Razdawg

Hi everyone,

I have gotten the bug to get an rc tank. I have no expeirience with tanks but have / do fiddle with rc trucks.

I am looking for a good entry level tank (vstank or heng long) for backyard IR battles with my 6 yr old son.

Could any of you more seasoned veterans share your wisdom?

Also where is a good trustworthy online dealer with low prices...

Thank you in advance!

harleridr

Hi,
I would talk to Phil at RC Tank Wars, at [email protected] He has been a great help to mein my choice of tanks
Harle

DirtyBird69

Yeah definately Phil(first choice), or on eBay "Mideatoys" or Mato Mart in Canada

http://www.matomart.com/product.php?c=1000001

Perry S.

I wouldn't recommend Mideatoys or an ebay dealer for your first tank. They are more a cheap place for people with experience fixing them.

Since this is your first go at it you should know that they will break. Especially the HL's. Owning an RC tank is working on an RC tank. Go with Phil as he will make sure you have a runner out of the box and will offer knowledgable customer support. His site is RCtankwars.com

Perry

yellowshaker

My Feedback: (1)

RCtankwars is the place to go for any Henglond tank for a beginner. He will do his best to satisfy you and stand behind his work. He checks all the tanks he sells before they ship to make sure all functions are working correctly..

Razdawg

Wow thanks for all the quick responses!

Do Heng Long tanks have IR or all they all airsoft?

FreakyDude

some models have the IR some don't. As for your questions about models to get, I am biased and I say get the new model Panther G. This would be the Panther with the correct frontal slope on the armour. Really it is one of heng longs most detailed and higher quality tanks.
Others will talk about the other models but for me the Panther G is one to go with.

yellowshaker

My Feedback: (1)

Keep in mind that the IR on the HL is not as advanced as the tamiya and they are not compatible with each other either. It is the old story of toy grade vs. hobby grade. the price says it all on the two brands, but in the end, if you like the tank hobby, you will most likely end up with a Tamiya.keep uds posted and welcome aboard.

Razdawg

Tamiyas certainly look to be the "holy grail" of rc tanks but I can't justify dropping $600 or more on something right now.
I think the closest hobby store to me carries VsTanks are they on par with Heng Long? Are there other brands out there for a novice? I am thinking that the IR ones would work best for my needs at this time and do they make IR targets for when there is only single "players"?

texchap

Vs tanks are a different scale completely. You can get a HL as a starter. most of us would recommend the IR version because, while not perfect, it has barrel recoil already. In addition, they already have the flash installed. If you decide to get into IR battling, an upgrade to a DBRC or DBRC3 is not hard to do. It can be a stepped process for you this way. Grow as you want to. Guys on here will be happy to help you along the way.

smoot27

From what your intended purpose is, it sounds to me that a VS Tank would be more appropriate than HL.  VS Tanks are 1:24 scale and they come pre-painted ready to run and are high quality.  HL are cheaply designed with poor quality control.  They are better suited for people who want to upgrade the parts and paint them.  If you want a couple RC tanks just to drive around and battle with your son, VS would be more appropriate.  I own a VS Tiger I, a HL Stug and a Tamiya Panther.    

Panther G

I think the Heng long would be a better choice for a first tank. yes they can have issues but they are easily solved and can be greatly upgraded. Even to almost Tamiya quality if you want to go that far. i know I have more than once. The Vs tanks are great but the scale leaves much to be desired.

smoot27

Panther,

For just about anyone else I would recommend HL when breaking into the Hobby.  I agree that the smaller scale for VS Tanks leave a little to be desired for the hobbyists on this board, but I'm thinking about this in terms of a 6 year old playing with his father.  I'm not sure that HL much less Tamiya are great picks in this scenario.  Both of those are better fits for hobbyists.  For a young kid and a father to have fun driving around battling each other, I would believe that a high end toy like VS would provide more user friendly play time.  You can also get 2 nice looking tanks right out of the box for a little over $200. 

VS Tank
Pros: 
*  User friendly
*  High quality (quality control is great)
*  Comes painted with insignias, etc. already in place
Cons:
*  smaller scale 1:24 instead of 1:16 (HL, Tamiya)
*  A high quality toy rather than a true hobby tank

HL
Pros:
*  Easy to upgrade (you can turn it into a Tamiya caliber tank if you spend the money on upgrades)
*  1:16 scale makes it compatible with Tamiya
Cons:
Poor quality control and customer service (My Stug came with a broken transmitter - fortunately I was upgrading)

Razdawg

Hi guys!

Well I jumped in and got me a used Heng Long PanzerKampfwagen III ausf.L sd.kfz.141/1. Not a smoke/sound model but I got it at a good price.

So
1) what upgrades are recommend
2) can smoke,sound, IR be added
3) can it be upgraded to 2.4 ghz

Have already "patroled" the backyard!

YHR

Someone should have mentioned to you right away not to buy a non smoke and sound There will be no IR on that and the electronics are no where near as good as the Smoke and sound ones.

You can buy an upgrade once you have had this for awhile.

1sgt

I'm sorry that I came across this thread so late. I agree 100% with YHR. The non-sound and smoke tanks are not worth it. The S and S HL's have speed control that makes all the difference. You can buy Sound and Smoke upgrade kits from Mato, but by the time your fininshed, you could have had a SanS version much cheaper. I do agree that HL is the way to go. The scale also means better outside manuverability. You can also get the metal upgrades that add more weight to your tank allowing it to operate a lot more prototypically. Buy another sound and smoke PZ III with IR and keep the non S an S for spare parts and driving practice. I wish these kind of tanks were available back when my son was 6 years old. I was stationed at Ft Hood Texas and he would spend hours playing by the patio doors just to be able to catch a military convoy heading out on exercises and of course tanks were the highlight ( for me too ).

Jim

Razdawg

Ouch....well at least I only paid $40 for the tank...heh

What kind of cost for upgrading to smoke / sound? Do I need a new controller as well? The one I have does have the buttons?

What are the options for 2.4ghz control?

It looks like for a ss model I would put out about $140.00? So maybe I can get around that upgrading this one.

1sgt

Go to Phil at RC tnak wars, or go to the Mato site. Thay have everything available ( as well as new S and S PZIII's ) to do your upgrade. For one on one service. I reccomend Phil. He will answer all your questyions in a very timely manner. Happy tanking.

Jim

Harvey S

Welcome aboard! If you do get interested in upgrading your Heng Long PzIII, there are numerous excellent options. Here's an excellent thread here where you can see many up close, illustrated with lots of photos,as a PzIII is upgraded,
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_97...tm.htm#9719539

Harvey S

I'll second what Jim said about Phil Flueger at RCTankwars. He's great, I bought a PzIII from him, his after sales service is bar none, he organizes numerous IRbattles here in Southern Cal for us, and we love to support him.

Pah co chu puk

Don't worry about your PzkIII being non- S&S. I have one and I have had fun with it for years. The others are better but yours will still be fun.

$40. that's about half what I paid for mine years ago, you got a good deal.