Been over a month since I've done anything with my Panther.

I've been researching & mulling over the various electronic packages currently available for making the Heng Long tanks Tamiya IR battle compatible. I know several members wouldn't have a hard time choosing their favorite RX-18 replacement or upgrade packages, but for me it was really a difficult decision to finally have to choose which one I was going to go with first.

Even though they haven't been thoroughly tested by the various recognized & well known larger 1/16 tank clubs & their members, I decided to go ahead & order a couple of the Clark Model TK-20-T boards as my first complete HL RX-18 electronic replacement packages.
Not knowing if it will work or not, I also ordered the FlySky CT6B 2.4GHz Tx/Rx to use for the radio controller. If it does work, & work well, then along with the TK-20 it will make a very reasonable complete electronics upgrade for these tanks at less than $100 total.

Hopefully some time next week I'll be able to update this thread again showing some pics & video of the new electronics & 2.4GHz controller.

~ Craig ~

I would also like to know how the Clark boards perform.

Herman

good job!!

Been a few months since updating this thread. I did purchase Clark boards, & they work great with the Hobby Partz FlySky CT6B 2.4GHz transmitters I purchased. Since the Clark Tk20E boards have RealRecoil that can be used with servos for a more realistic recoil, I decided to convert my Panther to servo recoil. Even though the TK20E boards don't support servo gun elevation, I decided to pull the Heng Long stock elevation unit & replace that with a servo anyway.

Again, my work isn't pretty, & I don't have fancy parts at my disposal for modding this kind of stuff, but using some 1.5mm styrene I scratch built new recoil & gun elevation units for my Panther G turret.

Below it shows the stock Heng Long recoil & elevation motor units that are being replaced. Fist thing was to take everything out & start with the bare turret.





I then created a styrene box that fits into the mantlet & screws in, making a slot for the barrel's original plastic holder & a hole for the servo.
To get the barrel to fit, I did cut some off the length.




The short squarish tube seen on the bottom of the recoil unit is actually the channel where the gun elevation unit will connect.




Here the side view of the recoil unit shows the servo installed & connected to the barrel's plastic holder pin sticking out the slot for it, as well as you
can clearly see the slot in the bottom tube where the gun elevation will connect using a screw that will slide through the channel to elevate the barrel.




This next picture shows the gun elevation unit with servo mounted in the turret, with a styrene braced arm & screw used to connect to the recoil unit.




While installing the recoil unit the elevation unit's extended arm screw fits into the recoil units square bottom tube where the larger hole has been drilled.
It then slides forward as the recoil unit along with the attached mantlet is finally mounted in the turret.








~ Craig ~

Just uploaded a video showing the results of my previous post with the barrel recoil & elevation mod I have done to the Panther G.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGy77BBXHlw[/youtube]



~ Craig ~

Working good there Craig!

I just drilled the holes for the foliage loops on my Panther turret so I am pushing on!














~ Jeff

Looks good especially the return to battery. Are you able to change the speeds for recoil and return to battery?

I'm happy with it, but then again, just about anything looks better than the backwards HL stock recoil & cycling elevation.

Man, I'm always afraid of breaking all the little things already sticking off my tanks, or catching them on something, so foliage loops are just way too much work for me brother ... so better you than me ... though I do like the look when modelers use them to incorporate some camouflage.


~ Craig ~

Not that I'm aware, it's built into to RealRecoil programming on the board, & the only setting for RealRecoil in the options is to have a normal or reverse servo direction.

~ Craig ~

They had better not break off as they are brass, and backed up with more styrene behind the turret.














~ Jeff

Nice work, Craig. 

What are the foilage loops?

Foliage loops are used for attaching branches for camouflaging.
















~ Jeff

Hi<span style="font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; background-color: rgb(251, 252, 255);">Craig
Great job on the recoil with servos.
Just wondering do you need certain servos with the TK22. I recently purchased one and I am trying to use a servo I got on ebay with on success.
I am also using the FlySky</span><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">CT6B. Any help would be appreciate.

terry</span>

Not that I'm aware Terry, any servo should work, but some will probably just work better than others because of their speed &amp; strength.

I was using Futaba S3114 servos in the Panther with no issues, &amp; had a couple Hitec HS50 servos in my KV-1. I since stopped using the Hitec HS50 servos for recoil because I did experience some uncontrollable twitching when there was no firing of the main gun. I still use those Hitec servos for elevation though, as they don't seem to have issues when using them just for elevation.

However, I have recently switched to a different servo I came across anyway, the MG90S<strong style="FONT-SIZE: 11px"> [/b]servos, which are a little bigger than the Futaba's &amp; Hitecs I had been using, but they have metal gears &amp; so far are working well in my KV-1 recoil.

So any servo should at least work, as long as you connect the plug properly to the board on the correct 3-pin jumper (J2 Recoil, J4 Elevation), with the signal wire (this below example is white wire) towards the inside of the board. So if a servo is connected to J2 correctly, any time you fire the main gun the servo should react. However, for a TK22 board, if you connect a servo to J4 for elevation, I believe you do need to reprogram the board's Main Gun Function Mode to enable the servo to work for elevation before you get a response out of it. I can't test this because I currently do not own a TK22 board.




~ Craig ~