hman123467

Hi all,

ive been thinking about purchasing a hobbyking pzkpf III (http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...dproduct=12109)
i have a few questions though;
1. Can it run on sand dunes/ beach?
2. Can a lipo safely run in it and does it stop before the lipo reaches its damaging point?
3. Does it have proportional turning?

cheers,
hman out 😎

philipat

That tank is not the smoke and sound version. So, nothing on it is proportional. It drives in two speeds, basically. Everything about it will be plastic, including the tracks and gearboxes.

It can run the sand, but really soft sand may be too much for it. Also, you'll need to clean the gearboxes of the sand...a lot. Also, the tracks on that tank are narrow and prone to breaking in the sand. If you want sand, you're better off with a tank with wide tracks (all except the PzIII, PzIV and Shermans).

It is not made for LiPo and does not include a low-voltage cutoff or alarm. The controller is a 27MHz controller. The electronics are designed around an NiMH battery.

If you want cheap, go with Hobby King. If you want some customer service and expertise, give RC Tanks Australia a try. http://rctanksaustralia.com/shop/

hman123467

How about this one

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...dproduct=12668

cheers,
hman out��

CGNoorloos

I think all those tanks have the older non proportional controls by the looks of the transmitter.
Read some of the reviews below the product, not all are that positive.
I have ordered from Hobbyking before and have been happy with the things i bought. However with Hobbyking you have to keep in mind, you get what you pay for. Some things are very cheap wich means they are less durable or older models and they don't allways have all the spare parts.
Personaly i would rather order from
http://www.imex-model.com
or
http://www.taigentanks.com/
or
http://www.rctank.de/ (the above two might have faster shipping to australia)

philipat

That's the infamous "Pan-Tiger". It's so out of scale that it looks ridiculous. The wider tracks would work better in sand, though.

You need to find "smoke and sound" versions to get proportional driving. Turret speeds are fixed - either on or off. Same with gun elevation.

CGNoorLoos gave you some good recommendations for US or German vendors. Mine is local for you (based upon your RCU account).

378

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Any tank can run on sand. Tanks with narrow tracks, however, will very easily beach themselves, whereas tracks with wider tracks will float upon the top layers of the sand and drive quite happily.

Any tank with low ground pressure...look up historical figures and extrapolate for scale RC tanks...will do great on sand and snow. Tanks with high ground pressure will get stuck easily. From WW2, I would say the best three tanks for operation on sand and snow are:

1: T-34(All types)
2: Kliment-Voroshilov series(All types)
3: Tiger I (Combat tracks ONLY, transport tracks too narrow for a relatively firm dry grassy field much less something like sand or mud).

And, as mentioned, you'll have to clean sand out of places you didn't think the tank even had. Ittl strain the motors more, as sand is a difficult medium to move through regardless of ground pressure. ESC and battery life will take a hit. Every time it gets stuck it will gain some weight from sand clinging to it, which will increase ground pressure and make it even more likely to get stuck again. Sand could even cause it to walk a track off, worse, do so only partially binding the track up and damaging/destroying the drive system on that side. I can guarantee you there will be zero strain relief in that tank to protect it from such things.

I don't know firsthand, but being a Hobbyking product, I'd be hesitant to call it safe to use with Duracells. 99% sure that thing won't have a lipo cutoff in it, and even if it does I wouldn't trust it to function.
Cheapest way you're going to get digital proportional control in an RC tank of that scale is going to be buying a Hobby Boss 1/16th Tiger I or T-34/85(Only kits they offer in this scale) and converting them back into RC. These kits are sold as static models, but are in actuality reboxes of old RC tanks from yesteryear and are fairly easy to re-convert. They both still feature nearly frictionless running gear and full suspension, they both retain the old turret rotation gears which are only used to hold the turret on, and the Tiger even retains fully fledged final drive gears. I'm currently reconverting their Tiger I and I have their T-34/85 waiting for round two.

This will require a lot of elbow grease and about $250 or so. Next cheapest option is gonna be a secondhand Taigen/IMEX tank, followed by a new Taigen/IMEX tank/used RC Tamiya 1/16th tank. 1/16th RC Tanks are expensive models, there's no way around it, and you have to ask yourself what HobbyKing is leaving out to sell one ready to run for just fifty dollars. That being said, I might buy one myself and turn it into a range wreck prop to put in the yard when I'm driving my HobbyBoss 1/16th tanks around. Maybe even take potshots at it with the Taigen airsoft turrets if I can make those fit.

Biggest propo RC tank you can get for fifty bucks will be a secondhand 1/72nd VSTank battle set.

philipat

Unless you're tied to WWII tanks, I recommend looking at the smoke and sound modern tanks - ZTZ-99, Leopard II or Abrams. If you want something cheap and to just drive around for fun to see if you really enjoy it, then a basic S&S (smoke and sound) HL will be a good way to jump in. A step-up in both quality and price would be the Taigen (same tanks).

The modern tanks are wide with wide tracks and should run well on most surfaces. They also offer plenty of room to work in should you decide to start upgrading things later.