I've made a live steam powered rc tank:

http://www.crabfu.com/steamtoys/rc_steam_tank_final/

it uses an old tamiya 1/16 chassis and a wilesco marine steam engine.

-crabfu

Here are some pics

Crabfu:

Why not run the tank the other way... get a spare pan (or have one made) then you place the gearbox in front. You could lower the Wilesco into the chassis further back, and load the burner-pan from a hinged transom plate instead of having it wedged in the front (how do you load the fuel like that?)

Another option is stretching the chassis to gain the space (again with a custom chassis... For more tracks, get Kenny Kong to send you as many extra links as you need... He makes gorgeous metal-cast track-links.

WhiteWolf McBride

whoa whitewolf, got anything nice to say? hahaha thanks for the suggestions, but it took me long enough to get it working, I don't think that I am ready to do an overhaul. The fuel tray loads ok, snug fit but it slides in fine. I'm just happy to have got it running, trying various gearing, steam engines, and boilers. This combination seem to have worked the best.

I wanted to do something a bit different with live steam... RC steam cars, RC steam boats, RC steam trains.... all been done before. No way in hell steam will power a plane, so tank it was

-Crabfu

Crabfu:

Sorry, the designer in me talking. I was still downloading the clips when I wrote that.

Loved the video with the 'pilot/crewman' in the front and the cannon beside him. Bit hard to do with the current arrangement though, eh? Interesting design though... surprised no-one ever really tried it before.

Now that I see the stills, I see there is barely enough room to get it in... and in a pinch, you could always fill the burner-tray with fluid by R/C hand-crank pump. You haven't found the need to insulate the sidewalls any? Or the chassis floor? I did note the aft brass 'firewall' to protect the clutch, any need to further insulate that?

Thought of lighten the tracks by using a Pershing composite set 'stretched' with part of a Sherman set... (may know someone with spare links)

As for rebuilding a crew-hull & gun...
- you can always use the spaces over the tracks (usually called 'sponsons') which would protect anything from being tossed inside;
- is it possible to rotate the dial-cylinder mechanism to lay flat on the hull over the gearbox? It would lower the tank's profile some;
- you could place the crew spaces to left and right of the boiler... I could sketch some ideas over the saved images, and send 'em to ya.

And Don't Stop.

Between you and the D-10 gas-eletric hybrid 'dozer, you've made me reconsider a few projects I've had in mind for quite a few years... like a gas-electric plant for a 48" boat. Its a shame no-one has thought of filling that market-niche... small 2-stroke gas-electric gennies for 36" and up boats, and 1/8 and up tanks & vehicles.

WhiteWolf

wounderful creation cool 2

how much for getting one?

Crabfu

That is a wonderful achievement! It moves so easily with such precision control. How do you do that?

How did you get the slow speed and high torque? (Maybe I do not understand the interface between the steam output and the geared drive).

Cheers
Eric Scott

Whitewolf, thanks again for the suggestions. The boiler burner box does get hot, but there is no need to insulate it from the chassis, and also the brass plate is protecting the rc stuff a bit, but mostly the flames and heat is most intense over the front and sides. I can't add anything especially to the sides of the boiler, as sometimes flames shoot out of the venting holes, as well as the top sides of the boiler. The fuel supply are solid fuel tablets, and burns pretty darn hot.

I have seen that D-10 and it is very impressive.... I have no knowledge, experience, or equipment for machining, otherwise I'd love to do something like that, or improve my tank as you suggested. It was hard enough for my limited skills and pocket to get this steam tank to the state that it is in.

Lightening the tracks would be cool as this weighs a ton, and steam engines can maintain very high RPMs, but basically have very little torque. At this point I don't think that I am willing to spend much more money into this sucker.... how much does lighter tracks run anyway?

To answer your question heatfire, this is not a kit so hard to put a value on how much. The steam engine came from a wilesco D49, which runs about 300-400 bucks ( may be slightly cheaper if you get it across the pond, but high shipping cost and waiting a long time), and the boiler came from an old spare that I had laying around, you can get old large boiler stationary steam engines on ebay for 70-100 bucks, and the chassis came from an old 1/16 tamiya, plus 2 ch rc..... I don't even want to add it all up, I'd rather not know

Heavyslead, the slow speed and "high" torque was purely a function of the steam engine. They really have a hard time getting going at first, but once going, they seem to do ok keeping up with the work and maintaining it. I played around with having different size drive pulleys, and if I make it go any faster, it uses up steam too fast, if I made it slower, it doesn't have enough torque to get itself moving. So in the end this is about as good as it gets.... believe me, I'd love it if it went faster Currently if the steam is let to build up to around 1.5 bar, it can maintain about 30 seconds of "fast" or "high" torque, then the boiler simply can't meet the demands of the double pistons, and it slows down a bit, but will not stop for the remainder of the fuel. Once stopped, it takes about a minute to build up steam, so I end up most of the time just driving around for 30 seconds, and stop and wait to build up steam instead of constantly driving at a slower speed.

Overall, steam is just very tricky to get enough output for rc. I have a Mamod RC car (stock) that has basically the same problem, balance of having enough power to get it moving, but pistons not turn at too high of rpms to use up the steam too quick. The mamod does not even self start - you have to turn the flywheel by hand, and 1 ch for steering, no throttle or reverse control. This mamod rc car is the only rc steam car in production that I am aware of. There are many RC trains and boats, but land vehicles without nice smooth train tracks just requires more energy than these little steam toys can do easily.

