Review: Hobby Engine 1/16 M1A1 Abrams
06-03-2008, 08:10 AM
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Review: Hobby Engine 1/16 M1A1 Abrams
I recently bought the Hobby Engine M1A1 to serve as a project tank. I don’t like World War 2 tanks and the Leopard 2A6 is just too expensive, plus the Abrams is my favorite tank. I decided to write this review because there is barely any real information about this tank. When this tank is brought up, someone just badmouths the tank and the subject is dropped. Very little information is actually passed on and of what little is, it is usually out of date or just plain wrong. Hopefully this will help fix that matter, even if just a little bit.
The tank is the Hobby Engine 1/16 M1A1 Woodland Camo. Product ID HE0811. It runs on the FM 27.095MHz frequency. The A1 version comes only in Woodland(NATO) paint scheme and does not come with the stowage items that the A2 version comes with. Since this tank is a project tank, it will be gutted and replaced with good internals in a scratch built hull, given a desert paint job, etc.
I chose the A1 version because I did not like the placement of the stowage on Hobby Engine’s A2 version and feel the A1 looks sleeker/meaner without the CITV jutting out from the turret. A friend is going to loan me some of the stowage from his A2 so that I can make molds to cast the stowage parts in resin and place the stowage as I please. The A2’s stowage is held on either with screws or by smaller holes/friction. Depends on where on the turret the stowage is.
I ordered the tank from PodiumRC as I couldn’t find any in stock in the US. It cost me £79.99 for the tank and £11.30 for shipping - $179.46 total. If I could have found them in a US store, it would have been far cheaper, but alas. PodiumRC absolutely sucked on communicating what was going on. They didn’t respond to any of my emails until I told them that if it wasn’t shipped by the next day that I would cancel the order. That very afternoon it was shipped…
Anyways almost exactly one and a half days later(Yes, I wrote that correctly) it arrived which caught me completely off guard. I was at work when UPS attempted to deliver it so he left a note saying he would be back Monday. Well it turns out he forgot Monday was Memorial day. So Tuesday rolls around and I finally get my tank. The outer box was beat to hell. I feared the worst as I opened it to find – the tanks box perfect. No dings, no tears, nothing.
The tank has virtually nothing in the way of a manual. Its manual is basically just a few diagrams on the bottom on the box, however everything is rather straight forward. The battery box is found easily, the battery can only be connected one way, and everything on the controller is labeled. I mean c’mon. Easy peasy.
The tank runs on a 7.2v 600mah rechargeable battery pack and the controller runs on a small non-rechargeable 9v battery. The 7.2v is basically just 6 AA batteries lying next to each other and shrink wrapped. Both are supplied with the tank as well as a charger for the 7.2v battery. However as I bought mine from the UK mine came with a UK voltage charger even though PodiumRC said they would send a US voltage charger. But that’s alright, I just spliced the connector from the UK charger onto a US 7.2v charger I had that had the wrong connector. Average running time on the 600mah battery is 20-25 minutes. It also comes with a target of a T-72 that looks right for the scale, and a base to hold it up
Alrighty then, onto the tank itself. Some basic measurements:
Overall Length(Rear of APU to tip of the Muzzle) – 24 3/4 Inches
Tip of the Muzzle to the rear of the Bustle Rack – 20 3/4 Inches
Hull(Without APU) – 19 1/2 Inches
Hull(With APU) - 21 Inches
Width - 9 Inches
Height(From table to top of Commander’s Head) - 8 Inches
Road Wheel(Single) – 1 1/2 Inches(Length and Width)
The paint job is pretty decent. You can just barely see a little raised edge where the black and brown meet the green. The walking surfaces of the upper hull have a non-slip like texture to them. The tank feels extremely light, which it is. I don’t have a scale, so I can’t tell you how light, but it is so light that 3 ½ grass will raise it up enough that it looses traction and gets stuck.
It features engine, main gun, and machine gun sounds. You can barely hear the engine sound and it is a diesel sound.
The tank is the Hobby Engine 1/16 M1A1 Woodland Camo. Product ID HE0811. It runs on the FM 27.095MHz frequency. The A1 version comes only in Woodland(NATO) paint scheme and does not come with the stowage items that the A2 version comes with. Since this tank is a project tank, it will be gutted and replaced with good internals in a scratch built hull, given a desert paint job, etc.
