They were very uncomfortable indeed. No suspension and full of fumes.

@@gonzomechanic7196 Hello, Gonzo. Can you record a video showing your LAV-25 in more detail? I'm eagerly waiting for this because I want to make one like it, but mine won't go on water. I would like you to record a video explaining how you made the cardans, where you placed the engine, and how you positioned the servos for steering the tank. Also, show the transfer case for the four axles. Please, Gonzo, help me! I only have the summer holidays from school to do this. 😭

Hi There, I'll try to do this if I can find a moment. Basically a single motor drives a shaft down to the transfer box. Steering is as you see in the vid but inside there are limit switches. The steering connects to wires which are connected to the rudders.

@@gonzomechanic7196 Ok, ok, thank you very much, but even with your information, I am still having difficulties with my LAV-25. Which parts should I buy? Or did you make all of them? I am an admirer of your projects. If you find some time, please record the inside of the LAV-25 and explain more about this 8x8 mechanism to me. Hugs from Brazil.

@@gonzomechanic7196 please gonzo, help me!

Hi there, I am not all that keen on opening up my LAV becuase it damages the water proofing. But there are videos that expalin the basic mechanical ideas I used to make the LAV kzbin.info/www/bejne/sJXQqqZ7o9WCps0 kzbin.info/www/bejne/eWOUmp6OqL5nqdk But honestly doing an 8 wheel drive as your first conversion is a big ask. The parts have to be small and very strong and very well designed or it will go much too slowly or too fast. It is much easier to convert a tank or apc. just a thought.

Many thanks. It took ages but it is my 4th or 5th such model, so I've come across most of the obvious problems before. I've got a 1/32 Phantom and 1/24 Hurricane with similar features. Just need to get round to filming them!

Thank you very much!

@@gonzomechanic7196 Hello, Gonzo. Can you record a video showing your LAV-25 in more detail? I'm eagerly waiting for this because I want to make one like it, but mine won't go on water. I would like you to record a video explaining how you made the cardans, where you placed the engine, and how you positioned the servos for steering the tank. Also, show the transfer case for the four axles. Please, Gonzo

thank you!

merci beaucoup!

That is a good question. Not sure. The things I tried: Diesel or glycerin tend to make white/grey smoke. I guess you'll just have to do some research on the net. But be careful, most smoke is not very good for you - and some is rather dangerous.

Hi there, thanks for the offer! But I think you might be disappointed. Like most of my stuff this is very tricky to use - getting smoke fuel in etc. One day I'll make something simple to operate.

Thank you! It was quite a fiddle hiding everything but 3d printing allows you to make purpose made gearboxes etc which is a big help.

thank you! glad you liked it.

@@gonzomechanic7196 grazie a te .... ciao

They existed in the early '90s, before a missile reduction treaty with the US and NATO got the Soviets to scrap them all. They were similar too - and slightly larger than - the Tochka system which still exists.

It can't. It has a fixed gear ratio. Also, the real thing never went faster than 'walking speed'.

Sure, there are a lot videos about other vehicles and submarines on my channel, Gonzo Mechanic, but only one vid of the SS-23. I might make another showing close ups of how it all works. Is probably the most complex model I have made...

Hi there, there are some pictures of this assembly on the 'work in progress' thread on Britmodeller - which is linked in the description. But, in short, I swapped out the plastic parts for cast pieces from the Flightpath set and also used some stock brass for piston tubes. Within these was a spring to mimic the effect of the real thing. Hope this helps.

Thank you. Hope it was interesting.

Hello Dai, Very glad you liked the vid and always pleased to hear back from someone who knows about the vehicle concerned. To begin with some of the information you need is on the intro page if you open the video on computer - rather than phone. The second thing I should say is that this is the most complex object - of any kind - that I have ever made. So not for the faint hearted! But to take a couple of points. The suspension is different on both. The Cr2 has a really complex system involving individual springs that I came up with myself and I would not repeat. A better and simpler way is to use actual torsion bars made from 0.8 ss rod. There are lots of videos on youtube where people show how this is done. On the Arv I adapted the suspension found on the old tamiya Cheiftain hull by cutting off the plastic molded spring and replacing it with an appropriately sized steel one. Still quite fiddly to get it all to hold together but effective when it does. Some more modern kits have better or even working supension so look at some 'in box reviews' to see which do. The upper hull is by the great Accurate Armour of Scotland. The winch was just a gear motor driving a cable drum. The crane was all done by servos but not very well and I'd design it differently if I were to takle this again. The dozer blade is a cheat. It is spring loaded down but lifted by by a thin fishing line that is attached to the piston rods and pulled through the piston by a servo in the hull. I keep meaning to do a video on mini hydraulics as I made a number of pistons and tiny pumps. But, to sum up my findings: to get them to work properly at this scale would require tolerances and specifications that would make them all but unnaffordable - and way beyond my limited machining skills. What was tantalising was how powerful they were. But mine always leaked and found bubbles from somewhere!

