I have Trumpeter's M1A1HA kit and it has a motor included. I was wondering how could you convert it to an R/C kit, starting with making the suspension work, as opposed to it being fixed. Anyone has ideas? I was thinking of springs and such but I just couldn't figure out a way to do it right.

Tamiya makes/made a complete Radio Control version of their M1A1. It did not have working suspension though. I have the kit at home (I'm not home for another 3 weeks though). Since the Trumpeter kit is heavily based on the Tamiya one it should be easy to take the guts out and place them in the Trumpeter kit. Suspension is a different story....

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You may also try to go to an RC car hobby shop, they may have small shocks originally built for cars that would work. Don't know for certain, my brother did cars and I remember him upgrading all kinds of shocks over time.

Sabot? I don't understand the 'Disclaimer'

I don't know what type of access you have to metal lathes and such but,other than creating your own,try to convert the pershing torsion bar suspension to the Abrams.I don't have the Pershing but,you could take that design and create your own.

Rob, love your disclaimer....

I agree with Jon - Tamiya's idea with the M26 Pershing is a good one to explore. The first and last road wheels are 'sprung' to help maintain a sense of track tension with the remaining ones on adjustable suspension arms.

When I modeled my M45 Pershing conversion of this kit, I chose not to use the Tamiya working suspension feature, however. Three problems cropped up.

One, with the 'rubber band' track, it was difficult to maintain a 'tight' look and feel with the track over terrain. It always looked loose.

Two, my Road Wheels (though poly-capped) did not fit tightly or securely to the posts on the suspension arms. This made the prospect of 'posing' the working suspension less appealing. I don't know if that's happened to other modelers building the kit - or if mine was somehow flawed in that respect. I haven't run across mention of this in kit reviews.

Three, in the R/C release of the large-scale M26 Pershing, Tamiya provided telescoping shock absorbers for fitting to the suspension arms. In the 35th scale release, the shocks only are cast with a little nub at the end - modeled as if the Road Wheel is at maximum depression. In sitting the model tank on the table, the suspension arms do not connect to the shock absorbers. A couple of modelers have panned the kit for this flaw. Course, you could cut them away, drill out the shocks, and model new pistons to connect to your suspension arms - but many feel a $44 dollar kit should have provided the option and voiced their opinion(s).

Hope this gives you further food for thought...

Gunnie

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1786311516 Here's the Tamiya R/C 1/35 scale M1A1 I was talking about. I found mine for less than $50, so look around if you really want to motorize a tank kit.

Disclaimer: If this question was answered in error, or an answer not required/expected/wanted, please notify me and I will delete the post. This post is not intended as an attack on any persons posting prior to or after this post. Please feel free to disregard/disbelieve/discount any information contained in the post.

hmmm, the original post for this was back in 2002, i recon it's no longer relevant, but i thought i'd reply anyway...
check out this jap guy's website...
he takes 1/35 tamiya armor kits and turns them into full option RC tanks! working suspension and all!!!!

http://web1.incl.ne.jp/hinoki/h001f_e.html

make sure to click on construction diary to see pics on how he made working suspension...also check out the japanes pages, there are more models there and more pics! i dont think he has an M1 though...