I chose the A1 version because I did not like the placement of the stowage on Hobby Engine’s A2 version and feel the A1 looks sleeker/meaner without the CITV jutting out from the turret. A friend is going to loan me some of the stowage from his A2 so that I can make molds to cast the stowage parts in resin and place the stowage as I please. The A2’s stowage is held on either with screws or by smaller holes/friction. Depends on where on the turret the stowage is.
I ordered the tank from PodiumRC as I couldn’t find any in stock in the US. It cost me £79.99 for the tank and £11.30 for shipping - $179.46 total. If I could have found them in a US store, it would have been far cheaper, but alas. PodiumRC absolutely sucked on communicating what was going on. They didn’t respond to any of my emails until I told them that if it wasn’t shipped by the next day that I would cancel the order. That very afternoon it was shipped…
Anyways almost exactly one and a half days later(Yes, I wrote that correctly) it arrived which caught me completely off guard. I was at work when UPS attempted to deliver it so he left a note saying he would be back Monday. Well it turns out he forgot Monday was Memorial day. So Tuesday rolls around and I finally get my tank. The outer box was beat to hell. I feared the worst as I opened it to find – the tanks box perfect. No dings, no tears, nothing.
The tank has virtually nothing in the way of a manual. Its manual is basically just a few diagrams on the bottom on the box, however everything is rather straight forward. The battery box is found easily, the battery can only be connected one way, and everything on the controller is labeled. I mean c’mon. Easy peasy.
The tank runs on a 7.2v 600mah rechargeable battery pack and the controller runs on a small non-rechargeable 9v battery. The 7.2v is basically just 6 AA batteries lying next to each other and shrink wrapped. Both are supplied with the tank as well as a charger for the 7.2v battery. However as I bought mine from the UK mine came with a UK voltage charger even though PodiumRC said they would send a US voltage charger. But that’s alright, I just spliced the connector from the UK charger onto a US 7.2v charger I had that had the wrong connector. Average running time on the 600mah battery is 20-25 minutes. It also comes with a target of a T-72 that looks right for the scale, and a base to hold it up
Alrighty then, onto the tank itself. Some basic measurements:
Overall Length(Rear of APU to tip of the Muzzle) – 24 3/4 Inches
Tip of the Muzzle to the rear of the Bustle Rack – 20 3/4 Inches
Hull(Without APU) – 19 1/2 Inches
Hull(With APU) - 21 Inches
Width - 9 Inches
Height(From table to top of Commander’s Head) - 8 Inches
Road Wheel(Single) – 1 1/2 Inches(Length and Width)
The paint job is pretty decent. You can just barely see a little raised edge where the black and brown meet the green. The walking surfaces of the upper hull have a non-slip like texture to them. The tank feels extremely light, which it is. I don’t have a scale, so I can’t tell you how light, but it is so light that 3 ½ grass will raise it up enough that it looses traction and gets stuck.
It features engine, main gun, and machine gun sounds. You can barely hear the engine sound and it is a diesel sound.
06-03-2008, 08:12 AM
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RE: Crappy Review: Hobby Engine 1/16 M1A1 Abrams
Curiously, the machine gun only fires when the main gun is moving up/down. When it is going up/down, the entire Commander’s cupola and 50cal rotate left/right and the machine gun sound is played. Speaking of which, the gun elevation works just like my VSTank T-72M1. You have two buttons on the controller that do the exact same thing. You hit a button and it starts going up and down. You let go and hit it again, or hit the other button and it goes the opposite way that it was going. Pretty annoying.
Speaking of annoying, the turret turns slow. Not just slow, but sloooooow. Like 90 degrees in 8 seconds slow. It is even slower turning counter-clockwise. The turret turns 340ish degrees(I was never good at degrees, below is a picture showing how far it goes) The tank itself though, is fast. When the main gun is fired, the projectile goes flying and the barrel recoils then returns to battery. The projectile is loaded by shoving it down the barrel with a plunger like device. Only one can be loaded at a time. The projectile looks like some sort or Mortar.
The tank easily outruns the T-72M1 in a straight line, but when turning the T-72M1 runs circles around the M1A1. This is attributable to the one-speed on or off nature of the M1A1.
