danlrc

Here's more of the KT in winter camo running thru the snow. The clip focuses on showing the exhaust smoker.
Note: I make the smokers - want it known up front that I'm involved with the smoker represented here. Hope it's OK to post this way....

The smoker has proportional output and is smaller than a stock HL unit. Its an easy install in an HL Tiger and the Tamiya KT, and probably in most other HL's and Tamiya's. It will be available from RCTankWars in a week or two. More detail on that website soon.

Here's the clip....
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAaeK9gbNu8[/youtube]

yellowshaker

My Feedback: (1)

Yea, I have to say, that thing looks amazing brother! Smoke unit seems to work perfectly with the tamiya system. Any chance it'll work on elmod?

torpedochief

Oh now I do like that!!!

Don

danlrc

The new smoker should work with HL, Tamiya and ElMod (if an HL smoker works proportional with ElMod, the new smoker will work proportional with ElMod) Phil at RCTW will be confirming soon.
A teaser pic- and smaller than an HL smoker....

strmnd54

It's looking very good to me ...I see that you're using a voltage regulator for the idle ; probably 5 Volts ....

YHR

Up until now the space inside a tank has always been to valuable to waste on a poor performing smoker. However if this unit is solid then I can see making room for one in the future. With cold weather I wonder what a kind of result you would get with a high density water vapor phase. That is what produces most of the "smoke" from exhaust in the winter.

danlrc

Strmnd,
The v-reg is there mostly to standardize smoke output level with the varying V inputs different users have, and to stabilize V as batteries run down. The mass of the heater doesn't respond fast enough to make proportional heater V very effective, so fan speed provides theproportional output. Unit is also manually/mechanically adjustable for output level because personal preferences for smoke level vary, along with wind, indoor/outdoor use, etc.

YHR,
The smoker is smaller than the HL unit - uses space pretty efficiently. The recommended fluid is glycol/water "fog juice", which does, as you say, make a "fog" rather than smoke.The KT vid is glycol/water fog juice. Oil based fluid can be used, but oil makes a nasty mess (and smell) and the residue that collects around the exhausts softened paint on my models. The oil residue can't be easily cleaned up. The "fog juice" also can leave residue, but it hasn't hurt my paint and wipes off completely with just a damp cloth. I'm sold on glycol smoke juice vs.oil based stuff (some of which may even damage plastic).
There is an impession tht fog juice is expensive. There are cheaper oils, etc., but an hour of smoker run time on glycol fog juice costs only about 30 cents and it won't damage your tank.

Hope tankers like this smoker....

strmnd54

Strmnd,

danlrc

The smoker si now available at
http://www.rctankwars.com/Products.asp

The proportional output feature does not currently work with ElMod. Working on it....

danlrc

shaker....
Unfortunately, even though the smoker will work in basic output mode with ElMod,the proportional feature does not work. Working on it....

DanL

danlrc

Smoker filling vid -
Heres' the "how-to" for filling the new SuperSmoker. It's a calibrated fill from outside the hull.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6LhzvidjLg[/youtube]
DanL

strmnd54

Dan , I was watching your smoker filling video more closely and I focused on the step when you suck some liquid from the smoker to check if it is empty or not ....

strmnd54

Here's the second video ...
www.youtube.com/watch

danlrc

Norm,
Thanks for the suggestion - don't feel it's criticism at all. Actually, I appreciate your attention and feedback - you are pretty much the master at all this (eg the smokong gun work...)
The fill tube is a very good way to signal low level, and then following with a measured refill. Not sure it would work on this design though - I haven't seen smoke come from the fill tube at any time. The tube has only about a 1/16"ID and is long enough to be routedand pulledout thru thehull for filling. The base is about 1/4" from the bottom of the reservoir, but buried in densely packed fiberglass. My thinking was that a "fill-up" to really saturate the FG bed, then a suction to pull out the excess would give max saturation of the bed from top to bottom. I think that this design is a good one, but certainly not likely the only or bestone- still a lot of experimentation and ideas to pursue.
Definitelya hobby pursuit - the time and materials cost, tools andjigs, solder, wire, shrink tube etc etcdon't make it worth doing really, except that I greatly enjoy playing around with this stuff and it seems that a decent smoker is wanted by quite a few tankers.
I'll pay more attention to the fill tube smoke approachto see if it will work on this design- it really sounds good. Seems it could/should work.

The biggest issue seems tochoose a smoke output level - some want a lot, some want very little. I tried to build that in with a way to adjust airflow. Will be interesting to see if users get the range of smoke they might want.

I saw your smoking gun work. The latest results were really awesome.

I'll PM my email - would be fun to discuss the smoker tech details. I'm really surprised at the level of design challenge - it continues to be fun....

danlrc

Just built a large scale smoker for a 1/8th scale T-34. Anxious to see it installed in the guys tank. Here's a short clip. Smoke output will look a lot different when rigged through tank exhausts.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5yoxwyn9Ik[/youtube]


DanL