Re: correct terminology ?

["Tim McCarty" <sunk99-at-msn.com>]

Joe,

>They lock that track when the motor is OFF...Tri-Pact tanks lock tracks 
>when OFF because they
>use two SPDT relays per motor that short the motor and cause inductive 
>braking.
I saw that in the website's construction articles.  Kind of a drag over from 
combat warship.  Used that setup in many a model ship until I was told about 
the Mtroniks speed control.  But that's ships and this is armor.  I'm 
inclined to pretty much copy the battlebots guys as they have some 
experience under the belt on drive systems.

>>... Replaced by the M-43 as I recall.
I see I had a typo here.  That was supposed to be an M-47 Patton, not an 
M-43.  Funny - battle of the Bulge is on TV right now.  They used 47's as 
the Tiger's in that movie.  Get a call on occasion from the movie studio's 
looking for tanks or help.  It's commical that I send them to the Air Force 
at Eglin.  :)

>What did pistol grip steering do in the far corners of travel in terms of 
>relative speed
>between tracks?
At speed it is just a hard turn.  Stopped, one track spins forward while the 
other back-pedals.

>>...70mph...
>1/6 scale = 11.7 mph
But those were not mass production specs.  We'd have dead soldiers all over 
if those speeds were actually kept for full production.  The tank got really 
squirrelly at that speed.  Went airborne a lot.  Beat the crap out of our 
M-41's though, which were our stripped down speed demons until then.

>The infield would make a great battlefield for RC paint ball tanks.
John said the same thing.  Never thought of it.  Actually, I was thinking 
(got'ta check the regs on paintball use on federal property) that we might 
use our off-road track that we still use for engineering tests.  I tried to 
hold warship combat on one of our ponds and they said no - liability 
reasons.  Likely be the same with paintball, but, since it's armor they 
might have a different view, plus an old buddy now runs our grounds 
division.  It was perfect pond too - three foot deep, concrete, chemically 
treated, good size.  GM's tech center across the street has a very similiar 
pond that they allow the RC fast boat guys to use for their big nationals 
and such.  BTW John - we're in Warren, Michigan which is a Detroit suburb.  
It sucks here (I'm from Florida), but jobs are good with this being home to 
the automotive industry.  Waiting for the kids to graduate so I can retire 
just south of Orlando and me and the misses will go to work for the mouse.

>Build a tank.  Get your friends to build a couple.  Insult the Maryland 
>Attack Group (MAG).
>They will come.  So will I.
I tried to keep on friendly terms with the small gunners, and I'll do the 
same for RC-Tank combat.  I won't even joke an insult ... 
<cough...losers...cough> :)  One of interesting things I've found is I'm 
always a few years behind the Maryland bunch in your hobbies.  RC sailing is 
fun, but boring to me.  RC Sail combat - nobody else built them - mine sits 
in the basement gathering dust.  RC Warship - well long story over there.  
I'm still into that some what. I thought RC tank would be boring until I saw 
Frank's website.  I'm writing up a flyer now to post all over the command 
and in the local hobby shops.  If there is a city that has more potential to 
build RC-tank membership, I certainally couldn't guess it.  Engineers have 
lots of excess income, plus these guys model tanks and love them.  We'll 
see.  I'm excited - already scaling plans. Little scarey on size.  Yesterday 
I was looking at an Abrams model in the Abrams Conference Room (Got a 
picture of the namesake in the background)  in 1/8 scale - pretty darn big.  
Interesting family the Abrams.  I worked for his son, also named Creighton, 
also a general, commanded 7th Corp Arty, Augsburg, Germany, on Sheirdan 
Kaserne (great tour).  Alas that corp is no more as we were disbanded after 
deployment to Desert Storm.  He was a go getter like his Dad.  We pounded 
the snot out of Iraq's border line defense until it really wasn't.  Then the 
armor simply rolled  across.  Felt sorry for their soldiers though - mostly 
conscripts - few junk Russian T-72s.  Non-stop barrage from the ground and 
air for a month.  It was a sight at night.

Chow,
TimMc

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