Hey folks, thanks to Jim I've been lucky enough to obtain this lovely build with hopes of completing the amazing work hes already undertaken.

First order of business (as I've learnt the hard way) is making sure she runs wel before continuing with the detailing and cosmetic work (not that jim left me much to do!).

The first order of business was beefing up the gearboxes. The pot metal ones weren't going to cut it. I'm a big fan of the DKLM PDSGB. I've used them in my centurion, king tiger and chieftain. Since selling the centurion I was left without a fast gearbox for the chieftain. So it was the logical choice to get another base and gearbox for the chally.

Installation was straight forward. Whilst the henglong standoffs dont match the holes perfectly I was able to repurpose some bits and drill into the resin hull fill where required. The added advantage of this setup is that it also adds another solid plate to where the gearboxes are which acts as a brace stiffening the lower hull further. I had to remove one of the cross braces to allow the gearbox to slide in but this didnt have much of an adverse effect. I can add it back in further down the hull if needed later. At this stage I also added electrics in the form of a clark tk60 and wired it up. (With the exception of the rear lights). I bought the chally with an open panzer/tbs mini setup but whilst I'm a big fan I wanted something a bit easier to setup initially.









Early tests showed that one side had a tendency to throw tracks on grass. Outside a hugely expensive dklm upgrade ($300!!!), no one seems to do a challenger 2 adjustable idler system. Jim has used tamiya leopard 2 tracks on this build. Imo these are far superior to the full metal chally 2 tracks out there. They're lighter than the all metal ones but have have metal and centre pieces so are just as strong. The pads come already attached and dont come off. Finally they're a nice colour out the box, no need to blueing or vinegar soaking. Another plus here is I was able to use a set of tamiya leopard track inducers which I've had say around for years (shout out to the virtues of parts hording), they needed some slight mods but fitted the challengers sprockets with a little dremel work. Now she runs flawlessly on grass, which is something I require all my tanks to do.



https://youtu.be/GXXa_e7h7Qo Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk