daven60

My kids gave me an HL Tiger 1 (no sound/smoke) for Christmas because 1) I'm a history buff, and 2) often act more like a kid than an adult. This tank is great fun, but I need basic, basic info (you all know what the instructions are like). This is the first RC-anything for me, I score in the "rudimentary" range on tool-use abilities (and only got that high because I have opposable thumbs), and the last time I built a model Gerald Ford was the U.S. president.

If there is an FAQ for total newbies, please point the way and I'll pester you more advanced members no more (well, not for a while).

My basics are:

[*]how do you fix/change tracks on these tanks? (No problems yet, but sounds like it's a matter of time)[*]what are the basic repairs a total newbie should learn?[*]are there YouTube videos on how to do said maintenance? If so, where?[*]for the HL Tiger 1, is there a diagram somewhere on how you take these things apart if you want/need to upgrade?[*]is there an online equivalent of RC Tanks for Dummies? RC Anything for Dummies?[/list]More specific to my circumstances:
[*]it sounds like the metal upgrade is the way to go, but since this was a gift...which makes more sense, invest the time and money into purchasing tracks, suspensions, sprockets, whirligigs and whatnots individually, or just have fun with this one and purchase a stepped-up model later?[*]seriously, how vital are metal tracks? I live in northeast Ohio so I probably won't see much of the lawn until about March or April. Can the plastic tracks handle the crabgrass, or does this require metal? And will the metal tracks scratch my wife's simulated wood floors? I don't much like sleeping with the dog.[/list]That's it for now. I appreciate your patience and any help you can provide.

harleridr

Hi Welcome aboard,
I am a new member as well (about 6 wks.) The guys here will not steer you wrong. I would talk to Phil at RC Tank Wars .com. He set up my M41A3 and I am real happy with it. My guess would be to uograde the gear boxes to metal gears rather than metal tracks. Good luck with your new ride.
Harle

pattoncommander

Congrats on getting started...BUT, if you want anything with any sort of control, you are going to have to change out the electronics.
The non S&S have first off, no sound and a poor control over speed and maneuverability. An upgrade radio you can get from phil at RC Tankwars. The tracks on the tiger are OK and with better electronics you will have 100% more fun with it and have sounds that make the tank more realistic. The present is a nice gesture, but with RC stuff, you have to know what to get. Guys on this forum are very helpful and you will probably be recieving lots more advice. Good luck.

BIGMIG

Well it was a nice gift for you to get and you will be able to have fun with it just as it is.

The real truth is it would cost you more to try and up-grade it to a "Smoke & Sound tank" than what it would cost you to buy a Smoke and Sound tank.

Play with it,run the hell out of it and you will be able to see if the tank "BUG" bites you.They are fun..........

If you end up wanting to get more into tanking these non S&S models make good parts tanks on down the road.

There is a big benifit in the S&S models (sound being one,and a better controled running tank being one of the most important).The smoke part of the deal is not that big a deal for most guys acording to a lot of the posts here on the forum.

A lot of questions to start with..................

Phill must be doing a bang up job here as all the new guys have reccomended him for everything short of a "heart transplant"so far
and that may be next.Cost of a tank and shipping seems to have been thrown out the window on the forums here as late.[:-]

For a lot of these new guys having so many reccomendations and only having one or two tanks,makes a guy wonder what they would post if they had four or five of them.

Good luck with your tank and have fun with it.When you get up to about 40 of all this misc.....tanks,hummers,and other misc military vehicles shoot me an email and we will both go have our heads examened.


BIGMIG

P.S. never see any prices posted from these guys as to show us other members as to what great deals they have been getting.Got something to hide.??? If I get a good deal I like to post the price and the shipping so other's who want "bang" for their "buck" can also take advantage of a good deal.

