Likewise, I have a 1/16th tank my son wanted to turn into a "Party Bot". So his will mostly be lights and sounds, and maybe tow a little 6-pack cooler/trailer.

www.vexrobotics.com/276-2168.html

I bought it!!! is a good idea if you want to create a tank base...

Good luck!

Thanks Guys - I'm going the right direction. One thing Edison, the vexrobotics kit Looks great and a very economical option but they want $109.00 just to ship a small box of plastic to Australia - for that I can buy a whole 1/16 Tank.. does anyone know of a distributor with more realistic shipping costs - maybe from the pacific region or similar product ?

The Dogbot Base works pretty good but, like everything else in life it has pros and cons. It was very easy to mod, except for the initial gut reaction to NOT want to destroy a brand new perfectly working cool Airsoft Tank! ? Getting H-Bridges to work was easy at first, but It took me three brands to find the one that could handle the power requirements. I am using the Sabertooth 2x5. Since it's not carrying much weight, it can move really fast, so I have it set at 1/3 the speed. I am hoping I can come up with a way to adjust the speed on the fly, using the joystick. I am teaching myself C# (chapter 3 so far), so it may take a while. There was enough room inside the tank to add 2 battery paks, plus the original battery slot underneath. You could make more room by cutting out the batteries internal storage compartment. The small motors and gears pull a fair amount of torque, but they create a lot of noise. The tank came with metal tracks which work great for outdoor use, but adds to the noise level. I was able to get the tank for 130.00, I looked online or cheaper or comparable robot bases, but anything big enough to carry my anticipated weight, started at 300.00. So I figured this was a better deal. Plus my Son and I got to play with the Tank for a couple of months before I finally decided to cut it up.

@Hazbot I forgot!!! you have to buy it in another web page!

www.robotshop.com/productinfo.aspx?pc=RB-Inn-16&lang=en-US

I bought the tank treads there!... is too cheap!!

Thanks Dave for the Tank tips and Edison for the treads lead. I guess with the treads there is the advantage of customising them with the right motor & h-bridge combination to suit the robot. Again the shipping costs for the treads from robotshop to Australia are more than the cost of the product - I just can't justify that but my friend Richie may have a way around it. There is a similar tread distributor in China and if I get any luck through their emails, the shipping should be much cheaper. From what Dave was saying, plastic treads are preferable to metal {noise, weight etc). Again, thanks guys, I'll get there eventually...cheers

I bought a 1/16 tank on ebay for 45 bucks - radio did not work but who cares. Metal gearbox and plastic treads.

@Hazbot Your welcome! and can you give me the link where you bought the tank treads??

Yes Bret, RC Robots "Richie" just mailed me a site ( tanks.com ) that are in Australia and have a 1/16 Tank for $84.95 plus everything you need to build one from scratch. If they have reasonable shipping costs it will be my main support for the robots base. The extras that come with it such as RC, battery and charger make it very economical (and they have plastic treads and gears).

Tank Resource for Australia

OK I've ordered a 1/16 Tank - I will keep an update on converting to a base for Bob on the Project Show Case profile. Bought through this site listed below.

These 1/16 tanks are a good size for a base - 9 inches wide by 14 inches long or around 33 cm long by 23 cm wide.

Tank Resource