Well I got this off Ebay for a great deal and it showed up as in the first pic. The previous owner took meticulous care in building it and dropping another $500 into upgrading the suspension, tracks, recoil, and lots of metal detail parts.

I just had to detail it really, but with the previous owner doing such a great job, I was determined to do the best I could.
I went for the 503rd battalion Ardennes scheme. I didn't number it because I couldn't figure out what tank Knispel Kurt commanded.

So I started by applying Squadron green putty for the zimmerit. I actually laid each line seperately just like I imagined the real deal was laid up. It's to scale so that's like 220 columns of zimmerit, or 12 hours of work! Man, what a pain.
Then it took another 12 hours to airbrush and finish off the remaining detail parts.
Then it took another 12 hours to weather and rust it. I actually applied a rust kit you can get at any craft store before I painted the camo. I laid on more rust on top of the camo paint where it made sense.
When I applied the rust catalyst, it created genuine rust on top of the paint but even below the paint just like a real metal tank.
It takes a lot of catalyst to seep through the paint, but look at the wheels, they look pretty real to me.
I matte clearcoated the whole thing after to keep rust from getting everywhere.

After, I wasted 4 hours re-configuring the internal components. Tried 2 batt packs, but it's too much of a squeeze, so I went back to 1 batt pack.

Internally I added heatsink/fans on each motor. I plan to build a smoke unit for the exhaust, I'll show the inside when I get the smoker done.

So after 40 hours of work and enough chemical exposure to take 5 years off my life, I'm happy with the looks, but I can't get the guns to fire! HELP!!

The previous owner knows what he's doing but I haven't heard back from him.
He soldered 2 fire buttons to the Futaba Skysport T4YF board.
I have all the trim tabs neutral in the center but when I press the right red button it makes the tank drive forward.
When I press the black left button, it drives the tank backward.
I tried every combo of moving the trim tabs and hitting the buttons, but the tank just drives and moves its turret around.
I had the MF01 do a self check and it makes the guns flash.
Can anyone with a similar radio give me the procedures to fire the guns?
I wasn't doing so, but can this tank shoot and drive at the same time?

Anyways, I can't wait to get out to the next SCAT battle day and put it to the test.

Cheers, Tak