My East Coast Armory modified Mato M36 Jackson

[glocke12]

This was probably the second RC tank I bought ( the first being a HL King Tiger ).

Early on in ownership, before realizing just how much tinkering and upkeep can be required to keep these things going I became pretty annoyed at just how easy the paint that Mato used wore away, and someone suggested using a matte clear coat on it which I did. I forget which one I used but it ended up eating away at the paint and exposing the primer underneath. At that time I didn't paint, so decided to send it off to John at East Coast Armory who lives an hour or so from me. I picked it up a few weeks back and he did a fantastic job on it.

Unfortunately this is another tank with a failed IR emitter and I am trying to think of the best way of tackling that without dismantling and possibly damaging the work that John did. I may end up mounting it externally somewhere, or just leaving it as is and having it be a " target tank ".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LFzszM78T0

[SoCalBobS]

The M36 gives you a unique opportunity. You might consider this: I installed a mount for the IR receiver on the separate cockpit cover. It wouldn't be hard to also install the emitter on it. That way you wouldn't be involving the overall paint job. You can buy that cover separately from Matomart, install your elecronics, and replace the original one when you just want to show off the tank..



I plug in my LegoDEI IR receiver into the socket when I battle with it. In my case, the IR emitter is in the barrel.

[glocke12]

The M36 gives you a unique opportunity. You might consider this: I installed a mount for the IR receiver on the separate cockpit cover. It wouldn't be hard to also install the emitter on it. That way you wouldn't be involving the overall paint job. You can buy that cover separately from Matomart, install your elecronics, and replace the original one when you just want to show off the tank..



I plug in my LegoDEI IR receiver into the socket when I battle with it. In my case, the IR emitter is in the barrel.

thats an awesome idea and will probably go ahead and do that. Based on my experience with the other Mato tank I have that I've been working on ( Emitter replacement, servo replacement ), I am fairly certain I can't get the tank that John modified apart without damaging it, at least not until I get more experience and learn to exercise more patience working on these.


I think something like hot gluing a small tube on top of the cockpit cover to hold the emitter in place is all I'd need to do. Aiming in terms of elevation will probably be an issue, but heck...the likelihood of this ever leaving my living room to battle other tanks is probably 0.001 % ( no clubs or enthusiasts in east-central PA ).

[SoCalBobS]

I think something like hot gluing a small tube on top of the cockpit cover to hold the emitter in place is all I'd need to do. Aiming in terms of elevation will probably be an issue, but heck...the likelihood of this ever leaving my living room to battle other tanks is probably 0.001 % ( no clubs or enthusiasts in east-central PA ).

Think about getting another cover. That way you can "mangle" it to your heart's content.

Regarding elevation, the IR beam has a spread both in horizontal and vertical dimensions. On flat ground, elevation isn't so critical. Locally we do fight at extreme range and on uneven ground. That's when accuracy in both dimensions becomes important.

[glocke12]

Think about getting another cover. That way you can "mangle" it to your heart's content.

Regarding elevation, the IR beam has a spread both in horizontal and vertical dimensions. On flat ground, elevation isn't so critical. Locally we do fight at extreme range and on uneven ground. That's when accuracy in both dimensions becomes important.

yeah, I ordered it this morning.

that piece of pot metal is going to regret coming into my life lol.

[quitcherbitchen]

Hey I watched John’s video just the other night. Nice to know the connection. Yeah follow Bob’s advice and put the IR emitter in the barrel. 9mm back from the opening. I use model airplane fuel tubing to wrap the emitter and then slowly shove it down the barrel. That way you can take it out when it goes bad. I have had two emitters go bad in two years so they definitely don’t last forever. On clark boards and HL receivers. Barrel emitters are easier to aim in my opinion. Especially if you push thru a bush to bushwhack your opponent.

[Tang - RC.Senshado]

100% what quiterbitchen said, the emitters are consumables unfortunately. And sometimes they stick the cheapest ones in there at the factory so you might get one that's DOA or super weak. When they work, they are almost as good as any aftermarket one but obviously not as far shooting.

[glocke12]

Hey I watched John’s video just the other night. Nice to know the connection. Yeah follow Bob’s advice and put the IR emitter in the barrel. 9mm back from the opening. I use model airplane fuel tubing to wrap the emitter and then slowly shove it down the barrel. That way you can take it out when it goes bad. I have had two emitters go bad in two years so they definitely don’t last forever. On clark boards and HL receivers. Barrel emitters are easier to aim in my opinion. Especially if you push thru a bush to bushwhack your opponent.

Fuel tubing is a good idea, but this is really coming down to a matter of me realizing that I probably can't get that thing apart without damaging that work that John did. Putting a new emitter in the barrel requires complete upper hull disassembly, removal of servo linkages, etc and while not a difficult, task I've already discovered on a stock M36 Jackson I have that putting all that back together correctly can lead to damage. I am sure some day I will be able to do all that without damaging something, but that day is not today.

Putting it in the cockpit cover would probably actually be a good project for me anyway.

In terms of fuel tubing, I am assuming 4 mm OD is what I'd need ? https://pacificrcjets.com/products/4...=1890263203852

With respect to ambushing an opponent through a bush...I wish lol. These things are likely to never leave my living room or basement. For one thing I am probably the only person in east-central PA that is really into these things, and secondly it is so wet and muddy here for much of the year that running them outside is impossible. I have enough land here that I could probably landscape a battle area and put some type of non-water retaining material down but that would only solve part of the problem ( the other part being finding opponents ).

It's surprising really, there are RC people here. We have a great RC shop 10-15 minutes from my house, and they run a 24/7 mini-z track 5 minutes from my house but it's all trucks and buggies. Maybe I will hit them up and see if I can bring a couple tanks down to their shop some day and set them up just to try and drum up some interest.

[glocke12]

100% what quiterbitchen said, the emitters are consumables unfortunately. And sometimes they stick the cheapest ones in there at the factory so you might get one that's DOA or super weak. When they work, they are almost as good as any aftermarket one but obviously not as far shooting.

Yeah, I've found inner peace with respect to all of that lol..Given the price of these things I was shocked to find I had some arrive that were very weak or even dead within months of getting the tank. Given that they are so inexpensive I am surprised Mato cheaps out on those.

The receiving diodes they use don't seem to be much better. I have one here that is dead. It wasn't easy find an IR receiver that resembles the one they use. It took a few days to track down replacements but I found some on Ali Express. All of the ones I found on Digi-Key where the square headed ones and I wasn't sure if they were capable of receiving 360 dg hits like the round headed ones do.

I do know about the Lego DEI receivers, and plan on getting one to try out but I do prefer the less obtrusive " diode only " receiver.

[quitcherbitchen]

The silicone fuel tubing is the best. Don't worry about the inner hole size. It will stretch