How big are combatdigiQ's

The CombatdigiQ's aren't true to scale, all tanks are about 5,5 cm long.
that takes them closest to about H0 1/87 scale.

Battle abilities

Each type of tank has built into the battle system a different set of four basic abilities,
Firepower, Ammunition, Hit points and Reload time.

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* from top to botom; firepower, ammo, armour and reloadtime.

# In Practice Mode, tanks have unlimited ammo and take infinite damage. There is no end to the combat untill batteries run out
# In Combat Mode, all tanks have the same capabilities. Ammo is unlimited, and reloads take three seconds. After taking five hits,
a tank is "killed" and cannot be controlled for a while. Even before being "killed," a tank's speed will drop after a few hits.
When only one hit remains, the tank's damage light will flash.
# In Expert Mode, the tank's firepower, ability to take damage, reload time and ammo supply vary depending on the model of tank used.
# You can handicap a less-experienced player by setting their controller to Combat Mode, while more experienced players use Expert mode.
# For team (2-on-2 or 2-on-1) combat, set the controller's power switch to the Team Play position.
Teams are determined by odd and even numbered IDs.
In Team Play mode, your shots will not affect friendly tanks.

The controller

There are two types of controller for the CombatdigiQ, the first type came standard with the non-rotator basicset's.
it has a button for manually assigning the ID to the tank and a selector switch to choose a ID like shown in the picture above.

The second type was released when the rotatortanks came out.
it has no ID button and the IDselectorswitch has been replaced by 4 led's to indicate the ID's chosen.
the ID selection is automatic and the controller will try to rewrite the ID everytime on the startup. the big plus with these AutoID controllers is that they were perfected for use with the rotatortanks.
the manual ID controllers seem to have issues with the propo speed of the turret.
driving and other functions when using a rotatortank with a manualID controller do seem to work flawless.
only the rotation speed of the turret seems random at times, sometimes realy slow, othertimes amazingly fast.
I could imagine this being a little problem if you want to go into real heated battle and want to get the max out of the turret
rotating capabilities, otherwise it isn't that bad.

the autoID controllers were sold seperate or in a set together with a rotatortank.

Stick control

Romchips

Each tank type comes with it's own Romchip for the controller.

The gold coloured romchips are for rotatortanks exept the "99 limited edition" chip.
The "99" chip has different values for the battle abillities coded into it and allows extra ordinairy abillities for a JGSDF type 74 in this case.
Reprogramming is possible because it's a EEPROM. At least the values of reloadtime and number of ammo can be rewritten.
SO if this "99"chip is a original Konami product or made by a digiQ fan ? i don't know. it looks pretty original to me.
More info about re-programming on : Bitracer.de

The Konami soundsystem

Cleverly tapping into the IR signals from the controller(s) the stand alone soundsystem produces sounds for each tank.
The konami sound tower needs soundcards in order to work. one per vehicle.
The combatdigiq soundcard has the sounds of engine startup, idle running, driving, cannon firing
and if you have a rotator tank, turret revolving sound.

There are also soundcards for the Godzilla series and FormulaDigiQ, i don't know if there are cards for DigiQtrain.
I don't think soundcards were ever made for the Divergear. :D



An alternative to this very costly setup is the CombatdigiQ soundprogram for PC
Another great thing enthousiasts put together in the past, i'm very thankfull to them for that.
With a simple IR receiver and a shareware softwareprogram your PC will do the same as the konami soundsystem and better.
The sound is proportional like the control's, that means you can actually hear the difference between fast or slow,
or even how fast it's going around a corner, it's pretty amazing if you ask me.
on top of that the program provides for moody background war sounds like firering machineguns and explosions if desired.
Not as portable as the konami system but you can realy crank up the volume on your PC and have even better sound for a fraction of the price.
More about this on : Bitracer.de
or here Robokalle's site
I'm still looking for combatdigiQ and godzilla soundcards,
If you are thinking of parting with yours, click here

*TANKSPOTTING*

A tank is near, but you don't know what type it is ?
the colours/cammo tell the tale.

NON Rotating turret tanks

The turret of these types can NOT be rotated via the controller !
The type 74 and 90 are post WW2 Japanese types.

Rotating turret tanks

The turrets of these tanks below can be rotated using the controller. notice the difference in colour/cammo.
another way to recognise them is by looking at the Romchip, rotatortanks have a gold coloured Romchip.


To avoid confusion, there are also the tanks sold in the so called battleset's. Vol 1 to 3

Battleset Vol 1, aka the winterset are non rotators with winter colours and came with some obstacles. (structure set A)
Battleset Vol 2, these were also non rotators in a slightly different cammo colour sceme and came with ruins of a house and a shed. (structure set B)
Battleset Vol 3, the only rotator tank battleset that also has the AutoID controllers, packaged with a little odd sumo arena and some other uninteresting things.
this is a nice set only for the rotator tanks and autoID controllers.

