CustomRCmodels R/C Tank's | home
FAO about R/C tanks
there are plenty of online-forums where individual questions about these models are discussed ...
( this is my own forum )
I will try to create here a collection of the most frequent asked questions
and also post my own experiences and ideas
as well these of other fellow hobbyist...
any info's you can contribute ,
or question as well , are highly appreciated ....
please email me with your ideas , info's or questions :
here a copy of a recent post , evaluating and info's to Tamiya's 1/16 R/C tanks
From: "willyloewer" <willysjunkmail@a...>
Date: Sun Dec 12, 2004 12:20 pm
Subject: [Armornut's RC Armor Hut] Re: King Tiger questions
I guess I need to give my 5 cents to this as well ......
and continue on what Bill , Daryl and Kevin already wrote about this :
first , the King Tiger is in my opinion the worst tank you can chose
to setup for Danville ...
( even thought some say it's the Pershing , but to get the Pershing
running good , it mainly just takes a very clean buildup and internal
setup of the wiring ,
they are some good upgrade options but that is a different chapter )
we need to remember the King Tiger was 1 of the first tanks ( besides
the Sherman and the old Leopard ) years ago Tamiya released......
those days these models mend to be a highly detailed scale-model with
the option that they can be radio controlled ....
these tanks where never designed to be put in such stress as we do on
the battle-field.......
the King Tiger has following weak points :
gearbox-alignment
chassis-flex
tracks
track-tension
gearbox-alignment :
on the first generation DMD-gearboxes ( the ones with the white
plastic and brass gears ) the support for the final outdriveshafts
( the one where the drivesprocket mounts too ) is to narrow , to hold
the outdrive solid in an 90 degree to the chassis ,
especially if you are running metal-tracks ....there is to much
torque working on it ...plus the gearboxes have a tendency to move
within the mounting-holes under stress...
when the gearboxes go out of alignment , the tracks have the tendency
to walk off the drivesprokets ...
they are several different versions of reinforcements for that , like
this one here :
( shown here on a Tiger 1 , including metal gears with ball-bearings,
gear-reductions and larger motors )
or here in a King Tiger with 540 type motors
( 1 of my earlier setups )
but besides this reinforcement kit ( the red alloy-parts ) you need
to stiffen up the support-block for the outdrives with additional
screws , otherwise it will still be able to shift under load
( when using metal-tracks )
the newer style gearboxes ( with the black plastic covers ) have a
better support for the final outdriveshaft , but they do have a weak
link in the gearing ...
quite a few guys have reported shredded gears ....Daryl and myself
experiment here with a few different solutions in the moment ....
chassis-flex:
the gearbox-flex combined with the chassis-flex will put additional
wear on the gears and makes your tracks walking of the drivesprockets
a chassis-reinforcement is needed here ,
best with countersunk-screws , so that nothing can give :
tracks and track-tension :
the tracks are much weaker design as the ones from the Tiger 1 ,
( as Kevin explained )
therefore you have to insure that they move in a straight line
( gearbox-alignment / chassis-reinforcement ) and they do need a good
working rear-idler/track-tensioning setup .
Daryl makes a nice spring loadet setup here , what I saw first time
on his King Tiger ....he was running plastic tracks ,
since I wanted to run metal-tracks I took this a step further , by
including also a rear-chassis-reinforcement , with thicker shafts and
stronger idler-arms
this setup does work great for metal tracks ....
for plastic tracks Daryl's setup should be just fine....
as more movement ( spring loadet ) you have on the rear-idler ,
as a higher chance you have that rocks and other stuff gets stuck in
the tracks ,will just walk around
and finally will fall out of the tracks .....
by the way , this applies to every tank ! a lot of guys have adapted
this idea now also to there Tiger 1's .......
what should you do now ? running plastic or metal tracks ?
ask yourself what you want ? do you want to have your King Tiger
battle-ready as cheap as possible
or do you want to have a "King of the Hill " ?
( that's what I called my King Tiger since with his weight and the
now bullet-proof setup it's a "go anywhere" tank )
I only recommend metal-tracks if you are willing to go all the way
with the modifications ....,
otherwise stick with the plastic-tracks , but you do need a good
working rear-idler-system
( chassis-reinforcement will help here too ) ,
and keep your tank as light as possible , and drive your King Tiger
with "brain" ...( like Daryl and Bill bean showing ... .. ).
meaning , if it get's stuck , get of the throttle ....
otherwise you will shred gears and tracks .....
especially if you are using gear-reductions ,
what you will need to stay within the scale-speed.....
the "heavy-metal-version" as I did , is now Danville proven
( was shown several times with some real crazy stunt-driving-
maneuvers - don't try that with a stock King Tiger ! ),
but it takes a lot of work to get it there ........
it's your choice .......
I guess that should cover most issues about the King Tiger..at least
what I have encountered over the past 2 years making a static King
Tiger in a battle-ready machine ..you may ask yourself now , why did
I do it ? well , the challenge , to get the worst tank battle-ready !
read also the posts from Kevin , Daryl and Bill....
sorry Bob , I only can partial agree with your last post
( as Bill already answered to that one..... ),
looking forward to replies of this post , since I am planning to add
a special "King Tiger section" to my website ....
Willy
CustomRCmodels
more infos will follow .....
Willy
December 2004