Maybe we should have our own thread?

I've had a T-72 since March and just received a new Leopard 2 A6 this week. My T-72 had a critical failure in the first week and was promptly replaced by Toyeast. Because of shipping, they only made me return the wheels, treads and battery cover for insurance reasons, leaving me with a hull, all the electronics and the remote. I have been toying with the idea to rebuild it once parts are available, but after getting the 2007 Leopard, I really want to swap the electronics. Has anyone done this? I know HL conversions have been made, but I am yet to see an straight VS upgrade. The T-72 spoiled me and the Leopard just doesn't cut it. If I hear it grinding and watch it throw another tread while making a simple turn, I think I'll kick it off the deck. It's so annoying to me, I just ordered a Type 90. I really wish I had paid closer attention to the details, they had me believing the electronics on the 2007 models were the same as the Tiger, T-72 and Type 90. Can anyone offer some advice before I go and order the boards? One thing of interest, the T-72 and Leopard remotes are not swappable, regardless of the crystal configuration.

Another question. I wanted to have paintball battles with my tanks, but the Leo's barrel does not go low enough to hit the T-72 beyond 2ft. Do you think I could go into the elevation motor and move the gears so that it will aim a bit lower?

Edit: 20g BBs resolved this issue. I can now hit the rubber skirt from 10ft with the barrel all the way down. Now where do I find 20g paintballs?


One more thing, did VS Steve say there were going to be 2.4ghz upgrade kits for all of the old models or was it just the recoiling barrels and laser kits?

The barrel elevation can be shimmed/filed to adjust how the barrel sits. But seriously, don't use paintballs. They are simply not available in a high enough quality to make them trust worthy.

The older VsTanks will see an electronics upgrade kit in the future, that will take your Leo up to T72 performance. Hopefully this year, probably next year. You can do a HL electronics upgrade, but I've never bothered.

I beg to differ regarding 6mm paintballs. All one has to do is look up "paintballs" in the forum search function and you are certain to find some success stories regarding their use as well as brand/type recommendations.

Also; the use of biodegradeable BBs introduces an interesting visual component to RC battles; they purportedly produce a mark similar to chalk upon impact if I recall correctly.

Most BIO BBs won't break when fired from a tank...I've been a fairly hardcore airsofter for almost a decade, so I've seen a few BBs. Airsoft got me here, into tanking.

Any BB that breaks on impact can break in your breach...not something I want to deal with, and not recommended by VsTank...I am, loosely, employed by VsTank.

Compleatly wrong the eco BB's won't break in your VS tanks...Trust me i had over 20 VS tanks and marui tanks I know... I also collect and target shoot airsoft guns sure the eco bb's may brake in some airsoft guns but the tanks air gun works in a much different way where no strain ever gets put on a bb...like a gun with a blow back slide........

I been haunting VS to improve there tanks for about 5 years now and they just now are starting to put some of my ideas i been giving Steve at toyeast into the tanks.... They sill havbe not removed the Toy like jerking back that i kept telling them they had to fix since day one when there first VS tank came out..... they did improve on the new electronics wich is a good thing....and they finnaly are making a target system for the IR series another Idea i gave Steve years back when the first VS IR tanks came out....and it took all these years later and they now are producing such a product... So If it's 1/24 tanks i had over 30 or more of them i know loads about them.... Trust me the eco bb's work fine in the tanks...

If anyone should be employed by VsTankit should be me for all the info i given them over the years!

If the BIO BBs carry enough energy to break on impact, enough energy has been imparted at the tank to break the BB. Conservation of energy.

A misfeed, out of spec BB, etc is all that is needed to cause a problem. Suite yourself, have fun, but don't say a such a thing won't happen...it will, to someone. Just because it hasn't happened to you doesn't mean it won't. I personally choose not to use that kind of ammo in my tanks...I stick to AE .25s, the same ammo I shoot out of all my airsoft guns.

