I have put together my RC tank order order and I'm just waiting for dealer to open back up from weekend closings. I have been reading quite a bit on the internet the last few weeks trying to educate myself a little. It seems as though quite a few people feel the Tamiya RC 1/16 tanks breakdown a lot when used outdoors and the owners complain of spare parts availability. These same people tout the durability and ruggedness of their Tokyo Marui 1/24 tanks and the 21st Century Toys Stuart 1/6 tank. Does anyone have any experience with the Marui tanks? I don't see the fun in owning one of them as they come preassembled, for me, that defeats the purpose as building them will be half (or more) of the fun. Any input? Thanks for your time!

Jeremy

Although I can not speak for Marui, I can tell you that the Tamiya 1/16 tanks are pretty durable. Minor design flaws are easily overcome with a few aftermarket parts available. My King Tiger and Tiger I run great outdoors and on a simulated outdoor area. Both tanks however tend to slide on slick surfaces such as smooth concrete so this presents the oppurtunity for practice at control. Given what I now know about the two tanks, I would chose the Tiger I over the King Tiger simply for the fact that it runs better and handles really well. As for the Sherman or the Pershing, maybe someone else can answer that better than I.

Tamiya spare parts have not been a problem for me. If I needed something, I just ordered it.

I can tell you however about the 1/6 21st Century Stuart. It has potential to become a good R/C conversion from the substandard electronics it comes with. I have one of these also and the control out of the box leaves something to be desired. Several have already done work on theirs and have made them run really well.

Good Luck on your build.

I have to say, stay with tamiya tank.
it will be long story to compare those 3 brand.
tamiya is much fun to build and run.

AKMopar,
As any RC product you buy, they will each have their own pros and cons. In the two years that I have had the Pershing and King Tiger, the only problems that I have had with breakdowns was due to my carelessness. Wear and tear will affect any RC tank but the other breakdown issues, from my experience, is due to the end user. Every part, which is few, that I have replaced was due to my negligence, ie. running it into a door, hockey bag, rolled it once and ran it on a stony terrain that is not recommended. You will occasionally get a part that maybe defective straight out of the box. Tamiya's customer service is excellent. They will replace a part that you feel is defective as long as the user did not create it. I had done this with the turret rotation unit on my King. I had just put it together and realized that the clutch in the unit was defective and called Tamiya and they said to mail it in and that they would replace it as long as I didn’t ruin it myself. Of the two tanks I have, I would say that I am very very happy with them. If you have a part that is broken in one of the pre-assembled tanks, it maybe harder to replace that part and the tank maybe a wash. At least with Tamiya, you can replace any part. I had gone about a year before any part on the two tanks broke that I had caused. I had a Ripmax Abrams 1/16 tank and I was very disappointed. It could not do a third of the stuff the Tamiya tanks can. Granted the tank only cost me about 130, it was a 130-dollar disappointment. It could only run on smooth surfaces and it did not have suspension.
You will really enjoy any Tamiya tank, I quaretee it.

AKMopar

I have 6 of the 1/16 Tamiya tanks and 3 of the 1/24 versions of tanks from Academy, Hen Long and Radio-Shack (not Mauri though) and the durability is the excelling quality of the smaller versions over the larger brothers (you can drop it and it won’t break).

The larger tanks have every other advantage of functionality, realism and build to suit knowing it is your construction.

The 1/16 Leo from Tamiya approaches the durability of the 1/24 versions and is quite tough, much more so than the other 1/16 Tamiya tanks hands down.

Cheers
Eric Scott
www.sead.us

Eric,
From how high did you drop the tank?

You should not be drinking and tanking! [&o]

What ever you do, if you get a Tamiya tank, please do not paint it hot pink and put flames on it.[:'(]

Lets just say I let my 3 year old play with the 1/24 versions while I work on the 1/16 ones!

Eric Scott

Well I have had the Hen Longs thay are not much no power! As far as my Tamiyas go after a few mods thay are quite tought and with ever thing a have I play hard.But mine tanks are to old cluch steer type

Eric,
have you ever had a collision of your 1/16 and you baby's 1/24? I guess you would lose[X(]

RRR:

I had a clutched KT myself way back in the late 80's, & used to do the mall displays with the other electric-offroad members. We did these to advertise the local clubs. One afternoon one of the guys was feeling playful, and decided to put some real combat dings in my new track-guards...

