Can I have a designation, please?

[Pete Arundel]

I finally have video evidence of the Valentine's worthiness for
designation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJlqzgL6PFg

Unfortunately (I keep using that word . . .) my camera's battery ran
out before I could make a video of her with the tracks correctly
tensioned. Suffice to say that now she moves beautifully!

[Clark Ward Jr]

Looked like a self-mobile tank to me... Makes me want to work on
mine! I got one track cut out, need to make a second! Where's your
battery, up in front? I like the 'cargo' area with the microswitches
and other kit in it :)
--
Clark in Georgia

[Chris Malton]

At last! It moves.

Well done Pete!

Chris

[Peter Arundel]

The 'cargo area' will soon be full of gas bottle . . . the battery is situated roughly in line with the front suspension mounting. It has to be well forward to balance the weight of the motors which are quite heavy. They have integral gearboxes which makes them quite easy to mount but does result in a lot of weight situated behind the rear suspension mounts.
 
I'm a little disapointed with the speed. I may try 18v instead of 12v and see what happens. Probably she'll charge straight off her tracks . . .
 
> Date: Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:49:32 -0500
> Subject: Re: [TANKS] Can I have a designation, please?
> From: ki4...@gmail.com
> To: rctank...@googlegroups.com

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[Peter Arundel]

Thanks, Chris. I look forward to shooting your Challenger soon!
 
Pete.
 
> Well done Pete!
>
> Chris

[Kelly G]

It looks great Pete.

To me, it indeed looks like it is worthy to have a designation.

Can't wait to see more...

 

Kelly

T-072 Panther

---

From: Pete Arundel <purete...@hotmail.com>
To: R/C Tank Combat <rctank...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Fri, November 20, 2009 11:18:45 AM
Subject: [TANKS] Can I have a designation, please?

[Mike Mane]

Very nice. May I suggest shortening the tracks to tighten them a bit?

—Mike M

Message sent by way of mobile device

On Nov 20, 2009, at 1:18 PM, Pete Arundel <purete...@hotmail.com>
wrote:

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[Chrysanthos Kanellopoulos]

Beautiful and very to scale! Faithful replica in all aspects.

It seems these sprockets engage the tracks no matter how sagging they are. They look very sexy together with these suspensions. 

My vote is that the suspension system should be included in Steve's forthcoming article.

 

Chrys

[Chrysanthos Kanellopoulos]

I don;t mean to impose, but Peter, will you paint her Desert Yellow? 

And just to give you one good reason, besides my personalpreference, The bright color will keep it cooler in a sunny day.

Chrys

----- Original Message -----

From: Peter Arundel

To: RC Tank Combat

Sent: Friday, November 20, 2009 10:50 PM

Subject: RE: [TANKS] Can I have a designation, please?

--

[Pete Arundel]

The tracks have already been shortened, Mike, and they work
beautifully. I'm off to the Funky Tank Foundry testing grounds this
afternoon so I'll make some more videos.

Chrys, I'm leaving the painting up to my brother - he's won awards for
painting models and miniatures in the past. We were thinking about
'mickey mouse' camouflage if we did her in green but some of the
Tunisian campaign desert schemes are quite nice. Not sure about
keeping her cool though. This is England - most of our days are water
cooled!

Some camouflage here; http://www.armouredacorn.com/ncvm%20index.html
(This is a really good site. Especially if you're Canadian!)

On Nov 21, 4:37 am, Mike Mane <mike082...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Very nice. May I suggest shortening the tracks to tighten them a bit?
>
> —Mike M
>
> Message sent by way of mobile device
>

> On Nov 20, 2009, at 1:18 PM, Pete Arundel <pureteenl...@hotmail.com>  

> wrote:
>
>
>
> > I finally have video evidence of the Valentine's worthiness for
> > designation.
>
> >http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJlqzgL6PFg
>
> > Unfortunately (I keep using that word . . .) my camera's battery ran
> > out before I could make a video of her with the tracks correctly
> > tensioned. Suffice to say that now she moves beautifully!
>
> > --
> > You are currently subscribed to the "R/C Tank Combat" group.
> > To post a message, send email to rctank...@googlegroups.com
> > To unsubscribe, send email to rctankcombat-
> > unsub...@googlegroups.com

> > Visit the group athttp://groups.google.com/group/rctankcombat- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

[neroc]

Excellent work Pete , it’s a joy to see the Valentine finally
moving , It may be an idea to fix some rubber pads to the tracks to
improve traction .
it however is not a `rolling chasse`. in my opinion the Valentine is
indeed `operational` as all good tanks should be .

