Looking for Stuart advice
 

Well, I received my stuart (used, modified) and discovered that the front left bogie screw posts (both upper and lower) were broken off as well as the upper one on the rear bogie. The Rear bogie was also broken at the top arm adjacent to the top pivot. I repaired everything and reinforced what I could and used 3500 lb epoxie for plastic. I sure hope it holds.

What I would like to know from any stuart owners is what kinds of terrain this tank will handle. Will it handle grass? This seems to be the most difficult for my HL Tigers. What should I NOT run it on. I've asked this on the Yahoo group but I seem to be ignored there, or maybe everyone was out engaging it Stuart battles this weekend.

I will be adding the Number 6 hose clamps this week to reinforce the drive sprockets as has been advised by just about everyone.

Also, has anyone ever converted this to a belt or chain drive?

RE: Looking for Stuart advice
 

I asked one question and it took a couple of days then several answers came in. They screen the questions apparently then post it - therefore there is a delay. I ran mine in grass - does perfectly fine. Some waterseal the electronics and have taken it through some pretty tough terrain. There are several videos out there. I don't plan to mess around much more with mine though and plan to tear it apart to lube spots they mentioned and such. Where did you get yours from? You say it was used?

RE: Looking for Stuart advice
 

I bought a 21st Century M5 over eBay last winter (used) and had to replace the battery right off. (Not the fault of the tank itself).

The 21st Century product is Chinese, and like Heng Long, they're mostly plastic and are vulnerable to any kind of abuse (my definition of abuse is anything off-road). The advantage, or trade off, is the price, of course.

I found that it can't take much rough terrain -- grass is fine. Snow was a big problem because it got caught up in the idlers (frozen, icy) and caused the track to come off. Also, it made the plastic brittle and the tensioner spring housing broke as a result. It also picked up small stones and would cause binding at the idler and track return rollers.

Another weak point is the (front) drive sprocket -- the plastic mount holding the retainer screw broke on one side but I was able to repair using platic cement.

Once I knew its limitations I stuck to concrete, grass, and generally easy terrain. I also found that they're easy to modify using a dremel cutting tool (removed the armored skirts).

The only high quality M5 I've seen is from Dave Spring. See http://6tharmor.netfirms.com/tank.html to view his all-metal M5. Very expensive but the only all-metal, high quality M5 that I know of.

Cheers....

RE: Looking for Stuart advice
 

There is one other choice. The tank pictured on this web page will be available soon. Not much about it on the web page yet.
http://www.rctanks.us/index.htm
I have seen it at the last WOH show. Nice stuff but not cheap either. All metal seldom is.
The Sherman is out of production. Shame, because they where awesome.

The only time I have broken my Stuart(s) is turning on grass.

RE: Looking for Stuart advice
 

Thanks for the reply guys! I really appreciate it. I had some unfortunate damage that ocurred during shipping which I didn't discover until a few days ago. Three screw posts for the bogies onthe left side were broken off and one bogie on each side of the tank had broken suspension arms that go over the spring pot. I was really depressed when I found these problems, but I then began to to think of ways to repair the damage and have now completed not only the repairs (using epoxy for plastic and screw receiving blocks on the inside of the hull), but have now finished cutting off the skirts - that was my originial intention, and painting. There are a few more cosmetic items I want to accomplish, but everything seems to be holding just fine. I did some driving on gravel, dirt and even grass (slow wide turns in the grass) and it did just fine.

I don't care much for the way the radio controls are set up though. Forward and reverse and turret traverse are on the same stick (left), Turret elevation is by the flaps control knob, and left and right turn is on the right stick with no device assigned to the forward and back right stick movement. I am so used to right hand speed control and turning that this is really awkward. That's my next project, to try to get tank movement all on the right stick and turret traverse and elevation on the left. Now that I have actually accomplished afew things with this tank, I am beginning to really enjoy it. Soon, I hope to add a sound module from loyalhanna.com. They have a V-8 with proportional sound and start up. Having a paint marker is a new experience, I had no idea these things were so powerful. The paintballs I'm using don't seem to splat - maybe one out of five, but they will poke holes through mat board. I love the size of this thing as there is a lot of room in the hull - well, actually, not that much, as the Industrial robotics electronics hardware is substantial. I hope I never have to figure out what all that stuff is!

I will avoid snow and cold operation as I can see the potential for real bad results there!

RE: Looking for Stuart advice
 

This tank, despite the experience of others, will just about handle anything. I've run it in powdery snow about 2 inches deep (a scale depth I think) and it did fine. I think wet snow can and will clog up the running gear as it refreezes. It also does well on packed and loose dirt. I think you have to remember to operate in a scale environment because anything too big like gravel or larger twigs will invariably jam in the sprockets and running gear.

A fellow on the Yahoo group modified his to go in deep water, at least deep enough to submerge the tracks (top & bottom) with no ill effects (he just sealed the hull).

