I have been building a board that will allow the RX18 board, the TBS Benedini, the DBC3 and the Receiver to plug all the different wires in to the board and allow a plug and play arrangement where using a newly built wiring harness, I can plug into the board the different components that I want to hook up and or change around. All the electronics will sit in a styrene box with an open section to plug in the wiring harness in different combinations. The styrene "box" will allow the boards and their wires to slide in and out easily and will also have a fan to cool the electronics.
The board has been very difficult to solder as the pins are small and I just started learning how to solder (one burned out DBC2*).

I'm finished with board and due to the complexities of the wiring schematic, I decided to take the time and lay it out with a schematic CAD program. Glad I did as I tested all the leads to make certain there were no shorts - I found 2!

I'm hoping that someone with some electronics knowledge (I have none[&o]), can look at the schematic and see if I drafted it correctly. I'm most interested in how the RX18 8 Pin connector is rewired and that all the power, negative and other wiring is correct.

I'm hoping to have it completed this weekend. Part of my effort is to build a professional looking electronics box that I can easily move from one tank to another. As the electronics are so expensive, It will allow me more tanks to buy.

Thanks for everyone's help!

That is pretty ambitious. I just utilized the stock pins on the components and built this




This moves easily between tanks

With this set up I can have a stock Heng Long tank, battle ready with the Benedini sound in about 5 minutes.

That's the ....blinking... picture that got me going on this godforsaken project! I had a flash of misdirection that it would be so easy to take that board and slide it into a styrene box with new connectors and a fan. It would look cool and work great.
That was 10 hours ago.....
ugh....
But, once started - can't quit.
thanks
tjs

I attempted something similar, but wanted to include both the Benedini amp and a Visation speaker, all in one unit. After a bunch of different designs, there were too many variables in size from tank to tank to make it work. I ended up mounting it all to a board like Dan has, including the amp. Eventually I will shorten all the wires, maybe even eliminate the connectors and direct solder, but for now, it's still easily transferable.

After the box assembly today, I'll go ahead and rewire the KT I'm working on. I'm designing a small BO Board for the upper hull where the turret motor, headlights, machine gun led and misc. power will be directly wired to. With heavy gauge servo plugs and gold soldered leads, I'm hoping I won't have current loss. The other side of the hull BO Board will be for the wiring to the turret. I want to plug all turret wiring into this BO Board so I can pull it without pulling all the wiring out.
The motors, power switch, smoker, etc will be directly wired from the main box with servo connectors and/or Dean's connectors.
It's alot of work, but if all goes well - it will be a modular system and every tank will then be rewired to accomodate the "brain box". I can have a small run of the main BO Board as a true circuit board which will make building the box really simple.
I don't have a Benedini amp, but I will leave enough room to allow for one (now I have to buy one...).
And this ALL STARTED last year when my son got me into the DAK tank club and I decided there was no way in hell I was going to shell out $700 plus for a Tamiya tank. So - now it's a mission to build a better tank (I know..) with better detail, electronics, motors, etc. and only spend THREE TIMES the amount that I would have spent just buying a Tamiya. Although it's the journey that's been a blast. To be able to spend the afternoon with my son picking out different sizes of Styrene in the model store and hanging out with each other is the real gift. He just bought a new HL Pershing. Yes-it's going to be a Super Pershing......