Amuro,

Mine are a little loose, but not really that much. I'm thinking that making them tighter might make it harder for them to move, should the suspension compress enough to actuate them. If you do make them tighter post the results.

_____________
As for the camo fabric. I ended up dying it with a green color. Didn't do much but darken it up some, but boy did it distort the cloth. Forgot what happens to that fabric when it gets wet. It actually looks really good, I think. Gives it a more natural look in a way.

Took it out today twice with the Venom 4200 shoe horned in the turret. The battery is still showing no signs of giving out! [X(]

Creek defense.

I like the way your Leopard blends in with the scenery, very effective camo.

Speaking of batteries, my DTX 3800s will soon need to be replaced, have you heard of these http://www.a123racing.com/ and http://www.a123racing.com/html/hypersonic.html and http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_4667844/tm.htm

15 to 30 minute charge times and no discharging, its about time these batteries show up in RC.

The 4600 is far to large to fit in the turret and maybe to large for the hull, the 2300 should fit in the front hull, I might want to try and make a pack http://www.a123racing.com/html/rcdevkits.html , that way I can at least stack six cells in the hull.

But first I will have to check to see if the DMD will work with these Lithium Ion batteries.

Will

Will,

Yeah, I'm getting closer and closer to placing the battery in the hull. The only thing is, I still can't bring myself to charge the batteries in it, so having easy access to them in the turret is convenient. I had to remove the sides of the battery tray to get the 4200 in, but it doesn't seem to affect closing the turret top.

On another note, I took the thing apart tonight and am trying something I hope works in the way the tank sits. Took both of the rear torsion bars and tweaked them slightly to make the rear sit somewhat higher. As you know, the tank wants to squat back due to the weight being so far back. Instead of adding weight to the tank up front, I'm hoping this helps it in that area. May have to tweak the rest to keep from putting too much pressure on just those two bars, though. I did about the same to the KT, because the thing was front heavy and it worked pretty good. Guess I'll have to test it out tomorrow and see how it works.

Adding stiffness to the rear of the tank, that should put more force on the front end, thereby improving traction, interesting. As you know when I did my teardown/rebuild back in June, I added fishing weights to the front and improved the balance and traction of the Leo, it climbs and handles much more like a modern MBT, making the rear of the tank stiffer should accomplish the same thing WITHOUT the added weight, resulting in longer run times.

Although keep in mind, I've notice very little difference in performance (the actual running of the tank), its still fast, so fast I have to use the throttle trim to keep speeds realistic, those twin 540s don't mind the added weight at all. Just the penalty in actual runtime is down by roughly 15 minutes, due of course to the added weight.

Will

Thought about adding weight like you did, but I was afraid of having it sit too low and having to adjust the torsion bars anyways, so tried this instead. From just running it tonight, it does make the rear end a little stiffer. As an added bonus, it tightened the track tension which I figured it would. Still have to test it over rough terrain.

One thing I am worried about is either snapping the two torsion bars, or worse, snapping the whole attachment points off of the hull from the added torque on them.

Took it out again today to test it. Works well. One thing I noticed is that the whole tank seems to sit up higher, just from the adjustment of the last bar on either side. It takes small bumps better in that it doesn't bounce as much when it rolls over them. Also keeps the last road wheel on the left side from fouling the sprocket horn guide. I had a problem before when going up large obstacles where the road wheel would move into it. Doesn't seem to catch it as often.

Seems the sprocket guide is wearing the bolt heads off the center guides. I hope it doesn't eventually wear the center guides down. Since I no longer have the old skirts on it, and the track is tighter, I might just remove them again.

Ron

Could add a suspension arm stay to keep bottoming out against the Sprocket horn guide. Some good ideas you guys have on the suspension, mine is sealed up so I may add extra spring loaded stays on the rear.

