Imnotanace

Looking to buy a tank .Looked at Tamiya KT and HL tiger. I'll try to make this short ,What would be the best value to get the HL and upgrade it or the Tamiya. Like metal wheels and tracks suspension,sound ,IR and so on??
Also can you use a 2.4 on the HL or would thisbe to costly. I already have the radio and rec.

Thank You,
Ron

YHR

Really tough question to answer. It depends so much on you. All I can say is that by the time the dust settles the cost between the two is not a lot if equality between the brands is what you are looking for. If you are into detailing and just like to run the model out in the back yard a little, Heng long offers an atractive way to start. There are a pile of details parts now as well. Mato just released an all Metal hull so the water gets even muddier now.

Tamiya will be a surething as far as experience goes. A Heng Long in the hands of someone who has not done much in the way of fixing RC gear could be a frustrating.

Green Amphibian

In the long run you will have just about the same amount of money invested in them. HL the cost is in the upgrades, T in initial cost. You should be able to use your radio Tx. and Rx. in either one.

Panther G

Imnotanace

First thanks next does the T have a metal hull or will it have to be strengthened for the upgraded tracks and wheels ??

Ron

sevoblast

Tamiya Tiger 1 and Tiger 2 come with metal hulls, suspensions, and drive sprockets and idler wheels. The road wheels of both are well strong enough to support metal tracks for many years, as are the transmissions. Drive and control systems, the DMD and TO included with the Tamiya, are plug and play and the hallmark of the hobby, very well done. Tamiya USA gives you strong warranty (rarely needed) and spare parts support, to the point there are overhaul kits for the transmissions for those of us who abuse them, as I do. However, the transmissions will last for years with a minimum of care and feeding.
Go for the Tamiya. In the end you will actually save money compared to trying to upgrade a Heng Long to Tamiya standards.

Eggman1965

My Feedback: (3)

Listen to Panther G. I have 5 HL's and I'd trade them all plus some ca$h for one good Tamiya KT. You can only drive one tank at a time and the HL's cost way more in the long run to make them sound and run as good as a Tamiya, plus they still won't be as accurate in detail or as consistent in quality. Learn from my and others experience, one great tank is better than 10 mediocre tanks and a heck of a lot cheaper to boot. If you want a tank that shoots airsoft then get a VS 1/24 scale for about $100 and forget the HL's altogether unless you love to tinker.

Good Luck

Mike

hulu

If you wantmetal wheels and tracks suspension,sound ,IR and so on, the answer definitely is Tamiya!.
I can tell you my experience, I spent 70$ on my HL tiger which has metal gear. After that, I added
metal hull ...... 150$
metal road wheel.... 100$
metal track .... 90$
3:1 Gear.... 70$
new sound module(Not EL-MOD)....100$
tamiya compatible IR system....100$
..... so....it totaly cost me almost 700$... and it still cannot compare with Tamiya production...

tgr6669

My Feedback: (1)

I must admit HL s do take a bit of tinkering .But through the tinkering I have learned alot . If you have the money and skills I'd say get a Tamiya though . They are good quality .

Pershing.Driver

When buying any tank be sure to take into account total cost to your door. Sometimes you will see a good price on E-Bay but then they want $135.00+ for shipping

If you are in the US I would suggest getting a price from Karen at AAF

There are some things you will want to do even with a Tamiya Tiger if you are going to be using it to battle.
1. upgrade the motors to 480
2. install geardowns
3. tighten the clutch on the turrent rotation
4. flatten the tabs on the elevation and tighten the clutch

On the geardowns there are lots of ways to go the cheapest is to make them yourself here is a link to a how-to by Scott Hinshaw on the H*E*A*T site
http://heatarmor.com/joomla/index.ph...d=88&Itemid=29

Imnotanace

THANK YOU ALL as you have helped me to make up my mind. I knew of tamiya quality and fit from other static models but was not sure of the rc hardware.
learning from others and mistakes thy made helps to ease the thought of the initial cost . I have found a couple of places one on ebay and one on American Armoured Foun. only a couple $s diff.any thoughts on a place to buy that has customer service and parts availability??
Sorry for picking all your brains but I like to get good references and personable people to deal with!!

