ORIGINAL: titan20
Ok guys, I have developed a new theory over the weekend. In recent weeks, I have much maligned the HL Tiger for obvious track problems. But now I have come to a different conclusion. I think all radio controlled Tiger models have track problems! (although I can't speak for Tamiya). Is it possible that a scaled down vehicle would inherit all the traits of the full size? Case in point is my new Marui Tiger, which I was excited about, until this weekend. I had been running the tank inside, and everything was great. I took it outside for a bit of bashing, and things went downhill. On the plus side, the tank climbs like a mountain goat -- the Tiger is geared really low. Another positive is, it's not as fast as it seems inside -- speed seems scale, as my VS Leopard will leave it in the dust (as it should be in real life). However, the big downside is -- it throws tracks EXACTLY like the HL Tiger. Does the very same thing. They come off the outside of the front sproket first, and then somehow, they do the same thing the HLs do -- come off the rear idler. Very disappointing. It also makes me rethink the whole HL Tiger thing -- maybe I was too quick to give up. My question is this -- are we just not driving our tanks in a very "scale" like manner -- i.e., are we trying to turn too sharp in high traction areas?
Tanks, from full scale on down, face similar problems. The newer tanks have fewer incidences of trowing tracks, but still, driven in the right terrain while turning, especially at high speed, the M1A2 and other modern tanks will throw tracks.
To a large degree, if you drive your scale tank to scale speed over scale terrain (yes, scale terrain like finer sand rather than the gravel you might have on a driveway), then chances of throwing a track is reduced.
The other factor is the weight of the track itself. I believe that the original intent of the design for Tigers was to allow the weight of the track to "self guide" along the road wheels. (You can see this in the photos, or at least I hope it's obvious). Thus, the "slack" appearance compared with the appearanc of tracks on tanks that relied on Track Return Rollers (the smaller wheels at the top, like the Sherman and Stuart have -- See attached photo for comparison). However, the faster you drive the Tiger, the less weight you will have for self guiding along the road wheels. Add this phenomenon to the fact that you may have plastic (much lighter) tracks, plus you may be driving out of scale and on terrain that may pick up stones, sticks, leaves, grass, etc. in "off scale" ways, then your chances of throwing tracks shoots to the top of the scale.
Perhaps this is why I prefer the larger scale models (mine is 1/8, KT). Each track weighs around 10lbs and performs like the original King Tiger, laying correctly and self-guiding along the road wheels. Also, I try to limit its driving speed to scale speed, not exceeding about 20 mph (to scale). I can throw tracks if I turn in gravel, which will tend to pick up larger stones, carrying those into the idler, and cause the track to slip from its guide channel.
Anyway, I believe the problem is scale usage more than anything else.
Hope this helped.