diabolic-mind

hey guys, i wanted to share my current project with you. it isnt nearly complete but it should work out pretty good. i thought i would post here and get some input from the collective!

THE STORY
the other night i was sitting home thinking it would be really cool to make a scratch built tank. nothing fancy just some little thing to play around with at home. while me and my girlfriend were out christmas shopping i seen this really cheap rc car. its called a thunder tumbler. its nothing special, it has the up and down stick on both left and right that control the left and right wheels forward and backwards. i though, hey that would be perfect to use for my scratch build project. it was on clearance fo 13 dollars so i picked it up. about an hour later while still out christmas shopping we were wondering through target. i decided to browse through the toy isles and came across a amazing looking toy tank. it was a bradley, and was 1:18th scale. i picked it up and was looking it over and my girlfriend came up and seen it. shes looked at it and said thats neat, then she noticed on the shelf behind the one i picked up was another one. she said isnt that your favorite kind of tank? i looked down at the shelf and low and behold there was a 1:18th scale M1A1 abrams sitting there. i grabbed it up and started looking it over. it had nice details, and the tracks appeared to be rubber, and the wheels look as if they rolled. i then thought, man if i could put those electronics in this and make it go that would be sweet. so i bought it aswell. so i got it home and took the electronics out of the little rc car. i then opened the package for the abrams, sure enough all the wheels spin and the tracks move. the lower track wheels dont have suspension they are all stationary but they do spin. so at this point i decided to open up the tank and see if it was useable.

THE TANK
after opening it up, i held the drive system from the rc truck in place at the back of the tank. the width could be more perfect is size. after a little bit of pondering i knew my course of action to make it radio controlled. the tanks sprockets were free spinning and held in place using a steel pin that they spun freely on. so the first step was to get them off. i used vice grips to hold the back side of the steel pin, and with the other hand grabbed the sprocket. i then firmly pulled on the sprocket while spinning the steel pin. eventually the sprockets came off and the pins slide right out. i then had to drill the inner hole on the sprockets out so that it would slide onto the drive shaft from the rc truck. after drilling them out i got them to slide snuggly onto the drive shaft. i also had to drill out the diameter of the hole where the steel pin was in the hull so that the drive shaft could slide through the hull for the sprocket to attach too. inside the hull i had to cut out alot of plastic to make the drive system i got sit level and straight in place but that was a rather simple job. i got everything put in place and gave it a quick hot glue job just to secure it so that i could test the electronics out in the tank and see if they will have the power to push it forward. i plugged in the battery and gave it a try. sadly it didnt not move, it would slightly jerk forward then nothing. so i picked the tank up and gave it another try. holding it off the floor it will move the tracks but i think the overall weight of the tank with the electronics and battery is more than the electronics can push. the electronics are only setup for running 6volts which might be the problem. but i have access to a tyco rebound which is 9.6volts so im going to attempt using the electronics from that with the drive system i already have in place. that is where im at right now with it. i will post back once i get through the next phase of the build.

i do not have any pics just yet but i will be getting some pics either tonight or tommorrow of it and will post them for you guys to see. here is a pic of the tank that i got off the internet so that you can see what it looks like. i think its a nice looking tank. i also plan on getting the bradley they had at the store because it looks really sweet and its smaller than the abrams so it may be a bit easier to power.

diabolic-mind

i forgot to mention it before but the tanks are both labeled as bravo team 1:18th scale tanks. im considering getting some HL electronics to put in the tank to give it control plus to have turret rotation and barrel raising and lowering. anyone know the dimensions of the gearboxes with the motors, and a price for getting just the radio,reciever, and gearboxes?

diabolic-mind

i shot a quick video of the tank tonight, hopefully the link works.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVfqObh0Nr4