city hunter

I picked up a mostly built oine the other day for a decent price.

What kind of upgrades are really needed to make this a runner?

Whos esc will give me twin stick steering?

Shaun

ROLLIN ARMOUR

If you do not mind me asking How much did you pay for it? The hobbyshop out buy me has had one sitting on the shelf for years new in the box still shrink wrapped. I have been kicking it back and forth if I should buy it. There is no price tag on it.

Panther F

You MAY want to re-think that. The Hummel is 1/15th plus the Bandai plastic is brittle... better to get a 1/16 HL PIV and use a conversion kit to build a Hummel because the HL plastic is much more durable and 1/16th parts are more readily available than 1/15th.

I own 2 Bandai kits so I do know.


JMHO














~ Jeff

MAUS45

You may want to consider these from Kenny Kong via Ebay.....

http://stores.ebay.com/Hobby-Summit/..._fsub=12337575

Like Panther F said this is a 1/15 scale kit. I have it as well. Not a bad kit and I will build it. The replacement gears are a must to upgrade the existing gears. These are the gears only not the gear box. I have these and the tracks as well.

city hunter

Brittle huh?Kind of a bummer, but I already dropped 105 bucks on it.

I'll have to get a set of gears, and eventually tracks.

Is the actual chassis brittle or just the rest?

Panther F

All of the plastic. When a fastener is secured against the plastic, it will fracture, split, crack... brittle.


I paid a lot of money for the 2 of mine as well. One is a static display and the other is still in the box. No sense throwing good money after bad, but you asked! It IS a Hummel but after all the money spent you can have a HL up and running and the Bandai has no electronics either.

Put it on eBay and get something out of it and move on.














~ Jeff

MAUS45

I have one and it is not brittle? Also even if I had the same issue with attaching metal screws, which what I think Jeff is referring to, I would drill a hole to match the screw diameter and us washers on both sides to keep it from stressing the plastic attachment point. not a total loss. Your choice City Hunter.

Panther F

Oh, well that's encouraging news. One out of 4 then are not brittle and suffered no problems. I'll tell Daryl and Dennis that theirs and mine were a majority and that there is some hope. I mean he did ask.

I think in general the purpose is to guide the guy into something useful. The odd scale and the lack of supporting parts is enough to sway him away, but if it's only one you're going to own then by all means... look out for the above mentioned problems and proceed!



Make sure you post some pictures of this and let us know how it went!














~ Jeff

Tanque

I built mine around 1975 and it hasn't broken yet. I don't run it very much and certainly don't thrash it ( I don't thrash anything) but it isn't the best runner; the suspension is poor.

Bandai was really the first out there beating Tamiya by many years but their choice of 1/15 scale never caught on...there was suposed to be further
models beyond the 4 we know of but they never materialised,

Jerry

TheBennyB

I've got to agree with Jeff. I have the Hummel and PZ IV and both were a nightmare to get to be a dependable r/c tank. Crap plastic and the detailing is a joke, still was cool to have a PZ IV
6 years ago though and the hummel is of course different but also like Jeff said there is a conversion kit now that you could slap onto a HL lower hull and have a much more dependable platform.
If your only going to run it on your back patio, no worries, but if your looking to do any off roading or battling you may want to take a different route. Also don't bother with the aftermarket leaf spring
suspension. It's awful, The shaft that attaches to the lower hull is smaller than the stock. You have to shim them and it still wobbles. Of course these are all just my findings and I'm sure
someone will tell you different, so just soak it all up and make the best decision you can.

tomhugill

If you paid $105 for it you did really well, I've seen them sell on eBay in uk for £150+ which is way over $200. I know a few folks in the uk have them and made decent jobs outta them, but also juwa have bought out a very nice Hummel/nashorn conversion, so if you want a nice runner that's probably a better bet.

city hunter

I suppose I will look at it when I get home and decide what to do. I dont see making a new chassis being too hard, but motivation for doing it is a tall order lol. If a henglong is suppose to be reliable, then im in a world of hurt for this, althought my hl tanks were just plastic setups. Clutch on my jag d went out the second battery, stug developed mad wobbly idlers which throw tracks, but after a lot more use... I am sur ethe metal versions with metal gears are much better though.  Maybe I will just sell it and toss the money into something else

city hunter

guess I won it for 135, so im in it 155 total. Drunk bidding ftw. Looks like a decent paint job,

http://www.ebay.com/itm/251193262102...84.m1497.l2649

Tanque

Quite a few years back I saw what was advertised ( on ebay) as a one of a kind (prototype?) all metal hull for the Bandai Tiger I. As I recall it was die cast, not fabricated or
possibly fabricated from die cast plates. Have ver seen another since.

