CoolBank tempted me back in- Stuart build
Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2025 1:14 am
I have been busy on other hobbies for about 12 years... my Heng Long tanks are all dusty and (gasp!) FM!
My model boat club was set up at a hobby expo, and a new (one month old) club set up beside us... a nice new RC tank club! Well, ironically I had brought an LCM3 landing craft which I had 3D printed with my old 1974 Tamiya Sherman in it for the display. Well, I got all hot and bothered about armor again and brought in a battery and transmitter and ran my old Sherman with them next to my model boats.
One of the things that really got me going was a neat little CoolBank Stuart which the president of the tank club had as part of their display. Long story short (too late!), and at the end of the weekend I had to order one. I bought from AliExpress, and after a week and a half the seller tried to blackmail me out of another $50 "for shipping because it was too expensive to ship to Canada". I cancelled the order, and ordered from Mato Mart. Got it in less than a week for less than the extra extortion $50. Customer support and technical support is still stellar, even after over 12 years. I even still had Mato Points in my account.
Anyway... after all that story, I am about 90% done on my newest tank. Fender skirts were cut off, and everything you see is painted. Other than a few little mods that I did, it is perfect- I am amazed at how excellent this little tank really is. I still need to add some cargo, and a figure or two. But it runs great, it looks great and it was less than $200 CDN. I love it so much, I have just received the CoolBank Crusader III (despite not being hot on British tanks, sorry), and my wife has a nice new 2.4GHz HL Pershing stored away for Christmas for me.
My model boat club was set up at a hobby expo, and a new (one month old) club set up beside us... a nice new RC tank club! Well, ironically I had brought an LCM3 landing craft which I had 3D printed with my old 1974 Tamiya Sherman in it for the display. Well, I got all hot and bothered about armor again and brought in a battery and transmitter and ran my old Sherman with them next to my model boats.
One of the things that really got me going was a neat little CoolBank Stuart which the president of the tank club had as part of their display. Long story short (too late!), and at the end of the weekend I had to order one. I bought from AliExpress, and after a week and a half the seller tried to blackmail me out of another $50 "for shipping because it was too expensive to ship to Canada". I cancelled the order, and ordered from Mato Mart. Got it in less than a week for less than the extra extortion $50. Customer support and technical support is still stellar, even after over 12 years. I even still had Mato Points in my account.
Anyway... after all that story, I am about 90% done on my newest tank. Fender skirts were cut off, and everything you see is painted. Other than a few little mods that I did, it is perfect- I am amazed at how excellent this little tank really is. I still need to add some cargo, and a figure or two. But it runs great, it looks great and it was less than $200 CDN. I love it so much, I have just received the CoolBank Crusader III (despite not being hot on British tanks, sorry), and my wife has a nice new 2.4GHz HL Pershing stored away for Christmas for me.
At the end of the summer here in Texas there isn't much water to play on and since I'm not really a boat guy the project kinda stalled trying to figure out how I should waterproof the thing. Wasn't keen on going the fiberglass/resin route, but I may give it go.