The tank is controlled with two sticks and some buttons. Each of the two sticks controls one track. Left stick controls left track. Right stick, right track. Theres one button on the controller to turn the turret clockwise and one to turn it counter-clockwise. There is a button to fire the main gun. And lastly there’s the two elevation buttons.
The tracks are rubber band style with the ends glued together. Some say replacement tracks can’t be obtained, but this is wrong. TankZone and a few other places can be found who sell the tracks. The drive wheel is inaccurate and is basically a gear that grabs the middle of the tracks and has an end cap that looks kind of like an M1 drive wheel with the ring installed. The road wheels are made of really thin plastic, doesn’t feel like it could take a lot of abuse.
This brings us to another piece of old and/or bad information. Everyone says the A1 version does not have a suspension where as the A2 version and Leopard 2A5 do have a suspension. This is old or just plain wrong. My M1A1 has a suspension exactly like the M1A2/Leopard 2A5. It is shown in a picture below. Also contrary to many reports that they throw tracks easily, I’ve run it over every type of terrain Florida has to offer with zero thrown tracks. Even had a large piece of mulch jammed between the track and drive wheel. It didn’t throw the track, hell the wheel grabbed the mulch and kept the track moving.
Overall the tank looks good. Only when you look into the details do you start to see inaccuracies. The smoke grenade launchers are too small. There are three pegs(two behind the front lights, one right of the turret on hull) that look nothing like the parts they were intended to be. The guards around the front lights are missing and the left light needs to be flipped 180 degrees. The APU on the rear hasn’t been used since 1993, but this may be okay since it’s the A1 instead of the A2. The A2 however has this pre-1993 APU as well as an APU in the bustle rack. Why it has two APUs is puzzling to say the least. The engine exhaust area is wrong and could stand some work. Road wheels, etc, etc, etc. All can be corrected.
The commander figure isn’t too bad but could stand to be replaced. In my opinion the 50cal must be replaced and a better m240 must be scratch built. But this is only a requirement of my project for this tank.
I can’t comment on the internals, as the screwdriver on my multi-tool isn’t long enough to get the hull screws, so I need to go buy one. Might as well get a whole damn kit while I’m at it. I lost most of my tools as I just moved this week, which explains the background in my pictures, so just ignore the mess. As to the pictures themselves, they were taken with a Kodak C316, run by a complete camera idiot, so yeah – I know the pictures suck. Hopefully some time this week I can get some video to add to this review.
I feel I must reiterate that this tank is meant as a toy. As such it does a superb job. In my honest opinion it will make a good project tank. Rip out its guts, throw in some good electronics/gears, add a good drive wheel and tracks and I think it would be golden. I understand most people wouldn’t go to these lengths, but for me it is a must. My ego demands a modern American tank. And if my wallet is willing, my ego shall get what it demands.
Good god, I talk too much.
Speaking of annoying, the turret turns slow. Not just slow, but sloooooow. Like 90 degrees in 8 seconds slow. It is even slower turning counter-clockwise. The turret turns 340ish degrees(I was never good at degrees, below is a picture showing how far it goes) The tank itself though, is fast. When the main gun is fired, the projectile goes flying and the barrel recoils then returns to battery. The projectile is loaded by shoving it down the barrel with a plunger like device. Only one can be loaded at a time. The projectile looks like some sort or Mortar.
The tank easily outruns the T-72M1 in a straight line, but when turning the T-72M1 runs circles around the M1A1. This is attributable to the one-speed on or off nature of the M1A1.
The tank is controlled with two sticks and some buttons. Each of the two sticks controls one track. Left stick controls left track. Right stick, right track. Theres one button on the controller to turn the turret clockwise and one to turn it counter-clockwise. There is a button to fire the main gun. And lastly there’s the two elevation buttons.
The tracks are rubber band style with the ends glued together. Some say replacement tracks can’t be obtained, but this is wrong. TankZone and a few other places can be found who sell the tracks. The drive wheel is inaccurate and is basically a gear that grabs the middle of the tracks and has an end cap that looks kind of like an M1 drive wheel with the ring installed. The road wheels are made of really thin plastic, doesn’t feel like it could take a lot of abuse.