Ex_Pat_Tanker

Hi Dave,

A lot of your questions are covered in the FAQ thread. Metal tracks for the Tiger are a good idea as the stock plastic ones tend to be rather weak, I found that the Mato ones were better than the Heng Long ones if thats any help....
In the case of the Tiger they are wide and heavy enough to improve your cross country performance, but you should consider a gearbox upgrade if you want a 'go anywhere' tank.

Opinions differ on which metal gears are best, here is my opinion - others may disagree:

Diecast 'Metal' (pot metal) gears - usually available for $30, but the quality is variable in my experience - I went thru a couple of sets that striped easily - and the friction is high. There are procedures in the FAQ for breaking them in, if they survive that then they will probably be ok. Be warned that there is no slipper clutch on these, so your chances of a motor stall and fried control board is pretty high!
Mato Brass 3:1 gears - available from Matomart.com. They can be made to work, but the quality varies wildly, and are best left to the experienced user who knows what is likely to be wrong with them 'out of the box'.
Asiatam 3:1 gears - available from rctankwars.com. Difficult to get hold of in the US in my experience, maybe Phil can comment on their current availability (?), and getting them shipped from Europe is an expensive hobby. If you can get hold of them, I'd recommend them as the best upgrade.
Steel standard ratio gears - I don't have the link to hand, but there is an outfit in Canada on Evilbay (Nova 'something' I think?) that sells high quality machine cut gears. They will make your Tiger tear around like a Ferrari, but (if they are indeed the same sets as I used to be able to get from RCCommand?) you will be happy with how they work.

Can't tell you about the damage to the floor - I have carpet, but I have seen fellow a club members' Tamiya Pershing leave a trail on a concreate floor with its metal tracks - if you are worried about it I would recommend avoiding the 'late' track sets, as the ice cleats might dig in [X(]

Hope this Helps,
Mart

Ex_Pat_Tanker

To add to what Bill and Larry just posted, the 'no smoke' version is very basic and the controls are pretty much on/off (Sorry missed that part the first time around).

If you want to add metal anything then you need the smoke and sound electronics - the 'non' version electronics cannot take the extra load imposed by those parts. I admit that spending $60 (going from memory here) to upgrade is a lot of money when the tank only probably cost $60 in the first place, so in all honesty I would suggest that you run it the way it is right now and decide later if you like the hobby enough to want to spend $$$. The Tiger has a broad track and front drive, so it will cope better with the longer grasses that tend to be the nemesis of the likes of the Bulldog, Sherman and Pershing. My first tank was a $55 'Panther' (AKA the infamous 'Pantiger') it sucks as a model, but it ran well enough to get me into the hobby, learn about it and buy something(s) better (and it still runs great today - I just don't battle with it )

@ BIGMIG
I went past the 40 mark a couple of months ago, when is the next group therapy session...?
HTH
Mart

afv

Daven60,
have a look at the links they may be of interest to you
regards Jack.
http://www.tankzone.co.uk/pages/hl_upgrade_hull.htm
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=743482

1sgt

Daven60,
I run my metal track tanks( Jagdpanther, Panther and PZ IV ) on my pergo floors without any damage . I do operate them at slow speeds ( something you will not be able to do with a non S an S tank). Also, I avoid the super spin on the floors. As mentioned it would cost almost as much to upgrade then it would to buy a new Sound an Smoke tank. To open up your Tiger, you have to remove the tracks to get access to the screws that hold the body to the hull. The easiest way is to remove the front driver ( the hub cap should pop off using a small screwdriver ) Once you remove the screw securing the Driver to the axle just slide it off with the track. Hope this helps.


Jim

Panther G

Congrats on your fist RC Tank. It won't be your last. Best advice i can give is just browse around these forums for the HL Tiger. There are thousands of them. 

daven60

Many thanks to all, and especially to afv. Those links are very helpful.

Thanks also for your patience with a new guy. I've been on some boards(non-RC) that are outright hostile to newbies. Doesn't make sense, but there it is.

Perhaps RC attracts a better class of people.