Over the weekend I decided to focus on the lower hull of this kit. That way I could start playing about with the electronics and get the thing moving.
The first thing to do was to start masking areas that should not be painted. These are areas where the wheels will be attached and any gaps which would let paint enter the internal compartment.
I also finished of the rear of the tank so it was ready for painting.
After painting the lower hull the wheels and sprockets needed painting before being attached to the tank. The drive sprockets contain metal parts to connect them to the drive. These were masked up.
The parts were primed and painted lifecolor dunkelgelb.
Next I hand painted some red brown camouflage onto the wheels and sprockets and gave them a dark wash.
It’s time to start playing with the electronics. Here I tested the 3 motors before fitting anything into the tank. There is a motor for each set of tracks and one to turn the turret. These were easy to tell apart as they had different colour wires.
Next up is the drive gears. The first step was to build the left gearbox. These were easy to put together and were greased.
The right gearbox was constructed in the same way and attached to the left hand one. 8 tooth gears were then added to the two motors and they were fed through a gap in the housing to mesh with each gearbox.
There is a meta clip that is supposed to hold the motors in place but this kept popping off. In the end I left it off and the tank still run fine.
The electronics were then inserted into the hull. Its quite cramped but everything fit in nicely. The batteries sit above the motors and the housing for the turret gears was added.
Here the turret gears are in place and ready to rotate the turret when added.
Lastly the wheels and idler are added. At this point there are still caps to go onto the outer wheels in order to cover the screws holding them in place. The tracks are also added and these went on surprisingly easy.
Test fitting the rest of the tank.
Shane's Shed 