okay, didnt get much response to my other thread (actually none!)
no worries, my issue is solved.

I have another question that I am sure you guys can help me with.

where should I place my gearboxes? in the front of the tank or the rear?
at the moment I can only place it at the rear, but what I dont like is if I need to crawl over an obstacle the power would be coming from the back...
would that be less power efficient then the gearbox at the front?

please help me decide.

[sm=71_71.gif]ill go out on a limb and say forward mounted would be better plus the weight of having motors/gearboxes forward would give more traction

The primary reason military tracked vehicles have rear sprocket drive is to protect the engine-tranny from damage from enemy fire. Secondly, with rear sprocket, there is more flexibility of suspension in climbing obstacles. The sprocket in front with no vertical movement, there are limitations in maneuvering over vertical obstacles as well as possible damage to the sprocket teeth. The Israeli Merkhava tanks, completely contrary to basic tank design, were designed as defensive vehicles and have the engine-tranny in front and driver far offset to the side as a protection for the crew, plus an access tunnel at rear center. With building a plastic model RC tank, havng the sprocket near the motor & battery may give some added traction due to the light weight. Consider also the type and width of the track.

thanks guys.
so Patton, the way mine would be set up now most weight would be at the back (with the drive at the back) so this should work out then?
if I can rework the design then I will aim for the front, but this platform is used for a camera so I have a feeling the weight will be more on the rear.

Hey what are you biulding ? A new tank design. I like the gear box in the rear as the tracks are pulled back moving the tank forward. I vote for the rear of the tank. So that's 1 front and 1 rear or make it front and rear just joking A tank with 4 spocket drive

Jaws

Jaws. good to see another Canadian eh.
right now im building a tracked platform with a wireless camera out of extra parts I have.
this project is just to get me familiar with my new lathe.
after this I plan on building my own scale models of military vehicles and such.

the tank I want to build is a fullout metal m18 hellcat with gas engine (not sure yet on what type) to keep it simple probably an inline 2 4 stroke.

I realy want to do a metal m35a2 but much more like our canadian MLVW.

Probably meaningless for the weight we are dealing with (I'm assuming nowhere near scale) but in practice, weight is probably best equally distributed front to rear in the design.

Traction, steering and ground pressure would be optimally distributed in a neutrally balanced (front/rear) vehicle I'd assume, whether tracked or otherwise.

Modern tank design would probably give the best indication of what is currently thought of as best design practice in regards to weight distribution.

so what are you building? country, type, model, weight/gun catagory? Pz III hull with KT tracks and Sherman turret? Tank Girl?

I am building a mobile camera machine to get a driver's view of the terrain and other tanks. I also wish to shoot video frlo nature videos as well. I choose teh Pershing Tank for my purposes. I am able to move the cameras forward and backward to balance. THe Pershing is very reliable and I personally like the rear drive. It enhances some shots because of how it crawls ove obsticles. I think the rear drive just works better for me. Also the tracks are nice and wide.I am using plastic tracks and the new 3 to 1 gear set for teh power it sometimes requires.
David