Illegal frequency?!! I did not know that RC vehicles were even manufactured with illegal frequencies. [] Cool, I'm an outlaw! I wonder how anyone would even find out that the frequency for the RC tanks are against the law???

I stated in another post that no hobby shops in my area even sell Hen Long tanks, but I saw one in HobbyTown, today. It is hard for me to believe that they would even carry something that is illegal. []

Sometimes when R/Cs are shipped from overseas they are shipped using frequencies not allowed by the FCC for R/C use.

The R/Cs legally brought into the US must be on certain frequencies and within certain channels of those frequencies.

I know of 49mhz, 75mhz, 27mhz and 72mhz but I'm sure there are more I forgot.

The only time you'd get busted is if your radio caused interference with someones equipment and they traced it back to your transmitter. The chances of that happening are almost zero but it "could" happen. The power of these junk transmitters that Heng Long uses are so weak that the interference will likely never happen.

Hello, I received the Tiger for Christmas and it's been working pretty good except for the smoke. When I first started it the smoke appeared then stopped working. Could I have overfilled it [&o] Can I just keep it on hoping it will eventually start smoking? Also, my smoke mechanism makes a loud clicking noise when turned on that just doesn't sound right. Is it normal to hear the smoke mechanism when turned on? Happy with everything so far though

Ok, I know what you are saying about this junk transmitter. It is junk! I fly rc planes and most of them are on a JR 9303. I have been flying for 10 years and know a bit about RC and RC channels. Also I used to have a HAM radio certificate a few years ago. I do know this, the FCC does not care if you can only transmitt ten feet on a freq. that you are not licesened for. If you are caught doing so you will be prosicuted to the full extent of the law. Now when you buy an rc product, part of the price you pay, is for the fees, the almighty Government needs for their FCC dues. I know, I used to own a hobby outlet. Hen Long is in violation of the FCC rules, everytime they ship a product with an illegal Frequency. I am just not willing to risk a 20,000 dollar fine because some company finds it easy to send illegal freq. products to me.

The smoke machine should have already been filled with aerosol when it arrived, so you may have over-filled it. []

As far as the sound, it does make noise, but it should be a smooth sound.....maybe some sort of foreign object is lodged in the moving parts of the mechanism.

Good Luck!
Jason

icecreamslick...I'll try to check on the mechanism. It does sound like something is stuck and not able to turn or something. Goes 'click', 'click', 'click'. Also, while the smoke mechanism is turned on I'm still able to activate the machine gun and cannon sounds, and shoot pellets (I thought someone posted that they wouldn't work if the smoke mechanism is on). Could there be different versions out there?

Is the smoke mechanism easy to work on?

Thanks!

All I can say for sure, is that my Hen Long Pershing electronics seemed to be overloaded by the smoke machine, so I removed it in an effort to pin-point the problem-I never worked on it because it seems to work well, independently. I was advised to clean out all of the factory lubricant that was used in the smoker and to lightly coat the moving parts with a small amount of silicone, so that the parts move more freely and put less stress on the battery.

Since the first day that I received and drove my tank, I have had very poor performance (tank still freezes, sputters and travels beyond the input from the transmitter), so I ordered a replacement receiver and sound board. Before that, I also replaced the crystals, tried different batteries, and disconnected one feature at a time (smoke, sound, turret, gun etc.) in order to locate the problem. Once I install the new electronics, I will finally find out if it is the board itself, or just a Studebaker of a tank.

My tank (and according to the manual) will not make the sounds if the smoke machine is switched on........if yours all work together, yours may be a fluke. [sm=thumbup.gif]

As far as different versions, I have read that each new batch of HL tanks vary in dependability, but I do not believe many arrive without some sort of problem.

I certainly wish you good luck with your tank. [8D]
Jason

Mine must be a fluke because everthing works when the smoke mechanism is on [sm=thumbup.gif] I just ordered my brother one. It's going straight to his house but I'll make sure to find out how his works when it arrives in a few days. Hope he gets a good one.

Good luck with your tank and hope you find out what's causing the problems.

So how do we check the freq that our tanks are on? I would hate to have th FCC showup on my doorstep with handcuffs or a subpeona for court.

If my tank has an illegal channel, and I bought it in the US, from a US distributor, do i have any recourse against that distributor? Is there any way to replace the radio system if that is the case?

The Crystal should have the freq on it. If you can get to either one (transmitter or reciever) it should have it. The only other way would take another transmitter of a known freq and see if it responds to it.

I have the 1/16 Tiger witn the no smoke version. If the cannon shoots air only, the bbs may be jam. Just move the tank forward or backward or shack it to lose the jam. I have total run time 2 hours since I bought it last year but I checked it last night and everything still works fine. I don't expect a lot from this tank since is not as expensive as my other tanks like tokyo marui brand and vstank brand. Those cannons are very strong shooter and accurate and jam less than the Hen Long. Also, use good quality bbs help, too. The bbs come with the Hen Long are not good at all and will ruin the airsoft mechanism sooner or later.

Well, my brother received his Snow Leopard the other day and he informs me that everything is running just fine. His seems to smoke a lot where it's definitely noticable. He is using a different battery pack so maybe it's able to run the smoke mechanism a little better. Shoots without a problem so far also. So there are some good ones out there

I am wondering if the spy ax came from Texas?

I just got the latest version of the Tiger 1 and it works fine. The smoke works well but I don't use it. I use a new Astro Flight 112D digital charger for all of my nicah and Nimh batteries and the 1700 mah nicad that comes with the HL Tiger 1 seems pretty good. It takes 1850mah charge and over 10 volts off of the charger so maybe the tank likes lots of current. If you have a tank with problems try using a battery of known quality. My brother has the latest Pershing and his turret got stuck but he just gave it a push and it works well now.

