Modified Tamiya Pz IV with Motorised Turret Rotation

[ShaunJ25]

Hello everyone,

 

I haven't posted here for a while but thought I'd show something I made recently and I think some of you might find it interesting. A while ago I made this Tamiya Pz IV but recently I wondered how hard it would be to put a servo within the tank to make the turret move. You can see the model in the image below. I have also uploaded a YouTube video showing the movement which can be seen here:

 

 

It looks normal from the outside but below you can see the internals. I have used an Arduino Nano microcontroller to control the servo. The code I wrote generates a random angle to turn the turret to, rotates the turret and then waits for 2 seconds before generating another random angle. There is a little on/off switch hidden on the underside and the 9V battery fits perfectly within the chassis. The body of the servo is attached to the top half of the hull with wooden skewers and hot glue, it's not pretty but it works. And the arm of the servo is glued to the seat on the turret, so as the arm of the servo moves, the turret rotates. The movement is a little jerky as the servo was only cheap but I think it looks great regardless. The only down side is that the Arduino Nano takes a surprising amount of current so the 9V battery only lasts for about 2 days with moderate usage. I am planning to use an ATtiny85 microcontroller which should use a fraction of the current. A very cool upgrade would also to use inducting charging circuits to wirelessly power the electronics. The transmitter could be placed in the scenery and the receiver placed at the bottom of the floor in the tank. (https://thepihut.com/products/wireless-charging-module-5v-1a?variant=27740714769)

 

 

 

 

 

The images below show the internals. (ignore the cut out on the chassis, that was a previous failed attempt but can't be seen due to the the spaced armour plates)

 

 

 

Thank you very much for looking. Please let me know what you think

 

Regards

 

Shaun

Edited September 23, 2020 by ShaunJ25

[SimonT]

I think that’s brilliant. Will watch the whole video and read your description later but if you had that at a show, the crowd would flock 😀

[ShaunJ25]

25 minutes ago, SimonT said:

I think that’s brilliant. Will watch the whole video and read your description later but if you had that at a show, the crowd would flock 😀

Thank you very much  Let me know what you think once you've seen the video

[Badder]

Hi Sean,

I once found a laptop in a skip. It was made in china, and when I took it apart  to fix it, it looked very similar inside! 😀😀😀

Seriously though, that's a nice job all round. I'm wondering if you can make the gun elevate as well?

 

Rearguards,

Badder