THANKS AGAIN

Ron

googlydoogly

AAF have plenty of parts for Tamiya tanks. If you want upgrade parts, ETOARMOUR is the way to go. Both have excellent customer service!

karel47

yes i would advice to get a tamiya to, you have to build it and learn how it would be operate , the build i realy straight forwarded by most of them

Would be quite easy to build right out of the box ... you can try to improve it by adding scratchdetails etc ... no realy upgrades needed on, just sharpen your engineering skills at some little isseu's

Go for it

Imnotanace

Outstanding feedback Thank You Thank You Now I have to save a few more pennys and get my KT!!!!!!

Ron

Onondaga

Ron, you won't regret it. The Tamiya King Tiger was my first tank build and I Loved Every Minute of IT!!!  Definitely would recommend a Tamiya tank to anyone new to the hobby, its money well spent.

Tom

thebronze

Something alot of You forget... Sure it cost $$ to add Metal wheels, tracks. idlers, etc to the HL... But when You've spent that $$ in the end the Tamiya will still have plastic wheels, tracks. idlers, etc....

cherokee_140

I will add my two bits in as I am new to the RC tank world. But first I am not new to rc, I started racing RC cars in the late 80's, I fly helis and fixed wing. But the tanks are new to me.

Tamiya quality is second to none, and their cars are great fun to put together. I have built everything from a TA02 to 415's and all the kits go together just like they should...never built one of their tanks tho.

For my first entry into the tank world I went with a all plastic Panzer III. I want to detail this model and I want it to move. I have not "modeled" anything for over 20 years so I wanted something cheap to start out on. I figure at under $100 I can make a few mistakes, and if it comes out cool I can only get better with experence.

That is my thinking on the tank hobby. For me I want to start on something cheap, not a $500+ model.

Eggman1965

My Feedback: (3)

The Tamiya will have metal idlers actually, but your point is correct. The big difference is that the box stock Tamiya Tiger I or Tiger II for $575 from AAF will be much better detailed and have much better electronics, turret rotation, gun elevation and recoil with didgitally recorded engine sounds. The whole tank will have a contiguous level of fit and quality that an upgraded HL will never have for that price (depending on the modeler)

cherokee_140

I think it comes down to you and what YOU want to do. If you are going to model the tank to 10/10 then you are unlikely to run it much if at all. If that is the case then I think it is stupid to shell out the $$$ for tamiya.

If you are going to do a little weathering, little bit of rust here and there and still have something that you are going to run a great deal then Tamiya might be a good choice.

IMHO this HL tank:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsJABYELX4Q

Is in the top 10 of tanks I have seen. I am not sure why someone that wants to do this to a model would want to start out on something that costs 5 TIMES as much. I would bet that this tank sees little run time and if it does it is done in a carefull manner. The big attraction that everyone brings up when talking about the Tamiya tanks is the running gear. You can fix some of the little scale problems with both models but I would rather start out with that $400 in my pocket.

Don't get me wrong Tamiya makes great stuff, and has for more years then many have been alive. My first RC was a tamiya Lancia back in the early 80's, and I just picked up a Baja. But depending on what you want to do should realy depend on where you spend your money.

Imnotanace

Wow That's a lot of detail and a great looking tank !! I don't think I would have the patience to go that far , I plan to run the tank and would hate to damage all that detail. I'm the kind that likes the things you can make work ,run with good detail with RC but not a museum piece.Also with not to much tinkering and fixing every run. I always go buy the idea that you get what you pay for.
don't get me wrong I still take all comments into consideration and do appreciate them.