Mike

I am new to Heng Long but the problems are many
The smoke -no
Cannon sound -no
The tank run for a while then stop running but still on, after one or two minutes runs again and then stops again
and so on
Any help please

Hi all,

New to the RC 1/16 scale tank scene, been playing with 1/24 HL and TM tanks for a while and decided to move to 1/16 scale. Please pardon my lengthy post as i have read through this thread and think i may be able to add some value. Please also excuse my poor english!

Been cursed with inconsistent tank decals/accessories kit and missing accessories after i purchased all 3 tanks at one shot (Pershing, Tiger 1 and Panther) and had to go back to the store 3 times (had drive 1 hour each way) to do the exchange. I think its more of the stores fault than anything to do with the HL factory though.

Just to share with all what i know about the HL tanks. There are 2-3 versions of the tank, when buying one, either on line or on ebay, please check which type you want as the versions which don't smoke or make sounds are cheaper than the ones which do. So basically here is what i have noticed(Please correct me if i am wrong):

Type 1:
Shoots, moves and turns, turrent turns, raises and lowers cannon. Has program mode to get the tank to automatically move and shoot and lower or raise cannon and repeat the above with the push of a button. (Good for a tank based booby trap though!!)
This is the older and cheaper version. Not as powerful as TM and VS airsoft gun and shoots 10 -15 metres at most(please don't shoot any animals with it though). More reliable cannon than the 1/24 scale ones.

Type 2:
Does all of the above and has adjustable engine sound as well as a machine gun sound
(Seems discontinued)

Type 3
Does everything Type 1 & 2 does and has a smoking exhuast(Nitro based) which you MUST not overfill. There is a bottom switch for you to turn the smoke emitter off and on. The smoke emitter fuel tank has already filled with the fuel from the factory and 2-3 drops initially is fine, after the first 1.5-2hours, its necessary then to fill with 5-6 drops.

Being ethnic Chinese, i was quite lucky to be able to read the instructions in both mandarin and english and my frustrations with the local store has lead me to check with a few close friends in China who knows the oem factories that manufacture under the Henlong brand. Now i can finally get the CORRECT accessory pack for my Panther tank and get the rest of the tanks and spare parts direct from the guys.(hmm maybe should setup an online store or something LOL) Please remember that these are not Tokyo Marui manufacturers but quality is more than noticeably improved from the 1/24 scale ones that they had produced. Noticed a few accessories parts between the Tamiya and the HL ones are interchangeable though like the tank tracks, idler wheels, road wheels etc. Tank commander is quite crappy and once you mount it, you will have problems filling in the BBs. Hope this post is of some use. Cheers!!

Note on the tanks: (from my china friends, translated from mandarin):
Please always always use only good/high grade BBs, discard any of the ones that came in the box or it will ruin your cannon. Its only given for testing and should not be used on a prolonged basis. Do not overcharge the battery, the charger that comes with it is an el cheapo one which can overcharge it if you are not careful. The smoke motor should not affect the noise or functions of the machine gun.
The Tiger 1 tank comes with at least 2-3 BBs pre-filled in the turrent so be careful when you start the thing for the first time!!!

Ah another thing before i forget, the early version of the HL 1/16 scale are still using the A,B,C 27mhz bands and limits you on what you can do how many tanks you can have in a battle at once. The newer ones features removable crystals on the transmitter(tx) and receiver(rx) on the tank(beneath the battery in the battery compartment)

Anyone with a problem with the radio frequency being illegal should either buy matching crystals that are legal in their state or if you are unsure, bring the tank and the transmitter to your neighbourhood RC shop and get a replacement set and test.

Also, once you fill the nitro tank(smoke emitter), tip the tank at 45 degrees to let it flow better.


Happy tanking!!!

icecreamslick,
you `ve said:
" My tank (and according to the manual) will not make the sounds if the smoke machine is switched on........if yours all work together, "

is that so (your tank) ? [X(][X(]
the sounds stops when switching smoke on ?[sm=confused.gif]

never seen that model before[X(]

All three of my Supers (Tiger, Pershing, and Walker) all have sound with the smoke running.

Bad luck on your experience - could you just have the seller exchange it out for you? I'm sure they must have some sort of warranty since you just got it. On the smoke issue, is it making the chugging sound at all when its on?

That stock battery isn't all that great - nor is the included charger. Do you have a better car battery and charger - try this first and we can work from there.

hi...i am john in vero beach FL, 38 yo and just got 2 smoking airsoft tanks, the tiger & the m41a3 & they are SUPER-KOOL!
the problem is they are both the same freq and i cannot seem to find anywhere to get replacement crystals for them to both go at once, and i am going to get a 3rd for myself! the 2 are for my 5 & 7 yo kids...but i want to play too! so where can i find out more about 1/16 tanks or bigger, and replacement parts & other stuff for them, including the heng longs i have now. BTW, i have not had any problems so far, although we have only run them for like 20 mins before needing to charge them from outta the box.
any additional info would be greatly appreciated, and i am also MasCheefer on xbox live, Halo2 mostly.
thanks & merry Christmas to all!

Spare crystal sets are available from [link=http://www.tankzone.co.uk/cart/tz_henglong.htm]Tankzone[/link] and [link=http://www.matotoys.com/canada/product_info.php?products_id=103]Mato Toys[/link].

-Harquebus

These Hobbico Red Hawk Crystals also work. With them you can legally get 7 tanks to run at the same time with the Heng Long electronics.

[link=http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&W=001200560&I=LXLEW8&P=K]Tower Hobbies[/link]

i bought a 1/16 HL Mark 3 no sound and no smoke, on day four the tank wont move forward , but only when i press the O.K button and move the joystick forward at the same time it work. i cant find what's the problem.