It's Not a Tank! The Hauler
 

Ok it might be a tank, but it does have multiple axles... kinda:ror:

Jason picked this up years ago at a swap meet and I have wanted it since. Fast forward and 666 got it and I bugged and pleaded with him until it was mine yesterday. :mrgreen:
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d1...psc7fa1769.jpg

You will have to excuse the crappy photos, but as you will see it won't exactly fit in my scale garage. :ror:
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d1...ps058ec3aa.jpg

It is sitting next to my 12.25" wheelbase 1.9 scale rig. :lmao:
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d1...ps51056fb5.jpg


http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d1...pscefacbf3.jpg

With the top off.
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d1...psc8ef9f30.jpg

And twin 550 motors in the front.
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d1...psba982d38.jpg


And the plan:

I am going to seal up the interior to be water tight and use the inside as radio, battery and parts storage for going to events. On the top will be a working winch with a full flat deck to transport 3 or 4 rigs to events. Scale details will be coming after I get the top deck started. After it is all done I will attempt some river crossings. :ror:

Re: It's Not a Tank! The Hauler
 

These things are notorious for cracking at the rear of the drive sprocket (the round part where the driveshaft enters). It seems to be the weakest point on the drive train. Using a metal hose clamp around the round plastic area keeps it together very well.

Re: It's Not a Tank! The Hauler
 

nice! any idea on brand?
1/6 ultimate soldier?

Re: It's Not a Tank! The Hauler
 

Even with the 20 pound weight drop I did by loosing the battery? :ror:

Do you happen to have any photos of the mod?

21st Century Toys, dated 2000.

Re: It's Not a Tank! The Hauler
 

i have a 1/9 abrams ,I think it has althread from one side to the other and a nut on the inside and one on the outside of the hull.

Re: It's Not a Tank! The Hauler
 

its funny that you posted this. i just pick one of these up for free. i will be watching. i have no idea what to do with it.

http://i1042.photobucket.com/albums/...ps9d903255.jpg

Re: It's Not a Tank! The Hauler
 

Nice. It looks like it is in really good shape. I am making this up as I go along, but I hope it helps.

I had a little time today so I messed with this a little.

I glued the bottom plates in place and cut out the boxes from inside the chassis, still a little refining to do though.

Then I cut the top out to use just the front and sides and started to make a deck for rigs to sit on.
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d1...psf349bcd5.jpg

Then I took the hatch that was on the top deck in the back and moved it to the front. This is where my ESCs, motors, batteries and receiver for powering the tank will be.
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d1...pscd5ada7b.jpg


Then I started to make a little cockpit for a driver in the front. I will play with this a little more as the build progresses.

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d1...ps50409543.jpg


After I built the deck I cut out the center and made a hatch. Haven't decided it I will hinge it or not yet. But plenty of space inside for a transmitter and whatever else I will need.
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d1...ps2a888d47.jpg


And just for reference how much I can fit on top. The styrene that is on now is just the first layer, either some metal grating material or more styrene is going to go on top of this layer. I am also going to put a extension on the back at an angle so there will be a little more room and it will be easier to mount the ramps.
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d1...psd73f2b26.jpg

Re: It's Not a Tank! The Hauler
 

Those are some sweet graphics on that honcho "thumbsup"

Re: It's Not a Tank! The Hauler
 

Going to follow this one - nice work so far

Re: It's Not a Tank! The Hauler
 

Thanks and thats the little ones Honcho. :ror:

I tried to work on some other projects in the garage today, but I lasted 10 minutes before I was freezing. So I worked on this again in the living room/little basement shop.

I covered the top in some metal I had sitting around. This stuff is made to cover roof gutters, but seemed to work for this purpose.
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d1...pse6a4bd7c.jpg


I also made an extension for the top deck with a bend in the back, this one is now 41" long with the ramp down and 34" long with the ramp up. I will trim the metal hanging off the bottom tomorrow, hopefully it won't be so cold.
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d1...ps2cb4cb06.jpg


Then I picked up some Dubro 1/4 scale airplane hinges (No.257) for the folding ramp and the top deck hatch.
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d1...ps52169777.jpg

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d1...ps5424c8c4.jpg


The ramp is springy and wants to go down all the time, it just happened to work out this way, I was going to do this anyway so bonus. :ror: To keep it up there will be a winch hook attached to it.
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d1...ps891c5128.jpg

The rear extension is braced a lot, I am going to box it in and then it should be rock solid. Hopefully I can find some time to wire the electronics in the morning and take this for a little test drive in the snow. After that cover the ramp in metal, figure out some scale details to add, slap some paint on and go play.

Re: It's Not a Tank! The Hauler
 

nice. will two 1.9 rigs fit on deck with the new extention?

Re: It's Not a Tank! The Hauler
 

Yes sir. It will actually hold four 1.9 scalers now.

I took it for a test drive in the back yard today, pretty fun, but I have not quite figured out how to mix the channels yet. So right now the right track is on the wheel and the left track is on the trigger. :ror:

Re: It's Not a Tank! The Hauler
 

I want to know what you find out for mixing channels, please! I have been thinking of buying a servo mixer, like for airplane v-tails, and using that to run two modified servos in a small tracked vehicle, but you might be able to do the same but with two ESCs instead! I would LOVE to know your result!!

DieCastoms (Michael)

Re: It's Not a Tank! The Hauler
 

Why not use a cheap stick radio with each stick controlling a track?

Re: It's Not a Tank! The Hauler
 

Freakin' creative build! Love the Star Wars poster in the background too !

Re: It's Not a Tank! The Hauler
 

Because I finally have a radio that will let me store models and run more than one (however it doesn't do any mixing, at all). I want to build some simple little tracked bot using two modified servos for motors. I've done this before, but when I did, I HAD a stick radio ..

I *THINK* the VTail mixer will work, perfectly, but am not SURE of this, and do not have the resources to find out, at the moment (spare Rx, servos to modify, mixer, etc.) I am hoping it will be a summer project along side my Honcho (which is now a Subaru Impreza WRX).

Re: It's Not a Tank! The Hauler
 

Insane!
any chance to take a picture of it near something like a person or a chair so we can get the feel of the scale of this thing (hard to imaging from just other crawlers)

Re: It's Not a Tank! The Hauler
 

this is what is in mine.





Sabertooth Dual 25A 6V-24V Regenerative Motor Driver - RobotShop

Re: It's Not a Tank! The Hauler
 

I am 99% sure a V-tail mixer will get the job done easily, but I am still holding out to see if the 4PL is capable of doing the job all by itself.

I don't want to carry around another radio, or buy one for that matter just for this. I can get this to work on a pistol grip its just taking a bit of work.

Thanks! I need to get the book. :ror:

I and my local hobby shop are pretty sure a V-tail mixer will work as well.

I wil try to do that today.

Is that a mixer? I talked to a local hobby shop and they said they can get me a V-tail mixer for about 20.00. Them and I are pretty sure a V-tail mixer will do the job, but I am still trying to figure out mixing on the radio without it.


After the test drive last week I had one of the cogs stop spinning, I took it apart and found that the gear box was fine. But the previous owner of this (7 years ago) stripped the hex area in the cog and tried to fix it with rubber glue. So I pulled it apart drilled a whole through the shaft and hex and put a pin through it, notched the cog adapter for the pin and slapped it back together. Seems pretty solid now. Took me a couple hours to get it done, but it should be plenty strong. Hopefully I don't have to do this to the other side as it was kind of a PITA.

I will try to get some more photos of this soon!

Re: It's Not a Tank! The Hauler
 

It'll be ready sunday, right?