Afa Heng Long improving, I can say that they still miss the boat here & there if you're a rivet-counter. However, their more recent offerings, like the Challenger 2 are pretty spot-on.
I was kind of amazed what they had included. Apart from the stickers, that are as wrong as they get, it is a pretty solid offering.
The best part? All accessories are force-fit, none of that glue-monkey stuff they were 'famous' for.
I own quite a few HL tanks from earlier days, they blew Rx-modules with alarming regularity, their older smokers would run for half an hour (if you were lucky) and then just burn-through. Their BB guns Malfunctioned half of the time.
All that has improved. Smoker has run for more than an hour already, noisy, though, no change there. The bb gun works, and the sounds are quite a bit louder... Which shows even better how crappy they actually are..
the biggest improvement in the electronic department is the new 2.4ghz system. It has amazing range and all functions -even the smoker- are controlled from the transmitter.
The Rx18 2.4 ghz has the receiver integrated, and it no longer runs too hot too easily, even with Graupner speed400's. Just to be sure I still stuck a small esc-fan at the back under the engine-compartiment's covers to keep some airflow going, since it has been 30C outside the last few days,
The running gear hasn't changed a bit, even the metal stuff. Fit is still iffy, tracks jump&wobble around and make the rear-end of the tank do a good impression of twerking on low speed, but it evens-out when going a bit faster. The pot-metal gears are heavy and chip too easy though, mainly because the slop in the bearings/bushings is -still- atrocious.
Oh, and -not unimportant- speed and turret rotation are fully proportional now. I couldn't determine stepping anymore. That was quite the surprise. However, the barrel still does that idiotic, stupid up/down cycling. Djeebus. Even a cheap -a.. Torro T-34 has separate up/down by now.
so, all in all, Heng Long hàs improved, but don't expect miracles, the tanks are stìll just cheap starter-platforms, 'RTU' (ready to upgrade), but they will no longer fail in the first hour, so to speak.