I am courious to know how these tanks are in terms of taking apart and breaking down in terms of painting and customizing. I have tamiya systems, but tamiya don't have a pz iii or pz iv and I want to add one to the motorpool. I have seen some great looking ones and was wondering how hard they are to work with. Thanks for the info.

Keep on tanking.

they are not hard to dismantle there are plenty of upgrades available just strip it bare then wash it and you are reaDY TO PAINT WELL that is when you finish customizing it to your standard
the panzer III has about 6 or 8 screws securing both halfes together its actually very easy

Yep, they come apart very easily, just a phillips head and you're pretty much set to complete disassemble it. Most of the add one bits simply pop or pull off with a little effort, there is no black magic or sorcery needed.

Like Dave05 said, 6-8 easily accessable screws gets you inside the tank, a further 4 gets you into the turret. A couple for each circuit board, 6 for the gearboxes (all up). For larger mods the plastic is a little thicker (often double thickness) than Tamiya or similar "kit" tanks, which is nice because you have a little more "meat" to work with, strong surface for dremelling or mounting things. All-round I would say very easy to work on and customise

Heng Longs are easy to work with, and that is the primary reason they have been so successful. THe PVC plastic used in their construction is perfect for big models. I actually think they have an advantage over others because of this. Like Wacky says they are stiff and durable.

The HL tanks are very good for modifications or conversions. I have converted 6 Pz IIIs and 4 Pershings into other models and if you have a hand at modelling, no problem and disassembly is easy. The Tiger required removing the tracks to get the upper half off, but they are nice to work on.

Yeah, if you're not good at building models at least you can tear them apart! [sm=lol.gif][sm=lol.gif]

Just kiddin' guys.

A SOLDERING IRON!.

You guys forgot to mention the soldering iron. As durable as the plastic may be, the electronics - especially the solder joints - can be fragile! When you first open the tank, do yourself a favor and take a few digital picts of all where all the wires go. I opened up my Panzer III to fix one thing, and ended up breaking off two wires. Being my first HL, it took me 20 -30 minutes to figure out where one of them went. If you plan to be inside the tank frequently I'd cut some of the wire and add connectors.

They are easy to work on and upgrade and don't cost a lot to experiment with. Look around the forum, and you will see the results are only limited by you time, skill, and $$$.

This page has Steve and John's Panzer III mods, Merle's Jagdpanther is an extreme mod of a HL.

http://web.mac.com/ksoc/S.C.A.T./Special_Projects.html