After receiving a couple of 1/24 VsTank IR battle tanks, I started thinking about getting one that would shoot. I almost ordered an airsoft VsTank a couple of times, but the push button controller always kept me from clicking on Confirm during the order process. After looking (very) briefly at getting a Tamiya I started researching the HL's, and thought that even with some of the problems they might still be worth trying for the price point they're at. After reading speedythecat's excellent review of the Pershing, and seeing the new Super Version available at Mato Toys, I finally had the incentive to get off my wallet and ordered a Tiger in desert camo. I also picked up a container of Crossman 4000 BB's from Canadian Tire, going under the assumption that this should last me for quite a while.

After waiting impatiently for a week everything arrived this morning, and I wasted no time in getting all of the parts and pieces out of the box and onto the bench. I immediately slapped the battery onto my Triton charger and got it going, and then started inspecting and reading. Overall I was quite impressed with the Tiger and the individual item details like shovels and cables are very well done. The camo paint is smudged in a few spots and there is some oil and/or dust on different areas, but for the casual user like me the factory paint job is more than good enough. Of slightly more serious concern was the commander's hatch that wouldn't close completely, which seemed to be positioned just barely incorrectly. I was able to flex the hinge just a bit and wedge a tiny shim in behind it, which was all that was needed to get it working properly.

After this I read the manual and figured out which switch, button and lever did what. I added 2ml of oil to the smoker, poured some BB's down the hatch, installed batteries in the transmitter, set the volume control to the center and...waited.

And waited. And waited.

After waiting about 5 minuted longer than I thought I'd be able to, and seeing that the battery had taken 1000mah, I pulled it off the charger and stuffed it into the belly of the Tiger. Switching on the Tx and then the tank gave me flashing headlights, and I pushed the little key button and was greeted with the really cool engine starting sequence. It sounds like a cross between my old Chevy 350 with glasspack "mufflers" and my Cat 3208 diesel V8, but specifics aside it just sounds good. After moving all the sticks a bit to confirm that all was moving correctly, I pushed the left stick forward and fired my first BB...about 45 degrees to the left of where the barrel was pointed. Another shot went the same way, and the third went pretty much straight but hit the floor very close to the tank. Hmmmm, this doesn't seem right. I turned everything off and looked at the barrel and saw that the hole in the muzzle brake appeared to be slightly off center. I carefully hand turned a one size oversize drill bit in the brake, started everything up to try again and voila! Every shot went where the barrel was pointed, and flew about 25 feet before disappearing into the dirt (the advertised 25 meters might be just a bit optimistic).

With the gun test out of the way, I started driving around and suddenly remembered to look for the smoke. Not seeing any I reached under the tank to turn it on, and when things became quieter I realized it had already been running. I could hear the air pump/bellows, and noted a slight burnt odor but I never saw (and still haven't seen) any smoke. Bummer. But I was still able to drive and shoot, and was merrily driving around the shop and over phone books when the right track slowed considerably until it was barely turning. Double bummer. Realizing I needed to learn how to take this apart sometime, I figured out how to disconnect the tracks and get to all the screws, removed the upper hull and started snooping around in the gearboxes. It looks like one of the side frames wasn't punched correctly, and a bushing for one of the metal gears couldn't seat far enough in and was causing the gears to bind severely. With a little prying and flexing I was able to get things more or less realigned temporarily, and upon reassembly all was working as it should be once again.

So after my first day I'm pretty happy with this purchase, as aside from some fairly minor items it works basically as advertised (except for the smoke). For a non-tinkerer type that had these problems they might have been quite disappointed though, so beauty once again is in the eye of the beholder.

A couple of questions for you vets:

a. How tight should the tracks be? It feels like they are plenty snug and could use another link, but I see no way to adjust them.
b. How are the drive wheels removed? I'll need to remove them to pull and fix the RH gearbox, but don't see what holds them on the axle.