i wish they had used the original T72 track too they are so much more aggressive looking. There used to be an aftermarket supplier for metal T72 tracks but I haven’t seen them offered for a while now.

DAY 3: Since high heat temps are produced at the higher power levels I plan to run this tank, and only made worst due to the fact that the inner hull volume is much smaller then on other modern tanks. I decided to install a engine bay heat separation bulkhead and exhaust/cooling fan after seeing my HL speaker which was located between the gearboxes in my first T72 start to melt (see photo). Melting plastic has never been an issue in my past modern tanks I have built and run hard, but the T72 with its afore mentioned small inner hull volume just has nowhere for the heat to go. Since this build will eventually be using a 3 cell 5000Mah Lipo battery and these batteries are not high heat friendly, it was prudent to add the bulkhead.

The other issue addressed at this time was the very poor upper to lower hull fit that has a number of large molded in holes that let large amount of dirt/sand and other debris enter the hull. This can be seen in the photos below of the melted speaker which were taken after only a few days of running and battling the tank. The holes are now sealed to reduce the dirt/sand getting in on both tanks.


Melting to speaker box seen on my first T72.


Melting to speaker box seen on my first T72.


Engine bay heat bulkhead consisting of multi layered hight temp black silicon sandwiched between dense cardboard walls. Simple yet effective heat barrier.


Exhaust/cooling fan. Also the heat exhaust port cut into the rear deck face.


Heat exhaust port air deflector/cover. The deflector is a repurposed front splash guard form my old T90. It fit perfectly and it's lines blend well with the overall design of the T72 hull.


Heat exhaust port air deflector/cover.


Fan pushes enough air to blow out a match.

Good question thanks for reminding me to address this.

Yes some of the molded radiator intakes have been opened up. I did not shoot photos of this prior to installing the new radiator grill covers. You can see the new radiator grill covers above and the air intake gap between the new and old. I also added air intake holes to the top deck further forward yet inside the engine bay (visible in many of the photos already posted) that sit under the rear section of the turret. I wanted to create a negative internal pressure zone that works to help suck air into the engine bay when the fan is on and to do this I needed to restrict how many holes were added. Also had to use smaller openings to control dust intake somewhat. Overall the engine bay is rather well sealed off from the main hull and the exhaust fan can be turned on and off as running conditions require. The fan is plugged into the smoke generator slot/port since this was not being used any longer as the smoke system was the first thing I ripped out.

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