Armortek

I noticed on Adrian Harris's gallery a shot of his Sherman climbing a ramp of approximately 30 degrees, if not a bit steeper. I can tell you that my Tiger early ed. will not do this, as I have tried repeatedly to do so. I have metal surfaced ramps similar to those in Adrian's gallery, but no matter what material I have tried to cover them with, my Tiger will only get 4 or 5 feet up a similar incline, after which it begins to spin its treads and slip back down.

I had to revise my transfer routine in order to get it from my maintenance tables to the ground, and vice versa, providing smaller climbing and descending angles. Anybody else out there have some insights into how to increase the climbing and descending ability of these models? I do have the later 4QD speed controller....

Sounds like you tracks just need something to grab on to. You could take some strips of metal or wood or plastic, say 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick and screw them down to your ramps cross ways. Like a chicken ladder.

Doug,
I recently watched at in disbelief as a M1T 1/6 scale T34 climbed up into the back of a Land Rover Discovery on just a short length of plywood.
I understand that the magic super gripping surface material was synthetic carpet i.e. nylon, not wool as that slips.

Hi Doug.

The ramps are made of aluminium angle, with individual cross members rather than a sheet of metal, so the tracks of the Sherman can really get a grip. I'll post a picture of them at some time. They were bought from Ebay for around £100.

At the angle shown in the picture, the tank wanted to roll back down the ramp so I had to keep some forward power to the motors to keep it in place.

Adrian.

Doug

We use a simple carpet covered length of plywood as a ramp for all our models. The Tiger and Panther have the best grip, and will climb the steepest inclines. The Sherman, being a little lighter, uses less power,but can loose grip in the wet on the steepest of slopes. A 45degree incline can be climbed easily.

Mark