YHR

Saw a video on the New Heng Long T-90 with new electronics. Heng Long now has independent control of the barrel elevation and the new sound seems as good as Tamiya. In fact it sounds exactly like a Tamiya Tiger.


Could be the time for a plug and play $60 Tamiya compatible IR system card that just adds IR to the Stock electronics to enable these Heng Long to battle with Tamiya.

Just imagine not having to pay as much as the tank cost again to upgrade it electronically.

Anyway the tank looks like a good one. In the you tube comments there is a reply that the sound can be changed to a Leopard with a press of a button, which would be better than a WWII Maybach.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z19QqRGs0kA
Here is a video showcasing the Leopard sounds on board as well

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIDOk3S_2PM So this seems like a good step forward. Both the Tiger and Leopard sounds are at least credible representations. If they could come up with a good Ford V8 now a lot of people will be happy.

I have always thought, A Maybach, a Ford and a modern MBT engine sound could be used across a spectrum of tanks and keep 90% of the people happy.


Cheers

TheBennyB

Man, sounds exactly like a tammy. Pretty nice looking offering, may be my 2nd MBT other than Leo2.

MAUS45

Yep, sounds just like a Tamyia Tiger!!!! Way better then the original Tiger sound bite they were using before. Still looking for that TBS sound though. :-0

Jarlath

So what do the extra buttons on the shoulders do?

TheBennyB

In the second vid the person looks to use the shoulder buttons to switch sounds from the tamiya tiger1 sounds to the tamiya Leo 2 sounds.

TheBennyB

I definitely like it, though getting that fixed barrel out of the mantlet to put any kind of recoil is gonna take some work.

Tanker 10

Exactly, that's why I only buy IR tanks, they've got to have barrel recoil in my opinion.

TheBennyB

Absolutely. Haven't built a tank yet without recoil. I've used solenoid's, servo's, throttle cable, and mod's of the tammy recoil unit in various builds. One of those options usually fits the bill. It's what sold me on the full function Tammy Tiger in '99.

wsn123

Are sounds samples copied from Tamiya Leo2A6 and Tiger ?

TheBennyB

Gotta be.

YHR

I have added recoil to every tank I own whether they come with a fixed bbl or not. It is a relatively easy mod, and I certainly would not pass up this T-90 because of the recoil. It looks like a top notch effort.

Cheers

Tanker 10

That's because you know how. I've ruined at least six servo's trying to get servo recoil hooked up to a Heng Long Jagdpanther after it's recoil unit stopped working. I've got a Panther G gun that has stopped recoiling also. So happy to see Taigen has put their recoil units in their new Panthers. At least they are available to replace if they fail. Unlike the HL recoils.

Panther G

Dan and some others have been working with linear servos to operate a recoil system and it looks very promising. this is an idea i have kicked around the block a few times my self. Only issue i ever had was finding a linear big or powerful enough to actually work but again, Also there is the usage of geared beams too. You can get gear beams from a variety of places then you sinply use the proper spur gear on a servo to operate it. Much less stress on the servo and no need for difficult to built linkages. Dan has been working on that idea too and I think he found something suitable from LEGO believe it or not.

Tanker 10

I saw that video that he did, very innovative for sure.

wsn123

Interesting - if its illegal - would be any reaction from Tamiya ?

YHR

I doubt it. The sounds are dated and fall short of what is available. The process to do anything about it would be time consuming and too expensive for a product that probably makes them very little. Off shore manufacturing is extremely bad for this. In addition to this some of the business practices are unique,and the cost of low manufacturing cost is that you give up the right to your intellectual property. Part of the deal up front is that you allow the "Shop" to own the design in return for the low cost production. That is why you see all this re-branding coming out of China. So if Tamiya went to China to get stuff made, the shop that made it for them may have all the right in the world to go ahead and build copies for someone else. It is kind of in the fine print of the manufacturing deal

Obviously I have no idea what the deal is, and appears as if someone has pirated the Tamiya sound files, but just wanted to point out that in some deals that is the price you pay for low cost production. It is part of the negotiation up front. I haven't bought anything Tamiya for quite some time. It would be interesting to see where their new MFUs are being made. If it says made in China then this was almost inevitable, and in fact, maybe expected. So a lot of time we will villainize the Chinese, but the fact is the Chinese shops will have this as part of the manufacturing agreement. I looked at getting some plastic injection work done in China when I was involved in Model railroading, and that is exactly what they wanted in return. They would have owned the molds, and were free to use them however they wanted. So you look at what you are getting made, and try to figure out if your original investment will generate the desired returns in a short amount of time. For electronics the model works, as the technology advances so quick that what you are getting made today will be old and outdated is less then a year. So you hit the market with your new idea, and hope to sell a million of them in the first 3 months, knowing that within a year rebranded versions will be on the way. Hobby stuff is unique in that almost none of it sells in huge volumes. So you are dealing in a market where the demand is so low, you gamble that no one else will be interested in copying it.

Now having said all of this, I was totally green on dealing with stuff like this. Perhaps you can continue the negotiation and get this requirement removed and pay more up front, but the fact remains that the deal i was presented with included what I have commented on..

CHIEFSONN

This is truly a big step in advance for Heng Long. I am very interested in perching one when available. now they just have to get rid of that stupid jerk of a recoil they give the tank and transfer it to the main gun. thanks for the update and the nice post with the videos Dan.

wsn123

Dan, Thank You for explanations. How the T-90 suspension is made - standard HL plastic swing arms with springs? Any suspension metal upgrades are expected ?

YHR

I haven't heard anything contrary about the suspension , so I am guessing that it is pivoting swing arms.

Cheers

wsn123

Ok Thanks for reply

Scaleman3

Haya and Tankzone both out of the UK has T-90's available on Pre-order.

Panther F

This is one of those modern tanks I gotta have.

ALL of those parts trees might be intimidating for a lot of most RTR buyers though.




Jeff

Jay-Em

Ow.

I réally like the fact that all add-ons come as sprues. Tickles the fancy of the modelere in me. I liked that on the Chally 2 too. It makes it quite a bit easier to paint and super-detail the bits & bobs.

It quite probably álso means that the sprues will be available seperately. Great for sci-fi scratch-build projects.

Wozwasnt

HL have come a long way since I got my first non S&S Tiger some ten years ago.

It's not that long ago they went digital and they're up to version 4 already.

HAL_HUSKER

I have spoken to MATO, they are waiting for T-90 release and are interested in T-90 upgrades. For sure MATO will do their best as usual.