ausf

I have a few questions for Clark model regarding their new M4 conversion kit, but I think this is part of a bigger discussion.

In case you didn't know (I just found out myself), they have a kit to be used with Tamiya's static 1/35 Easy Eight kit. The kit is a new release rebox of the hull with some new PE, working tracks and suspension. The Clark conversion is to RC it, including everything that you'd find on a 1/16, including recoil and Tamiya compatible IR.

This to me anyway, is the best RC tank news I've heard in a long time.

The availabilty of subjects, support and details in 1/35 is astounding. Everything you guys have been asking for is already done in 1/35, just not RCed. Tamiya has released simple RC versions over the years, I've have a few 1/35 RC Tiger Is, but they are basic steering and turret rotation, no sound, elevation, recoil, etc. They've recently up the game a bit with their battle line, which includes IR battling versions with 2.4 Txs, but what Clark is now offering completely blows them away at a fraction of the cost. It looks like for around $160 you'll have more control over their 1/35 than their FO 1/16 M4.

To be able to get a 6 channel system with IR and sound into a 1/35 tank opens so many options. With AM companies like Fruil producing workable metal tracks for almost any tank out there, your Cromwells, Pz IIs, etc. etc. etc. are all within reach.

Not to mention the fact that you could build one serious indoor battlefield (Villers Bocage anyone?) in a small amount of space. Just think of all the support vehicles you'd have. I'm no stranger to detailing 1/16 (see Stug below), but what I can do in 1/35 is leaps and bounds ahead.

So my question for Clark is when will the kit be ready and are there other conversions or kits lined up. Even just parts like the gearboxes would be great. I've looked over the website and it's a bit confusing what is available. Are the JS-2 builds available as a conversion kit or only as a built?

YHR

I agree the modeling possibilities are endless in 1/35. I have a Canadian C2 Mexas kit waiting to be done. It is strictly indoor stuff though, but the idea of turning this like a Model railroad hobby is intriguing. Good functioning 1/35 scale rc tanks might spur on indoor battlefield construction. I am just not sure where this will go. Will it divide or expand the hobby?????

ausf

After years of being a vendor at 3 day AMPS and AMPS East events that attract huge crowds for 1/35, I guarantee a small indoor battlefield would be a hit. Couple that with a price point of $110 for a conversion kit on top of a $45 model and you're battling (besides radio and apple) I think it would take off.

Realistically, I've dropped $600-800 each on 5 1/16s that I get to use maybe 4 times a year outside of my backyard. If I turn a 10 x 16 area in my attic into a worn torn street scene to battle 4 tanks, I'd sell off my 1/16s tomorrow (keeping two for NEAD). With Mini-Art buildings and everything else available in 1/35, you could have better than railroad quality layouts for less than a 1/16 Tamiya, ready for battle anytime, day or night.

Lower price point, more options, more detail, less space all with similar function in a true hobby grade RC system, what's not to love?

I think it would expand more than divide, at least from where I sit, very few 1/16 RC enthusiasts concentrate on detail anywhere near a static 1/35 modeler. 1/35 modelers don't go into RC because of the size and lack of detail. If you need a comparison, just look at jerry cans. In a DML kit, you get six, five piece styrene plus PE for a jerry cans that shame anything I've seen in 1/16.

Tapping into the Armorama, MissingLynx crowd would certainly expand the hobby in my opinion.

YHR

The idea is not new. I am sure we discussed here more then once. I have two 1/35 RC leopard IR battling thanks that WSN put out a few years ago, but unfortunately they quit making them and never did any others. These were fully functioning IR battle tanks for under $80, and they actually ran pretty good. Servo recoil, servo elevation, all in all a darn good value. I bought a Dragon 1/35 Jagdpanther with the idea of swapping the mechanicals into it Never happened though

As a model railroader at heart the idea of building scenery for tanks to play on is right down my ally. I have bought three of the 1/72 RC battle tanks, and have actually run them across my railroad.

YHR

Here is a link to some discussion we had awhile back

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/rc-t...5-madness.html

clarkmodel

I believe this will expand the hobby because I love to build and play both, 1/35 and 1/25 for indoor and desktop, 1/16 for outdoor. now I have 12+ 1/16 tank under construction , and 200+ 1/35 to build, which also means I will release sound set for each 1/35 model I have, such as CROMWELL, M60...

