I'm going to document the Cromwell rebuild on this thread. During the build I hope to highlight what worked, what didn't, and what will be new for 2014 on the venerable combatant. For those that don't know, the Cromwell has pretty much battled in most US battles since 2005 and is little changed since new. Those that know my battling style, know that I'm not exactly a Sunday driver, so when I let this beast out of its cage, the tank sees its fair share of bumps and bruises. This will be the first major overhaul and It will be interesting to see how the plywood construction and my design choices have held up over the past eight years.
First pic, here's the hull stripped of everything with a new coat of paint. I'm glad to say that there was no structural issues with the hull. All the glue joints are still tight and IMO proves that well executed plywood construction is a very viable option for these models. At this point, I've installed a new set of 1/2" bearings for the suspension arms. These bearings are the flanged stamped steel "wheelbarrow" type. The old bearings still sort of worked but were gummed up with mud and rust. I'm going to think of a way to seal these a bit better for the next eight years of use. <https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-zyc90yqA8gU/Uo-BkBy895I/AAAAAAAAAWM/8d1-elsyMAo/s1600/2013-11-22+07.50.17-B.jpg> Here's the engine bay. This area had an almost constant coat of oil from the chain drive. I'm glad to note that the liberal coat of Titebond II glue that this area was sealed with was not effected by the oil one bit. Astute observers may note that gray epoxy plug in the lower center of the rear panel. This is were the safety cutoff switch used to be mounted. The switch in this location was prone to shutting off when reversing in thick brush (not a good thing). The switch will be relocated elsewhere. <https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-ma0fqJsCoYY/Uo-Dtg4gzpI/AAAAAAAAAWY/vdB7TiPDlWE/s1600/2013-11-22+07.50.32-B.jpg> Here I'm highlighting some past repairs. The red circled area is a section that was cracked and pushed upward when the Cromwell's right front idler hit an object at full speed (a paper pinata at a Daneville event, go figure ;-). Luckily it was a clean break and it was epoxied back together and has held ever since. The blue boxed area is an additional layer of 1/4" luan plywood that was epoxied in to thicken this area up. The original single piece of 1/4" luan in this area was punctured by a tree root. Lesson here is that areas subject ti impact, 1/4" plywood is not enough. <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-_ssWO8Rcm5A/Uo-HDTCaPAI/AAAAAAAAAWk/Al1PMS1H37w/s1600/2013-11-22+07.51.41-B.jpg> That's it for now. The next installment will be the refurbishment of the suspension and road wheels. Steve Tyng -- -- You are currently subscribed to the "R/C Tank Combat" group. To post a message, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe, send email to [email protected] Visit the group at http://groups.google.com/group/rctankcombat --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "R/C Tank Combat" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