As for your unfortunate experiences with the broken parts, there are tons of spare and upgrade parts available for this beast. I've gotten spares from a member of the Yahoo group who uses the tank as a basis for an RC riot control device complete with video camera and tear gas projector.

This tank has a tremendous cult following.

Just a small example:
http://www.axels-modellbau-shop.de/k...art:::8_9.html

-Harq

RE: Looking for Stuart advice
 

Harq makes a great point about running scale tanks under scale conditions (i.e., not over rocks and stone larger than would be expected for that scale). Goes for all scale working models.

My Stuart did poorly in ice and snow but that was because I ran it in deep snow (over 6 inches -- not to scale!). It actually did well until the idlers and drive sprockets began to cake. This might have been avoided had I set the tank outside for an hour so as not to melt the snow and re-freeze as ice onto the tracks, road wheels, etc.

The M5 Stuart is fun and has lots of potential for upgrading.

RE: Looking for Stuart advice
 

Hey Nav, where did you get your tiger and how much did that set you back. What functions is it capable of? Also, did you do the barrel mod on the Stuart? I really don't care for the short one pointing skyward to shoot the missles that as all you history majors know, was highly feared by the wehrmacht. I'd rather my barrel parallel to the ground and the right length for a 37mm cannon. I also don't think I would buy one for $30 from the pat guy when the tank costs me $40. How about some more pictures of your tiger - I would enjoy that.

RE: Looking for Stuart advice
 

Temp:

My KT was one of the first produced by RC Armory in 1997. I bought it last year for $2300 shipped, which included the metal track, but it needed some work -- wiring mostly. Also, the previous owner had engineered a .22 cal (blank cartridge) device that I had disabled for now. I might re-build it over the winter. Otherwise, it's got all the functionality -- turret slew, barrel lift, etc.

You can get a new kit from RC Armory -- see their web site for current prices. Generally, you're looking at about $2500 for the KT full functionality, shipped within the US. Mike Deiter supplies the new ones with metal track as part of the base price. These are really well-engineered tanks, in my opinion.

I haven't done very much with the M5. I cut off the armored skirts to make it look more authentic to the ones used in the Pacific. There's a very good site to visit that shows some pretty cool mods but I don't have the link off hand. Bay Area Tankers (BAT) has a list of suppliers for 1/6 scalers and I think you'll find it there. Harq gives a link to the real M5 Stuart cult. There are lots of links for all kinds of possible modifications. It's a fun tank but fairly limited in how much abuse it will take without serious mods.

Here are a couple of pics of my M5 plus a couple more of the KT. I'm 6'1" and 210 lbs -- that's my hand in the photo, to give you an idea of the KT's size. It weighs somewhere in the range of 65lbs. It operates much more realistically than the smaller 1/16th scale tanks, especially clawing its way over bushes, dirt, through snow, etc. I decided it was worth the investment and it's paid off.

Cheers...

RE: Looking for Stuart advice
 

Just ran my Stuart for the first time. It's a bargain for a 1/6 scale tank!! The speed is far too slow for a Stuart. The gearboxes are too lourd as well. I'm going to look for alternative gear drives and motors for the Stuart. Should I get the speed and torque up, then I'll have to stregthen the suspension and put bushing into the wheels. With detailing, TLC, and some extra cash, it should be a winner. Lot of potential here!! I'll let you guys know if I find someting. Or let me know if you've already found somethng . . . ;)

RE: Looking for Stuart advice
 

SOWNARE: Try this site for some in-depth testing results on motors and he sellsGraupners that he had tested also: http://www.customrcmodels.com/M5Stuart/id73.htm.

I've made some good progress with mine. The repairs seem to be holding just fine. I have been thinking about belt drives (industrial nylon belts and pullies) and new motors. First, It would really cut back on the gear noise, and the nylon belt and pully system will outlast the metal gears. You never have to lubricate the kind of system I'm looking at: http://www.intechpower.com/Pulleys_and_Sprockets.html

They are rated for high speed start and stop industrial systems. I think this would be much cheaper than going to specially fabricated nylon gearboxes. This is a project for over the winter, so I'm not very far along with it.

High torque low rpm motors would reduce the need for elaborate gear reduction systems. There is a motor I saw that is 600 rpm. Just have to figure out what the drive wheel rpm needs to be to scale out at about 43 mph which the Stewie was said to achieve. I think thats about 7 mph at scale.

Mine kept throwing a track everytime I drove it, but I discovered that if I raised the idler wheel up, compressing the spring just a little, the track tightened up a bit. So, I blocked the idler up about 1/4 inch in the suspension. So far, no more track throws.

I just bought a NIB Stewie, should be here in about a week or so. I may part it out, or maybe convert it to the above mentioned system.
Good luck with yours

RE: Looking for Stuart advice
 

Looks really big there compared to the hand - I somehow expected even at 1/8th it would be smaller. I really like the size - absolutely love the Stuart I have gotten for nothing.