Neil R

> > > Visit the group athttp://groups.google.com/group/rctankcombat-Hide quoted text -
>
> > - Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text -

[Phil]

Brilliant Pete- the tracks and particularly the suspension look
excellent. Looking forward to camoflaging it in a style I call "random
paintball".

By the way you are right about the weather- went out for a walk this
morning in lieu of postponed battle- we had high winds, torrential
rain, thunder & lightening- less like the Somme, more like Trafalgar!

Phil

PS Great wheelie bins.

On Nov 21, 10:11 am, Pete Arundel <pureteenl...@hotmail.com> wrote:

> > > Visit the group athttp://groups.google.com/group/rctankcombat-Hide quoted text -
>
> > - Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text -

[Pete Arundel]

Took her down to Niels for some more bodywork and proudly drove her
down his drive. He liked the suspension. He was impressed with her
ability to drive down obstacles. He laughed as ahe drove straight off

her tracks . . .

Still some adjusting to do, I think!

> > > > Visit the group athttp://groups.google.com/group/rctankcombat-Hidequoted text -

[neroc]

Firstly well done on your designation Pete , I don’t see how the
suspension system can be bettered , seeing it in person is a very
impressive sight , but it will not account for much when the tracks
fall off on the first turn. I think you should look at what Joe Sommer
did with To10 . Double sprocket and idler wheels will stop the track
twisting , this I think is the reason for your de tracking .

Neil R

> > > > > Visit the group athttp://groups.google.com/group/rctankcombat-Hidequotedtext -

[Pete Arundel]

Actually, Neil, one of the problems - perhaps THE problem is that the
last road wheel on the left hand side is about 10mm out of alignment
so it's constantly trying to pull the track off the sprocket. I'm
going to do a lot of fettling this week!

[Steve Tyng]

Neil wrote:

> I think you should look at what Joe Sommer
> did with To10 . Double sprocket and idler wheels will stop the track
> twisting , this I think is the reason for your de tracking  .

Two different animals here. Joe's Hetzer is a solid suspension
vehicle. I've said this before and I guess I'm saying it again, the
plastic conveyor track has very small guide tabs which IMO will not
fair well with an active suspension. Even on Joe's Hetzer with highly
tensioned tracks, it comes off quite easily. We can always look
forward to seeing Joe wheel his field repair unit out too the de-
tracked Hetzer at least once a battle.

Maybe bigger guides could somehow be incorporated into the plastic
conveyor tracking?

Steve

[Pete Arundel]

You could be right, Steve, but so far I've only managed to throw the
track on the side with the misaligned road wheel. In comparison with
the Hetzer, the Valentine has six points of contact per track to the
Hetzers four and due to the suspended wheels following the tracks as
they traverse bumps better than unsupended (and at times unloaded)
wheels it may actually work better.

I hope so, anyway, 'cause those tracks were bloody expensive! I have a
few modifications to make before battle on the 6th of next month and I
have more ideas for mods over the winter. I wonder how our Dutch
friends have got on with conveyor belting. Any problems, Mr. Methorst?

Pete.

[Marc]

> I wonder how our Dutch friends have got on with conveyor belting. Any problems, Mr. Methorst?

Yes, we have. The old Stug (now Pz III - progress) tends to throw a
track every now and then. I chamfered the sprocket teeth to get a
better engagement but haven't tested it yet. The smaller track guides
are problem #2, but only in very rough terrain.

Marc

[Pete Arundel]

I think that having a track shedding problem 'every now and then' is
acceptable. Having one 'all the time' or 'whenever it moves' would be
a problem . . .

I'm hoping for reasonable weather this weekend so that I can get some
testing done.