Tamiya Pershing
 

My Tamiya Pershing arrived yesterday. After getting into the box, I was surprised to see the plastic lower hull. So I have a question for those of you who have this tank, have you had any problems with the hull? Wanting to know if any stress cracks have developed with out door use. I run my tanks hard but I don't abuse them.

I'm also looking for any build tips or things to watch out for while assembling.

None other than the tabs that hold the upper can break after some years of battling.

4 years of pretty serious battling at Danville, and no issues with the hull.
Never heard of any either.
I am a huge fan of the Pershing, especially as a battler.
In fact, I just replaced the original tracks because they were pretty much worn flat.

If you are considering any upgrades, I highly recommend the gearbox plate made by Daryl Turner and sold by ETO.
http://www.etoarmour.com/products.php?ViewCategory=14
Without it, you have to disassemble much of the inside to remove them, plus it adds some rigidity.

Upgrading to sealed bearings for road wheels and suspension is worthwhile also, and easy to do on this tank.
Several online dealers sell complete sets. like mitosal
http://www.mitosal.com/Bearings.html

480 motors are a good move as well, and with the stock pinion, you are right within the scale speed range.

With assembly, you just have to be really neat with fitting the electronics and wiring into the hull, as it is very tight inside.

Sounds good, I can deal with years.

Thank you. I just ordered the gear box plate, I ordered the bearings when I ordered the tank a week or so ago. As far as the wiring, I'm finding that pretty much SOP with Tamiya tanks.

IMHO this is one of the best kits.

I'm really looking forward to building this one. I am disappointed in my other Pershing, if there was ever a RC tank that needed barrel recoil the Pershing is it, one of my favorite US tanks.

So getting back to the gearbox plate, I see the gear boxes mount to a metal plate that screw to the hull, does the ETO plate replace this plate or do they work in conjunction with one another?

It is my understanding the Pershing has the tightest fit by far.
If you look at the top front of the speaker, you will notice a 1/2 circle cut-out.
That is so the turret ring will clear the speaker, that's how tight it is.
You have to position the MFU/DMD just right, so the ring can rotate between the fuses on top and the guide wheels.
It helps to mount the DMD/MFU to the plate w/ velcro instead of the foam tape.
It is a mm or 2 taller, but that way you can re-position it easily.
Some guys leave out the mount plate all together to gain 1/4 inch of clearance or so.
But I kept it, and found it helpful to run wires underneath.

It replaces the gearbox spacers, not the aluminum pan that sits inside the whole hull.

OK, looking at the speaker now I see what you mean by cut out. Thanks for the info.

Thank you.

Other than being cramped for space it's a great model, fairly sturdy.

Jerry

That's good news about the sturdy part.

Yes it is a very sold tank once completed. Just be sure to be very neat and tidy with your wiring . This model can have turret rotation issues if the wiring is not done well and clean.

That's the only problem I have with my Tamiya tanks. Can't seem to find the happy medium. #1 the wiring is too long IMO, and the flash unit and TBU cables seem to always be in the way. I've tried cable ties, tape, and sheathing. What's the secret? I hate doing battery changes, seems I have to re-route wires over and over again.

There are many secrets young grasshopper.

I think (most of) the long wires are necessary, so you can take the turret and/or the top hull off to work on the inside.
The key is to get them out of the way in such a way that they can be raveled/unraveled easily.

I use cable ties to bundle wires together as much as possible.
The motor wires I run under the mount plate and speaker.
I did shorten my speaker wire by unscrewing the top off the speaker, then pulling just enough of the wire back into the speaker.
I use Deans connectors on my batteries, so I can lose the bulky Tamiya Y connector and solder two wires to each post on the Deans.
I loop the receiver wires under the mount plate, then zip tie.
The rest, I try to create one umbilical between the hull and turret.
In the Pershing, I put 1 twist in the umbilical and keep almost all of it pushed to the back of the turret bustle, making sure it is clear of the recoil unit.
I only have an 1 or 2 inches of the umbilical down into the tank.
I attach the main gun flash wires to the inside of the turret, and the capacitor (I think) to the back of the bustle.

A few other tips...
A zip tie (you'll need a bigger one than those included) around the rotation unit helps to keep the turret ring engaged.
Some like to CA glue the slipper clutch on the rotation unit since it gets hung up easily.

This is great advice, like others have stated, real estate within the Pershing is at a premium. Expect to have several false starts before you get it right, well at least right enough to live with! :)

Thanks for the advice guys.

Depending on how much you like to mod, you can cut the speaker box to give you more room. This thread is about rotation hang ups, just scroll down and you'll see a pic of the
cut down speaker.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/rc-t...amiya-m26.html

Thanks BennyB, some interesting reading. Looks like I'm in for some frustration.

Don't be discouraged off the bat. It's a great kit, just as others stated you've got to have your wiring tidy in the cramped space. Other than the Leo2/type 10 it's the most advanced kit tamiya has put out. Saying used to be, if you've put a Pershing together all the other kits are cake. As with all the tamiya tanks the instructions are well thought out and illustrated.
Also remember to read through the electronics manual as this tank has the "neutral" throttle setting. You have to trim up/down on throttle then push the throttle stick full which ever way you trimmed, then stick and trim back to neutral to put it "in gear" otherwise you'll hear engine noise but not get any track movement. Take your time and have fun with it, you're going to be extremely happy with the end tank.

No, I'm not a quitter. My JS-2 is pretty cramped inside as well and has the neutral throttle until trimmed down and then back to neutral. Keep the help coming, I appreciate it.

You're already ahead of the game then. I've seen plenty of posts where builders were confused why they hear engine noise but no track movement. Of course they never read through the manual which then confuses me.

The JS-2 was my first Tamiya tank. Even though I read the part about the neutral throttle, I didn't understand it fully until I tried to move the tank for the first time and then what I had read kicked in. I was prepared for this when testing the Pershings electronics. Just curious as to why all of the Tamiya tanks don't have this feature, I like it.