Specs:

Hull length: 0.80m

Hull width: 0.38m

Can it shoot?: No

I've come a long way since building my first RC tank, and it was time to put all my knowledge and skills to the test. Even then, my first complete "draft" of the tank had some flaws, mostly caused by the weight of the tank: the roadwheels and suspension arms kept on falling off when the tank was driving about, the tracks were slipping off the sprocket (again), and the initial gearbox was extremely inefficient.

To address the problem about the loose suspension, I ended up just super gluing the parts so that they will never fall off. I know it's an inelegant solution, and I will definitely think of ways to improve this design in future projects.

I tried a multitude of design changes, seeing what was causing the track to slip, which included tensioning the suspension and altering the design of the sprocket, but in the end it was actually the method of attaching the track links together; the copper wire was the culprit all along! The problem was that the copper wire sat loosely inside the track link, and the tracks had a lot of wiggle room, which was causing the tracks to misalign. I solved this issue by redesigning (and reprinting) the tracks so that they are linked snugly together with carbon fiber rods, which worked a charm.

Finally, I had to go through a bunch of gearbox redesigns, as the original was loud and underpowered. At some point I even used four brushless motors to power the tank, but ended up using two large brushless motors, which had to be reoriented by using a bevel gear. I chose to use a double helical gear design so that the teeth are self aligning.