I recently ordered a VSTank Pro Airsoft T-72 from toyeast.com and it arrived in the mail last week. Since then I have taken it out only twice, and on the second outing after about half an hour it suddenly came to a dead stop and would not respond. I assumed the batteries were dead, so I took it home and put new ones in. However, now it won't turn on at all! Normally it makes a continuous engine sound, but now it makes no response whatsoever.

I had only been running it in short grass and on asphalt, nothing that I would expect to cause undue stress, and the ground was bone dry the day I was using it so I have no reason to suspect water damage. I called the support number for VSTank in the US, but the guy I talked to said they couldn't help me at all with the airsoft version (honestly I didn't get the impression he had ever even seen the product he was supposedly supporting). When I wrote to the website about it I was told to make sure I wasn't mixing brands of batteries (I'm not).

I took it in to a hobby shop and they tested the current on all of the batteries to confirm that they had a charge. After those checked out, they told me there was nothing more they could do and if I had bought it from them they would at that point just exchange it for a new one.

So I'm at my wit's end. I'm afraid to open it up myself and void the warrantee, and I wouldn't even know what I was looking for if I did. Can anybody here help me figure out what to do next?<br type="_moz" />

Sounds like you have no warranty. Open it up.

You should buy from the country you reside in to avoid problems like this. I know, it's frustrating but ...

... can you send it back? No?


~ Jeff

Anything in particular I should be looking for?<div>
</div><div>Also, should I be worried about being able to get it back together properly? I don't want it to fall apart the second I take the last screw out.</div>

Check the x-mitter batteries. (is the x-mitter light glowing, is the x-mitter antenna up etc. I find that my VS tanks are very sensitive to weak x-mitter signals)

Switch it off and on again underneath. And check that the reciever crystal is inserted properly.

Open up the hull and look to see if there are any obviously loose solder connections. (the warranty will probably not be worth the shipping back and forth, but check this out first)

You can also buy a VS tank repair manual from amazon.com.<br type="_moz" />

<p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman">Sorry to hear about your issues. If you can call me toll free (800-610-4294) and ask for Gene. I will do what I can to help you with your problem. I&rsquo;ll be here till 7pm CST.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"></span></span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"><o></o></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt">Since you bought your tank from Toyeast, your warrenty is already up. They only give 3 days on their tanks. So opening up your tank now wont void any warranties since it&rsquo;s up.</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"></span></span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"><o></o></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt">Gene</span></span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"><o></o></span></p><span style="font-size: small"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">ArtisticHobbies.com</span></span></span>

They are pretty cool inside too! And VS Tank sells separate ciruit boards and components etc. Don't despair, treat this like a learning opportunity!

Good going Gene!


~ Jeff

Hi open it up look for any lose wires on the battery box and make sure all plugs are pluged in give em all a push down.
also look at the board with the crystal see if any wires are lose and also try pulling the crystals out of the tank and radio and putting them back and trying it again.

Another thing try bending the tabs in the battery box with a small screw driver first even before taking it apart... sometimes the AA's nipple top don't reach all the way and contact the metal part in the tanks...I put a tiny svrew driver behind them all and gently pry back so the metal section bends out away from the chassis a little so it will contact the batteries better.

Hope this helps.

kind of curious as to what it might be let us know and Gene that's way cool for you to do that for him

Got it fixed (thanks Gene)!<div>
</div><div>One of the wires to the battery case had broken off at the solder point. I had to strip it back, break out the iron, and reconnect it properly.</div><div>
</div><div>Now it's back to harassing pigeons in the park!</div>

Excellent, nice when you find out it's something you can fix and then go out and have some fun
like to see some pics of it if you have some

Thanks Gene ?!?!?!

I thought I posted the " check the battery leads" advice! I don't get no respect, no respect at all.... (Rodney Dangerfield)

Mike
<br type="_moz" />

Ah yes i see Eggman ...lol

Talk is cheap, it was Gene who worked tirelessly to instill in me the confidence to do what needed to be done. Steadfastly he guided me through the trials bearing down upon me, and as I boldly unscrewed the casing of my vehicle it was he who stood by me to the bitter end, leading me onward through sheer force of will to claim the victory that was so justly mine.

Thanks again Gene!
<br type="_moz" />

Great job by all to get this tank up and running!


~ Jeff

True, True, Its ALL TRUE!!! I am such a fraud...goodbye cruel world......

And now back to my Panther.

On facebook there was a guy who's VStank ran fine, but there was no sound. A loose wire was the problem in that case, too.

For the price, is there anybody who makes a better product? I never read anything bad about VSTank in my research before buying, and if this kind of thing is par for the course I'm willing to take it in stride, but I hate to think I'm throwing money at a substandard company.<br type="_moz" />

Iown 8 VS Tanks and not one of them has an issue except the type 90 which was my own clumsy fault! They look great, sound all the same, but operate very well. My T72 has the hard tracks upgrade and it drives perfectly in the garden. You might also want to get a Sherman with the linked tracks, fantastic model. Also the VS Tank website has a free VS Club which lets you order parts and accessories a very reasonable prices. VS Tanks are big funfor the $$$ IMO.

Mike

Although I am not a tank person. (I fly Giant scale) I want to see some pictures of this thing. Curiosity is killing me. You said "airsoft" so I am assuming this thing shoots pellets right? Gotta see it in action.

Thanks
Glenn Williams

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt">Hi Mike (Egghead1965) and YES you did have the right answer when it came to the issue with his tank, you nailed it fellow tanker. Great Job! Actually everyone that offered ideas in fixing his tank including Shenlonco had excellent advice.</span></span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"><o></o></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"></span></span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"><o></o></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt">I think what a lot of people may miss is that there are a lot of new tankers on this forum that have never opened up or fixed a RC tank before. So we can all write the correct advice, but new tankers reading this great advice may not understand entirely because he or she may not have the experience with either electronics, wiring, soldering, opening up tanks and so on.</span></span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"><o></o></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"></span></span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"><o></o></span></p><p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman">When this is the case, some people just need for someone to talk with him on the phone and walk him or her through the process in finding out what the problem may be and I was more than happy to help Setzer529 with just that. Luckily Setzer529 knew how to solder and was able to fix his tank. Great Job!</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"></span></span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"><o></o></span></p><span style="font-size: small"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">New Tankers or Advanced Tankers, as one, WE ARE ALL FELLOW TANKERS!!!!!!!</span>

Gene</span></span>

Gene, I was just having a laugh of course. And I must tell everyone that when I ordered my Tiger I (late with forest camo) from artistic hobbies Gene called me long distance to confirm my order and to let me know I was getting the new stick controller. Gene and Artistic Hobbies are a class act all the way.

Mike

Not really, I wouldn't mind 1/35 scale(there's a lot of plastic models made in 1/35), but I don't like that they only have rubber band tracks and no suspension. 1/16 would be OK, but you either have Tamiya (which is out of my budget) or heng long(which sounds like they'd need a lot of work to be reliable). So I decided on VStank's 1/24 scale ones. Except for these two instances, I've never heard of people having any problems with them. My Tiger 1 has proved reliable, so I'll be sticking with VS for my tanks.

It's too bad you live so far away, we could get some guys together for some serious 1/24 scale tank battles.Mike

setzer529
Enjoy!

http://s921.photobucket.com/albums/a...w¤t=field.mp4