Mr Terminator

Well its finally arrived along with the M41A3 Bulldog,the bad news is the Bulldog was damaged in the post so I emailed the shop where I got it from and they told me to send it back,I sent it back and got another email to say that they had no more in stock and would'nt get anymore till the end of June.I got a full refund and they even refunded my return postage which was great,i'll find another full metal option S+S tank but maybe the Pershing..

The Abrams came from a different shop and is a success story.Its not got a super dooper BB cannon but instead fires plastic shell like projectiles around 3-4 meters,it does however have good suspension,350 degrees turret rotate,20 degrees up and down barrel,firing cannon sound,machine gun sound turret rotate sound,engine running sounds and Recoiling tank action aswell as a surprising and rather good recoiling cannon action.The detail overall out of the box is good and i'm more than pleased with it and its 25" long,9" wide and 8" high.The only thing is the single speed,although its quite to scale around 4-6mph its on or off as you may know,the tracks are good and it spins well on the spot and runs great with lights at the front and back.The front lights however are red LED's so I will change them to clear ones and have the 2 red for spare rears,the battery pack is a flat one made up of NiCad AA cells at 600mah,these I already have and i'm going to make a 6 cell 2400mah NiMh pack for longer runtime.I intend on modding it with a different board from maybe the HL range so that I can have proportional control,not really bothered about the engine start up,shutdown as they wont be right for the turbine nor will the smoke seeing as the Abrams is a gas turbine and emits very little smoke and more of a heat haze...Below are a few initial pics of her out the box.So guys i'm off the mark and i've popped my cherry so to speak...

googlydoogly

Congrats on your first RC tank! She's looks great!

So that new HE Abrams has working suspensions? That's a surprise for me. I used to have their old M1A1 Abrams and it only has the fixed suspension.

I guess I'm gonna take a look at this beauty more.

That's too bad about your Bulldog though.

Mr Terminator

Thanks buddy,Well you win some and lose some regarding the Bulldog but I will get a Heng Long model after i've got the Leopard 2 A6 by HE.The Pershing has took my fancy but I still like the look of the Bulldog aswell.Yeah,all three HE tanks come with suspension now and recoiling barrels too,well I think the other two have barrel recoil aswell as tank recoil,dont see why not.The other is the M1A1 in Forest Camo and the Leo2 A5 in Nato colours as most are.The Leopard looks especially good and has working pull out side armour.I'm more than happy with it and a Leopard will be winging its way to me for £45 posted I think thats around $87 off a guy from my RC car forum,thats still in its box too with all accessories and has only been ran 3 times.

One issue I am having is the battery connector size,its like a half size Tamiya connector and I ordered a 900mah battery for extra capacity but thats full size Tamiya.If I cant get the right plug,i'll just replace the lot with another type including the charger and that'll solve it but i'd rather try for the right one first...

LazyTanker

Hi Mr Terminator
Wow! It looks awsome it huge when compare with the rc truck please show more pictures when you're starting modify tank as plans.
Alex

Mr Terminator

Thanks Alex,will do.The truck is only a 1/16 scale itself,CEN MG16 but the Abrams is quite big and is longer than my Genesis 1/8 MT which is huge.I'll post pics once I get my head around where to start and what to do to it first.I'm new to scale modelling but am quite handy at modding with a good eye for detail,show me a nitro engine and i'll tune,port and polish it to within an inch of its life but this is a little different.Ill health has slowed me down as far as the Nitro cars and trucks go,so i'm slowly investing my interests here with you guys and quite like the thought of weathering,painting and textureing,it gives a great sense of achievement and its still RC that I can use indoors.I'm quite taken with the VSTank range after seeing them and reading some of their proposals for the near future and may go down that route too after i've got another few 1/16 scale models in the bag...

wackywheelz

My problems with the VSTank's is the fact they're 1/24, then the price and that they're not in stock anywhere here.

I totally love the size of 1/16 stuff, the availability, ease of maintenance, mods and the ability to put nearly any combination of electronics in it without worrying about it not fitting - 1/24 is another story!

Just as a comparison, I lined up several similar tanks to give an idea of how the different scales look side-by-side...

googlydoogly

Are you planning on upgrading the RC components, or just planning on detailing your Abrams to make it more accurate?

You can't go wrong with VS. They're very well done. They even surpass some 1/16 tanks in terms of detail and accuracy. Here's one of my VS tank, the T-72.

