Hey guys, this is my first post here, after searching for hours for a good forum. I take electronics in school and am decent at it.. We only built autonomous stuff.. but i wanted to build a robot at home on my own time..I wanted to be able to control it via the web, but realized this is unrealistic for me and want to start small.. I decided to head into rc (first time in rc) because it seems pretty cool. I will slowly progress and add more to my robot.

My first question is, which chassis do i want? I cant find a good cheap place to buy a chassis, so i thought the best and easiest option would be to modify an rc tank.. (still willing to do other stuff just dont want to spend much) i love the bodies at lynxmotion.com, just wayyy to expensive..

So if i should stick to rc tanks, which one should i get, and from where? Id like to do minimal mount of modification, but in the end, dont want it to look like some toy. (thus i dont care the realism of the tank, just i want it as powerful and fast as possible for my budget)

Once i buy the tank, i want to add a pan and tilt wireless camera to it. Which one should i get, and should i buy an rc pan and tilt system, or should i build my own out of servos?

Any other info would be great, or links to people who did projects similar to mine.

Sry i forgot to mention, but i want it as big as i can afford, somewhere between 1:9 scale and 1:16. Pretty much im just looking to make an all terrain robot, and need a chassis.

You can try this site:

http://www.matotoys.com/canada

goodluck!

1/6 stuart chassis is a good start, cheap and solid.

do any companies make just the chassis? without the rest of the tank stuff?? That way i may be able to afford a faster and stronger robot.

Look on Ebay they always have 1/6th M5 Stuarts for sale and they go really cheap.

They also have parts being sold.

Mato sells Heng Long electronics and they are anything but reliable.

Have you checked out Robot Magazine? The Winter 2005 issue went into some of the less expensive kits available from Radio Shack. Of course, it also showed the HiTec "human" robot but that was around $1,000--lots and lots of servos (I saw it at iHobbyExpo 2005). It also appears that Spektrum has released a "bot" receiver for the DX6--something I have already been looking into for my Hydrofoam--and way cheaper than something like the Futaba 9 series transmitters.

http://www.botmag.com

Autonomous.... Darpa Grand Challenge.
http://www.darpa.mil/grandchallenge05/mediagallery.html

well, if i can, id like to stay away from kits, because then i feel like a little kiddy amateur who cant engineer anything himself lol.. but no i havent seen the kits.. your talking about, or do you mean the vex? I like what the mythbusters did in that botmag article, where they mad the packbot.. as i said before my robot doesnt have to be on tracks, just i want it to be solid and somewhat all terrain.. any other suggestions?? also what about the camera system.. (the rc pan and tilt) and which camera to get? Can i buy one off of ebay>>

I think i made up my mind to stay away from tanks because they seems to be less reliable and i might be able to get something better in a different area of rc.. i was thinking maybe rc trucks.. overall, i want my body to be like this one, just not so expensive lol.. With a chassis like that, do you think it will be able to operate on both sides, that would be amazing..

Hello you all. I am new to this forum and I'm interesting to make a metal chassis in 1/6 or 1/9 scale. I saw the 1/9 M1A22 Abrams tank and the 1/6 stuart tank. Which you think is the best?
Also I want to ask what is the best material to built it. Metal thin layer of iron 2 mm or Aluminum? Do i have to buy one of these tanks or can i find some cad drawings for help?
I want to say this last. I have seen Tom's work and I think those are the BEST looking tanks i have ever seen. Amazing work Tom.

Thank in advance for your help.

Regards,
Armatolos