Also, keep in mind that VsTank, ToyEast, Tower Hobbies, whoever you got your tank from, they likely won't have much sympathy for paintball users. Have fun, but use at your own risk.

ive also eco BB's in my VS tanks with now problems as well as my airsoft guns.any bb can be out of spec just look at the ones that come with the hl tanks. the paint balls are the same. if you check the pellets before you load the gun or tank you should be ok. if im not mistaken there is a thread on the subject and shenlonco even has a video of a tank firing the paint balls. i havent posted in here much lately due to getting my feet wet as it were with the rc tug my wife just bought me . oh shenlonco i agree you should br employed by vs with all the ideas you have given

there not paint balls they are hard like tic tak candy they wond break in a toy tank !
And by the way todays bio bb's are just the same quality as the AE .25 did you try TSD bio 180's ? they shoot just as good as the AE's and bioval bio's again very high quality.... I used all the high quality BBS and after using bioval and TSD bio 180 i will not waist my time polluting the earth with plastic there is no need for it when todays bio BB's are on par with the best ones out today...In fact in the future more and more BB's will be available as bio because airsoft playing fields are banning the use of the non bio bb's....

Thank you sir

your welcome

Some of my airsoft I think i know about airsoft and BB's....

O and gbergevin how many years you been working with VS? i been giving them pointers since the first tank they copied off of marui.

nice collection ive had many airsoft over the years as well but im down to just one side arm now (we capa 5.1)imlooking into getting a kwa m-4 to replace the one i sold a few years ago the pics of the m4 tactical is the one im getting from shorty usa

Nice !! I have 2 dragons you can see on the wall the silver one next to the green P99 and the big mighty 7.1 on top of the green P99....I got the marui OPS tactical .45 this is a awesome gun best looking gun i seen! i will take a good photo of it.... Go to airsoftgi.com or trinityairsoft.com evike airsoft is good also.... I was thinking of getting one of the new KWA all metal versions they are very good.

Shenlonco, I've been helping Steve since late May. Regardless of how much you own, you don't understand the mechanics here...if the BBs have enough energy to break on target, they have enough to break in the bore. Conservation of energy, man! Part of the reason I am helping out Steve that I'm an ME; I may or may not get around to doing modeling/analysis for them. This is my bread and butter, but it sure isn't rocket science.

When Steve and I spoke in the past, it was generally about engineering and manufacturing issues and how they relate to getting good tanks out. I can also type up a coherent sentence. Steve wants me to act as a voice to American and European tankers, through forums like these, and later this year through the websites, including a couple of new ones not currently visible to the public. I'll be translating, writing reviews, technical documents, etc, and I'll be showcasing new products and keeping a few sites up to date with VsTank news. If things work out, I'll do some engineering work...but that is probably not going to happen.

If you were wondering, to do what I'm doing, I get paid about two tanks a year, plus goodies...most of the goodies you don't know exist yet, but you will. It's hardly fair to say they employ me at all...I really just help Steve out in exhange for the chance to get cool stuff early. He gets good marketing, I get good tanks...win win.

gbergevin You don't understand the eco BB's are small meant for tight bore barrels AEG's your toy tanks have huge barrel bores...If the eco bb's don't break shooting at 300FPS or more in a barrel the aren't breaking from a 140fps toy airsoft unit....
What forums you one in the past i been on many tank forums some disapeared ...even Toy easts mesage board disapeared where i always put in my input on the tanks.... gbergevinyou have fun with it maybe because they are giving you products they will actually listen and improve the tanks faster .....Like i said it took years on end to get them to make or improve the tanks they did it but they took way to long and still have not gotten to take out the toy jerking back off the tanks ...and that was the main complaint by all users on message boards....it took them until now to make the IR target unit and the scenery wich i always hounded them many years ago to make such items.. anyway it's good that you are working for them to get them to improve opon the tank lines...


Aslvrfrost98csvt take a look at these marui OPS and marui DE .50 Biohazzard special edition raccoon city police leions gun RESIDENT EVEIL

Those are some nice looking sidearms. I personally have a Styer AUG and love the way it looks.

