Hey everyone! Been lurking here for a few days and decided its time to chime in. I have 2 Heng Long Tigers, 1 Heng Long Pershing, 1 Trumpeter T-34 and I have a Hobby Engine Leopard coming in a few days. Couldnt afford the ultra expensive Tamiya. Anybody got the Hobby Engine version? I know its a piece of crap but I had to have one. My Pershing runs great and is in the process of a rebuild. Took the sideskirts and baggage off, moved the .50 cal. forward in front of commanders cupola, drilled out the .30 cal. and put the LED behind it, drilled the gunners sight in the mantlet, cut out the red LED from the mantlet MG position, extended the barrel and ordered a bunch of metal parts from backyardarmor.com. One of my Tigers will be a mid war version and I just finished getting all the metal aftermarket late war parts and decals. My other Tiger gave up the ghost with a fried receiver and I ordered 2 replacment receiver boards from MATO. I asked MATO about a new muzzle brake and they gave me an entire barrel with mantlet for FREE!! The T-34 runs OK but pulls to the left. Its still new so maybe it needs to be broken in as that side seems a little stiff. Anyway any thoughts on the Hobby Engine 1/16 Leopard is appreciated. So far I have a Tamiya metal barrel for it and will probably need replacemant tracks as the stock ones are rubber band type.

Oops. The red LED in the mantlet occupies the space for the gunner's telescope. All you need to do is push the LED out as it is normally a friction fit and the resulting hole is the correct size. The aperture on the other side of the mantlet that is missing on the HL Pershing is the port for the Browning .30 caliber coaxial MG. This port is smaller and should be around 3mm.

That's just my historically correct and anal answer.

Welcome to the forum and good luck with the HE Leopard!

-Harquebus

Just checked Zalogas Pershing book. Your right, got my holes mixed up. The LED on mine was glued in but it came out clean with the Dremel. I'd like to mount the antenea on the turret where it belongs but I'm worried about the wire getting hung up when the turret turns.

Well there's other wires in the turret as well so no need for worries unless you have modified the turret to have a 360 degree turret ring. Then you will have no wire entanglement issues.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_5435477/tm.htm

As you're already aware, the current stock HL setup will not let you rotate the turret completely around past the rear of the hull - it has a limiter on the turret gear ring and it will make the traverse motor click if you try.

EDIT: This "traverse limiter", a simple stud on the gear ring, is what prevents the wires from tangling in the turret. If Heng long omitted this simple safety measure, then it is conceivable that someone could traverse the turret continually in one direction until the wires/solder joints snapped.

I also noticed the .50 cal. Browning has issues. The ammo can is in the wrong place and has no cradle and there is a hole for the charging handle but there isnt one. Easy enough fix but you would think after all the research they did they could have gotten it right!

What research? They got so many of the details wrong so why would they take the time to get the "Ma Deuce" right?

Anyway, you'll have loads of fun correcting all the details to make your Pershing very unique.

I didnt modify it for 360 on the turret only because its easy to forget how far you've gone and could twist the wires so I think a turret antennea might be OK. Just wasnt sure if anybody else has done it.

LOL!! Research! The makers prob copied the Tamiya from what Ive read!

Its realy not that bad though. Compared to Zaloga's book and Hunnicuts Pershing book its acceptable.

Agreed. They got the basic shape right and although it is obvious that the Tamiya Pershing is the inspiration for the "Snow Leopard", it is equally believed by some that they altered some of the details on purpose so as not to raise Tamiya's ire and promote some kind of lawsuit.

Tamiya however does not own the rights to the Pershing design. Heng Long has already superseded this copycat stance anyway with the introduction of the M41 Walker Bulldog and the Panzerkampfwagen III. Those are definitely not a copy of any existing 1/16 tank.

-H

I can only hope they copy the King Tiger!! ..... and a Centurion, Panther G (properly), Soviet JS3, T55, Merkava, Jagdtiger, British Conquerer, US T28 heavy, etc,etc!!!!!!!!!

I got one, and she is a great runner with upgraded proportional electronics. One could probably use Heng Long S&S boards in this tank to give it smoke and engine sound capability.