Thanks all for the interest in my silly invention.... I just love old tech

-Crabfu

it's not a silly invention.. if i had enough cash and if you could buy one.. i would buy it
maybe when ill get rich ill force you to make one for me

i've seen that many new tanks got 2 engines... i guess that wouldnt work building something like that from one of those..

got any sound recording?=) would love to hear the sound it makes..

gimme gimme gimme a RC steam tank!!

Hehehe thanks Heatfire, I too wished the parts were cheaper.....

Yeah I used an older one motor drive tamiya 1/16. And you are right, the newer 2 motor drive chassis won't work in this case unless you have 2 identical steam engines, needs to be 2 piston to be able to drive one side of the track, running off of the same boiler.... and would eat up steam too fast.... too much of a headache to even think about

And yeah, it would be cool to share with you guys the sounds that it makes, but my digital camera has no sound recording capabilities This particular steam engine is quieter than most. Most of them have this cool "pah! pah! pah!" sound to them, this one is a softer and smoother "put put" sound, as well as an exhaust run off, which I've directed through to a smoke stack to an oil water collecting tank, to give it that cool look of real steam coming off of the smoke stack when it is running.

I've considered making more of these for sale, now that I've finally got a system running, but given that it is really hard to track down an old 1 motor tank chassis, and cost and time - I don't think too many people will be willing to fork out the money even to cover material costs.

well.. if i had a work and some cash i would gladly pay some for getting(making) one.. i guess you could take a RC car diffrential and make something brake one side to make the other turn it..... taking a 2motor chassi... damn i wanna try this.. when you climb that wood thing and books.. how much of a wait you need to make that possible?=)
2 days?:P

Cool idea to try Heatfire, would take a lot of tweaking and modifying, but in theory will work..... always 10 times harder in practice I'm finding out, but definitely worth a try. At least would be fun making it

Once the boiler is hot and boiling, and fuel is at its highest, the wait is about 1 minute before it steams up to good power (1.5 bar) - enough to climb over stuff, but runs down to less than 1 bar in about 30 seconds, and maintains about .75 bar for the remainder of the fuel. If I wait 4 minutes-ish and not run it, steam builds up to 1.5-2 bars before the safety valve releases the steam. The pressure gauge goes up to 2.5 bars, but it never gets up that far..... unless someone dares to tamper with the safety valve (spring loaded).... ahhh so tempting. Usually it starts leaking steam out of the steam valve or the gauge a bit before it even gets up to 1.5 bars. The fuel tablets lasts 10-15 minutes at a time, but the boiler can hold enough water to have 2, almost 3 refuels of solid fuel tablets.

Keep me posted if you decide on tackling on one.... it sure is a satisfying and fun project There is nothing like old tech, the fire, smells, steam, the sounds....

Well I finally killed my boiler.... it had too many issues to deal with, so I put in another one.

Here is a video of it: http://www.crabfu.com/steamtoys/rcst...v3/rctank2.mov (9mb)

And pics:

Thats cool, love it

You need to make this body for it, the Sturmpanzerwagon!

Thanks! Yeah I've been debating on the body. I love the skeleton look, but it would look great with some kind of body work. Sturmpanzerwagen.... yes....

But this thing has a heck of a lot of heat, flames shoot out of the boiler firebox frequently, so it would need to be metal.... plus the fire needs a lot of ventilation. I've experimented with just covering the boiler slightly with some sheet metal, and the fire would not go as hot. Lots to think about.

In the mean time, I've made the son of the steam tank, sorry it's not rc, it just goes forward

1.5 bar is not that much, tweak that pressure release[X(]

Always liked steam engines, someday I would like to build a working model of one of those huge ship engines, like the model they have in the Exploratorium in SF.

Either that and/or a steam turbine powered desk lamp[8D]

Where are you at in Novato? I grew up around there.

I have *ahem* played with the safety valve already, but it is hard to build up anymore than that. It seems to build up to 1 bar pretty fast, but then going to 1.5 or 2 is exponentially longer. I usually can't wait and just drive it around 1 bar.

For those of you that are not sick of seeing this tank, here are some
more videos of it climbing, with the new boiler.

http://www.crabfu.com/steamtoys/rcst...nk2_climb1.mov
(4.3MB)

http://www.crabfu.com/steamtoys/rcst...nk2_climb2.mov
(4.1MB)

http://www.crabfu.com/steamtoys/rcst...nk2_climb3.mov
(4.6MB)

http://www.crabfu.com/steamtoys/rcst...nk2_climb4.mov
(7.5MB)

It was a windy day, flames were getting a bit out of control, but the
house still stands

-Crabfu

Would this count as an alternative energy source?

I mean General Dynamics should be watching this, with the innovation of this steam tank, it will stir more creativity in methods of propulsion.

When is that fission powerplant comming out?

Eric Scott

Hahahaha, there was a full sized steam tank designed but never built




However, a smaller one..... I want one of these

I've made a page for the steam tank, showing a bit of the progression

http://www.crabfu.com/steamtoys/rcsteamtank_v3/

Ok a bit off topic here, but I just made a live steam walker:

http://www.crabfu.com/steamtoys/steam_walker/

Sorry, not RC - yet

Any chance of making the steam tank webpage thumbnailed so we can click and see larger pictures? I love what you've done and would sure like to see some more info / pics / video...

hi outcastrc,

sorry that it took me so long, but I finally uploaded larger pics to the site. I've had several emails of people requesting this, but I've just been too busy working on another steam project Anyway, the site again is:

http://www.crabfu.com/steamtoys/rcsteamtank_v3/

-Crabfu

This stuff is really creative. i'm really impressed. By the way, i saw your portfolio and i think you do some really nice artwork. i'm interested to see more of your stuff... keep it up, you help keep the rest of us inspired.