MAUS45

Wow, BennyB, great break done on the cost to get what ever level of R/C tanking one would like to do. Brands aside, it all breaks down to what your budget is going to be and what you want to do with your tank. This should be posted as a pop up for this forum!!! Really gets to the point. Thanks again BennyB!!!

Cruiser133

This is just MY opinion guys, but when I buy a HL, it is only if Tamiya does not make that model because I end up hacking the HL to my preferences. I HATE the HL battery box, plastic suspension, and electronics so out they go. I have bashed a few HL and I certainly appreciate the offerings which have allowed me to build tanks not offered by Tamiya but the quality never seems to measure up even after I put a boat load of money into it. I can get it close, but I can tell the qualitative difference. I will give HL a lot of credit as I believe they have come a long way from the Pan-Tiger days. I see definite improvement especially with the newest offerings like the Challenger and M1. I think they are a legitimate option for the price point. Not everybody wants to blow $700 plus on a Tammy...

maillemaker

Meh. I've got a $70 HL PIII with no sound and no smoke and the original series electronics. Still one of my best tanks and I run it at least once a week. Same thing for my Sherman and my two Jagdpanthers, one with metal drive/idle wheels and metal tracks. I don't think I ever spent more than $200 for a tank. All of these tanks are run a few times a week until their batteries run dry.

Now, none of them seem to smoke worth a darn after I add more smoke oil (I guess I put in too much?) and the BB guns are fickle to keep running, but beach sand didn't help.

But a $150 tank will do much better than just running it 4 times a year. More like 4 times a week.

Steve

TheBennyB

These numbers reflect today's prices. 5 years ago I could do a HL conversion to tammy electronics for $550. Not happening today, and like I said there are always small exceptions. Glad to hear your PZ III is holding up and your getting
plenty of run time out of it and not bench time.

maillemaker

I've bought all my tanks within the last year.

Steve

TheBennyB

Sounds like you found a good deal. I haven't seen a heng long for under $100 NIB and most are going $110-180 hence my $150 post.

maillemaker

I think the only one that was a "deal" was the PIII for $70, and the only reason it was a deal is it was the old TX0001 board (pre RX-series) that didn't even have a user-changeable crystal, just ABC channel choices, and it had no smoke and no sound. I found another one for $90:

https://www.amazon.com/German-Panzer...+long+panzer+3

But the Sherman and the Jagdpanthers still cost today what they cost six months ago. I think the plastic Sherman and Jagdpanther were like $150 and I think I got the metal upgrade Jagdpanther for like $170 or something.

Now all of these (except the P3) have had troubles of sorts - finicky airsoft units, the Sherman came with a bad drive motor that the seller replaced, the smokers seem to get easily drowned when you re-oil them, but generally speaking the run about 4 times a week in the back yard. Mostly I just like running over things and leaving tank tracks in the dirt.

Steve

Scaleman3

I'm new to tanks but I have been to a couple of Tank gatherings.One thing I noticed was that all the tanks were IR so they could battle each other which made sense, they also had barrel recoil which I like because that is what the REAL tank does.So my question is why HL dropped the IR with Barrel recoil because you feel there dropping the RX-18, what does the RX-18 got to do with IR with barrel recoil? Seems the BB shooter is the new thing but you can't battle with it, seems it should have been the other way around, no BB, just all IR so you could battle and also would sell more tanks so other people could battle you.New sound boards with each specific tank sound would be nice, but I doubt they will be as good as the after market stuff.

Thanks for a reply Dan.

TheBennyB

It's actually the other way around with regard to sales. Unless you've got people in your area to battle with there's no interest in IR. Airsoft has been around since day one of Heng Long and is still a much bigger seller than IR.

maillemaker

I only got into tanks last Christmas. Even though my son and I could IR battle each other, I thought the BBs we be more fun and "real".

However, the BBs are so powerful they actually break the tanks. My poor Sherman has lost most of the external bits and bobs due to accurate Airsoft gunnery! I wish someone made more rubbery/nerfy airsoft pellets.

