Walterson's T-72A Info
 

Hey Tankers,
Ok so the wait is almost over. Looking at May production times and summer release, the T-72A will be offered in three configurations: standard, enthusiast, and extreme. All three configurations will have airsoft barrel recoil or infrared models available too. It has been designed from the ground up with all new components, sharing nothing with any other manufacturers in the 1/16th scale realm. This attributed to some of the delay (as well as the acquisition of FoV and VS tanks) but now that the new components have been built and tested it will be much faster to produce new models. The electronics have changeable sound cards with the sounds recorded by Waltersons themselves and even have separate sounds for forward and reverse. It also does have separate up and down elevation with current sensing so no noisy clutch is needed. It has headlight control, uses 2S lipos, and can even be updated via software if needed.

They spent a lot of time on molds and getting the texture right as well as hiring some of the original staff from the FoV/VS acquisitions which gave them the expertise of getting models right and RC'ing them too. Not only did they spend a lot of time of the design but it was constantly updated with there was an issue or inaccuracy. The insides were totally redone as well. The smoke unit now blows away aftermarket solutions (it is quite insane really) with new effects as well which are a bit different than normal smoke units from TG and HL.
The gearboxes have been designed to not only be effecient but to be super quiet at the same time. This gearbox is fully enclosed with a clear top so you can examine the gearboxes at any time. They are also designed with multiple gear changes in mind too, with up to 5 different gear ratios that can be installed very quickly. So one gearbox = 5 different speed combinations.

The airsoft barrel recoil unit is another achievement from Waltersons. The original designer of the airsoft unit which was in VS tanks as a 24th scale item was ported to 16th by various manufacturers, but the power and design was not updated. This new design is not only smaller but more powerful and even incorporates a barrel recoil system at the same time with the correct fast recoil and slow return to battery you expect to see on tanks.
IR play is still around and will be using the Waltersons team based battle systems. I'll have more info on this part later.

My final production sample will be here soon and I'll get more info you guys need as well as a video review and some running tests too for everyone. Feel free to ask questions, I'll do my best to answer what I can.

Looks very nice. I want one.

The two lower configurations will come with 340 degree rotation while the highest config will have 360 degrees of rotation. I'm sure an upgrade will be offered to fix that though. Pricing is not 100% determined yet for our side but my guess will be in the 250-400ish range depending on configuration and options.
We will have them :)

If you are interested drop an airsoft/infrared in the comments too, it will help us figure out a good quantity to order.

From the chart it looks like I want the extreme version in IR.

The best news is we now may have access to a Russian Tank Commander!! :cool:

Extreme Version IR
Love the T-72 series, very excited about this

Extreme IR also...

1. any demo of sound card available ? (YT?)

2. would be possible to order sound unit/electronics separately ? what is aprox. price ?

This looks pretty cool. I'm super glad to see someone making some advances in the tanks they are making. Now I gotta save some coins for one. I'll get an extreme version of airsoft when I get enough stashed. Erik, make sure and let them know how much we appreciate the effort. Even if they live up to half of what they are talking about, they will be making a pretty cool tank for us. Funny thing is. When I first got the tank bug, this is the tank I was seriously wanting, this was before I got into WW2 tanks so heavy. It took several decades, but it's actually going to be a reality. Very cool.

Yea and many more now with access to FoV
Expect more in the coming days. I believe Monday you should see more on the Waltersons page or FB. I'll have my production sample here soon so I'll do a tear down and more when I get it. Yea electronics will be available, pricing I'll get soon on everything and get listings up eventually for it. Production is looking to be in May with June finishing the first runs or so. Then we have to ship them across the pond so shortly summer 2019 is a good ETA atm.
I'll pass along the message the next time I talk to him

Holy cow!
Do we ever wait for its release on sale?
During this time, it was possible to make a real tank.

They had it front & center this weekend at Hobby Expo China.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...403edcd7f8.jpghttps://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...0a28677417.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...c3372f2cca.jpg

One of these samples will go to our local tank club for evaluation after the show:p

The latest schedule is shipping on June.

Some of the parts will be, but I am not sure about the whole electronics.

The tank was ready about 1 year ago. But then the owner and designers of VStank wanted to work on it, so they made many improvements and delayed for a year.

Same here.

EXTREME IR for me.

What are the other releases planned? Just give us nationality and era if you can't reveal the actual vehicle model.

Hi Erik
While I'm not in to Russian armour, the new airsoft module looks interesting. Will it be available as a spare part?
Is the recoil similar to your Tiger 1 system - assume you'll cover this in your review?

Mal

I will say they are interested in models not currently out if that helps, but I have no leaks currently for anyone.
Yea I'll make sure to get one but no, the airsoft unit is completely different than ours including the recoil but I'll go over it in the tear down.

I'd be happy with something that saw combat with what we already have, a PT-76 to face off against the new M551 for example.

Unfortunately I don't think you will see an amphibious mass production tank for a while from the major tank companies. It is very difficult to seal, has electronics that don't like to be sealed (speaker, gearboxes, IR, etc), and more. As much as I like the idea I can understand why from a manufacturing point why there aren't too many out there atm. Anything that goes in the water isn't fun to sell either from experience.

No, the model wouldn't need to be amphibious, (the M551 was also designed to be amphibious, but I doubt the Tamiya offering will be). Hopefully one of the new players will offer one before too long.