442man

First tank is an HL Snow Leopard, works great and lots of fun with the grandkids. Isee the updated versions with metal but not sure if I should spend the extra money. Any thoughts?
Best Regards,
442Man

Green Amphibian

It all depends on what you are going to do with your tank. If everything is still working great, don't mess with it. If something does break, upgrade it so it won't break again.

Panther G

The metal gear boxes are always worth the effort. the Pershing does NOT NEED gear reduction gearboxes. It is built into the entire system. If anything some faster motors could be used. As far as Metal tracks, again the Pershing does not need them. this is the best OTB, out of The Box tank HL makes. Needs very little if anything. You may want to add a fan too the Rx 18 board and use a better speaker but that's about it. Very good choice for a first tank. and it is the Pershing. there is no such thing as an American Snow Leopard.

Ex_Pat_Tanker

The only upgrade worth having in my eyes was the RCC 3:1 steel gearboxes - and they are no longer available or so it seems [&o] The same seems to be the case for the old Asiatam 3:1 monkey metal gearboxes - does anyone still carry them in the US?
(not to be confused with the later low profile 'Stug' gearboxes - they make the Pershing and Bulldog way too slow!)

The rest of the tank is pretty robust so I wouldn't mess with it. They do have a tendency to pull in the long grasses and get them snagged in the drive sprockets tho, so I would recommend either avoiding that situation or looking into getting hold of the Asiatam reduction gearboxes (If you still can?).

For what its worth [&:]
Mart

[Ninja Edit] Gregg is right, the Pershing (Snow Leopard [:'(] )is a good runner out of the box - my advice here is based on club level IR combat according to the RCACN rules - feel free to ignore if this doesn't apply to you
If you can get suitable steel gearboxes on Ebay from the outfit in Ontario (Nova Hobby? - they only have the standard ratio gearboxes and not the 3:1 reduction gear sets, but I believe that they are made to the same standards as the units I have here...?) and you are not using the tank for Club battles then I would consider them worth a look

HTH
Mart

SyCo_VeNoM

Metal gears like others said yes worth it.
Metal tracks IMO no I run plastics on my tiger, and have yet to break one. Even if they break the plastic tracks are cheap unlike the metal counterparts, also they put less stress on the motor, and electronics.

swathdiver

If you run your Pershing (Snow Leopard) in the yard you'll notice that it runs over the grass. If you add metal tracks, it will now run through the grass. Metal gears are a wise investment because the plastic final drive gear will eventually split causing it to spin on the shaft.

The Pershing doesn't NEED metal tracks but runs really nice with them. 1lb of fishing weights added to the front improves its tractive effort through grass and while climbing.

Merry Christmas!

442man

Thanks guys for the great info. I am quite impressed how well the Pershing runs OTB. Looks like we need two tanks to really enjoy these so I plan to get another Pershing.