Booty - do not listen to the couple of guys here who regret having spent so much on something that can be obtained much cheaper. They will tell you that though it cost 10 times the amount of your tank, you will get 10 times the enjoyment. That is a load of crap. I'm not even sure how they arrive at 10 times the enjoyment, but I can assure you that isn't the case. I'm trying to figure out what could make my own tank give me twice the enjoyment. Minus the commander speaking in German or something similar at a push of a button, I'm hard pressed to come up with anything else. The recoil effect is nice but Tamiya's don't smoke or shoot bbs like the HL you have, which in their own way, offers a certain cool factor as well. I have many different RC models in many different fields. I have several Tamiya cars and they are well built to be sure. The Tamiya tanks are very overpriced and that is the plain hard truth. You may have been unfortunate to get a bad unit but give the advice others here have offered a chance, before shipping it back. If you think it is something beyond what they say, it may be better to ship it back since working on it may void the warranty in some way.