Pah co chu puk

This project has been in a box on a shelf for over a year. It is still not complete, I broke the tow cable and lost some of the pieces, but now it runs and shoots IR.

It is a Mato M4A1 (76mm) with a Heng Long RX – 18 and a DBC3 from Dan at Battle Armor. I have added a Cullen hedgerow cutter, a phone box, some stowage and clear plastic in all the periscopes. I used the Mato turret traverse motor and the Mato gun elevation motor, but switched out the airsoft gun for a Heng Long recoil unit. I removed the smoker. It still has the Mato gearboxes and drive motors. The tracks and running gear are all stock Mato.

I got it outside long enough to snap these pictures, but it started raining so no movies yet. In some of the pictures you can see Pah co chu puk and a couple of his buddies checking out the cool TBU mount that Dan at Battle Armor made.


I am modeling it after the 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] Armored Division in Operation Cobra. I still need to get numbers and more stars for it.

Airbrushler

Great job i can make you some stencils buddy...lol registration numbers are to small for my plotter but i can do stars i think the Sherman will be my next tank also

Pah co chu puk

Thanks. I can do the stars, the one on there is a stencil I made and painted, but numbers are too small for me too. I think I will use the Archer transfer for the 1/16 Pershing.
,

Airbrushler

yes the darn numbers anyone use the testers decal maker wonder how that would work

Harquebus

Great M4A1, love your tank and just about all US armor, just something about it. Read someone's opinion that said American armor, Shermans in particular, looked "agricultural" and was favored that way. If anything they look utilitarian and capable of almost anything as a result.

I've heard about the Mato woes regarding this tank--it's a pity that it takes so many mods to make a good, viable tank.

Pah co chu puk

This is my first American armor. It does feel good to have a M4A1 and they do look kind of agricultural or perhaps it's more art deco industrial. Whatever it is, they stand out in a crowd.

It was not too hard to convert, I just used a new stug as a donor for the electronics and recoil. Now the road wheels on the new stug will refit my old stug and make it new too. The left over new stug hull will be fixed up as a battlefield wreck that has working smokers in it.

Harquebus

I've seen several movies with Shermans in them; Tank (1984) and Kelly's Heroes (1970?) first come to mind. Maybe those are to blame for provoking an interest and love for the Sherman? There was a 'Tiger' prominently featured in Kelly's Heroes but Tigers are popular and every knucklehead has one...

Pah co chu puk

I have a Tiger too.

I am a knucklehead.

Fury25

Hi Pah co chu puk,

This sounds great. I have a faulty matos Sherman and wanted to change over to the RX18.

Any chance you can provide a VERY DETAILED explanation and photos of how you mapped across the mato connectors to the RX board?

Many thanks

Harquebus

I'll second what Fury25 said, unless there's a better, detailed thread already showing the process (no reason to rehash). If one wants a cast-hull Sherman, this is about the only game in town...

Pah co chu puk

I used a new stug as a donor for the RX-18 board and all the wires and switches. This includes the on/off switch and the sound volume control. This way there was no confusion as to how things sync up. I did this because the Mato sound volume control has two wires and the Heng Long system has three wires. The DBC3 hooks into one of the sound volume control wires so I needed that setup. The other thing to watch is that the polarity on the Mato power feed wire is the opposite of the Heng Long power feed. By using the Heng Long battery wires I avoided burning up the RX-18.
I wanted recoil so I did need to build a new mount to hold the HL system. It is a bit smaller than the Mato airsoft gun so the mount was easy to build, just some styrene sheet to extend the point where the screws attach. This is where all the complex wires are so using the HL system completely helped a lot. I also had to add a small tab at the back of the HL recoil unit to work with the Mato gun elevation motor. Again, some styrene and super glue worked like a charm.
I did use the Mato gun elevation motor and the Mato turret rotation motor because the mount was already built and this saved much time. To do that I did need to splice on some wire to each motor with a HL two pin connector on it. The other thing to change is the drive motor polarity. I did that by using some spare two pin connectors and tinning the wire ends with solder so they plug into the existing two pin connectors. I was able to get the RX-18 to control them properly by reversing the motor polarity.
I used a stug as a donor so the only thing I had to add was the wires for the turret rotation motor. The RX-18 has that feature built in so soldering wires to the 8 pin connector circuit board made it work just fine.
The trick is to use all the Heng Long wiring, from battery to device as much as possible and only splice on devices at the end of the Heng Long wire system.

I don’t have great pictures but here is some of it while it was apart. I hope this helps, feel free to ask any other questions.

Harquebus

Believe me, I am grateful for more choices in armor but for a while there it was nothing but Tigers and a few Shermans/Pershings. Now at least we have Russian armor and maybe a few Lend-Lease Shermans to represent the Allies...but there's more German armor! (Panzers, Panthers, Elefants and Tigers oh my) Haaa...

YHR

The rewiring of a tank is not too bad. It is all about understanding each electical motor in use needs to have a positve and a ground supply. On the RX 18 the ground supply is switched through the RX 18.

The best thing to do is gut all the wires and then just sytematically start hooking them up back to the RX 18.

A detailed pinout diagram of the RX 18 exists here

http://battlearmorrc.weebly.com/uplo...00047_orig.jpg

Pah co chu puk

I used this diagram to see where the wires in the 8 pin connectors all go so I could hook up the motors.

Pah co chu puk

I got the stars and numbers on it finally. My son named it Buster. We have tested it a bit with no problems so far. I still need to make a scale radio antenna for it.

Andy Antipas

Looks good! Time to get it dirty!

edoubleaz

My Feedback: (1)

Welcome to the world of the Medium!

Rex Ross

The Sherman looks good siting there one your nice green grass. Green grass is becoming a memory here. Post more green grass pictures!!!!!!

Pah co chu puk

Green grass pictures...

CountChocula

Looks great. You'll have to bring it down here next time you all visit.

Dave

Rex Ross

The Culin hedge row cutter looks strong. Do you use it to clear road apples, cow pies and buffalo chips from the battlefield?

mustclime

Did the US have 76mm Shermans in summer 44? I have never seen a hedge row cutter on a 76mm sherman.

Pah co chu puk

On page 164 of the book "Armored Thunderbolt" by Steven Zaloga there is a picture of a M4A1 (76 mm ) of the 2nd armored division with a "Rhino" hedge cutter mounted on it. On page 163 is a picture of a M4A1 (76 mm ) with a T2 Douglas hedgerow cutter. The M4A1 ( 76 mm ) was first used by the US Army in Operation Cobra, the breakout from the Normandy hedgerow country. None were in the D-Day landings.

Rex - I have not tried it on a cow pie yet, no doubt my 9 year old will.

fynsdad

here you go...

Rex Ross

Rex - I have not tried it on a cow pie yet, no doubt my 9 year old will.[/QUOTE]

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Make sure your son knows the difference between a cow pie and those land mines left by neighborhood dogs.........big difference........trust me...... (don't ask).