Ron

sevoblast

With the Tamiya you will get a great running tank out of the box. The KT has metal lower hull, suspension system, idler system and idler wheels, metal drive sprockets, and metal wheels with plastic detail inserts that last basically for ever. As with any model, you can detail Tamiya out as little or as far as you want. I build fighters, IOW romping stomping battle competition models. Here's a photo of a KT, my first from '92, overhauled and brought up to full computer technicals in '03. He is a many time veteran of the Danville Meets. The other photo is of my Jagdtiger. The Jagdtiger was, in prototype, based on a lengthened King Tiger chassis with an armoured citadel rather than a turret, to house the 12.8cm main gun, which was too large to fit in the KT turret. My Jagdtiger will also be a hard fighter. If detail parts get damaged or lost in combat, so be it. Prototype had the same problems, as do all tanks. And to show you a microcosm of the possibilities, a photo of one of my charming wife's personal rides, a capture Sov Panther.
Bottom line, with Tamiya you can go as little or as far as you want. If you want a strong runner out of the box, you got it with Tamiya. If you want a storming no holds bared fighter, you got it with Tamiya. I have Tamiya, Heng Long, Wasan, and Hooben. Hooben is the closest to Tamiya in quality, but Tamiya is king of the hill....at the moment.
If you get your KT, and you have questions as to the build etc, do feel free to ask on forum and/or PM me. I am just about always around.

cherokee_140

I agree you do get what you pay for....but don't pay for more then you need, or more then you are going to use. In buying toys be the toy tanks or that full auto Thompson machine gun you always wanted it all goes out the window.

In my limited experence a nice runner tank with scale details can be finished, done deal, and with money left in your pocket with a HL tank over a tamiya tank...If it could not be done and done to where you can run them you would not be reading so much about them.

You can see this kind of thing in other hobbies as well, Epiphone vs Gibson, Gretsch 5120 vs Gretsch 6120, Norinco vs whatever. They are all good and do what they need to do and are so close to the "pro" level equipment it is hard to justify the extra cost. Some will always say they are built better, made from better stuff...bla bla bla. But when you get down to it is that Epiphone Dot that much better for the cost difference then the Gibson 335?....I would say if you drink the kool aid then you will say they are better.

Eggman1965

My Feedback: (3)

That Panzer IIIis outstanding. You would be reckless to hammer it though an RC battle course with all those detail items jangling around, plus Tamiya does not make a Pzkw III so HLis the only game in town as far as that is concerned. For a great runniing RC battle tank with outstanding detail, function, sound and durability Tamiya is the best. If youhave YHR calibre modelling skills (or want to develop same)then a HL and lots of time and money will build an incredible tank, but it will cost a good deal more than the Tamiya once you are done. For example

HLTiger I S&S $107
Asiatam Hull $118
Metal track upgrade $90
recoil & flashconversion$ 30
ElMod or Tamiya electronics $250 to $350 depending on the set-up
After market scale barrel and mantlet $60
Total: $655 to $755 (so far) List price of Tamiya Tiger Ifrom AAF: $575

The gun elevation and turret rotation will still be inferior to Tamiya's system, the road wheels have not been upgraded and the gearboxes are inferior by far to stock Tamiya boxes.

(You can sink thousands into Tamiyas too, don't get me wrong. For me, a Tamiya would have been a better choice since Ijust like to play and IRBattle but want excellent sound and want it to run right without lots of upgrades.)

What ever you get, get it soon and post some pics for us all to see!

Mike

hulu

EggMan... hehe.. cannot believe you became to a biiiiiggggg tamiya fun so quickly...

HL and Tamiya face to the different consumer. just like a car, you can buy a very expensive falali to enjoy the driving experience, or you can only buy a cheap Korean car just for running... All of that just depend on what is you want. and how far you want to go on this way.
As You know, Glen is very happy with his HL tanks , uhm.. OK, at least so far...

BTW, I modified my HL tiger to 2.4G RC system and added new IR battle system (not DBC/DBU).
In the next meeting, I may be able to show you what is real 88 gun...

Imnotanace

ARRRGGGG IM SO CONFUSED!!! LOL [X(][X(][X(]

No really I have done what you have done Mike as to price comparison for upgrades to the HL to get it to Tamiya ,and am still leaning strongly to the Tamiya.
This way If I should decide later it's not my thing (I doubt it ) I would get more for the Tamiya than the HL.
Ron