what should i use as brush on the side of my panther tank? I have seen pics with some on but I don't know what I should use for mine. thanks. oh yeah, i also made a tank course in the alley by our house. its got some dips (incase it is muddy, not really muddy, but i mean in scale terms) a big hill (i think i might have made it too steep, i can start to hear the motors straining - dont know if i should make is smaller), and a bunch of little hills. i made the hills to big for the panther (low ground clearance) because i can hear the bottom hit them when i go fast. i had to rake it all before hand because it was mostly dirt clumps. i dont know what i should do to get it packed and fine dirt besides walking all over it.

What are you talking about, a brush for painting the sides of the tank or brush as in foliage, branches, twigs used for camouflage?

[sm=confused.gif]

As for tank course problems, break up the dirt clumps with your feet and afterwards you can simply sweep the area with a broom to erase the footprints. There's nothing really wrong with bottoming out on rough terrain--the real tanks did it all the time but just pushed it flat...

-Harq

To answer your question, you could look at using that 'mossy' looking stuff sold as model railroad 'brush'.


[quote]ORIGINAL: kuhndog599

what should i use as brush on the side of my panther tank? I have seen pics with some on but I don't know what I should use for mine. thanks.

yeah brush as twigs and branches, that type of stuff.

if your earth is too sandy ,
use water to pack it (humidify your sand).
be shure your gears are well shimed(plastic gear version) or they will strip.

what can you use to get the track off (the little pins out)? on my bulldog i just waited till hey came out by themselves.

Kuhn,
I use anyting that has the same diameter as the hole. I've used push pins, paper clips or even xtra pins thats come off from my extra tracks. The way I removed the pin when I frist had my tank was putting the tank on its side, Tools were slip joint plier, needle nose plier , a screw driver and push pin. I would place underneath the pin i was to remove, a Slip joint plier . You wanna open that plier wide enough so that the pin will slide thru its teeth. The sides of pliers will support the plastic track when it comes down to hammering the pin out. I use the handle end of the screw driver as the hammer and push pin the nail. Once you've pushed out the pin remove it with the plier and if yer lucky just us yer finger tips. I use the pliers cause my figners are just to big. Mark that link that you've removed the pin from, keep track also of which way the pin with the rough end slides out from. The rough end of the pin locks it in place. when reassemblying you should always insert the pin with the smooth end first into the track.

if u need to remve that pin, push toward the smooth end . I can easily work on my tiger out in the field when the tracks misalign with a paper clip now a days by pushing on the same pin I worked on from the beggining. Remember to inspect for loose pins before and after ever run. Everyone one has their own technique in removal of the pin. This is miine hopefully others will add on. [sm=bananahead.gif]

k thanks. i've been pretty bored lately (too cold to go outside and drive tank) so i painted plastic army men. they look pretty good. lol

Good idea TANKDUEL. I remember this stuff and it looked pretty good. And, of course, it can be had in brush, shrubs, and trees etc.

Camophlage:

The name for that brush stuff is 'lichen', and if you look around, sometimes you can get it cheap in floral shops. Beware though, when dry, its VERY crumbly.

I used to use lots of it for my miniatures battlefields (BattleTech) and found a place just outside town where I filled a 30 litre cooler full of the stuff. Then home to cook it up with a 30% glycerin solution and some dye to color it. That funny smell in the store-bought bag is the glycerine. About every 2 years you gotta re-cook lichen as the glycerine leeches out of the 'bushes' and they gets brittle.

There is a new alternative that uses extruded foam-plastic, and it supposedly won't get brittle with age as the lichen does. I've seen it in the hobby shops in the model railroad section. Can't remember the maker, but will try to find it if you like.

I will warn ya though... your cats may wanna nibble on it. My cats used to snack on my gaming table all the time... were unholy terrors on the buildings too.

It's never too cold. RC tanking is a year round activity, ain't it folks?

Brave the cold and get outside.

As for removing the tracks, why does everyone resort to pushing out track pins? On my Pershing, I just disassemble the rear drive sprocket, remove it and the tracks comes free. Simple enough. But I don't need to remove the tracks that often...

-Harq

oh man. i took my panther apart (got it used) and guess what was inside. a lot of dirt and about 10 bb's stuck around the gears (they were stuck and wouldnt move from the grease). i tried making little guards around the gears. and i rusted the pins in.

You can always use natural materials, provided they are small enough to appear scale. This, I think, is a good example;

http://www.rcuniverse.com/gallery/ga...8%26pageon%3D2

-H

well, lol, i'm never driving the panther through mud again. it just built up on the tracks and made them "derail". had to take everything apart again.

[quote]ORIGINAL: Harquebus

Brave the cold and get outside.

As for removing the tracks, why does everyone resort to pushing out track pins? On my Pershing, I just disassemble the rear drive sprocket, remove it and the tracks comes free. Simple enough. But I don't need to remove the tracks that often...

-Harq



hi harquebus ,
on the pantiger and tiger , there is caps on the sprockets and it is hard to pop them out , they are easy to chip with the screwdriver .
after each removal the caps is uglier and my screws are retain by locktite242.


easier for me to push the same rusted pin , after few removals ,
it is much easier push`em out .
[sm=what_smile.gif]

driving off road with a tank is not easy ![sm=pirate.gif]

you need an amount of water near by to clean your tracks[sm=lol.gif]

see pic.

and then i would need to waterproof the tank. that would probably be hard

Nah, wouldn't be too extremely difficult.

For running in water about as deep as the tank in schutzstaffel's pic, you'd need to relocate the power switch and speaker volume knob to somewhere higher on the tank (as these would let water into the hull) and seal the battery compartment. Then you could put Goop on the miscellaneous openings in the hull such as suspension mounts and the like.

Thanks for word on the Tiger's wheel caps, schutzstaffel. Was unaware that they were there and also hindered removal of their respective sprockets. Theoretically the Pershing should also have a similar "hub cap" to be accurate and scale but it doesn't.

-Harq

hi harquebus [sm=teeth_smile.gif]

thanks for the infos. (pershing no caps)

but where would i mount the stuff? wouldn't i need a dremel to cut out a spot to put the switch and volume control? wouldn't i also need to do something about water getting near the gears or motors and electrics?

I've seen the switches/controls relocated to the turret, either in the loader's or commander's hatch. Sometimes others fabricate a lift up panel with hinges on the rear hull where an engine hatch or grating normally is.

Anyway, the focus is on attempting to make the tank's lower hull like a solid bathtub. Just seal all the openings and try to stay out of water that is higher than the top of the hull.

You don't necessarily need a Dremel to cut through the plastic--it is helpful but you could get by by using a simple electric drill, cutting multiple holes in a box shape and then punching out the "hole". Further smoothing can be accomplished with a basic hobby knife.

Somewhere in the back messages is a heavily modified Tiger posted by one of our members who made the same kinds of mods. It might have been semseyp.

These are just some things to just think about and at the same time are things you can accomplish somewhere on down the line as you learn and get more skilled...

-Harquebus

there is a lot of places you could put those switch ,
place them where you want [&:].
i have used an exacto knife and heated the blade with a lighter
to cut the rear grill panel.but i have to lengthen the rear filter
curved tube to clear the openable panel.
[X(]do not forget to install a charger plug so you wont have to take out the battery anymore.

Your located in kansas and your saying it's too cold to use the tank outside?

Try being in Ohio or Michigan and see if you think it warm outside...

-10 f (degrees) or -25 c , is that ok ?

well your used to your climate. when its 30 out with a 50 mph wind (lots of wind in kansas) its freezing and i dont want to get sick because i've got a lot of things coming up.