vonmarshall

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Hi all

I wondered if I could get some advice and insight.

I recently completed my Tamiya King Tiger and am looking to get myself a smaller tank for frequent running.

I have always loved the Stug and Panzer iii but Tamiya do not make one, so I have been looking at my alternative options.

So far i have found Heng Long, Mato, AsiaTam, Taigen and I am suffering from option overload combined with information underload!

I would love it if somebody could explain the differences between all of these manufacturers and give some insight into your preferences.

For clarification I look for the following in my tanks:

a) I love building kits so am happy if there is work to do
b) I run on my own in my garden so battle-ready is not important
c) I am a bit of a perfectionist and enjoy accurate detailing and high quality mouliding / casting etc

Looking forward to learning something.

ausf

I went with Heng Long, but that was basically just as a StuG shape. I ended up reinforcing the hull, correcting the return roller height, adding a sound system, adding zim and a bunch of other stuff.

Here's a thread if you want to see it:

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/rc-t...-complete.html

StuGs are great if you want to add a bunch of stowage. If you really want to use Tamiya, you could get a Pz IV and use an aftermarket upper like the Lang.

Green Amphibian

For my StuG I got a used HL with Tamy electronics and modified it with better gearboxes, motors and external details including shurtzen and working convoy light.

Herman

vonmarshall

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Really like your Stug Herman... any photos of the electrics? Did you use Tamiya motor/gearboxes for the elvation and recoil?

vonmarshall

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Anybody got any experience with the Asiatam, Taigen or Mato ones?

Green Amphibian

Vonmarshall, I used the HL elevation unit and servo recoil. For motive power I used low profile steel geared HL gearboxes with 400 motors. I added metal tracks, suspension, and road wheels, along with track adjusters.

Herman

Airbrushler

still waiting in the wings to be worked on haven't had the chance yet for my HL Stug IR version

vonmarshall

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Thanks for that Herman.

How easy is it to use the Tamiya DMD/MF units with HL fittings? Do they connects easily?

Thanks

Noel

YHR

The Mato metal Stug is nice with Torsion bar suspension, and all the hatches opening. However because it is made of metal it makes bashing it more of an adventure.

vonmarshall

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I am loving the all metal Stug... I know there are lots of reasons not to get one... but I think I may just have to anyway! Thanks for that photo showing the underside of the upper-hull. Are those connectors HL ones? If so, are they compatable with Tamiya DMD/MFU?

MAUS45

No, you would have to change to the Tamiya connectors.

vonmarshall

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Is that pretty easy? Do the wires all line up and you just need new connectors or is it more complex than that? Reason I ask is I have the DMD/MFU from a Tamiya Pz iv I want to use.

Green Amphibian

Most of the connections are easy to change Some of the turret IR connections are challenging if you stay with HL gear and do not change to Tamyia stuff. I changed to Tamyia except for the elevation.

Herman

Panther G

Everything needs to be converted to the Tamiya connections. The HL's are not wired the same. The easiest way to do it is just use Tamiya elevation, traverse and recoil mechanisms. then everything will just plug in.
Personally i would get a TK22 board from Clarke models. Everything will then just plug into the HL points and all be Tamiya compatible. then all you would really need to do is upgrade the gear boxes. The HL PzIII suspension is pretty good OTB so you dont really need to upgrade anything there. But there are tons of options for that. that is what makes the HL PzIII /Stug one of the best tanks on the market as far as I'm concerned. So many possibilities for it.

vonmarshall

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I have never seen the HL elevation / traverse / recoil... do they have the same attachment points as Tamiya ones or would I need to do a lot of modification?

I was looking at these... they look great but I am struggling to find out how easy they are to get going. I love building but electrics go straight over my head, hence my tendency to stick with Tamiya's fail-safe set-up.

Panther G

I always used Tamiya electronics for custom set up's too because they were a simple plug and play when you converted everything to accept the Tamiya connections. Most of which are just simple JST plugs but the TK 22 boards come with all standard HL connectors so for a new HL conversion these really are a plug and play operation. You can custom control the system with a Sony remote to set up special functions but it is not totally needed. you can simply plug the boards into the proper motors and off you go so it is a very easy way to get Hobby grade function and 2.4 reliability with out spending 3 or 4 hundred dollars for Tamiya electronics and the TK22 is Tamiya battle system ready so you can fight other Tamiya tanks easily.

Captain Nemo12

TK-22s are VERY easy to set up, all you need are HL connectors and everything else is pretty much plug and play. I wrote a set-up tutorial in one of my build threads, it's on Clark's site for easier access:

http://www.clark-model.com/eng/index_e.html --> click on "TK22 Tutorial" on the left navigation bar.

vonmarshall

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Thanks for that... very helpful

Great link.. many thanks!