Mr Terminator

To be honest guys i'm like a kid in a sweet shop at the minute,seeing all sweets and different ones on offer.It's the same with the models,which scale,what tank to choose.I love the usual German armour like the Panther,King Tiger and Jagdpanther but also like the modern tanks too.The Abrams has always been my favourite tank followed by the Leopard 2.I could go on and on as i'm sure you know.I intend to modify this 1/16 Abrams at some point and the Leopard A5 that i'm getting,after that I want a WW2 tank at 1/16.With these three I can start on the Abrams while still having a few working models.Afetrwards its more of a collection process of the modern armour in 1/24 and the VSTanks are the best for detail as you say.Thats the plan,wether or not it pans out like that is a different story,if I came across a 1/9 Abrams like Bigs and Turbocats then i'd be tempted to get one.Its early days for me and i'm really trying to settle into a niche...

wackywheelz

It's a slow day, so I whipped up some simple comparison diagrams, showing what each scale Abrams - 1/9, 1/12, 1/16 & 1/24 - looks like when directly compared (all data taken from real measurements)

Length x Width comparison (viewed from above)
Length x Height comparison (viewed from the side)

Length x Height outline (viewed from above)
Length x Width outline (viewed from above)

Mr Terminator

Thanks Whacky,it seems that i'm in good hands on this forum anyway if I get stuck on anything.The actual mechanical modifying is'nt a problem as i'm a Motor Cycle engineer and hold a honours degree in Mechanical engineering from Sheffield University and have been an official Kawasaki mechanic for 11 years.The hard part for me is learning the painting techniques used and what materials to get for weathering and such,what type of paints and texturing pastes aswell as sourcing parts to upgrade,like metal tracks and which would fit without looking too out of sorts.I think you get the dilemma I face as a newbie to the scene...

lonewolf1300

one place i have found for reasonable priced heng long 1/16 tanks in the UK is HOWES MODELS http://www.howesmodels.co.uk/RadioCo...p?SubCatID=170
you can buy them with the metal tracks already fitted or buy a kit which is a set of tracks AND a pair of metal gearboxs.
welcome to the addictive world of TANKS

Mr Terminator

Thanks for that Lonewolf,I have seen them on ebay,Howes models that is but the stock must have sold.I'll be getting the M26 from there with all the trimmings for that price...

googlydoogly

IMHO, the 21st 1/9th Abrams is so dimensionally inaccurate, it's not worth more than $50. I was salivating over these when this was first announced. But then I got a close-up look of the actual product....

It looks like an Abrams...if you squint while looking at it. Starting from the too-small turret, it all goes downhill from there. I was very disappointed of 21st. They can make accurate-looking toy/models, but they chose to cheap out over their Abrams. If they could make a 1/6th good-looking Stuart, why the heck did they ****ed up the Abrams?

Mr Terminator

I've never seen one in the flesh as it is so cant really get an idea of what they're like.Apparently the 1/12 Abrams like Whackys is fairly accurate scale but i'm only going off what i've read.I think this HE model is great looking and fairly accurate from what I can gather and looks good on the eye.I had it out today and the battery life is poor,i've got the means to upgrade that and it could do with more powerful motors.The range on the radio isn't great neither but that can be dealt with later on.Apart from that i'm pleased with it and the recoiling barrel gets me everytime.There's a few more pics in natural light..

tiger rampage

Hello, I have the HE Abrams and Leopard to I like the detail on the Abrams also I had the same small battery connection on my Abrams. I bought Tamiya connections from Radio Shack here in the US. Also I used my battery out of my Matorro King Tiger it fit perfectly and its 1800 mah. It lasts alot longer.

uhu

Hi Mr Terminator

This hobby Engine Abrams is a curious beast, overall first impression is good, but when you look a little in depth, then it is appears to be totally un-accurate.
The slope of the tub front armour is wrong, the tub itself is wrong too, mainly at the rear, phares are ill-placed and left one is reversed, armoured cover for the driver periscopes is wrong, there are many absent or wrong moulded details on the superstructure, all "tail feathers" are way out of scale in place, dimension and position, road wheels are just a "reminder" of the real ones, drive wheels...well never mind, gun mantlet lacks many details, awful commander and commander's cupola, fixed loader's hatch, smoke grenade launchers out of scale, presence of two APUs, etc, etc, etc.......and don't talk about electronics "stop-ultrafast", "cartoonish" effects, rubber tracks and noisy plastic gears.....
The list should become too long, but it still amazes me how the overall appearance remains good....

Regards
Jose

Leon01

Looks a lot better then the old one I have I think the early ones were called hobby lobby in the US without any suspension so thats better. There is one for sell the new kind.

