Jib]

Yep, the receiver is integrated into the MFU. Boo.

However, the sales rep said she would talk to their technicians to see if they could modify it to run with an external receiver! So fingers crossed again!

[Rad_Schuhart]

Give me three-four weeks and I will show you what I did for a 1/6 Panzer IV.

[Jib]

No dice on modifying the MFU, but they tried. It looks like Open Panzer is going to be my most likely option to be able to do what I want. So the plan is to get it, paint it (Boo!), then play around with it and see where I’m at, and what I need exactly.

Rad I would still love to see what you have done, so I look forward to your post whenever you get it up. They said they have it in stock and should arrive in 7-15 days. Although I’m disappointed about MFU situation, I am excited to open it up and see what’s under the hood.

[Rad_Schuhart]

No dice on modifying the MFU, but they tried. It looks like Open Panzer is going to be my most likely option to be able to do what I want. So the plan is to get it, paint it (Boo!), then play around with it and see where I’m at, and what I need exactly.

Rad I would still love to see what you have done, so I look forward to your post whenever you get it up. They said they have it in stock and should arrive in 7-15 days. Although I’m disappointed about MFU situation, I am excited to open it up and see what’s under the hood.

Will do it at the soonest, I just ordered all the components and now I only depend on the post. But I am sorry to tell you I see no point at all in getting the torro open panzer. You will still need the external speed controller, depending of your radio maybe an PWM-SBUS conversor, and audio amplyfier, and most important, the sound board. Fitting a taigen soundboard in a 1/6 tank is a crime. A Benedini mini, even when much better, it is still subpar for such a big and expensive tank.

I am fitting a beier USM RC 3, a double ESC for the motors, another double esc for turret functions, and the tank will have pretty much the same functions as my 1/16 ones, which is A LOT.

phpBB [video]

Total spent around 260 Euros, loads of functions, and clean wiring.

Still in love with the open panzer stuff? Get kim Olsens MTCU https://radindustries.wordpress.com/202 ... sens-mtcu/ which is his own open panzer version, but upgraded, with sounds and more functions.

[Jib]

I’m used to working with Elmod, which unfortunately doesn’t seem to have support for ESCs.

I also have SGS’s TVC-GSU-12, which I think can be paired to an MFU they have which I think uses ESCs. I’ll have to look into that.

I’m not married to Open Panzer either, I’ve heard of Beier but never looked into it. I’ll give that a go as well.

The plan is to fiddle around with it as is until I can properly educate myself on the available options for MFU systems. It’s coming painted, except for the track, not my favorite paint job but it’ll do for now.

I have used metal blackeners in the past to stain the tracks black. This has worked well as long as the track has been unused (even with cleaning a heavily used track it didn’t work great), but it still doesn’t look like the tracks from Torro/Taigen. Does anyone have any advice on how to replicate what they do to color their tracks, or another method that doesn’t involve hand painting each link? These tracks also have the rubber pads in them like the real Abrams.

Also, for those of you with heavy 1/6 and below tanks, what do you do to make sure you don’t run out of battery before you put it away? Use a timer? The description says the battery lasts for about 50 minutes. Also is there a better aftermarket charger for these kinds of batteries? It says it’s a 24v lead battery. I have a smart charger for my 2s and 3s LiPos, but I’m guessing that’s not going to cut it with this.

[Jib]

No dice on modifying the MFU, but they tried. It looks like Open Panzer is going to be my most likely option to be able to do what I want. So the plan is to get it, paint it (Boo!), then play around with it and see where I’m at, and what I need exactly.

Rad I would still love to see what you have done, so I look forward to your post whenever you get it up. They said they have it in stock and should arrive in 7-15 days. Although I’m disappointed about MFU situation, I am excited to open it up and see what’s under the hood.

Will do it at the soonest, I just ordered all the components and now I only depend on the post. But I am sorry to tell you I see no point at all in getting the torro open panzer. You will still need the external speed controller, depending of your radio maybe an PWM-SBUS conversor, and audio amplyfier, and most important, the sound board. Fitting a taigen soundboard in a 1/6 tank is a crime. A Benedini mini, even when much better, it is still subpar for such a big and expensive tank.

I am fitting a beier USM RC 3, a double ESC for the motors, another double esc for turret functions, and the tank will have pretty much the same functions as my 1/16 ones, which is A LOT.

phpBB [video]

Total spent around 260 Euros, loads of functions, and clean wiring.

Still in love with the open panzer stuff? Get kim Olsens MTCU https://radindustries.wordpress.com/202 ... sens-mtcu/ which is his own open panzer version, but upgraded, with sounds and more functions.

So I just got on Beier’s website, the card in the YouTube video looks neat, reminds me of Elmod, but is for 1/16 scale tanks. It has two built in speed controllers but I don’t think they are going to be able to handle these motors, they seem like they are made for 1/16 scale motors. The battery on this tank is a 36v, I was mistaken before I though it was 24v, and the dual motor speed controller they have only goes up to 18v.

[Rad_Schuhart]

So I just got on Beier’s website, the card in the YouTube video looks neat, reminds me of Elmod, but is for 1/16 scale tanks. It has two built in speed controllers but I don’t think they are going to be able to handle these motors, they seem like they are made for 1/16 scale motors. The battery on this tank is a 36v, I was mistaken before I though it was 24v, and the dual motor speed controller they have only goes up to 18v.

The card in the video is not the one I am fitting in the 1/6 tank because of the reasons you exposed. It is the USM-RC-3. I find beier boards way more feature rich than the Elmods, specially compared with the newer Elmod fusion X.

If I am not mistaken, back in the day the Fusion Pro was compatible with external ESCs. No idea if the inertia was translated to the external ESCs, but consiering that inertia that cannot be disabled and that was made me sell my Elmods, I'd never use it in a 1/6 tank because being unable to stop such a big thing can be too dangerous.