Great pics! Mine should be here for delivery tomorow by UPS. I can't wait! Glad I got the Tamiya metal barrel. A little creative surgury will fix the stubby look. I'll have to cut the bore evacuator out and remount it on the Tamiya barrel.

I thought it came with parts for optional A5 or A6 barrel lengths? The short one is accurate for a late model A5.

I'll let you know what barrels come with it when I get it. Was supossed to be here today but the UPS website now says tommorow. I paid only $15 for the aluminum Tamiya barrel. Always good to have a spare.

Mine came with the shorter A5 gun barrel.

Great stuff on the Leopard here. http://fprado.com/armorsite/leo2.htm

Ok, got it today! Myfirst impression is that its BIG! Bigger than my other RC tanks. Just like the one Richard L posted. Its like my T-34 with only one speed. No engine sounds but has cannon and MG sound although the MG fires only when raising or lowering the cannon. The main gun has a recoil effect as well as the tank jerking back when firing. Theres some shells that you insert into the barrel with a plunger to fire them. You can only do it one at a time so i wont be using them. There are some armored wings that fold out from the turret. I didnt see these on the real tank. I took the little AA 7.2battery pack out and replaced it with a 6 cell C 7.2 battery and it runs MUCH longer!! The tracks are a big disapointment. Rubber band type and it almost instantly will throw a track as soon as you go off road. Even on level hard driveway concrete I had some trouble with the tracks riding up and over the side of the wheels. This realy p,d me off as it has good working suspension which will only function off road. Was it worth $100? I guess so considering the astronomical price of the Tamiya Leopard. It certainly looks good and its already assembled and painted.

OK I did it. I cut off the rear most antennea stub on the turret and inlarged the hole. The metal antennea mount press fitted right in. I ran the wire behind the airsoft mechanism up to the turret roof. Seems like it should work fine. I'll know more when the rebuild is finished.

The "wings" as you called them are on the real thing and do fold out. When the crew needs to remove the engine deck or remove the engine the turret is turned sideways. With the A5/A6 upgrade they found that the side armor on the turret still got in the way. It hinges out so when the turret is turned the armor can be swung out of the way and the motor change can be done.

Ok makes sense. I couldnt find any pictures of the wings folded out.

Richard L,

Hello, first time poster and new owner (well, they're on the way...) of Hobby Engine Abrams'/Leopards.

As such, I read your comment about proportional electronics with interest and would like to know if this is something that can be performed as a single-package service by someone or if the electronics are sufficiently plug'n'play that they can be borrowed piece meal from Heng Long or Tamiya and installed by anyone.

I would like-

1. Graduated acceleration.
2. Single stick turning controls.
3. Barrel elevation without MG noise.
4. Battlefield IR.
5. Engine Noise.
6. Metal, non-shed tracks.

Is this in anyway possible with the HE tanks and if so, what's the first step/parts source (Backyard Armor?) to help get me going?


Thank You- CJ

Basically you would install all the heng long electronics and gut the rest. Should be fun

Hi,

The only really crap things about the Hobby Engine Leo are the running gear and none-proportional electronics which are all easily replaced.
Here's a link to my upgrade: [link=http://www.rctankwarfare.com/Forums/index.php/topic,175.0.html]HE Leo2 Upgrade[/link]
Other than that the tank is very well detailed and finished. It's also one hell of a lot cheaper than the tamiya!

Cheers
John

Gentlemen, Here's my experience with the HE Leopard. I gutted the whole thing and used HL electronics. Pershing tracks were used to replace the "rubber bands". HL Pershing gears and sprockets were installed. To accomidate the new tracks, I machined pvc spacer rings to reduce the gap between the wheels. During test runs, the tracks would still slip off. I discovered that the torsion arms flex and twist quite a bit during turns and pivots. thus letting the track slip off the sprocket. One will definately have to replace or manufacture stiffer torsion bars.
I then gutted the turret and installed a co2 cannon ,thanks to the "My ultimate HL airsoft upgrade" thread. It works great, but I have to figure out a bb feeder system. Here's the thread on my Leopard [link]http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=6707827&key=leopard+2a5[/link]