I was pleased as punch when it finally arrived in the post, had a play with it on the kitchen floor, great fun! I knew before I bought, though, that there were a few faults with it, mainly: one front road wheel missing, airsoft gun does not fire, turret rotation problems, top hatches and tank commander figure missing.

The turret rotation ring looks fine, all teeth are present and correct, I can only assume it is something in the gearing or the fact that the turret is so loose in it's fitting to the upper hull.

I notice that there are three wires not connected to anything coming from the airsoft mechanism - yellow, and red and black. Is this normal? What do these wires do? Yellow goes to the safety switch, the others I think go to an LED next to the gun (there are two LEDs there - red and clear).

So far as the main drive goes it appears to work great, though it seems to run in just one speed (controller has dummy adjusters). I haven't quite figured out what the three buttons on the transmitter are for yet, I didn't receive any instructions with the tank. I did find three BB balls to test the gun with though (have not tried it yet).

The missing front road wheel - it looks like the suspension mount has broken clean off, I'm sure there will be a way of fixing another one on though... I seriously intend to make some sort of waterproofing so that I can run it outdoors on wet grass etc, this would probably also facilitate this suspension fix at the same time - I have seen a metal suspension fitting rail upgrade which would probably do both jobs, yes? No? Could I fit metal suspension arms without upgrading other metal parts just yet?

Thanks for your help in advance, you great people!


Additional: Oh, and the rear metal engine covers, I quite like those even though they may be totally unhistoric! They might afford a degree of splash-proofing over the original plastic grills. There is nothing at the back to get wet anyway, but I assume that these air vents are important for cooling. Does the tank get hot when just sitting still or is it only when the motors are driving?

Where on earth did you get it??? What a disaster. It's stories like this that give Heng Long a bad name! eeek

Secondhand? Ebay??

It was eBay, but considerably cheaper than any others that I saw for sale. I don't have the money to buy new and I don't mind a project!

No wonder it was cheap, looks fairly used & abused. At least parts are available to have it running like new in no time

With the wires not going anywhere, are they literally not going anywhere?? I see two wires coming from the turret going down - might be extended power switch

The yellow wire pops up next to the gun motor and is just waving in thin air, the black and red wires went into the tank hull and are also waving in thin air, it looks like they were never connected up as there's no sign of solder on them. The yellow wire might have come off the motor, which would explain why the gun does not work. You know how these things are put together... might have been fine when it left the factory and then just come off due to a poor solder join and some vibration.

To be honest I'm not too bothered that it's in a bit of a state, there is really only one part broken (one suspension mount point) which can be fixed, and the tank runs fine without it for the time being anyway.

Judging by all the carpet fibres I'd say this has been the toy of some kids / big kids for indoor use only, the seller had two identical tanks for sale - this was the damaged one, the other made about 150% more in a separate auction. It did come with metal idler wheels already fitted though!

The rear screens are historically accurate, just those don't look historically accurate! Look in the FAQ or do a search for the turret wiring diagram. The suspension arm can be easily replaced, you need a brass standoff and a M3 or M4 screws, again a search will show you lots of photos. That looks like an old 2-speed non-smoker with plastic no-clutch gears, right? If so, the middle buttons are for saving a maneuver into memory. You'll really want to upgrade the tanks electronics to smoke and sound. The 2-speed controller is why the kids beat the tanks up, they take off too fast and bang into everything. The other electronics will give you proportional control even if you don't care for the smoke and sound and you'll get a new transmitter with replaceable crystals. Looks like you've got your work cut out for you!

I discovered that the turret rotation gearbox has a broken gear in it. Damn. I don't suppose one can get spare gears??

I reconnected the yellow wire to the gun motor, it pulls the orange plunger back and releases it at speed, but the pellets don't seem to be firing. It could be something to do with the channel that the ammo rolls down, I'll have to look into that further. At least the mechanism appears to be OK.

Heng Long part at TankZone, there in the UK

http://www.tankzone.co.uk/cart/hl_spares.htm

The Blitz

I have the Turret rotation unit and some road wheels. Have to find the Copla and hatches....Everyone knows Iam not a big HL fan but even I feel bad for that tank. The grill covers OMG if it had been mesh screen it would be in the right ball park but what is that on there? Well if you plan on fixing everything it should be ok I hope you able to do it and she is not to far gone. Looks like a spindle is missing there as well. PM me again and I will try and help you out with what I have available ok.

Have heart. We are all pulling for you to turn this sows ear into a silk purse.!!!!!!!!!!

