HL PZ-3 Upgrade...

[Jarlath]

I did a basic upgrade to a friend's PZIII. He had an otherwise stock 6.0 HL PZ33 that was modded to accomodate a full size battery in the bottom compartment. It needed to become battle ready for the guys at the CanAm RC Tank club. He wasn't worried about sound effects being proper, nor having anything that looked "non-period" in looks/features.

Enter JCC's standard IR combat tank retrofit. There is nothing wrong with plastic gearboxes when used on an all plastic tank (aka, no metal driveline components/hull), if they have the clutch. This was an all plastic PZ3, so plastic gearboxes would remain.
JCC's conversion list:

• Magnetize lower/upper hull (Battery box removal/sealing)
• Resin/epoxy lower hull for stiffness/mounting surfaces
• Hull flex bracing as needed
• Through hull gearbox mounting (Screws be damned, M3 pan head bolts in the bottom, locknuts inside).
• Layout/mounting of MFU/RX/Speaker/Switches/Battery in lower hull (Routing planning/cleanup)
• Turret Modifications
  • Servo Recoil
  • IR Emitter mounting (mantlet, barrel, upper turret, permanent/removable)
  • Tamiya profile apple mount
  • Flash

[Jarlath]

Battery box removal/sealing and magnetizing hull.



Adding a resin base to the chassis floor.



The Clark TK-40S (Tiger I sound set) & FS-I6S TX to be installed/used for controls



Original gearboxes re-installed. If it had metal tracks, or massed much more, steel replacements would be in order.



Basic layout for TK40, RX, and factory speaker (TK40 only has a limited Wattage output, so factory speaker is OK)



Mounting of JCC compact recoil unit and a mantlet mounted emitter tube.



Testing of driveline and recoil unit operation. Correcting motor polarity, recoil direction, sound tests, etc...
You can see the custom PZIII/IV IR Mounting that fits inside the cupola).



Cannon, mounted, IR Apple base mounted. Tested for connectivity & functionality



Reassembled.



Reassembled, showing the IR emitter tube.



Top view showing the Apple Base exposed for attaching an apple for combat.



Power switch is located externally under the back deck, for ease of operation.





The finished product, fully tested for IR Combat.

Future upgrades are aftermarket idler adjusters. The Stock HL mounts will crack/flex at some point...

[SoCalBobS]

I like your detail of using M3 bolts to anchor the gearboxes. I haven't had the screws fail yet, but it's a quality idea.

[Jarlath]

I like your detail of using M3 bolts to anchor the gearboxes. I haven't had the screws fail yet, but it's a quality idea.

Also one of the reasons I like to resin pour a solid floor in my tanks for mounting the gearboxes. Prevents the trio of original little posts from taking all the assembly tension of the bolts on a gearbox side. Alternative is to use a piece of aluminum/brass tubing as a collar around the mounting posts to prevent collapsing.

[tank_me]

Future upgrades are aftermarket idler adjusters. The Stock HL mounts will crack/flex at some point...

I felt the same way about the plastic mounts. They flopped around and were loose straight from the factory. I fitted the Mato metal idler adjusters to my HL PZ3 converted to an SU-76i. It was a bit of a pain in the rear end...literally. There was a lot of "adjusting" the metal parts to get them to line up with the HL track path and I even had to dremel off material from them because the tracks were actually striking the corner of the idler mounts. Wasn't a fun process, but the rest of your build looks solid. I also filled the bottom of the SU-76i with resin.

[quitcherbitchen]

What's the length of the IR brass tube? I have to upgrade mine.

[Jarlath]

What's the length of the IR brass tube? I have to upgrade mine.

I use 6mm OD x 5mm ID brass tube, 20mm in length. IR bulbs fit directly into the tube, usually leaving at least 10mm from tip of bulb to tube opening. A dab of Shoe-Goo secures the bulb and still allows replacement when needed.