Those Airsoft guns are no joke. They will shoot through 3 pieces of notebook paper easily at the muzzle.

In the end shooting real projectiles has been less entertaining than I thought it would be. Sometimes we set up empty soda cans for target practice. I think this would be a lot more fun with with an internal bluetooth/wifi camera that sighted along the gun and projected to VR goggles with a reticle like a real tank gunner would see.

Steve

TheBennyB

Have you tried any of the chalk pellets? No need to clean up the yard/driveway of pellets either. I knew of some guys using them years back and they said to read up as some brands don't work well and break in the barrel/chamber.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/5000-6mm-Pai...IAAOSwoudW8G8O

Scaleman3

I'm aware that BB has more sales than IR but why? Can't shoot and kill other tanks AND no barrel recoil like the REAL tanks. No one seems to have an answer, wish I could call HL's great customer service line, LOL!!

jarndice

The answer to why HENG LONG is no longer making I/R Tanks is simply a case of them knowing their market.
Unlike Taigen /Torro/Tamiya,
Heng Long market their Tanks as "TOYS" and the children using them are nowhere near as interested in I/R fighting as they are in knocking 7 bells out of the bedroom door with pellets.
And of course the Heng Long, Taigen and Torro I/R systems are not recognised in international battling,
You have to have a Tamiya compatible I/R system which means a New control board and transmitter/receiver in any of the non Tamiya Tanks so Heng Long see no point in fitting a system that is going to be replaced by the serious battler in any case.
Shaun.

Scaleman3

Got it Jarndice, Looks like I'll have to do my own IR with replacing the BB shooter with an HL IR unit with Barrel recoil. Think I saw them online for $40.00.Then wait for the new HL Sound Board that I've heard about.

CaptainB

Actually, airsoft with barrel recoil is available at the moment. Look at the Taigen Tiger 1. They have built Tiger 1 tanks with airsoft barrel recoil and also sell Tiger 1 turrets with the same feature - I have two. Now, because of the advent of Clark boards and others that have a Barrel recoil feature built in, one only has to rig up a simple linkage from a servo to the gun barrel and perform some barrel mods/ machining, to create the same effect on other tanks. so far, I have 3 Tiger 1's, a Pershing M26, A Walker Bulldog M41 and my latest is a King Tiger, all with airsoft barrel recoil. I can tell you that it's pretty cool firing bb's with barrel recoil and I have no loss in shot velocity - in fact, the opposite!!! I intend to modify all of my BB tanks in this way.

Cheers

CaptB

Scaleman3

Do you have instructions for modifying the BB HL King Tiger to Barrel Recoil?

afv aficionado

Hi CaptB
I'd like to see how you modified your M41?
I've got one of Erik's Airsoft Recoil Tiger turrets, which I've partially cannibalised for the recoil system. Fitting it to the M41, is/was a bit of a problem, as the hole thru the mantlet had to be enlarged to allow recoil of an over barrel on top of the airsoft barrel, had issues cutting a hole both large & straight enough to do that.
Did you try the same approach, or something else?

Mal

CaptainB

Hi scaleman, I don't have instructions and developed the thing along the way because I wanted to develop a system that I know will work on ALL tanks.
When I have put the King Tiger back together hopefully over this weekend, I 'll film it in action with the M41 so you can see the effect. I have a KingTiger with Porsche Turret to modify too and I will try to take some pickies of that build. What you need to do is to split the barrel into an inner and an outer. I cut the barrel off at mantlet entry and machined the inner portion down so that it would fit into some brass tube of 8.0mm I/D. this then became an extension for 3/8" I'd plastic tube which was machined to create a new barrel. I then bored out the second stage piece of the barrel to fit over the tube and create a sliding fit between the two.. this was then linked up to a servo mounted on the airsoft gun in the turret via 16swg piano wire shaped to miss the inside features of the turret. That's basically it but do not underestimate the task as it requires a lot of fitting time and adjustment. You will of course, need access to a lathe or it's a non starter really.

Cheers

CaptB

Scaleman3

Thank you CaptB,

Love to see the pics when your done.