Hi, complete idiot here.
 

Hey folks, new here but not to building. I have a few (probably) stupid questions that have been keeping me awake at night. A few weeks ago i was given a giant rc tank. I thinks its tamiya, but cant seem to find any markings. I brought it home, wiped the dust of of it, and stuffed in a weeks pay worth of batteries. Nothing. No wiggles, jiggles, or beeps. Just as dead as a coffin nail. So i cracked her open to find a huge mouse nest, a few bare hunks of wire, and the rusted remains of a pair of motors.
Still reading? Cool.
So my queastion is this; how would a guy with fairly handy hands and a dangerously crafty mind put new guts into an old body like this? Any ideas or insight would be great. I know a fair bit about building things, but nearly zip about rc guts. Thanks in advance.

Can u post some pictures ?

Any pictures? With enough imagination, engineering, and $$ anything is possible. RC electronics aren't really magical. You have a transmitter that sends signals to a receiver. The receiver and transmitter can control a set number of channels, 4 is pretty common but more can be had. Each channel can control a motor or servo and sometimes multiples or combinations of each. Just depends on what you need to happen.

Of course i have stumbled across this forum while on the road. Pics to follow as soon as i get home.
I understand basic radio voodoo. Just not as it applies to hobby vehicles. For example, having two drive motors, does one channel run one motor forward and reverse? So two channels allocated for the drive system? Or do i need two channels per motor?

My wonderful wife took a few pics of the thing, as soon as i sort out how to put them here from my phone, I'll have them up.

Ok, so i made a dropbox account, put the photos, but i can't put the link up because I'm too new. is there a way to directly put up the photos, or am i too new for that as well?

Think you need 10 posts before you get the ability to post links/pics. 5 more posts to go.

Fair enough. From my internet scouring, im fairly certain i have a tamiya sherman. Well, i know its a sherman. Ca. Anyone recomend a setup to make this thing function? It seems like the hull and track system are all thats salvageable. I'll need batteries, transmitter amd reciever, a pair of motors, and whatever is required to make all the parts communicate.

Try to figure out what size motor it has, not a lot of specs on their site for it but it looks like a simple 380 or 540 brushed motor. Once you figure out the motor size then it's straightforward to pick out a power system that will work for it.

You may also need and radio system. Does it shoot BBs?