( I'd spent the previous week making new guards out of pop-can aluminum, it was thicker back then, decenly usable... and they looked much better than the stock ones. Even used proper hex-head bolts in place of the molded-on ones... )

Well... they dinna know I was only using half-throttle for rolling about, and a 7-cell pack to boot. Next one who got close to me got a surprise when I goosed the throttle to 100%, and drove ~OVER~ his car. The other guys laughsed until i repeated it to them too... once each.

That first guy whined for the next week about the scratches I'd put in his new body (all the others had been using scuffed race bodies) and I replied the first time he rolled on the dirt track, he'd have worse than the composite Tamiya tracks had done.

I can just see that replayed today... using METAL tracks... with the screaming about replacement bodies. Hey, you're nuts enough to start a game of RC tag, be prepared for the worst... ;-)

WhiteWolf
( cant wait to do it to the first twit who brings a Nikko or Radio Shack near me...)

wolfy, you have been talking about rc tanks for long time, i never saw a single picture of your tanks. I really want to see them. it is ok if you do not want to.

So whats the deal with you two? Plus what is the deal with you(Tom) and the other Tom? It seem to me a lot of tankers do not like you at all(Tom) so whats the deal?????

I just want to see some more pictures of tanks here. [sm=punching.gif]
email privately if you want stories.

You have mail

I wondered how long it would take, if you want to bait Wolfie, do it offline Tom, otherwise you will end up getting banned from here, as you have been from ALL the other RC tank forums.

Thank you for the tips, I do not think I will be banned this time because:
1. I just want to see some picture of his tank.
2. all I do here follow rule of this forum.
3. I did not care being banned from any forum. as long as I speak out the truth. but I learnt public forum is not place for any fight. so here we go, I am following the forum rules. what is wrong to request pictures of his tanks from a fellow tanker?

Please do not reply, this is not going anywhere. [sm=drowning.gif]

Neville:

Relax... he's pushed his luck elsewhere, and seems to have decided to hereas well. Let him rant. So far all its done is get him removed all over (live & online).

As for pictures...

Who wants to look at piles of parts? My Pershing still needs a few pieces before re-assembly, and my Sherman is awaiting a few bits too. The KT and T1 are next... but may not see track time this summer. The 8x8 is awaiting a final drive component, and then it may roll for the first 'test drive'... bodyless, but it's moving under power. And no video, my Kodak DC50 aint capable of that. Mebbe I can find a neighbor with a digital video cam to take a few loops for me.

WhiteWolf

ww.finescalemodel.com is not some stupid yahoo group, one dictator can remove anybody who is not on his side. [sm=punching.gif]

but seriously, I want to see your pile of parts. I remember you told me same thing 4 years ago, oh no, you did not have pershing yet. are you kiding me, no tank is running for 4 years?[X(][X(] you must be very busy online.[sm=confused.gif]

ww.finescalemodel.com is not some stupid yahoo group, one dictator can remove anybody who is not on his side. [sm=punching.gif]


[/quote]
What did thay do to you on finescalemodel Tom?

Tom,

Is it polite to call the moderators on other forums dictators? It won't do much to help your cause. My forums are highly moderated, and I've asked everyone on that thread to get back on topic and refrain from flame wars, but you seem to ignore that, and you drag our name into the mud on someone else's forum? Just remember, I'm one of those 'dictators' with a magic delete button.

Jeff Herne
Associate Editor, FineScale Modeler

Is this a joke or not?
is this real Jeff?
1. I have right to refer any web site of hobby related.
2. All I did on FSM forum was to share my personal experience with one product, then WW threw flame on me stating I ripped some people off by selling junk because he is close to that product maker. did you read that?
3. please read whole thing before you reach the conclusion: I ignore the rule of your forum. all I did was to reply either WW or WL post.
4. you have no right to criticize me here as a moderator from other forum. you can do whatever you want to do on your forum and I respect your right.
5. I am following the rule here, keeping on topic, this post is just a reply to your post.
wheather you are real or fake Jeff, this help cleared truth. [sm=idea.gif] I am not going to reply to this topic anymore because it is off topic.

Boy, some of you really know how to screw up a wet dream. I joined this 'Forum' to discuss tanks, not hear about other people’s beef. If you need to go toe to toe please send private e-mails to the individual. Please don't use this forum as your personal punching bag. I deal with people at work backstabbing and complaining all day. The last thing I need is to hop on line and see it here too. I use this forum, and my tanks, as a way for me to unwind and have fun. Let’s set this aside and get back to the topics of TANKS.
Thanks.

Anyone have any ideas on how to strip paint on a Tamiay tank?