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Stefan(2)

Recovering the Leopard 2A6 out of the tank scrapyard

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And here we go, operation recovery !!

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Dug up the Leopard 2A6 ,  one of the first "operational" Tamiya 2A6 in europa at that time.

Time gave it a beating.. ( most likely .. well, careless shoving around by somebody who don't understand the value of these things )

This beast of war even got a shower "as it was dusty!"

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Part one, noting down the damage.. its mostly cosmetica , some broken off parts ( some i still had ) , other stuff moest be transformed into battle damage.

Then the battery .. well.. theoretical it should be recoverable .. lets see, after 10 years.. :)

The alc 8500 is doing his magic right now

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Main goal is getting it back into running shape, preferably with the old battery, as funds are tight.

And making it look "seksy" again after all the abuse.

 

Digging still goes on.. as i MIGHT still have a full metal track set laying around for it.

( just do not remember where )

 

** work in progress **

 

 

 

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Good find :)

I sold my leopard as I never used it much, WW2 stuff more my thing but the leopard ran lovely.

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It was one of the models i really kept intentional while going into Hibernation with the entire hobby

I love especially this model as its technical very high end , especially "at that time" it really was a first for Tamiya / using this control module .

Previous tanks had less "smart" ways to move the barrel and turret..  drive train could be "iffy" at some ( at best )

But especially turret control was with this one a first , and so much better then previous models.

 

Anyway,  battery status is ... not so great ,  i probably got to sacrifice one of the new battery's for it ( doing a final " nuke the nimh" attempt right now. )

I got it back from littery 0 V , to holding about 1500mah at 7,2V ..  and still rising at cycle's .  But.. getting back to like 3300 ... well... DOUBTFULLY :)

I was hoping to prevent it, as for fitting i got to "slay" the battery and it will only fit into the tank, not in any other models.

 

 

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IT LIVES..   ok.. partial ..

So far, cleaned, did some battle damage repairs , and installed a fresh battery ( the old one was really.. unrecoverable )

 

So far so good.. that thing is noisy ! forgot about that ;p  * rrooaaarrr *

 

But.. now i ran into a dual-issue ( who, i think are related )

Even after recalibration ,  the turret rotation motor, and the recoil motor won't work.

( i do get the sound effect, so the "control" should work good )

So far cleaned the inside of the tank out, checked the connectors.. still no-show

Any suggestion where to look ?  Before it went into hibernation it was working fine.

 

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Try taking the motors out and powering them outside of the tank to see if they spin.

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Any idea what voltage there rated ? 5v ?  ( i learned ;p )

 

Added.. im slightly afraid for the mfu unit, as i can't get any voltage reading on the plug going to the motors 

( like.. none .. )

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I have no idea what voltage rating they would have.  Maybe try a AA battery?  1.5V shouldn't kill the motor but would hopefully provide enough power to get it to spin if it is OK.

Hopefully the motor would have something printed on it which would help identify the specs.

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Tested..  good news.. motors work ( 7.2V ) 

 

Bad news.  think i found something .. and im now official over my head with it

My best guess is, water came in ( thanks wife.. ) , and fried the part of the board..

What, could be possible, as thats the part the cable's come out for the .. yes, turret rotation and recoil motor.

 

As its SMD .. im way in over my head , im old school ( can fix the bigger stuff )

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Follow up..  

Considering .. well, guess so.. the part of the mfu is -dead -  .. i still have the sound effect and a working motor.

The motor works like .. a regular rc car motor ( its just .. really tiny ;p )

 

If i could find.. a real small car esc , i COULD just attempt to wire it in between ( oh badword , space is already so limited ) , and have a esc control the turret motor...

( and got to live with the fact that the recoil just won't work anymore )

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Yep, i noticed, a tad bit over hobby budget atm :(

( mostly also as the dude who today should pick up some stuff with me, was a no-show ) ... * shakes fist *

 

Baghdad Basher got waterboarded .. how.. ironical ;p 

 

 

* added, ordered a small esc for -cheap- .. ( 8 euro or something )..

See if i can "fix" it with that.. * just got to remember to shut down the bec, else im going to have another intrestring day ;p * 

On the other hand.. 6v and 6v is still.. 6v ..

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Hey Stefan, I remember your rather cool Tank track in your garden! That was a few years ago now i meet up with you!

Still got my Leopard to finish! One Day!!  Good job on getting this one back up and running.

Ant

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Still here ;p   yup, remember, i had the 2e (?) edition of your trailer for a long time behind a Volvo custom truck :)

Last time i heard that chassis is still going to truck meets / shows .    

Tank track is now gone, and turned into a bunny-run , however .. still tank accessible :) :) 

 

So far, there is even some progress on the tank - issue , might be able to get a spare T-07 / tank / ish to be able to repair it.

Its a work in progress ,    not giving up that fast .   

Poor poor waterboarded tank  

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Update , as i was able to sell some old stock,  managed to find me a T-07 unit , should arrive in a few days.

I expect the replacement to fix the issue's with it ( the mechanical one's , anyway )

 

With sorting out bits and pieces,  found back a new ( yup ) , metal track set for the tank.

Miiiiight put that on! :)

( deserves a bit of love , the tank )  ..   and if i can find the correct paint.. found also some really blingy front return rollers :)

- who .. i might.. also fit -

 

Think its taking me longer to repair this tank, then they spend on time repairing the 1:1 size !

 

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Victory !  Electronic wise, the Bagdad Basher is recovered 

* insert a cookie dance here *

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Yes, it did came at a price.. but nothing much more you can do with a busted T-07 unit.

( well.. technical, the old one still could be used for a tank who does not need turret rotation.. )

 

 

 

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Glad you got her going again! I am worried that if the T-07 has water damage whether your bearings/gearbox is ok?

I haven't started my 2a6 in a while, noticed yesterday the tow ropes have broken on their own (3rd time) so might have to get some metal ones...

Always wanted to buy some extras, like storage, cupola gun etc etc

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Yep, kind of happy with it to ( its was always one of my all-time-favorite Tamiya kits .

 

Gearboxes seems to be fine,  must say.. i did ( at that time ) build them with sealed bearings and some lube's that

surprisingly stays intact for decade's .  Its the stuff i also use on bashers, and while recovering those, there all intact and took

a bigger abuse :)

 

I really think a metal .50 looks "seksy" , they come at a price but.. - worth it -  :)

I going "pimp" this one also with some more loadout , mostly to hide the battledamage 

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