This brings us to another piece of old and/or bad information. Everyone says the A1 version does not have a suspension where as the A2 version and Leopard 2A5 do have a suspension. This is old or just plain wrong. My M1A1 has a suspension exactly like the M1A2/Leopard 2A5. It is shown in a picture below. Also contrary to many reports that they throw tracks easily, I’ve run it over every type of terrain Florida has to offer with zero thrown tracks. Even had a large piece of mulch jammed between the track and drive wheel. It didn’t throw the track, hell the wheel grabbed the mulch and kept the track moving.
Overall the tank looks good. Only when you look into the details do you start to see inaccuracies. The smoke grenade launchers are too small. There are three pegs(two behind the front lights, one right of the turret on hull) that look nothing like the parts they were intended to be. The guards around the front lights are missing and the left light needs to be flipped 180 degrees. The APU on the rear hasn’t been used since 1993, but this may be okay since it’s the A1 instead of the A2. The A2 however has this pre-1993 APU as well as an APU in the bustle rack. Why it has two APUs is puzzling to say the least. The engine exhaust area is wrong and could stand some work. Road wheels, etc, etc, etc. All can be corrected.
The commander figure isn’t too bad but could stand to be replaced. In my opinion the 50cal must be replaced and a better m240 must be scratch built. But this is only a requirement of my project for this tank.
I can’t comment on the internals, as the screwdriver on my multi-tool isn’t long enough to get the hull screws, so I need to go buy one. Might as well get a whole damn kit while I’m at it. I lost most of my tools as I just moved this week, which explains the background in my pictures, so just ignore the mess. As to the pictures themselves, they were taken with a Kodak C316, run by a complete camera idiot, so yeah – I know the pictures suck. Hopefully some time this week I can get some video to add to this review.
I feel I must reiterate that this tank is meant as a toy. As such it does a superb job. In my honest opinion it will make a good project tank. Rip out its guts, throw in some good electronics/gears, add a good drive wheel and tracks and I think it would be golden. I understand most people wouldn’t go to these lengths, but for me it is a must. My ego demands a modern American tank. And if my wallet is willing, my ego shall get what it demands.
Good god, I talk too much.
06-03-2008, 08:57 AM
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RE: Crappy Review: Hobby Engine 1/16 M1A1 Abrams
Barking Squire,
A very good review, and I look forward to your build post! How big is you ego? Do you want this thing to have realistic sounds? EL MOD has the M1 Abram sounds already! You have EL MOD inside and you can run almost what ever motors you want and all the of the features you want, Engine, chains , MG, cannon blast, recoil, cannon flash, turret elevation and movement sound, proprtional drive sound and proportional drive! How Big is your EGO lets hear this baby roar and of course you can add the CSI battle unit and battle with any Tamiya tank or DBC/DBU!
http://www.el-mod.de/blaster.php?osC...6106dddffc19ed
The Blitz
More info @ RCTankWars.com
A very good review, and I look forward to your build post! How big is you ego? Do you want this thing to have realistic sounds? EL MOD has the M1 Abram sounds already! You have EL MOD inside and you can run almost what ever motors you want and all the of the features you want, Engine, chains , MG, cannon blast, recoil, cannon flash, turret elevation and movement sound, proprtional drive sound and proportional drive! How Big is your EGO lets hear this baby roar and of course you can add the CSI battle unit and battle with any Tamiya tank or DBC/DBU!
http://www.el-mod.de/blaster.php?osC...6106dddffc19ed
The Blitz
More info @ RCTankWars.com
06-03-2008, 10:14 AM
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RE: Crappy Review: Hobby Engine 1/16 M1A1 Abrams
My ego can be very large at times. And yes, full Elmod was already planned, including the CSI with a Tamiya apple(to avoid any problems). I'm the guy that PMed you about gun stabilizers and submarine gyros.
06-03-2008, 10:57 AM
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RE: Crappy Review: Hobby Engine 1/16 M1A1 Abrams
Well,
You cannot run the TBU with EL MOd CSI unit is has its own Sensor unit, but you will not have any problems, it is all compatible just show them! If they are not familiar with the system already, it takes and receives hits the same way! You don’t have to mount it as low as I have mine, but it is within RACAN / Danville rules and definitely meets all of the specifications. EL MOD is getting huge in Europe and they are more strict then over here! Here are some photos of my KT it will look really cool on the Abrams because you can make it square!
