1\16 Hobby Engine Leopard2-A5 Upgrade
10-12-2008, 01:43 AM
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1\16 Hobby Engine Leopard2-A5 Upgrade
Hi All,
Thought it was about time I shared this upgrade which seems to have gone on forever [>:]
Quick re-cap: This is the Hobby Engine 1/16 Leopard2-A5, external detailing is quite good, running gear and RC is rubbish. So I decided to upgrade it to HL S&S boards for proportional control and HL Pershing tracks and gear boxes for performance/realism.
Here it is as delivered on top of the tumble dryer, big bugger innit!
The first job was to remove the stock electronics, battery box, speaker etc, then do a temporary rig on the HL board to get the wiring right. Wiring diagrams for the HL board are available here on RCU.
I wanted to fit the boards in the turret so I didn't have to waterproof the hull. No worries here, bags of room.
While I was inside the turret I tidied up the antennae wire.
That's the antennae wire holder.
And that's it in place.
The turret of this thing is a real pain to remove and replace, it's held in place by a sort of 'plastic cup' with 3 tiny screws.
Once the boards were installed in the turret I needed a way to easily connect and disconnect the wiring for maintenance. I tried various methods and eventually settled for good old fashioned spade connectors.
Next comes the battery set up and charge plug. I've shamefully copied FV432's brilliant idea of using foam to keep the batteries snugly in place, it works a treat. As you can see its set up for dual batteries.
The drivers hatch was opened up, and a charging plug fitted. and yes it slides to the right just like the real thing.
That's the electronics fitted and working, now for the running gear.
The HE gearboxes were discarded and the HL gearboxes tested for fit. Bags of room again but they needed an adapter to get the right height and a solid fit.
I scratched up some temporary adapters from a battery box lid, fitted them in the hull then marked up and drilled the mounting holes for the HL gearboxes.
Then I fitted the HL gearboxes.
It takes an extra 19 links of pershing track to make one track for this thing, so I made one track from the pair I bought from Norse and fitted it for a test run. Another set of pershing tracks is on the way as we speak.
Things went well with the test run apart from the idler wheel which needs some work or may need replacing with the pershing idler.
I'm also not happy that I can't adjust the track tension. Think I'm gonna rebuild the gearbox adapter in one piece and rig it so it can slide like the old tamiya motorized tanks.
Overall this has been an interesting and quite easy conversion and when I get the extra tracks from Norse I will be very happy with it.
I've got a good looking, proportional control 1\16 Leopard 2-A5 and it has cost less than £120.
Thought it was about time I shared this upgrade which seems to have gone on forever [>:]
Quick re-cap: This is the Hobby Engine 1/16 Leopard2-A5, external detailing is quite good, running gear and RC is rubbish. So I decided to upgrade it to HL S&S boards for proportional control and HL Pershing tracks and gear boxes for performance/realism.
Here it is as delivered on top of the tumble dryer, big bugger innit!
The first job was to remove the stock electronics, battery box, speaker etc, then do a temporary rig on the HL board to get the wiring right. Wiring diagrams for the HL board are available here on RCU.
I wanted to fit the boards in the turret so I didn't have to waterproof the hull. No worries here, bags of room.
While I was inside the turret I tidied up the antennae wire.
That's the antennae wire holder.
And that's it in place.
The turret of this thing is a real pain to remove and replace, it's held in place by a sort of 'plastic cup' with 3 tiny screws.
Once the boards were installed in the turret I needed a way to easily connect and disconnect the wiring for maintenance. I tried various methods and eventually settled for good old fashioned spade connectors.
Next comes the battery set up and charge plug. I've shamefully copied FV432's brilliant idea of using foam to keep the batteries snugly in place, it works a treat. As you can see its set up for dual batteries.
The drivers hatch was opened up, and a charging plug fitted. and yes it slides to the right just like the real thing.
That's the electronics fitted and working, now for the running gear.
The HE gearboxes were discarded and the HL gearboxes tested for fit. Bags of room again but they needed an adapter to get the right height and a solid fit.
I scratched up some temporary adapters from a battery box lid, fitted them in the hull then marked up and drilled the mounting holes for the HL gearboxes.
Then I fitted the HL gearboxes.
It takes an extra 19 links of pershing track to make one track for this thing, so I made one track from the pair I bought from Norse and fitted it for a test run. Another set of pershing tracks is on the way as we speak.
Things went well with the test run apart from the idler wheel which needs some work or may need replacing with the pershing idler.
I'm also not happy that I can't adjust the track tension. Think I'm gonna rebuild the gearbox adapter in one piece and rig it so it can slide like the old tamiya motorized tanks.
Overall this has been an interesting and quite easy conversion and when I get the extra tracks from Norse I will be very happy with it.
I've got a good looking, proportional control 1\16 Leopard 2-A5 and it has cost less than £120.
10-12-2008, 05:46 AM
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RE: 1\16 Hobby Engine Leopard2-A5 Upgrade
Hi Mackem done for that price and from more than 3ft bet you cant tell its not a tamiya well done .when you change the idler maybe you could make it adjustable some thing like the tiger with springloading.are you going to fit DBU/DBC so you can battle with it.
regards pete
regards pete
10-12-2008, 06:47 AM
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RE: 1\16 Hobby Engine Leopard2-A5 Upgrade
Hi Pete,
I couldn't do track tensioning via the idler as the front hull fixing points are directly behind the idler axle.
Instead I've redone the gear box mount as a one piece unit that slides about 20mm and fitted the HL gear boxes to that. It works well.
Have also fitted PZIII shockers to the first and last road wheels to beef up the suspension.
Re DBU/DBC. Yes, the Leo and the Abrams ( next project ) are going to be battlers.
Cheers
John
I couldn't do track tensioning via the idler as the front hull fixing points are directly behind the idler axle.
Instead I've redone the gear box mount as a one piece unit that slides about 20mm and fitted the HL gear boxes to that. It works well.
Have also fitted PZIII shockers to the first and last road wheels to beef up the suspension.
Re DBU/DBC. Yes, the Leo and the Abrams ( next project ) are going to be battlers.
Cheers
John
