Type 10 Battle tank

 So I have decided atlast what style tank I am going to build.

My design will be based around the Type 10 Hitomaru Main Battle Tank.

I like the look and design of this tank, fairly modern look. Mine will have a few differences adding a slightly more futuristic look in places. 

The track pads where added to the plates, glued in place then bolted through to stop any lateral movement. The track plates are 3mm aluminium, pads 9mm rubber, and pad bolts M4 stainless nuts and bolts. The track plates are bolted though the two drive chains however they are fitted with nyloc nuts so there is movement in the track allowing a very smooth travel. 

Gluing the rubber pads to the metal tracks was always going to be fun.

I tried loads of different glues but none really worked that well. Either the glue bonded to the metal and not the rubber or visa versa. Lots of recommendations for E6000 glue which was very good and will be great for gluing metal to metal but still did not work. It might be the rubber I am using because it is very heady 9mm rubber matting cut up into 25mm x90mm strips.

The best of all was the Super glue. I went with the Gorilla Super Glue in the end as it was the cheapest but in theory any super glue will do. It bonded to the metal very well and held the rubber very strongly. 

To make sure that the turning force of the tank would not pull the pads off I also fixed M4 bolts though the pads bolted into the aliunium track plates. Time will tell if this will be strong enough however, each link is easy to replace or repair if this is a problem.

All in the base excluding batteries weighs in at 53kg which is excellent.