Mr Terminator

Hi buddy,the Leopard is the next one i'm getting off another forum member on MSUK,at less than half price of what they retail at and its only been ran 3 times and is still boxed so it would be rude not to buy it. Overall I think they are good looking for the money.I've found the proper mini Tamiya connectors so some are on order with flyleads so I can knock a couple of packs up using Fujicell 2700mah AA NiMh batteries.That should be a lot better when charged with my Propeak charger..

tiger rampage

Hi, the one difference from the Abrams is the Leopard is not weathered like the Abrams but the camo is pretty cool.

Mr Terminator

I do get what you mean uhu with the electronics but i'm not versed enough in the accuracy of the finer detail,what I was meaning is that the scale looks accurate.To me it looks fine and is easily recognised as a Abrams.I suppose it can be made better using putty and styrene to put discrepencies right but seriously,i'm not that far along yet dude.The cannon recoil function is pretty cool though.I wouldn't mind changing the electronics to get proportional speed but not sure how to go about it without losing the sound functions and the controller compatability i'm unsure of too.Hopefully i'll get some ideas if I keep reading this forums posts but still i'm an ultra rookie at this...

wackywheelz

I dislike the rear-mount APU (as seen on the right rear) because looks uneven, and like uhu says its got two (one in the bustle rack) and really they only need one (to provide power when the tank is not started - hence Auxillary Power Unit). The only other thing that stands out for me that hasnt been discussed is the headlights, the teardrop shape isnt how they really are, but they probably did that to increase sturdiness and lessen the chance of a break.

If you do a swap to HL proportional electronics, you loose the stock sounds and will use the HL sounds, boards, transmitter, big battery etc... it'll go much better!

BarkingSquirrel

I ordered one of these too, though I ordered the M1A1 version. My reasoning being that(for me) its easier to upgrade to an A2 than to downgrade to an A1 if I so choose. Plus in my opinon, an A1 just looks slimmer/meaner without the CITV.

The plan is to modify it to a good suspension, add Leopard 2A6 tracks/drive wheel and run it with Elmod electronics. I haven't decided if I'm going to buy AFV Clubs proper smoke grenade launchers or if I'm going to just scratchbuild launchers in which case I'd probably end up making it a Marine M1A1 as their launchers would be easier to make and if it turns out that I'm not as bad at scratch building as I think I am, it will feature a mine plow as well(This is very iffy). Yeah, I know. I tend to be balls-deep overly ambitious, however I suffer from no delusions - I have a long road ahead of me.

I'm just trying to figure out how it got from the UK to Central Florida in just a day and a half when I picked the elcheapo shipping [:-] The shop shipped it Wednesday afternoon and UPS attempted to deliver it Friday morning while I was at work I don't think the UPS guy realized what Monday is, because he left a note saying he'd be back Monday morning before 10:30.

If Mr Terminator doesn't mind, I wouldn't mind pointing about any differences in or relaying my opinions about my version here. No photos though, unless you want crappy cell phone pictures [sm=tongue_smile.gif]

Mr Terminator

Yeah fella,I dont mind you putting your experiences on here at all.I've decided that once I start on it i'm going to remove the rear APU and use styrene to fill in the hole it will leave.The rear light surround guard can be removed and utilised again.This should as Whacky says make it look better and it'll be a more uniform shape at the rear.I want to know,if it will be possible to retain the HE sounds and have HL propulsion as the engine sounds from a diesel wont be right,I could always pretend its been fiited with a diesel engine,lol.The Idea of the Leo A6 tacks is a good one and drivewheels,thats a thing I would be willing to attempt too.The question of Motors and gearbox is what is suitable.I'll see if a HL gearbox is possible when I open it up.I dont see why not to be honest...I've took some internal pictures and i'll post them as soon as my phone battery has charged back up.It seems as though HL gearboxes will fit and its pretty well layed out really,i'll see what you guys think from the pics i've taken,a bit later on...

astroboycp

Wow it looks quite good. How much did you pay for it?

Mr Terminator

Hi,it was 79 GBP from antics online models in the UK....Here are the pics I took of the internals,pretty neat layout and straight through front axle.The gearboxes and drive gears seem to be made from a softish plastic and there's some kind of slipper device from what I can gather.If someone can tell from the pics wether this tank will be able to accept a HL box,then please let me know,also the the motors seem weedy and underpowered,not sure if this is down to the crappy 600mah Nicad that comes with them or not....