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DIY Projects and future idea's

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Full Metal Wheels

The big idea behind metal wheels is to get better balance, a lower point of gravity and a more realistic ride.
after testing i conclude that loading the tank up with all metal wheels makes it too heavy for the rubber tracks
i'dd suggest placing at least one set of the original plastic wheels somewhere.
in the meantime i'm thinking about making metal roadwheels with holes in them, it will look good and save weight.

of course i still have the moulds and i'll cast some on request for a small fee.

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Metal Tracks

one of the most apealing visual improvements could be fitting real metal tracks instead of the rubber ones
of course these can be weathered to look old and rusty, more on that later

The track parts are produced by a Hungarian company named Friulmodel, these are type ATL-18 and are said to be the easiest and best fit for CombatdigiQ's.
At about 7,5 mm wide they fit nicely without any major modifications to the tank.
For best results in smoothly running tracks here are some guidelines as how to assemble them by the manufacturer.
Do however replace the steel wire that comes with the friul tracks for the pivot points with a harder spring steel 0,3 mm wire.
Also i found "Gel" type "instant"glue works best for fixating the wire in the pivot points.
the regular more fluid type soon get's kinda sucked in too far by capillary action.

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Sprocket/Drive wheels

To start i'm goin to try to make a real sprocket wheel with teeth that fit the holes in the tracks for real chain drive instead
of just a wheel powering the tracks by friction alone
This is the V1.2 version i made with 0,5 mm steelwire for the teeth.



This is 33 links of atl-18 for each track with the original DigiQ drivewheel grinded down to a diameter of 6,2 mm with 8 set's of teeth on it.
So far it seems to function as one could expect from a "slack track" or single christie type of setup without suspension,
but i'm satisfied at this point that even with no tension on the track the teeth still line up with the holes in the track nicely
meaning if there's goin to be some tension on the track it's going to be even better.
Options: a extra idle wheel to keep the tension on, or better, suspension on one or more of the road wheels because there isn't hardy place to
mount another idle wheel anyway

Here's a practical solution by Dommi05 for tracks with those double guide thingies (whatshumacalle'm) ?

Meanwhile i stumbeled across an idea against the drive wheel losing friction with the rubber tracks.
It's heat shrink tubing made to fit and fixed firmly into place with some glue.
Be carefull when you try this, the wheel itself can melt too, i used a 6mm aluminium tube to pre-schrink the tubing.
With the rubber like tubing in place it's almost impossible to have the tracks skid, the motors will freeze up before the friction
between drivewheel and rubbertrack is lost, meaning maximum power can be applied to the track.

a minor negative point is that the outer diameter of the drive wheel increases and so does the speed of the tank by a fraction.
If this doesn't help anymore because the rubber of the tracks has stretched over time the remaining option is to shorten
the track itself by cutting away a piece and glueing it together again.
i'm told by the experts using cyanoacrylate based superglue works best, but i haven't used it or shortened my tracks myself.
meanwhile, remove rubber tracks from your tank for long term storage, it prevents them from stretching out.

See the epic tug-O-war for traction between the sprocket and rubber drivewheel

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Suspension

Next step will be of course real suspension of the road wheels, not only to keep tension on the tracks, but because it looks great as well.



Here are some ideas from other people on how to go about this.

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Rebuild of the IR cannon

a standalone gadget designed to shoot CombatdigiQ compatible ray's at intervals.
as electronics never was my major, this project isn't exactly rushing along,
doesn't seem to hard though, the most difficult task seems to be burning a PIC chip.

more info here
and here Robokalle's site

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SMD led lighting

Led lighting has been seen on several CombatdigiQ's but a this stage i'm still wondering where best take the power from,
what type of SMD led's to use and what resistors should go along with that and so on


or what about this neat setup ?
I'll send free metal wheels for anyone who wants to share their knowledge with the masses on "how to" SMD led's for CombatDigiQ

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Battlefield Diorama

Basicly the idea is a (portable)setup much like a model railroad scenery without trains
mixed with the idea of those neat diorama's some people make in +/- 1/87 scale (H0).
the best part lies in that the models/players will have freedom of movement unlike trains who are bound by tracks,
of course interactive battles could take place with upto 4 players or maybe the IR cannon can play a part as well.
for the time being i'm gathering materials and made moulds for the mass production of concrete tank obstacles a.k.a. "dragonteeth"
having never done any real modeling like this before i'm starting with smaller "tiles" that may be joined together to form a modular battlefield.
that way the project is more controllable because of it's size and i get to practice before i ruin a 4 by 4 meter diorama with a beginners mistake. :))

here is some inspirations from other people:
scale battle fields

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BATTERY REPORT

a must read for owners and potential buyers

Time has passed since the last digiQ rolled of the Takara assemblyline in 2005.
Unfortunatly it seems to have a devestating effect on the internal batteries of the digiQ's
Writing in the beginning of 2008 it's safe to say most of the small batterypacks are close to the end of their life.

More and more digiQ owners are starting to notice their digiQ isn't functioning anymore,
or will not allow for more than a minute or two of drivingtime.
some digiQ's refuge to charge, others do nothing at all.

The trouble being either the batteries going "dead" because they were not used for a longer period,
or much worse, they start to leak.
The leaking of "acid" is the real killer because the batteries are right on top of the digiQ PCB.
Silently eating away components and circuits, the digiQ is doomed. :( See the pictures below.