Hey Cap http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums...5&d=1177328932 and http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums...6&d=1177328956

I need to find a new place soon for my Leos, the construction site is now a gone, its new housing complex, and I'm a long way from my secret place in Georgia[8D]

Will

llooking at these picstures makes me want to build my leo2a6 thats still new in box in teh closet..

I've uploaded a video I made last year around May/June timeframe http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJvGdxDu84Y , it was about 12 minutes long so I edited it down to 6 and a half minutes and put it up on you tube.

The Leo has the additional fishing weights up front, at least a pounds worth, if you look when the Leopard is stationary, you can see that the front hull angles down, the bottom edge of the front fender being almost even with the top of the front road wheel, those are the fishing weights.

Will

Eric,

Good idea. Could you post how you added one, if you decide to do it?

BTW, how did you seal up the hull?

Will,

I think I remember that video. The pics of the construction site runs really show how the weight affects the attitude of the hull. Especially with the gun tube over the rear.
_______

One other thing....it's back to looking like the demo Leo a page or two back with the tan fabric and yellow marker tape. Can always put the new camo fabric on it if I want to hide.

Indeed, you may have seen a longer version of that video, it was on THQ and RC Panzer for a short while last summer, I believe I used Rapidshare to store the file.

I opened up the hull to do basic maintainence, its been about 9 months since the teardown, plus I have to change the left tread due to about 10 billion rocks that were buried beneath the sand/dirt, there's some fine grain dirt, mostly at the rear on top of the gearbox, the fine dirt and sand came through the rear engine grills.

I finally weighed those 3 fish weight packets and they come 2 oz short of two pounds, so I have 30 oz up front, and thats fine by me.

Will

Probably saw it at the RC Panzer site.

That back grill is quite an opening. I've been thinking about just blocking it off somehow. It sure does let in all kinds of stuff. Dust, grass, and even found dead bugs in there, once.

Plan on taking it out this weekend. No more grass for now, though. When the grass gets really thick and wet in the summer, not only does it stick to it as it grinds it up, the sprocket grabs it and holds the tank in place at times. As powerful as the thing it, I don't really like it straining against something that may or may not give. Probably a good way to strip a gear, if that's possible. Or bend the final drive axles.

Take some photos, I WANT to see that 1/16 scale Leopard tank doing what tanks of this scale and larger are supposed to do, get down and dirty, this isn't 1/35 scale ya know

I kinda wish you hadn't weathered your Leo using paint[&o], running your tank outside will give you all the weathering you'll need, plus the added advantage of being able to clean your tank and get dirty again, you can vary your weathering patterns, light dirt, medium mud, covered in sand (like the Candian Leos in Afganistan) or get it sparkeling clean for when you want to display as new fresh out of the factory.

I finally decided to get my Leopard up and running again http://www.pbase.com/calvinwill/spri...aning&page=all run thru all the photos and read the captions, looks like I have extra set of new treads http://www.pbase.com/calvinwill/image/78652598 into the spare parts bin they go[8D]

Will

Here's some added incentive to go outside and play in the dirt http://www.rb-modelle.de/bildergalerie.htm and http://www.flickr.com/photos/schoppy...7594127080961/

Will

Hey Cap, check this out http://www.vronis-homepage.de/Torsten/15.04.2007/html/ scroll down to the bottom and look for 4 photos of what appears to be an Israeli Centurion, man, that Centurion is bad as hell, obviously scratch built.

If Tamiya or another quality company (Dragon, for instance) made that in 1/16 scale kit form, I would buy one immediately.

Will

Will,

Yeah, I'm kinda thinking the fake weathering isn't really helpful when you're trying to clean it. I did take it out and got it dirty (tormented an ant hill across the road), but didn't get any pictures. Brought it inside last night and couldn't tell the real stuff from the fake stuff. Took the whole thing apart, cleaned it, and stripped the 'dirt' off of it. Repainted whole parts of it. The good thing about Tamyia paints is, they come off really easy when they aren't sealed. Of course, some of it was Testor's paint, so it didn't come off as cleanly, but the parts that stayed actually look cool. It looks alot like a tank that has been washed and repainted in areas, but weathering still shows on the un-repainted parts. I think when I get it completed this time, I'm going to seal the paint, so I can wipe it off without taking the paint off.

