ninelong

Hi everyone,

I just got my new tank in the mail today, a 1/16 Heng Long Leopard 2! Looks awesome, and I'm excited to see what it can do. What got me into this was a 1/24 VsTank Leopard 2 which lasted me for around five years. After it finally broke, I started looking for a replacement; I ended up getting this after researching and lurking around at forums: http://www.ebay.com/itm/221725652706



Nice seller! A HL Leopard 2 S&S with Mato metal tracks, metal gearbox, and a Li-ion battery. I am new to this whole tank thing, but I wanna try to get into the hobby side of things. I'll start with a simple question: I was prepared for something to go wrong, given HL's rep. The turret traverse won't go to the left side of the tank. It moves fine between 12 to 5:45, but won't go from 12 onwards counterclockwise. I'm gonna take it slow and not open it up just yet since I'm traveling right now, but I'm willing to learn with some tips from you experts. Also the front lights won't work but I'm willing to let that pass for now. How do you think I should go about fixing the turret? Thanks in advance!

borealis

Looks like the turret cable is clipped or stuck somewhere inside.

ninelong

Thanks!! Will look into it when I land a few days from now. Just hope it'll survive the plane ride just fine. Can't have my newfound hobby go down in flames right at the beginning.

CaptainB

well it's a HL so be prepared to have to take it apart. Having said that, the Leo 2 is a great tank. I have the standard airsoft version and it runs and shoots just fine. You are going to have to take the hull off and see what is snagging if anything. Can you here the turret motor clutch slipping when it snags?
could be a faulty drive motor/gearbox. The light problem is probably a snipped wire or the wire has come away from it's soldered point. Again, you will need to have a look.

Be careful when dismantling and working on the HL tanks as this is where I have found the frustration comes in.
By taking the hull/turret off, you can snag and pull off other wires which creates another problem for you to rectify. The soldering is still weak (although better than it was a few years ago).

As a newbie, you will be tempted to upgrade to metal parts etc. Be careful of doing this as it can make the tank much harder to work on, it could create other problems with the tank performance
and you can spend a lot of time and money to get it running right. In my opinion, stick with OOB status and save yourself a lot of potential pain. Just my 2 cents but others will tell you otherwise.

Cheers

CaptB

YHR

I agree with everyone else. Something minor, maybe a stray wire caught up in the turret rotation gear. It doesn't matter what brand of tank you buy, these things require maintenance and opening up a tank is just what you have to do..

The only thing I would upgrade on that tank would be some of the very nice 3 shaft metal bearing metal gear boxes with the 390 motors, and only if you want more speed out of it. Otherwise just have fun with it, It is a good OTB tank. Probably some where down the line you will want to add sound, and when you do that then you can look for an electroincs package upgrade.

ninelong

We made it! She survived a rather bumpy train ride, and after a quick check, everything remained as is. Here she is!



I'm avoiding running her for now, as I'm reading up on the FAQs on how to break in the motors and the gears. I was going to put in all the accessories, but seeing as how I'm new to all this, I'm not entirely sure whether I should just bolt them on or put some sort of glue. That said, is there any sort of list of basic tools out there that I'll need to do work on my new toy? I wanna do this right, so I'm planning a trip to the nearest hobby shop around here and it'd be nice to know what to look for.

TheBennyB

No real "list" on tools so you'll hear all kinds of suggestions that are all good. Small phillips/flat head, needle nose pliers, tweezers,hex drivers (metric and standard), soldering iron (along with a helping hand grabber), and a dremel are a good start. Here's some links just to give you an idea on these.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/5X-MAGNIFYIN...item3396c30b62

http://www.horizonhobby.com/wrench-s...7%29-intc22346

http://www.ebay.com/itm/WELLER-WLC10...item58b678a904

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dremel-4200-...item51bebd310a

ninelong

Thanks for that, will check them out! Gonna open it up soon. Hope I don't break anything.

ninelong

Found the culprit! Turned out to be the speaker that was hitting the turret motor. The speaker doesn't seem to be fixed anything, is it really like this? I think I'll just tape it down somewhere so it won't rattle while moving.

CaptainB

No the speaker should be fixed to the hull via 3 small screws at least. Best to re-attach it if you can. Look for the mounts and match them up with the speaker. Be careful of other wiring though or you could accidentally pull another wire of or snag it.

Good luck

CaptB

ninelong

Fixed it, thanks! Fitted it with the mato metal tracks and drive/idler wheels. It seems to be having trouble with the weight; it can't turn on its own axis! If I try it, it shuts down by itself. Am I correct in thinking that this is the symptom low battery? Sorry if my questions seem dull

CaptainB

This is the problem with adding metal to the models. It places a lot more strain on the whole drive train which means the MFU will call for more current from the battery to supply the demand. the supplied NIMH batteries can't cope with it and thus the voltage drops causing the fall out of the controller. The best solution to this is to go for the higher reduction gearboxes (4 shaft) which will give you more torque for a lower current draw but you will lose out on top speed. You can go for a better battery - maybe cycle the stock battery for a few charge/discharge cycles to run the battery in. I use Lipos on my tanks with a low voltage alarm and these provide more than enough voltage stability for the heavier models but with this you do run the risk of frying the RX18 - I do fuse my set-ups but I wouldn't recommend using Lipos as a newbie just yet.

cheers

Captb

ninelong

Wow, thanks for the comprehensive advice! Turns out it was the battery hehe. Charged it up, runs fine. But like you said, I feel it struggling when it tries to turn while going forward. I'll look into getting NiMH of equivalent or higher amperage to compensate; the one I have came with Lipo stock! How high of an amperage would be considered safe? Thanks again!

CaptainB

Ok Ninelong - the RX18 MFU is rated at 5 amps max so any more than this will fry the board. If using Lipos, I put a 3 or 4amp fuse in line between the battery and the MFU so if the draw gets too high through stalling etc, the fuse will pop before the RX18 does.If using a Clark board or other type, the amp draw tolerance is higher - 10amps I think with the Clark.

Cheers

CaptB