Hi. Congrats on finding a good-looking VT-110 - is it the one that was on ebay lately?
Regarding tape, the only sound advice to give is to NOT use audio tape on these machines. Not a half-dozen, not one, none
at all! It was a great temptation back then and a sure way to kill the heads - in fact that's precisely how many of them died prematurely. In fact I wouldn't even dare to play an audio tape with historical contents on it, unless I'm really really sure I'll never need this deck again - seriously! Slicing a VHS tape, or any tape for that matter, would be a royal pain and even if you manage to do it properly , it will not have the right thickness / oxide / length anyway. Try to find VT-5 tape if you actually want to record on this machine, or just use it as an interface to the camera and record on something else, these are the only ways to keep it alive.
If you still want to use it after all that I've just said
the first thing to check is the video heads. With a x10 magnifier and a Maglite in lateral lighting, check the condition of the head gaps: hardly is as much as they should be visible. If they look widened or irregular, let alone broken, you can forget about this machine as a recorder or player, it has died from being used with audio tape or cleaned with the heads spinning - another common mistake. They can still be worn out even if they look good, but chances are much better. The second thing to check is everything made of rubber: pinch roller, rubberized rollers, belts, all these are probably worn out or degraded. Belts can be changed (mind the dimensions, they matter a lot), rollers can be remade by Terry Witt at a cost. Then come all the usual lubrication and dirt issues (I've been lucky with mine), and finally the condition of the other parts.
Powering is done on 12 volts DC via a 5-pin DIN connector, poitive to pin 2, ground to pin 1 - forget about charging the battery, they're all dead now. If one is in the recorder, remove it to avoid leaks.
Several important parts are hardly serviceable now, but many others can be checked ad/or fixed with the help of the service manual - for sale in PDF on the 'net. It is a good idea to get one if you are seriously considering taking care of this deck.