RC Tanks Australia Forum

Hi,

Here's a couple of photos of my completed KV-1, the one shown in the idler mount repair thread. Since the debut outing at the NBRCTC I've added some "make up". Not far off factory fresh, but a little more weathered now. Thanks to Chad for the inspiration.

After running my new KV-1 for a bit I noticed that the drive shafts were going to need some support. One of the drive shafts was quite wobbly and with the close proximity of track to hull I noticed it was binding at times.

Looking around on the internet I noticed some people were removing the drive shaft covers from the hull and putting in bearings. Tank Modellbau also had some solutions, such as the one shown in the attached picture.

Given issues such as not being keen to pull parts off my now fully painted model, or knowing which of the 2 available sizes of the Tank Modellbau parts to buy, I did a bit of research then visited Hobby & Engineering Supplies and came away with the plastic bushes shown in the other photo. These particular bushes have an 8mm internal diameter (which fits freely over the Heng Long steel gearbox drive shaft), and a 10mm external diameter. The 10mm external diameter is a little bigger than the holes in the hull but this was solved by removing the gearbox and opening up the holes in the hull a fraction with a 10mm drill bit. The bushes can then be slid over the drive shafts and press fitted into the hull. They've done a very nice job at taking the wobble out of the drive shafts.

For anyone wanting to purchase these bushes, you can get them from http://www.hobbyparts.com.au the part number is BF00800-01000-0150-H.

That sure is a great find Dave. H&ES sure do know how to charge for stuff but the price on these isn't too bad. I'll definately be giving them a go.

Cheers
KG

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rctanksaustralia.com

That is a great find and thanks for sharing. Certainly an alternative to the bearings.

Also great work on the kv1 it looks ace.

Ian.

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HL/Asiatam Metal Tiger 1
HL/Asiatam Metal KV-1 (1941)
WSM T-34
SU100
HE Abrams
HL Leopard 2A6
HL Jagdpanther

@Phyrephish - Not cheap for what they are, but quite economical compared to some of the alternatives I thought.

@Tankbear - Thanks for the kind comment about the KV. It was my 3rd go at using an airbrush and I'm very happy with the end result.

@both - If you do decide to try some of these bearings I would suggest making sure the bushes are a snug, but NOT TIGHT, fit in the hull before you push them in. With my 10mm drill bit they were a tight fit before I worked the drill bit back and forward a couple of times. If you fit the bushes before trying to put the gearboxes back in you will probably find you can't get the gearboxes back in (I found out the hard way and had to extract a tight fitting bush). The way to go is to have the gearboxes in place and slide the bushes over the drive shafts and press fit it into the hull.

If the bushes are a tight fit in the hull I suspect you would find it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to get them out with the drive shafts in place. This would make it very difficult to remove the gearboxes if need arose. The particular bushes I used on the KV are 15mm long and protrude a couple of mm into the inside of the hull. I have drilled the holes so that with a little bit of pressure from the inside you can pop the bushes out again with the driveshafts in place.

Best regards,
David