Question for you guys. Is the 1/24th Type 90 out yet? I found it on 1 website, ordered it and got 0 response from them. Does anyone have a Type 90 yet? Does it have the new gearbox or is it like the Marui with the Abrams/Leopard gears? Have you guys found a place to buy parts? I need some Tiger/T-72 boards and I really need a set of T-72 treads because mine are almost bald now.

There's a company called Toy East, which I think is in Hong Kong that sells vs parts, or at least that's where I've gotten some for my tiger.

i use toyeast as well for parts. i havent seen any parts for the t-72 out yet however i would think that the pcm for the (airsoft )tiger or sparkling abrams would be the same .i have all 3 tanks and they all sound the same.

The boards for the different tanks are nto interchangeable. Different physical layout is one thing, but the Tiger/T72 board actually functions differently from the older tanks.

Toyeast is such a great place for VsTank parts because they're owned by the same parent

T72 parts should be available in quanitity in September...but if you really need something, I'd definately email Toyeast and VsTank.


And how did you get your treads to go bald? I run my T72 non stop, and its treads show wear, but nothing close to baldness!


Edit:

And the new Type 90 isn't out yet...It's been getting quietly pushed back for years now. It will be a lot nicer than the old Marui version, whenever it happens to show up. August was the last release date I heard, but that was a long time ago. I'm guessing it will be among the 5 modern tanks released in 09.

That must be why the websites are showing the Type 90 for late August. My treads must be worn down since I drive the crap out of it on concrete and asphalt almost daily. I charge the batteries twice a week. I am unable to find any boards for sale at Toyeast at the moment, I've been checking frequently since I purchased my T-72 from them.

Another question for you guys. Does any version of the Leopard or Abrams have the 2 speed reverse and 2 turning speed controller? I think I got ripped on my leopard purchase. They stated it was a "New 2008 Super Pro Edition" http://www.bananahobby.com/1287.html Mine is not even weathered. I'm getting confused on the different versions because even ToyEast shows all 1/24 tanks with the single speed reverse and stupid turn buttons except the Tigers. This is frustrating. I just want another tank with the same electronics as my T-72 that is not a 70yr old design. any suggestions?

Hi is your tank IR i think tower hobbies sells all the new IR version that have the new electronic's ..all you need to do is look at the radio if it has 2 speeds for reverse it should be the new versions... also if you need parts e-mail Toy east i always do this they get me any parts i needed even ones they don't sell as parts on there site!

The LEO you show is the old version see radio in photo 1 button for reverese.. new one has 2 buttons

I will definately try to contact them again. I'm also trying to contact Hobbico since they do stateside repairs. Going by the buttons on the controllers is not straight forward since even toyeast shows pics of the T-72 with the old controller, directly from VsTank's brocure. All the US websites copy paste the same info for every tank, accurate of not. This is why I am so frustrated. Can the old gearbox handle the new boards? I would not think so. I am trying to build T-72 guts into the Leopard an it looks like the gearbox can be made to fit at an angle. I sure hope all future releases use the T-72 battery configuration since it distributes the weight evenly.

Is there a 2spd reverse Leopard or Abrams in existence? I can swear I saw a Abrams somewhere.

Hobbico likely won't help you...they've provided minimal support for years. They've turned me to Toyeast in the past.

You're correct on the controller/picture thing - everyone mixes and matches different images with different years stock, so you need to be careful with what you order, and from who. Bananahobby is not on my good list.

Old boards and new drives are not compatable - the transmission functions differently. There are 2 speed reverse Leos and Abrams out, they're just rare stateside. I'll have a Leo next week...equiped with a prototpye laser, but thats another story. It was going to be a Tiger, but Steve ran out.

Maybe you can find one on e-bay?
About your LEO do what i did it works 100% better than any VS tanks do i put all the HL smoke and sound electronics inside and it now has much better control and sounds it goes really far now unlike VS tanks that have short range....It's a bit of work but it could be done anoither member Aslvrfrost98csvt also did this conversion with great results ..