RichJohnson

I think you hit it with "If you manage to have it running"
I wont dispute the amount of effort Luke puts into support and the help on the forum. Im saying the whole system was marketed the wrong way and while being very elaborate and complicated is overwhelming to most. One dealer selling all the parts needed and supporting what is sold is the way to go. The way it is its kinda a beta tester thing that I would say has no real position stance in the hobby. Its a side note of an experiment that offers wonderous goodies and gadgets of options and configureability, just like the guy I know that carries around two Andriod phones that he jailbroke and they do amazing things that the rest of us can only dream of.
My point is this great product is out there over there that you go buy there and then come here for help and support and go there for the other components and such, its just not set up to be marketed to the mass of the hobby, its a very small niche that want to deal with this kind of thing and figure it out If Luke went into business and marketed everything needed as a one stop shop, this TCB would be a viable option for the hobby that would likely blow away the other two major products but as is, its not.

Rad_Schuhart

Well, you are partially right here. I think everybody can be able to have the set open panzer running. Even if somebody has 0 experience with tanks and radio control, if he follows step by step the wiki, and ask the possible questions in the forum, he will end having the tank running nicely. Anyway I would not recommend it as a first tank for a rc novice (in fact I started with a Heng Long, then Tamiya, and then jumped to all of the aftermarket boards and radios, but if I look to the past I think it would be hard for me to start with OP as a first rc experience), but everything is so well explained in the wiki that I trully believe everybody can do it. Of course I do understand people problems and issues (and people not willing to read any manual too) I also see quite a lot of the users who buy a Tamiya are not able even to trigger the cannon or machine gun, but as I said, with a little bit of patience and reading the wiki, the open panzer board is well worth it and accesible for everybody.

About keeping it simple as an IBU, well, yes and no. The simplier the board, the less functions it has. I am one of those rare guys who love to have tons of sounds, lights, high customization of the tank, when driving to really feel it as a Tank, and not like a toy (like I feel heng long and, sorry guys, Tamiya.) and the TCB really makes it possible.

As you point, if a seller were selling a package with the OP board, ESCs and soundcard, it would make the things easier for everybody... I think that would be complicated as a start for Luke, who would have to invest a lot of money producing and storing the boards, and no mention of the time it takes to go to the post office and so on...

But well, lets see what brings the future. I vote for an Open Panzer V2 with integrated motor ESCs and soundboard!

bowlman

Hi I like the TCB put one last year in a M41 Bulldog as a test model works great did wish that I would of chosen a bigger model tank very tight fit with ESC and sound card plus battery the sound card I chose was the TBS Mini did not think it was load enough I'm use to the Tamiya sound out put being able to adjust it higher if want .
I would also in the future like to see a second version of the TCB with built in sound and ESC unit in a smaller package or built on top of it self kind of like EL Mod in the past I do understand and like that you can pick your own ESC and sound card for it but in a smaller tank maybe an option for a all in one board would be nice .
The forum and info there helps to make it much easier to setup and you can ask questions helps I think LukeZ has done a very good job in its design on the first TCB and hope he keeps up grading it .
Thanks
Jimmy

Rad_Schuhart

Hi Bowlman, look here, you might be interested on this:


This is my open panzer setup. In this photo, you can see the TCB, the sound board (on top) the dual DMD escs (sandwiched between the TCB and soundboard) and a 16 ch receiver, also sandwiched and not visible. The setup is about a 30% smaller than the Tamiya DMD + MFU Setup, and I have been able to fit it even in the smaller of my tanks. With the Benedini mini board, will be even smaller. With the benedini micro, even more smaller, lol.

Would it be much better to have all in one board? For me YES, but as you can see it can be converted into a small package with some inventive. Regarding the sound of the benedini, the newer benedini V2 has more sound output and way bigger memory. If you dont want to invest money in another board, you can buy an amp for about 20 cents and fit it too... So it should cover all your needs. Hope it helps.

LukeZ

Hi Novaris - it's true, submitting all the files and specifications to a fabhouse is an undertaking in itself. It is beyond the scope of support for me to walk someone through that process. If anyone has the means to do so they can, but for those who like to wonder it is fair to say it requires a substantial bankroll (for the average guy). Then you have the challenge and expense of selling, fulfilling, and shipping. It's probably not realistic for someone to do all that in their free time, unless they are retired and wealthy. It really requires the resources of a going concern and the economies of scale they can bring to bear, such as Hobby King was able to briefly. But even they made no money on it.

Rich, Jerry, Rad and Jimmy I've enjoyed reading the conversation and your thoughts. The same points seem to be brought up every now and again, but it's fine.