@@gonzomechanic7196 Many thanks for the fantastic reply, some interesting solutions to the suspension systems, I've seen some of the demonstrations you mention and am thinking of doing similar for a few Chieftain variants, though the CR1 and CR2 s may also be improved. I've a Cromwell ARV that I'm adapting to give partial working suspension and the ideas have given me some fresh impetus! Like the idea of the sprung dozer blade and the servo operated crane, as you say a nightmare with micro hydraulics, definitely powerful even small cylinders can move a huge amount, "long enough lever and all that!" If you'd PM me I may have some more info for future builds. Regards Dai

Hi there, I used the Tamiya electronics from another kit. For most of my projects, however, I use the Flysky iA6b with a Flysky i6s transmitter. For controllers I use esc boards from Clarkmodel (CSCII or ESC4). For really small projects - like Humvee and M113 - I use cheap 27mhz recievers and tranmsitters from ebay, that don't need an esc.

quite literally...

Yes, I had huge fit issues. It was bent like a banana. I had to cut the hull and reform to get a decent-ish join. If it hadn't been a hull design that I really wanted it would likely have headed stright to the trash can. The Seawolf was a lot easier and better molded.

@@gonzomechanic7196thinking of either using some sort of a J shaped hook on one hull half that latches on studs on the other to pull the hull down or heat to correct the bow of the upper hull. I've seen others use a hairdryer but I've had success fixing a distorted deck of styrene model boat kits by soaking in hot water then coaxing into the correct shape as it cools.

@@coast219 Worth a try. I should have thought of that myself!

Thank you. I always hope these videos will encourage others to do the same kind of things...

You can say that again. Zero suspension. Must have been a nightmare...

Yes, hope to before too long.

As far as I know, the wooden bars were attached to the tracks themselves by a very brave soldier poking his head out of a hatch on top and then they were rolled own over the front by the tracks themselves, until the bar stuck in the mud. This then gave the tank traction to move out of whatever bind it had got itself into. A bit like sand channels.

@@gonzomechanic7196 Oh no you're talkin about the on ditching log, I'm talkin about there were some World War One British tanks that had a little wheelie bar on the back.

Not sure how you mean? The main body and running gear is the old Tamiya Cheiftain model and the recovery conversion was from Accurate Armour. The electro-mechanical stuff was all scratch built by me so there are no intructions exactly: I tend to work by trial and error and, in this case, there was a lot of error... If you have more specific questions I'll try to help...

I think it might struggle to move guns that big around! The scsle bore on the guns is less than 1/16th of an inch...

I think that every time I see this vid. Working models sometimes tell the truth about the full size thing.

Was that the one produced by "Hobby Boss"?

Hi, yes it is. Be warned though there are a lot of inacuracies. The inside of the missile bay was pretty much guesswork on their part. In reality it is much like the one in the same company's much more accurate 1/35 Tochka. The missile bay door opeing system is also nothing like the complex and interesting system on the real thing - I had to figure that out in order to make mine work. Lastly the cab interior is not right in a anumber of respects as well. However, all that said, it is an impressive looking thing: straight out of Thunderbirds...

Perhaps - but if you look at the youtube clip of the real thing in my description, it looks to me that my model's speed is not to far out. On the other hand, working out whether you are looking at the correct film speed on a clip from that period is tricky I gather - so you may be right.

Glad you like them!

I'm not sure as I haven't weighed this one. However my 1/35 Challengers and Chieftain armoured recovery - see vids on this channel - are very close to scale weight and pretty mobile. What I have found is that models do predict real behaviour in some specific instances. For example, with amphibious models, the real challenge isn't getting into water but getting out of it. And this is very much the case at full scale as well. Also, model tanks get effectively stopped by scale obstacles of the same type and design as the full sized versions.

Thank you. Not all that easy to do as it turns out. Might have another go at the crane one day. Figure I could make it work better.

@@gonzomechanic7196 is it possible to see how you made the hydraulics? would love to learn but it looks really painful and messy at this scale.