Pictures will follow sometime this week, when it's done.

If you seal it capn', I can't recommended enough Mr. Gunze super clear. It comes in flat, semi-flat, gloss.

Arrrggghhhh!!![:@]

Apparently for some reason, the text caption on this photo disappeared http://www.pbase.com/calvinwill/image/78652598

I've typed it back in, I apologize for the error.

Will

I've decided not to seal it yet, because I'm just not sure I want to make it permanent. The pictures are actually old, because I ended up removing the fenders and skirts and reworked it to look more like RC 2A5 in the link that Will posted. That tank is pretty detailed and since there are pictures of A5's and A6's with either one skirt per side or none at all, I decided to remove them for now. I'm thinking that the reason they have at least one skirt is to make it easier to climb up on. Other wise, there wouldn't be any reason I could see why they would have just one skirt on it.

Anyway, here are some pics. The paint had to be gone over again, because of the way I apply it, and the thinness of the Tamiya paint.

Edit: added the A5 skirtless version pics.

Like the new look, is that the L44 you have there?

Scroll all the way to the bottom, whats the purpose of those levers on the skirts? http://www.battletanksnederland.com/...r=asc&start=30 I find it hard to believe they hold the skirts in place, they don't seem strong enough.

Will

Thanks. Yes, thats the L44. Nice and short.

The levers are to keep the skirts from flopping up, I believe. Probably more for when it's traveling on public roads than anything.



When I first looked at this picture, it didn't look that bad. Yeah, it's stuck, and the skirts on the loaders side are probably going to need a little work, but look closely at the track on the TC's side. It's a little off. Hopefully the track isn't thrown to the inside on the loaders side. This is why real tanks avoid water and mud when possible. But, when everyone's buttoned, and in the heat of the action, it happens to the best.

Here are some photos of KMW's 1/10 scale PSO http://www.rcpanzer.de/apboard/thread.php?id=14956 scroll down and you'll see them.

I believe Leopard2A6 Owner was working on PSO using Tamiya's 1/16 kit, that is one difficult project for sure. I hope he finishes it, wonder if he will make the dozer blade functional? Either way, I hope he completes and then post photos of his work.

The photo of the mis-aligned track had me wondering how that happened, I'm thinking high speed (60+) along with the unstable road due to heavy rains. If they were traveling at, oh lets say 30 mph or slower, the road would have gave way but the tracks would not have dis-lodged, all that energy travelling at 50+mph and then coming to a sudden stop with the right side off the road for a few seconds, would have been enough to dis engage the track.

Its not uncommon for some crews of modern MBTs to see how fast their tanks can go, look at the conditions, wide open and flat terrain, hell if I were in real Abrams or any modern MBT under those conditions (except for the heavy rain), I too would lead foot it

Will

Nice PSO.

Yeah, I'm almost wondering if the track on that Leo 2 didn't pop off during the attempted recovery or the tank trying to free itself. You can see the tracks leading backwards, so it almost looks like it may not have been that bad, until they tried to free it. The size of the ruts, coupled with the dirt piled up just behind the idler has me thinking that's what happened.

As for crews seeing how fast the tank will go, yes, it happens.

We always tried to avoid standing water. Not always possible, but when we could. Another thing was being careful in tall grass. Nothing like deep ditches or holes hidden by tall grass.

At Ft. Hood, our platoon was filing between a steep dirt embankment and some rather large rocks, then making a sharp right hand turn. It was a tight squeeze, and was just a matter of time before someone messed up. Sure enough, the tank right in front of ours turned just a little too soon, and scooped up a huge rock just behind the last roadwheel on the loader's side. I'll never forget the sight, nor the sound, of that sprocket shattering.