The Blitz
You cannot run the TBU with EL MOd CSI unit is has its own Sensor unit, but you will not have any problems, it is all compatible just show them! If they are not familiar with the system already, it takes and receives hits the same way! You don’t have to mount it as low as I have mine, but it is within RACAN / Danville rules and definitely meets all of the specifications. EL MOD is getting huge in Europe and they are more strict then over here! Here are some photos of my KT it will look really cool on the Abrams because you can make it square!
The Blitz
09-18-2010, 03:12 AM
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RE: Crappy Review: Hobby Engine 1/16 M1A1 Abrams
Hi folks
Can you help with advice to someone who knows nothing - that's me!
Please see email I sent to HobbyEngine below; it's wordy as hell butI needed to be clear.
Essentially I need to remove the base of my son's M1A1 Abrams - 1:16 Hobby Engine - and want to know if it's feasible.
I haven't attached the photos I mention below, but you'll get the idea.
Mr Yuen
I hope you are able to advise me about a Hobby Engine product which I bought for my son recently.
He has item 0811, namely an M1A1 Abrams R/C tank with which he is very pleased. However, he has managed to break one of the wheels off by continuing to engage drive when one of the tracks had come away from the wheels. Please see attached photographs for illustrative purposes.
The tank still operates but I am of course keen to repair the wheel. I can glue this back into position but to retain the suspension action I will need to reattach to the internal screw/bolt which is clearly and audibly adrift within the body of the tank.
My question is this; is it feasible to remove the bank to perform this repair? I am reasonably competent but I am not an electrical engineer, so if it is very complex I will not attempt a repair.
I have looked online for an exploded diagram of the product to assist me but have not been able to find such a thing. Perhaps you have something you could email to me.
I should be very grateful for any help or advice which you could offer.
Thank you very much in advance.
Kind regards
Alex
Can you help with advice to someone who knows nothing - that's me!
Please see email I sent to HobbyEngine below; it's wordy as hell butI needed to be clear.
Essentially I need to remove the base of my son's M1A1 Abrams - 1:16 Hobby Engine - and want to know if it's feasible.
I haven't attached the photos I mention below, but you'll get the idea.
Mr Yuen
I hope you are able to advise me about a Hobby Engine product which I bought for my son recently.
He has item 0811, namely an M1A1 Abrams R/C tank with which he is very pleased. However, he has managed to break one of the wheels off by continuing to engage drive when one of the tracks had come away from the wheels. Please see attached photographs for illustrative purposes.
The tank still operates but I am of course keen to repair the wheel. I can glue this back into position but to retain the suspension action I will need to reattach to the internal screw/bolt which is clearly and audibly adrift within the body of the tank.
My question is this; is it feasible to remove the bank to perform this repair? I am reasonably competent but I am not an electrical engineer, so if it is very complex I will not attempt a repair.
I have looked online for an exploded diagram of the product to assist me but have not been able to find such a thing. Perhaps you have something you could email to me.
I should be very grateful for any help or advice which you could offer.
Thank you very much in advance.
Kind regards
Alex
09-18-2010, 08:06 AM
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RE: Review: Hobby Engine 1/16 M1A1 Abrams
Hi Alex
These are easy to take apart. There are 6 screws to remove, and the top will pop off. On my Leopard there is enough leader wire to easily allow the top to be taken off and set beside the hull without stressing any wire connections.
Just do it.
These are easy to take apart. There are 6 screws to remove, and the top will pop off. On my Leopard there is enough leader wire to easily allow the top to be taken off and set beside the hull without stressing any wire connections.
Just do it.
03-18-2015, 01:29 PM
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I bought one on ebay. I got the tan version. 79 usd with 15 shipping. I took it with me to orlando, and our trip to the atlantic. It handled beautifully on sand. i had a wave hit it once, the water went over the upper hull. Still works just as good as it did out of the box. Put it in the tub with about 3/4 in of water to rinse the sand off by running the treads in place. The biggest issue i have with it is the range is terrible. It seems like i have to walk with it. Also it does not handle well in snow. The tracks strech too much, and the motors dont give enough torque to keep moving with snow in the tracks. My love of rc..and tanks and captured me. I am getting tomorrow a 1/16 tamaya m51 super sherman. I have high hopes for it.
03-19-2015, 05:49 AM
#10
And as we all know and your post confirms it, these are very labor intensive to get to a point even remotely close to hobby grade. I have done an M1 and 2 LEO 2A5's and they really worked me and my wallet over.