Rad wasn't lying, he did ask for a lot of new features and many lines of code have his name on them. On the other hand, as anyone can see here and elsewhere, he is a loyal and indefatigable defender of all things Open Panzer, and in such a way he has paid me back many times and with interest.

Rich you gave me a good laugh about your description of your friend with two jailbroke Android phones. We probably all know some crazy genius like that. You should see what Rad has done to his 9X transmitter, if you think the TCB is complicated you have no idea. He even managed somehow to emulate gearshifts entirely through radio programming if I remember correctly.

In a way, the Open Panzer project is sort of best suited to people of his type. As it turns out, I think the majority of the RC tank community are of a different type. Not better or worse, but different. (And no one anywhere is quite like Rad.)

The TCB and the Open Panzer project generally is probably going to be most attractive to tinkerers, experimenters, people who not only WILL read the manual but LIKE to read manuals, people who pore through manuals at night in bed for entertainment, and for those who want or need the freedom to do anything they want rather than be restricted in functionality. This probably should have been made more clear at the beginning, but I think I kind of assumed every model tank enthusiast was that way. Not so!

The good news is, as I have said countless times, there are so many other options. If Open Panzer doesn't fit your tanking style, there's no end of alternatives!

I have gotten a lot of comments about "if this" or "if that" in regards to the business end of things. It's all well and good but guys, let me tell you - if this was a business I would have gone bankrupt a long time ago. I don't need better marketing! Better marketing is the last thing I need. What I need is about ten clones of myself and a winning lottery ticket. Then I'd pump out the goods for you guys and sell them for pennies, just because I like tanks and tankers.

But right now the board isn't even commercially available so it's mostly a fruitless discussion. I will say, the project is not dead. It is definitely in a dead-zone at the moment, but not dead yet. Who knows, the day may yet come when I will be in a better position to take everyone's marketing advice. Keep it handy!

bowlman

I like that ideal looks good nice to see Benedini upgraded the TBS mini to V2 ill have to check his web site .
Thanks
Jimmy

jim2955

It sucks that they stopped making this board it sounds like just what I need. I don't care about all the fancy sounds that these tanks make. Coming from someone who mostly raced and drove normal off road and on road rc cars and truck they always seem kinda gimmicky to me. I just want to be able to control the tank how I want it to control. I have clark boards and they work okay but the way you have to move the stick to make the turret go up and down is difficult. The fact that tank startup is a stick movement and lights on and off is just a pain. I really only need the tank to do 4 things. Move right track and left track and turret rotation and turret elevation. If I can get a separate switch then fire the gun I am happy. If someone has one of these laying around they are not going to use that works I would be willing to buy it from them , thanks .

Crius

If all you need are those four things then I would advise the V3 mfu from taigen. You wouldn't need the sound card, and it would give you motor control for both tracks as well as turret rotation and gun elevation for about $60.

jim2955

Yes but I think this board was under $50 and I seen sometimes on here is was under $40 and it did much more and I already have a sabertooth in this tank to drive the tracks.

Shorty54

I know its a reach, but, you can buy all the materials and build it yourself... not for everyone, but it can be done.

Enjoy,
Shad

tankme

I don't use any kind of control board in my 1/6th scale combat tanks. Everything is driven off of the receiver and a 6 channel radio (5 minimum). The elevation is direct servo control, the turret rotation is an ESC connected to a gearmotor, the tracks are driven by PWM ESC input, and the main gun fires by direct servo drive. The main gun servo moves to actuate a micro switch. People want tank control boards to add lights and sounds for the most part. If you don't want or need all of that then you don't need a control board. They also sell PWM switches that can turn things on/off.

LukeZ

Hi Jim, you've got some good suggestions here. If you really do only need the few things you've listed, you can use a stock Arduino Mega rather easily and without any exotic external components, so long as you stick with a PPM or iBus receiver. If you want to use SBus then you have to invert the SBus signal with a transistor which is more work and I don't know how comfortable you are with circuit stuff.

Here is a thread on the OP Forum with a lot of information about using a Mega as a DIY TCB - Testing TCB Firmware with Stock Arduino Mega

tartago

With the stubborn Clark treating customers like rubbish, I think it's time to go back to this project.

Tanque

That statement would seem to beg some explanation ....

RichJohnson

I know of what you speak......

As well, I desperately miss my old green IBU2 boards.

I guess it is time to try a DKtank board from DKLM

Tanque

So what is Clark doing?

Jerry

Crius

Jerry, I sent you a PM.

Tanque

Replied..

j

tankme

The DK Tank board is interesting except that it doesn't support S or I-Bus from what I can see.

RichJohnson

That’s fine with me. No interest in that over complicated design. I like channels.