Pack 12 - Stage 94. Competing the tank!

[Mark, The Master Modeller]

Stage 94 gives us some cables.  Apart from one, these are used in the remote control.

The rest of the work is completing the tank, and there's a lot to do!!

We will start by fitting the little circuit board 94-4.  Peel the protective paper from back and stick it in place.

Take the cable with the plug marked F and plug it in the socket marked F.  This cable comes from the rear lights.

Now take the plug from the new board and plug it in the adjacent circuit board in socket F.

Take the cable marked S and plug it into the appropriate socket on the small board.  Cable S also comes from the rear lights.

Now take the cable S from the new board and plug it in the socket S on the adjacent board.

Plug in cable V which comes from he turret motor.  Note that this has to come under the motor unit.

Plug in the 4 remaining cables.  The letters don't quite match.  The instructions show clearly where to plug in each cable.  

Complete the turret wiring.  This is simply a case of matching the letters on the plugs to the markings on the circuit board.

Now we turn our attention to the wheels and tracks.

Remove the tensioner wheel assembly by removing the screw from the inside.  

Agora has supplied us with stronger suspension springs to improve the performance over rough ground.  Changing the springs is a simple job.

Remove the first road wheel by unscrewing the screw holding the suspension arm.

 

Then remove the spring.  Repeat this for all 7 road wheels.

Starting with the wheel closest to the drive sprocket, fit the new spring.

Then replace the road wheel and arm assembly.  Note that you need to rotate the arm about half a turn to tension the spring.  Note that the springs are handed, left and right.  The packets are marked.  However, mine seemed to be wrongly marked and I had to swap left for right.  Probably just a one off packing error.

Repeat for all 7 road wheels, and repeat for the other side of the tank.

The manufacturers changed the number of track links from 81 to 79, so you may need to remove 2 links.  This is easily accomplished by prising up the end of the linking pins with a screwdriver.  You need to apply a moderate amount of force, so don't use too small a screwdriver.

Rejoin the tracks into a continuous loop of 79 links.  

Now we need to adjust the track tensioner arm stop.

Remove the tensioner wheel from the arm.  You can now refit the arm to the chassis if you haven't already done so.

Adjust this until there is about 2-3mm of thread protruding, then wind the lock nut down to fix it in position.  

Now we can fit the tracks.  Agora has made a video showing how to do this.  Click the link below, it's on YouTube.

https://youtu.be/zjnjzO_WNnw

First fit the track over the drive sprocket, ensuring that the track is properly located on the sprocket teeth.

Put the track in position over the rest of the wheels, then place the tensioner wheel in the track.

Wrestle the tensioner wheel onto its axle and put the screw back.  This is a bit of a game as the track has to be fully located in all the wheels and at full stretch to get the wheel onto the axle.  You'll also need to push the tensioner arm backwards as far as it will go.  

Refit the hub cap.

Repeat for the other track.

That's the tracks done.  Now we go back to finishing the wiring.  

At this stage, I'd fill the smoke generator with smoke oil.  You only need 1-2 ml of smoke oil, which is about 20-40 drops.  Don't overfill it.  

Connect the battery, making sure the the power switch is off.  (Alternatively, you can just leave the battery disconnected until the rest of the wiring is completed - which is what I did, hence all the other cables are already plugged in!)

Plug in the cables B, C & D for the motors and smoke generator.

Plug in the speaker cable H.

Plug in the multi-connector from the bottom of the rotating connector.

Plug in the power connector ZB.

Now stand the top of the tank on its side against the hull.  We need to connect the top and bottom of the tank together, and there's not a lot of spare cable!

Connect the black and red ribbon cable to the remaining socket in the main control unit.

Connect the cable from the top of the rotating connector to the remaining socket in the turret.  I found that it was easier to temporarily unscrew the rotating connector to allow a bit more slack in the cable.  Refit the rotating connector when you're all plugged in!

Now you can fit the top and bottom of the tank together and secure it with 6 screws.  

(This photo will be added later.)

 

Now we fit the cables.  I'm not sure if these are tow cables or cables for replacing the tracks, or perhaps dual purpose?  Does anybody know?

I chose to fit the piece of trunking to the rear of the tank first.  it just pushes on, but it helps to scrape the excess paint off the pins before fitting it.  The pins were just a tad tight.

Thread the cables through the brackets.

Superglue the eye onto the end of the cable.

Once the glue is dry, unclip the forward end.

Now you can easily clip the cables of the brackets on the rear of the tank.

Now refit the forward eyes.  Remember, these cables have to be removed when you want to refill the smoke generator, so don't be tempted to glue them in position.

Add the two remaining hub caps.

This completes the stage, and the tank itself.

Photos of the completed tank will be added later.  The completed tank is too big to photo in my workshop!!