I am not affiliated with Taigen in any way, shape, or form. I am just another that suffers from the addiction of rc tanks.
I had preordered this back in February and recently received it. Here are my first impressions.
This thing is a beast. It weighs in at 14.2 lbs and it came extremely well packaged, probably in an attempt to protect it from the gorillas that handle it during shipment. That being said there was some slight damage to one of the sides of the box as if it had been dropped. Upon opening the box I did note some minor damage. The fender mounted tool box was no longer attached, one of the exterior fuel tank mounts was cracked, and the machinegun on the turret rear was broken. The fuel tank and tool box were easily repaired with some glue.
The machineguns are a clear plastic that are installed prior to shipping. I used a sharpie to give them a darker color. If they came as separate parts that the customer could install there would be less of a chance of damage during shipment.
The internal space is extremely narrow and the motors are almost touching. I would recommend inspecting the wiring and capacitors on the the transmissions for clearance from the gears prior to running as I did find one of the capacitors was physically touching one of the gears. This was easily addressed by gently bending it up but I will be checking this on a regular basis as preventative maintenance.
The power switch is in a poor location. It is located under the engine deck hatch and is inaccessible unless you manually rotate the turret which causes an awful noise as the clutch slips.
The smoker works great on this. I am not a fan of smokers but this thing is proportional and when filled with megasteam fluid it really produces. I usually discard the smoker but I am contemplating keeping this one.
The mfu has a switch to disable the track recoil.
The latch for holding the hull open is a definite plus but hinge pin on the back of the hull would look better if it was blackened.
The road wheels and idlers appear to have bearings.
The paint job is pretty good but I am not a fan of the weathering.
The suspension responds extremely well and appears to support the tank but I will be storing this on a raised block due to its weight.
The gun elevation was a slightly jerking when the cannon elevated but I remedied that by adding a drop of lubrication to each side of the mantle and cycling the barrel up and down. I did notice a small spot on the top of mantle became bare metal after doing this.
There are some some excellent details on the hull and it runs extremely well.
Overall I am very pleased with this. Taigen has definitely stepped up their game with this tank.
