[MOC] Blacktron Goliath Heavy Tank

[Kelkschiz]

So this is my latest tank. It is a development of my previous tank, the Blacktron Liberator. The Liberator is very fast and fun to play with, but it also has plenty of shortcomings. With this build I tried to eliminate those shortcomings and at the same time be a little more purist: the only non-LEGO item in this build is a Buwizz brick. However this tank is not controlled by the Buwizz app. Instead I've tested @imurvai's BrickController app with this MOC (see video). And that proved to be a very positive experience.

Ever since I've been playing around with Sbricks and Buwizz bricks one thing (well more than one thing to be honest) has bothered me, and that is the lack of any physical feedback. When I am playing with a MOC I am usually looking at it, not at the app on my smartphone. And so it can easily happen that my fingers lose touch with the controls without meaning to. This is totally not an issue when using a gamepad :).

 

The MOC is powered by 2 XL motors for drive and 2 M motors for rotation, elevation and shooting. 

 

Functions:

- Working torsion-bar suspension

- Shooting;

- Driving;

- Turret rotation;

- Gun elevation;

Very roomy tank for minifigs :)

Of course I've also made a video :)

Hope you will like it!

Edited March 11, 2018 by Kelkschiz

[sirslayer]

Nice color, nice theme!! I like it !! 

[Dalafik]

Excellent! The color scheme, bodywork and overall aesthetics are of top quality. This is a tank MOC to be taken as an example for all builders.

[KikoTube]

[Ox1337]

Wow, great! Seems very aggressive!

Just few questions here. What kind of suspension it has? How works gun reloading?

Are you planning to public instructions or schemes for whole model or for partial mechanisms? It will be interesting!

[Shiva]

Very nice :)

[Permo]

Yup.... Like it !

[anatem]

Awesome

[KD123]

Great tank! Love the video and use of the game controller which makes controlling so much easier.  I too would like to learn more about the shooting mechanism.

 

[Aventador2004]

Those shapes!

[nerdsforprez]

I really like you following the Blacktron theme.  Even more, I like that you build a more or less contemporary machine, but with a futuristic take on it. Keep it up. You could do a regular passenger plane in Blacktron, a crane, a..... - you get the picture.  

[Lox Lego]

This is such a wonderful MOC all around!! Great video on the ice btw. The aesthetics are tops - not many could produce such a beauty- with so many functions to boot!!! 

[DugaldIC]

Great looking tank! The shapes you've managed to create look great. My only concern is the drooping on the too of the tracks but that's pretty darn minor, otherwise 

[Kelkschiz]

Thank you for all your kind comments, i've glanced over them. But unfortunately I am not able to answer them yet due to a severe cold.

[mahjqa]

Very impressive machine, and the shaping and coloring is spot on. It must've been a major pain to fit all the mechanics in there.

But in the mean time, best of luck with your cold. Hope you'll get better soon.

Edited March 13, 2018 by mahjqa

[MajklSpajkl]

Wow, I love it! Looks and performs really good. Could you perhapse share the links to the both gamepads you used in the video. Which one would you recommend best?  

Get well soon,

Best regards,

miha

[Kelkschiz]

On 11-3-2018 at 9:15 AM, Ox1337 said:

Wow, great! Seems very aggressive!

Just few questions here. What kind of suspension it has? How works gun reloading?

Are you planning to public instructions or schemes for whole model or for partial mechanisms? It will be interesting!

 

On 11-3-2018 at 1:18 PM, KD123 said:

Great tank! Love the video and use of the game controller which makes controlling so much easier.  I too would like to learn more about the shooting mechanism.

 

Thank you! I will be releasing a video in which i will be talking about the technical details of this build. But I will also give you some answers here. It has a torsion-bar suspension. The magazine is powered by a simple rubber band. The shooting mechanism I used in this tank is one that was designed by Zack Macasaet, more specifically I reverse engineered it based on the videos of his t-34. I am not sure if I will make instructions yet. 

 

On 11-3-2018 at 1:56 PM, nerdsforprez said:

I really like you following the Blacktron theme.  Even more, I like that you build a more or less contemporary machine, but with a futuristic take on it. Keep it up. You could do a regular passenger plane in Blacktron, a crane, a..... - you get the picture.  

Thanks my friend, don't i will ever go fully contemporary though. Blacktron is sci fi and need to stay sci fi. That this machine looks contempory is a coincidence :P

 

14 minutes ago, mahjqa said:

Very impressive machine, and the shaping and coloring is spot on. It must've been a major pain to fit all the mechanics in there.

I was wondering about the drive system; is it differential drive, or just plain old "one motor for one track"? If it's the latter, how do you configure that in Imurvai's app? Can't seem to find that option. 

But in the mean time, best of luck with your cold. Hope you'll get better soon.

Thank you. Doing a little better now. It's all just software. As far as I know it's an undocumented function :). So what you need to do is have the control of both motors linked to the horizontal joystick uninverted and also have both motors linked to the vertical joystick but of these one needs to be inverted.   However this all depends on the physical setup of your motors. it's possible that you will have to exchange what I said with the horizontal with what I said with the vertical depending on how your motors are placed in your MOC

On 11-3-2018 at 3:11 PM, DugaldIC said:

Great looking tank! The shapes you've managed to create look great. My only concern is the drooping on the too of the tracks but that's pretty darn minor, otherwise 

I couldn't understand what your concern is about, could you please clarify?

27 minutes ago, MajklSpajkl said:

Wow, I love it! Looks and performs really good. Could you perhapse share the links to the both gamepads you used in the video. Which one would you recommend best?  

Get well soon,

Best regards,

miha

Thanks Miha :)    

I can recommend both gamepads though the build quality of the Ipega 9077 feels a bit better. 

https://www.gearbest.com/game-controllers/pp_774490.html    bought it for 14 Euro at gearbest

https://www.gearbest.com/game-controllers/pp_690140.html    bought it for 10 Euro also at gearbest

[DugaldIC]

@Kelkschiz I realized I worded that wrong. What I was referring too is the sag or slack that there seems to be on the top portion of the track, if that makes sense?! Anyways very minor! 

[Kelkschiz]

 

14 hours ago, DugaldIC said:

@Kelkschiz I realized I worded that wrong. What I was referring too is the sag or slack that there seems to be on the top portion of the track, if that makes sense?! Anyways very minor! 

Ah now I understand. Well the hull is loosely modelled on the T-54 which also had some slack there I believe.

[DugaldIC]

2 hours ago, Kelkschiz said:

Ah now I understand. Well the hull is loosely modelled on the T-54 which also had some slack there I believe.

That makes much more sense then!