Hello johnnymorris,
Don't let everyone scare you,most of the things that don't work or that are missing can be replaced or repaired.The non S&S tanks are ok as far as that goes,I still have a couple that I haven't converted to S&S yet.A guy has to buy what he can afford,and we all have to start somewhere.Besides it will be a good one to practice on and you can still have lots of fun with it.I'm not a painter,but I hand brushed a couple of mine and they look pretty darn good.I did buy a cheapie air brush but have not even used it yet.A paint job on your tank will make them look just like new.My local hobby shop had bottles of tamiya paint on sale so I bought a bunch and mixed my own color that I wanted to paint my tanks.(hand brushed two of them).I brushed them with 3 coats,and it was kind of fun and they look great.If the gun trys to shoot(sounds like you allready have it trying to shoot)and no BB comes out the barrel,the rubber seal may be missing,installed wrong,or jammed and won't let the BB go through the breach.The wire to the gun motor is one thing that can cause dammage to the motor if you wire it backwards.The gears for the elevation motor
may be harder to find unless someone in your area might want to help you out with a motor unit they don't need.These units are fairly cheap to replace.Just take it step by step and if you need some advice,just post the question and someone will help you out I'm sure.Good luck and have fun with your tank. BIGMIG

Thank you all for your support and kindness, looks like I joined the right forum!

The gun elevation gearbox is fine, it's the turret rotation gearbox that's got a damaged gear.

I shall have another look at the gun and see if I can find out what the problem is.

hi guys i just got the tiger 1 and want to put in a sound unit , can someone give me a bit of advice on how to do this, its my 1st rc tank so i know nothing about how to do this, and does it have to be a heng long unit or can i use a tamiya unit ? many thanks.

You need an S&S kit (from Mato)... it will transform your tank into something workable, + smoke + sound.

thanks for the prompt answer wackywheelz, i know this sounds stupid but they do come with a guid on how to fit it ?

No, but I've made one: [link=http://members.iinet.net.au/~wackywheelz/tanks/hobbyhavoc/ssupgrade/pershing/]HERE[/link]

Shows what you get, and where it does -- guide is based on HL Pershing, but other tanks (Tiger etc) isnt much different when it comes to installing bits. Give it a look

Hmmm. I'm still nowhere nearer getting my hands on a spare road wheel+pin, cupola and loading hatch for this Tiger. Anybody willing to help me out here? There's been several promises but then it all went very quiet.

Have you tried e-mailing Mato Toys? He'll send a whole upper turret and you can rob the parts off of it and surely has some road wheels laying around.

I was hoping not to spend a lot of money on these parts, Mato Toys sounds like an expensive place not to mention the postage cost of a whole turret to the UK. I could give them a try though, thanks

It's been a year since I checked, the upper half turret was $10, the whole thing with gun was $20. The wheel parts would be free. Did you ever get a smoke and sound kit? Looks like the perfect time to do so!

It's been a very long while since I looked at this project, I just got swept up and involved in other things, but now I'm back and keen to get the thing up and running.

I have a sound and smoke kit and have got so far installing it, I need to sort out some wiring and mount a few things in my modifications -
[ul][*] lifted one of the rear engine covers which I intend to hinge somehow;[*] mounted the volume control next to the original aerial post (I drilled out the circular moulding there);[*] finished assembling the metal suspension mounts and arms, which were a little troublesome but it's 95% good and that's OK for my needs;[*] mounted all of the electronics to the underside of the upper hull using dowel rods and very strong Araldite glue;[*] replaced turret turning gearbox;[*] replaced gun firing mechanism;[*] mounted speaker under one of the rear engine grills (removed from it's original plastic housing);
[/ul]

Still to do -
[ul][*] replace gears to include ones with clutches;[*] find a way to incorporate the smoker unit in the remaining space;[*] work out waterproofing scheme - I have a tube of silicon sealant and some metal to manufacture any cowling I may require;
[/ul]

At present I am uncertain how to wire up the main on/off switch, see photo; my dilemma is that I wish to also include a charging point so that I don't have to take the battery out or open up the tank (access to the charge point will be via the lifted rear engine cover), I have a wiring diagram and just have to get my head around that, but my basic electronics knowledge is escaping me at the moment! There are two wires coming from the main driver board (in the photo) and I'm not sure how they should be connected up to the switch. Any advice on this would be very helpful

Are you still looking for a cupola?? If so I've got one you can have.
regards
Frank

No....not the ripoffzone....no...[:@]

I bought a 2nd tank cheap to get spare parts off so have enough parts to make up one good tank now, however that does mean that I have one spare turret minus a cupola. Maybe best if you give it to someone who really needs it