Jerry

Panther F

Oh, so it's built. Well, I took a look at it and I don't think you got burnt. I want a HUMMEL and at that price they're okay, new kits go for big bucks too!

I was wanting a dust queen but not at those kit prices so I may go the conversion route and HL or Tamiya it... since I don't own a Tamiya PIV yet.


Those plastic tracks MUST be pinned, so you cannot run them as is. So, KK metal tracks and sprocket/idler gear are a must. If you want to ditch the plastic road and return wheels (they will not hold up with metal tracks) I can hook you up with an Elite Armor Aluminum set with bushing for cheap... still brand new?!! I bought them from BYA YEARS ago for my StuG, well of course never went that far.


Just email me after you've had a few, okay? (Drunk bidding)













~ Jeff

karel47

you can reinforce the bottom with an alu plate so it would be strong enough then , i have a bandai tiger I with tamiya FO , it is also reinforced with brass motorbox closed full of fat it runs very well ... it is almost 10 kg very haevy monstrious Tiger I

it got metal tracks don't stop for anything in my garden ask my wife

karel47

i post tomorrow pictures of it ok, remind me of it when forget it

Tanque

I also FO'd a Bandai Tiger I; KK metal tracks; Tamiya gearboxes; runs well but I'm careful where I run it...

Jerry

sassgrunt

My Feedback: (1)

It's interesting to read all of the responses that this threrad has generated. I guess I'm in this boat, too. Some years back, my goal was to build two of these kits - one as a late-war Hummel with the extended driver's compartment and upside-down side vents, and the other as an early-war Nashorn with the 8-hole drive sprockets. I puttered about with the first chassis, and tried the "upgraded" working suspension that TheBennyB talked about. Like him, I wasn't happy with the slop in the bogie pivots. Tried to shim them with brass tubing, but still wasn't happy with it.

Out of frustration, it just sat for a couple of years until I got to looking at this build thread for a Nashorn conversion, and was simply blown away. http://www.rctankregiment.com/rctank...hp?f=89&t=1484 I decided to take a fresh approach to it, and ground off the existing plastic suspension mounts and replaced the suspension units with Tamiya Panzer IV parts from jr-rc. It has been an expensive way to go about ths, but I finally have a suspension that I'm happy with. And, like Jerry said, I will need to drive it rather carefully - when it eventually is in a running state.

I didn't know that there is a conversion out there for the Hummel/Nashorn; but knowing that now, if I had it to do again I would go that route with a Heng Long chassis. I don't know if it would be cheaper, but it would be a LOT less hassle to get to a decent working chassis.

I think that your Hummel looks just fine, and is either worth keeping as a display piece, or turning over to fund the parts for a new build.

Oh, and Jeff - I have that already-built, shelf-sitting, dust collector waiting here for you to work some magic on. PM me and we'll work something out.

Panther F

Oh, you know me Mike... I'm up for any challenge just need to get motivated. []

I have a half finished Panther, an Elefant I started on and, well you see where this is going. Then there's all the Sherman stuff I spoke about and then there's...














~ Jeff

karel47

my promised foto's of my 1/15 bandai tiger I with tamiya spec electronics

it rides very well, with the tamiya soundmodule its awesome and a brute shining on the battlefield, still much has to be done but the setup is very strong and so far nothing bridle onto it

Panther F

Hey, that's great! No problems with it being "brittle".

But we were discussing the PIV kit/chassis, and it must be that some kits were poorly molded or inherit in the design of the tub/chassis because the suspension hangs off the side on the PIV and the Tiger I does not. Therefore the cracking and fracturing of the plastic occurred.














~ Jeff

karel47

yes i have 2 p4 from bandai , it is poorly on details and is not so strong molded then their Tiger I wich was intended to get rc'd but an aluminium plate on the insite resolves most issue's you will encounter ... i think i use my P4's from bandai as battlefield decoration , you have to rebuild everything to get the right details on the right spot, even the caliote is wrong molded from this one

city hunter

I may just sell it lol. Anyone wanna buy it for 132 plus shipping?

I'm too hard on my rc stuff, I figure this will just break and sit if I get it.

Panther F

It will make a great battlefield extra!














~ Jeff