JQuest64

I ordered two HL's from Mato and two extra boards, a Bulldog and a Panther, and they are scheduled to arrive on the 14th. So now the waiting begins. Surprised it takes so long, I am in NY.

Any tips or pointers on items to pick up while I wait?
I picked up grinding compound for the metal gear break in and I am picking up some 40mm fans and aluminum to make heat sinks. I have some 3200 mah nimh packs and charger.

Any other suggestions on what to pick up during the wait? Be it detail items or electrical.

Harquebus

Sounds like you're pretty much set, G2G.

Only thing I would recommend is some quality model paint in the correct colors to fix the stock (ho-hum) paint jobs. Other general hobby supplies like hobby knives and a soldering iron if you don't have them already...

swathdiver

Gotta have a soldering iron, it should come with a new tank!

Get some metal tracks, spare airsoft units, crosman glo .12g bbs (stock in little box are junk and will jam your gun) and some more tanks!

JQuest64

Thanks for the replies guys.
We plan to pretty much open the HL's up when we get them and flip the boards, add some fans and new heat sinks and break them in.

Once we get the tanks finished on the mechanical side we are going to paint them up and do some detail work.

Thanks for the pointers, and yes in this hobby soldering irons are required equipment, not an option!!

JQuest64

Well the tanks arrived a few days ago, and to say I am impressed is quite an understatement. Mato did us right and both tanks work perfectly after a quick check.
These tanks are way cool and the addiction has already sunk in.

I am going to tear them down for break in and then post more impressions. Have to heal a bit first, had surgery last Thursday and had a kidney removed. Still a bit sore but I would do it all over again if I had to. Both the tanks and the kidney donation [sm=thumbup.gif]

mariomart

I've heard of people saying they would give their left arm for a Tamiya Tank is pretty common, but to actually give a kidney for a Heng Long Tank thats just going a bit too far!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seriously tho, it's very noble of you to give something of yourself to help others. You are a very kind individual and I bow my head to your generousity.

Cheers Mario

PS. Next time you go and donate a body part, ask for a Tamiya

pzrwest

Well I mailed my order in to MatoToys Inc., Markham Ontario on Thursday the 16th and received an e-mail from Canada post this evening that my order was on route to me and I'm from Cardiff Ontario about 3 hours drive away so who knows it may be here tomorrow, have my eyes, toes, fingers, and test...s crossed...LOL

hdbeast

That is got to be one of the best things ever donated on this tank forum good job, If you need any help on your tanks let me or I'm sure anyone else on this forum know and we'll try and help.[sm=thumbup.gif][sm=thumbup.gif]Not enough people out there donate to save a life[sm=thumbup.gif][sm=thumbup.gif]

JQuest64

Definitely Tamiya next time

Actually it was for my nephew and given the options available the choice was pretty much an easy one to make.
I always planned to be an organ donor, I just figured I would no longer be here when I did it.
Thanks for the kind words.

JQuest64

Well, went to work on the Bulldog today. Broke in the engines and the metal gear train. I used GoJo and a drill in my homemade setup. Worked well. What a difference this made to the gear operation. A BIG[sm=thumbs_up.gif] to the FAQ and its writers.


I also found some spare items within my tank. These were stuck to the engines.



Always good to do a tear down before use[sm=thumbup.gif] Some of these were actually to the metal gear setup.
Found homes for the ones that needed them and locktited everything else. I must have resoldered almost every connection that I saw just on principle. Most actually looked very good.
I also found this, the right side did not smoke as well as the left, perhaps it was cracked and I finished the job.



I also installed a fan inside to cool the board. The Bulldog seems to be very limited inside for space however so I did it just for now to see how it works out. Once the final install is done I will post some pics.

All in all a very good learning day. While many may feel the HL tanks are not the best made items out there, I actually felt better after checking mine myself.
Again for the price you would be hard pressed to find a better RC deal out there that you would enjoy this much.

MySoldier

good work, please show more of your progress!

sfstu

i'm following your progress closely jquest..! my bulldog is awaiting mods but i'm reading up on stuff 1st and seeing how it's done as i'm new to the bulldog(and r/c tanks..!) is it relatively easy to flip the board for a novice..? i can use a soldering iron (sort of[>:]) gonna do the heatsink too when i've seen some pics of them..?
anyway, looking forward to seeing your bulldog completed..!!

pzrwest

Well my TigerI arrived today the 23rd....exactly 7 days to the hour from the time I posted the order at the post office here in Cardiff Ontario

JQuest64

sfstu, I did not flip my board. I opted for something a bit different. The Bulldog is configured different than my sons Panther and space is at a premium. I also did not want to play around with the switches. One is mounted to the board (for smoke) and i would have had to relocate it. I got lazy
I ended up raising the board a bit and changing the heatsink. I shifted the speaker over a bit to make room for a fan. I also installed a fan to blow across the board. I have run it pretty hard and it seems to do the job.
Here is some of the work in progress, the only real difference with the finished project is I enclosed around the board to keep more airflow over the board. You can definitely feel the air flow on the other side. Works well IMO.
How it originally looked with the speaker cntered over the board.

Fan held in place to get proper placement

sfstu

thanks for that jquest..glad i didn't pull the board out for nothing..! was thinking about a fan from a computer but not sure about the current difference? (240v on computer to 7.2v from tank) glad i found this forum tho..!!

JQuest64

No problem.
I figured I would go the fan route first to see how it worked out before doing a complete change over of the insides. It is really wierd the differences between the tank interanls of the Panther and the Bulldog. There is a lot more space available inside the Panther, the Bulldog is very tight.
It seems to have really worked out well though. I ran my Bull for about 2 1/2 hours since doing the mod. Heavy runs too, climbing steep angles, high grass, rocks and a lot of full speed running. I have had no problems at all to this point outside of some sound issue that was happening before all of this work.

I agree though, finding this forum was like finding a gold mine. Great info, great people.

sfstu

well, cheers for your advice again mate..just re-read the thread and meant to say earlier, that's a very noble thing you've done for your nephew-fair play to you..
hope you're healing well and at least you've got time and an excuse to tinker with your tanks..! rgds, stuart

wackywheelz

240 volts (AC) inside a computer stops at the PSU, then the PSU converts it to 12v, 5v and 3.3v (DC). Computer fans run off the 12v (DC) rail, but can happily run on anything 5-14v, bigger fans requiring 7v+ to start them spinning, any less and they just sit there/stalled

sfstu

exactly what i needed to know wackywheels..! cheers mate..!