As TK series is nearly completed, we now have more bandwidth to produce/develop more conversion kit for 1/35 and 1/16 model. most of demo set we've done before, such as JS-2, JSU-152, are not suitable for mass produce, we will redesign them and issue as kit. so you will see more and more 1/35 RC conversion kit and 1/16 interior upgrade parts from us.

To know what is available and what is not, you can check our on-line store page, a black dot on Stock/Restock date column means that item is released and we have stock, if a date, that means the date of release or restock.

http://youtu.be/QPTufcIFba8?list=UUtwaop58N19jaI9nCLwQ_hg Regards,
Clark

ausf

Well, I'm in for a try on the Easy Eight and will take it from there. Once I wrap my head around it, I can see converting a pile of armor.

The earlier Tamiya 1/35 Tigers had a fixed suspension and rubber bands tracks. It functions well, but not too realistic, especially without sound, elevation and recoil. Plus the Tx is toyish and requires a lot of AAs to drive around for any length of time. Being able to use a lipo itself is huge.

Most current DML kits have working suspension. All the Tigers and Panthers have actual torsion bars. Granted the styrene rods won't hold up in motion, but they could easily be adapted to work and again, almost every track version is available as workable metal through Fruil.

I gave my old Tiger the full PE, Armorscale treatment that is available for every 1/35. It looked great as any static could but was still a toy sqealing around. Doing the same but having the full functions of a FO 1/16 would be amazing. Especially battling around the wreckage of a downed Bf109 or P-47 (1/32 is no far from 1/35). Or how about fighting around a BR52 wreck? Capturing a Leopold?

Danville is the mecca of 1/16, but with a little work, anyone could have a smaller but similar setup in their own space.

And then there's always this:

FreakyDude

the only problem with 1/35 in my opinion is the larger majority of model builders are older people. Smaller equals harder to work on which in turn means a smaller market. I am thinking a focus to 1/35 would divide as much as it tried to grow the hobby.
Why is Tamiya making the move and opening up 1/35th? Plain and simple nobody can compete with their quality or abundance of product at that level.
in hind sight we can all say that we guessed right but I am thinking in general the entire hobby arena will grow for 5 to 10 years then go bust or at least have a major reduction in people in the hobby.
Just look at the age of the guys at your local club next time your there.

ausf

For things like stick and tissue planes, yes absolutely, but styrene model building has actually been growing the last 15-20 years. Yes, a lot of guys are older, but of the ones I'm in contact with, most also introduce their sons to the hobby. It's cyclical with age, you build when you're young, stop when you hit high school then get back into it as an adult when you are settled and have some spare time and money and wish you were a kid again. I'd find anyone between 16-35 building models odd, but there are a hell of a lot of people over 36.

If anything, the younger guys can't swing the cash for 1/16; houses and retirement funds need to be established before you start tossing $800 intopiles of metal and plastic.

Basically, you need to hit middle age to have the crisis.

CaptainB

well said ausf..........exactly what happened to me and many modellers I know - it's a miiddle age thing really.......I too am in the middle of converting the 1/35th Academy wired rc models - they have all the gearbox and motors already in the kit so linking up to an RX18 or Clark board is pretty easy - use a 2 cell lipo with a sonic battery saver and you can squeeze a lot of functions in if you know what to do..................


CaptB

MAUS45

Ausf, I am not sure about the $45 dollar 1/35 scale model cost? It looks like Tamiya has really bumped up the price of their 1/35 scale kits. Their new 135 scale Jagdtiger goes for $100+. Yes it comes with Aber PE and a metal barrel, but still kind of pricy. The worst is the $65 dollar Hetzer. Not sure why the prices are going up? Dragon has gone up as well. I have a huge stash of 1/35 I would like to r/c from when these kits were less expensive, but jumping in now for the "New Tooling" could be close to Heng Long/Taigen pricing to get a 1/35 scale FO tank. Still I am intrigued. The detail would be ridiculous. Oh, almost forgot, working metal Fru's will set you back $35-$45 depending on where you get them. So that new Tamiya Jagdtiger is up to about $300, still nice though!! I am not trying to rain on the 1/35 r/c parade just adding more information for all to consider. It should still expand the r/c tank ranks I think. Not sure it would pull many away from 1/16, although haVE A FEW 1/35, 1/25 and 1/24 tanks would be cool. Just think about those Bandai 1/24 kits? Very detailed with rubber on the road wheels. Panther G and Jagdpanther. Also had a Porsche Tiger II. Very cool in 1/24!!!