This is the most extreme case of batteryrot i've seen so far,
Usually it starts with the bare metal parts corroding, wires just breaking of the pcb could be a sign
Most of them upto now only suffer minor damage that could be fixed.
But it's safe to say that without action all digiQ's will face the same faith.

The cure is pretty simple unless the damage has already been done.
Replace the internal batterypack, or at least remove the old one.
While you are at it, inspect the PCB for signs of decay.
Get yourself a magnifying glass and take a closer look, sometimes it's realy hard to see.

You can also inspect the old batterypack by removing the shrinkwrap,
if you see any discolouration or white/gray powder like crystals,
get rid of the battery as soon as possible. (in a enviromental friendly way, please).



What does it all mean ? is it realy all that bad ?
Well, not yet. Lots of digiQ are still in working order, but the question is for how long.

UPDATE: the cleanup

Having been wondering what to do with the problematic combatdigiQ's i decided to get some special pcb cleaner fluid.
The sonic cleaner i use isn't very powerfull like professional cleaners but for the tiny digiQ pcb's one of those supercheap jewelery cleaners will already be powerfull enough i guess.
The EM-303 fluid is from EMAG© and is specially for cleaning pcb's,
soldering points and such look nice and clean after using this and soldering new wires to the PCB is much easier
(hint: don't fill the whole utrasonic cleaner with cleaning solution, placing a glass or steel cup with the cleaning agent
in the cleaner filled with water works just as well and saves a lot of cleaning agent).
Having cleaned some pcb's some time ago they still seem clean and there is no sign of reocurring problems.
After sealing the pcb's with some clear varnisch i already soldered up one and it running flawless today.

I've also seen other people suggest you don't need fancy fluid or sonic cleaners at all and a good clean with water and a brush will work just fine for cleaning
the battery dirt from the PCB. i guess that could do the trick just as good as for neutralising and cleaning up the battery leakage.


So we come to the next issue, where do we get new batteries from ?
The search for replacement batterypacks has never been easy, and now it seems KAN batteries has stopped production as well
or at least i'm told they won't manufature any unless a thousand or so are ordered.
The webshop that used to sell the ready made KAN batterypacks now recommends these LiPo batteries.
xufo-shop.de
Of course we won't be able to charge from the controller anymore and we'll have to find a alternative LiPo charger
Hopefully i can find more info on how to do all this exactly because there seems to be no alternative if there realy are no more KAN 1/4 AAA pack's
The great upside to the story would be dramaticly increased runtimes when using the LiPo's.

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trade section-trade section-trade section-trade section-trade section-

As this is totally just a hobby of mine i havn't got the time or the wish to run a "official" webstore.
there aren't enough items to go around anyway so i'm just listing what double's/spare's i have.
but as there is a "niche market" for these, here is some stuff i may be interested in selling/trading/swapping:

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CombatdigiQ's, rotator and non-rotator versions, from "as new" status to parts for projects and metal wheels

yes, you read correct,i'm offering some of my CombatdigiQ's, i even have some sherman rotatortanks i'dd like to sell for the propper price.
also from "NIB" tanks that i bought "back then" that i've removed the batteries from long ago, to "scrap" parts from whasted tanks.
just ask me what you like and we'll take it from there.

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CombatdigiQ original Konamy 4-bay charger.

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Konami soundsystem with 4 DigiQ Formula soundcards, 4 cards at once !!! complete your QF racestable now.

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Keyence mad-tune celica and sylvia. real rare collectors item's (reserved)

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Keyence mad-tune replacement bodies, incl. screws and decals, maybe finally sombody will dare to make a body mod ?
unfortunatly only one sylvia body. :(

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Yonezawa pit-gear's, 1/52 scale semi proportional (bmw, ferrari testarossa, mercedes, porche, nissan skyline, reebok, calsonic).
great retro micro RC from the 80's japan, the Dnano of it's day's, also nice if your into collecting multiples.

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one damaged Xxap Metl-tech. (there is a problem with the bracket keeping the steering motor in place)
for parts or repair, or maybe you have one banged up you like to sell ?

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roco minitanks tank crew H0 scale.

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roco minitanks decal's, H0 scale.

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i'm looking for a affordable mini lathe.

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mail me

i'm allways looking for CombatdigiQ soundcards

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gallerie of digiQ rarities

Prowd to present, the feature length DelaVision MICRO TANK RACE director´s cut video.
viewers discretion/parental advisory could be wise, it's a race to the death. images may include exessive gore.

The Konami Godzilla series work simular to the combatdigiQ's but also have some special moves.
this is a copy from the japanese godzilla manual, iv'e never seen an english one.

Another special is that when godzilla get's hit enough times it will freak out and launches a automated bezerk attack.


ultra rare divergear from konami takara, i guess it never was mass produced.


back to the future digiQ "delorean"



the digiQ train Xmas express.


Qsteer vs choroQ.

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digiQ related questions? contact me HERE

fin ende finito the end

thank you for visiting !

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since MMVII