clarkmodel

One reason I hear from many 1/35 rc tank molder here who lives in city -1/35 is easier to hide from their wife.

ausf

That's the street price on the kit needed for the conversion. The Easy Eight rebooted with working suspension and some PE. I think the hull is a rebox of the Tasca mold. Even Amazon has it for under $50 shipped. I don't think you'd need Fruils on this, the kit tracks may be workable. DML makes an eight too and Clark has the conversion kit for it. Normally I'd always opt for DML over Tamiya, but the Magic tracks which are excellent for static cannot be made workable, so Fruils would definitely be needed with the DML.

I'm going to grab the Clark kit as soon as it's available as a starting point. Once I see what they've done and it's worth continuing, I'll probably just get the appropriate TK boards and gearboxes and start going nuts. I have a DML Jagdtiger in the stash with full Voyager. Also a bunch of IVs, Marder II and IIIs, Pz I A, B and F, some British MK IIIs, a few Late Tiger Is and Panther A and Ds with Kursk upgrades. All with Voyager and armorscale goodies. Not to mention a whole host of halftrack variants.

Kit prices went up with oil prices but haven't come back down. I think DML has well established itself so a rise in price to flesh out the market is normal. I think their Cybermodeler releases starting a few years back opened the flood gates to the $100 kit. That said, I'd put almost any new 1/35 release up against the best I've seen in 1/16 RC. Tamiyas Tiger I and JS-2 are the cream of the detail crop, but in no way better than a 1/35 offering. Trumpeter comes close, but those aren't RC.

1/24 and 1/25 are in stuck in the middle in my opinion. Too small for outside, but too big for an indoor battlefield. Ideally, I'd love to bring it down to 1/48, but that would take some serious work to cram all the functions in. My goal at least is to retain all of the 1/16 functionality from sound to IR.

MAUS45

I agree with what you are saying about the street price and maybe the 1/35 guys are able to handle the new pricing. For me I am just glad that if I do jump into some 1/35 FO stuff I already have a good stash to work with. I may have to pop for one of the new AFV Club 1/35th Scale IDF Sho't KAL Gimel 1982 or AFV Club 35124 Israeli Centurion Sho't Kal 1973 1/35 kits? Come with a working suspension, road wheels with rubber tires and a metal main gun tube. At least those are in the $45-$60 range on ebay.

FreakyDude

see above posts.. there it is, the market is splitting already. Will this be good or bad though? that is the question.

Ausf I disagree with your comment that the younger crowd doesn't have the money. A twenty year old in today's time has way more disposable money than we had when we were less experienced lol They don't have the interest, some do but the majority don't. Its hard to compete with the excitement of modern technology.
It isn't hard to read how the aging population is affecting insurance, housing, hobbies etc, this same effect will be felt within the hobby industry and as I said earlier it will be in 10 years give or take that the apex will be hit, all the young guns will need 20 years just to get to middle age and there is a lot less of them in 20 to 30 years than there is of us now.
Simple demographics have a shake out coming, maybe sooner maybe later.

ausf

I didn't say the 20 somethings didn't have disposable income, I said I'd question anyone in their 20s who disposed of it on model tanks. I had plenty of disposable income in my 20s, but it went towards airfare, diving gear, drink and food (in that order). I'd rather hand my son a backpack filled with Ramen, a pair of shorts, a toothbrush and plane ticket to Hawaii than a Tammy JS-2.

My lack of cash comment was aimed more towards family-starting age.

In my experience, it's when you settle down that these hobbies take hold and the first few years after house and kids come along are spent establishing the homefront, college savings and retirement, there's little cash to toss away. After the maelstrom of responsibility is quieting down, then you to get time for hobbies. Most of my customers over the years are professionals who opt for a quiet bench time to unwind. Especially IT guys who don't want to spend down time in front of another screen.