suprtrpr17674

Does anybody know why 21st Century stopped making large scale tanks?

pzrwest

I think it was because of lack of sales. From what I have read on the 1/6th scale forums they weren't a big seller.

BIGMIG

This is one post I will comment on here because they happen to be my " favorite tank". There are not that many people you will find here that have and post on these tanks.Most of these model toy tanks of all scales were built to apeal to kids as toys to play with and thats who most of them are sold to.If you look at the ammount of people you will find on any of the forums it is not hard to figure out if they were the only one's buying these tanks it would not be much of an industry,a few hundred tank sales would not set the world on fire. How many millions upon millions of people in this world ??? How many countrys in this world and how many members do you see on forums from those countrys.??? Most of the people who post on these forums are into tanks as a hobby and don't represent who these tanks are actually sold to if you look at the over-all sales of these toys.Most of the members here are adults,not kids.

My guess is these tanks were made to apeal to kids,but there was problems that didn't have much thought when they were being produced.They are big,and they are heavy.Not a good combination for kids.The small scale tanks can be run around in most houses and appartments,that is not the case for a 1/6 scale tank they are just to big.There were only a few different models to chose from in this scale.These tanks are heavy and much to big for most kids to handle,and if you pick one up and drop it (well they are not made to drop-and they will not take the abuse most kids will dish out to them-not for long anyway) But one of the biggest factors is just the fact they are big and take up a lot of room that most people just don't have.I still have 4 of these big 1/6 scale tanks,i had more.Taking up space will be shown in the pictures below.

Just my guess and opinion for what it worth.

Leon01

I'm with BigMig just one of the best tanks out of the Box for the money. BigMig bought my 1/9 scale Abrams which I hated to sell.

skitt

I thought that Heng Long was exploring the idea of 1/6 scale? I would love a 1/6 scale Tiger, but the ones out there are too costly for my budget.

Skitt

thomasjohnmurphy

I have a 1/6 Stuart and would like to upgrade it oneday. I picked up the 1/9 Abrams and have it well hidden unit I build enough credits witht the wife to finally show her what I have (lol)

kennywsp

My Feedback: (3)

They are tougher than they look. I had one that I sent down an embankment.......WELL it was a little too steep and it went turret over tracks end to end down the hill rolled about three times and landed on its tracks only thing that happened was the battery came out off the compartment. Which I had not screwed shut.[X(] And no BIGMIG it wasn't the one I sold you

pzrwest

There was 2 versions of the 1/6th scale Stuart, a static one and an rc version. The static version has a turret tub and openings for the driver and bow gunner, where the rc version doesn't have the turret tub and the driver and bow gunner openings are closed under the hatches. The rc version had a dart gun affair cannon that doesn't elevate where the static has a non firing gun but can elevate. Also the tracks are different between the two. The rc version has individual pinned track links where the static one has a rubber loop type track

BIGMIG

It was a good one to,and at a grat price.I had a lot of fun working on it a little,and sadly I to had to sell it as I to was making room for another hobby.I do like the big scale The stuart I got from Kennywsp was also a very good one and still have it as you can see in the pictures.

phasor

This 1/6 M5 Stuart is indeed hard to find these days as they were originally released 5/6 years ago. It does have a following with one forum, M5Stuarttankbattalion, having about 1200 members. To this day, one guy is doing pretty good sales on upgrade tracks which sell at $300 or about twice the price many paid for the whole tank. The tank right out of the box will work but performs poorly relative to the 1/16 tanks we are all used to. Radio gear definitely needs replacement as the stock rx/tx has limited range and oddly looses control and makes tank jerky at about 8-ft range. Also, speed control is limited to on/off so tank is either running full speed or skidding to a stop. Upgrade to ESC is an option that will make tank behave realistically. Sound is not bad but limited to idle and full speed. Yes, it is heavy as the 12v battery alone weighs more than a henglong tank. Obviously, the big scale offers lots of space for add-ons with more to spare.

fleshpedler

Sorry if i have got it wrong lads but i thought that 21st were no longer tradeing !
Please correct if iam wrong and as i have one of those little chaps the stuart to which i am busy
shall we say improving, will post a few pics soon.
Fleshy...........................

pattoncommander

lack of sales, but there a few sites that deal almost exclusively with the stuart and upgrade parts are available.
m5stuartRCtankbattalion is one site in the USA. Jack Yang makes original style single pad end connector teeth tracks for it.
Some guys have paintball guns in them.

The Stuart is a neat tank and very durable.

pzrwest

I agree I love my Stuart after I did some modifications mine is an rc one. And yes I would love to upgrade the stock electronics in it then it would be even better.
Here are some pics with the first modifications started



And here are some done up as a recce tank with the 1st Hussars of Canada

BIGMIG

There are a lot of these still showing up all the time on ebay-It is interesting to see the variation in prices these get sold for.Allthough I'm not curently looking to buy any more I still watch the sales of them on ebay.The other day there was one that sold for over $400.00 dollars plus shipping,a stock stuart-??? If you are looking to buy one and are a member of ebayyou can go into the closed auctions area for the 1/6 stuarts and use that as a guide as to what you may expect to pay for one.They sell for $70.00 dollars and upBut be "carefull" what you bid on as there are a lot of " NON-RC-MODELS " being sold and some of the sellers are not pointing this out in their auctions.Parts are still avaible for these from 21 sT.century online sales so if you want parts check them out-I see some of the darts on there now with a price of $25.00 dollars for something you can still buy new for $5.00 dollars-The old saying "buyer beware " should be well heeded when buying there. For what ever this is worth.

pzrwest

I bought my Stuart from a guy on the Stuart yahoo group for 100$US plus shipping. I got the tank the remote and the charger. I didn't want the battery as I had a battery that was the same and that helped on the shipping costs. As it was the box weighted 30pounds and was 65$US to ship by USPS was a huge box since he didn't have the original box but it came well packed in styro peanuts. My frind Jack picked one up for 65$US but a non rc one. You can just see his in one of the photos in the rear. We did both up from the same unit

TheGreatestMoo

Yeah I did quite a lot of work to mine, I have a giant thread on here you guys should look at from way back about my custom m5

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_53..._custom/tm.htm

I LOVED that thing, I was actually bidding on the one that sold for 400$ but not willing to spend that much for another my old one i did so many mods to it, I put power wheel gearboxes in it and had it pulling like 70 lbs, the treads couldn't hold up though eventually had to scrap it

suprtrpr17674

Thanks for the info I just won the bid on Ebay for one and wanted to know about them. Thanks again

Panther F

Primarily it was because WalMart didn't live up to their end of the bargain on being the distributor for these, which is also why they quit carrying the smaller scale items too and why 21st Century is in trouble, if not going out of business. If all had gone to plans their was talk of them making a Sherman and or Panzer III too.

But, their 1/9 scale M1A1 Abrams was a disaster as far as being a reliable seller, with all the problems of them breaking so easily. One Christmas they discounted them to as low as $40.00 each just to get rid of them. Way too large for my room and with the problems they had with them I passed.

I bought both of my Stuarts in 2004 from WM for about $150.00 each. Soon after they became pretty hard to get with only Sam's Club being the only retailer to walk inside and buy them.

Good luck with yours! Mine are just sitting gathering dust because I am into 1/16th more than I am into the larger scales.

Turbobearcat

LOL!

Oh my god, when I bought mine and picked it up I thought my wife was going to shoot me, it took up the entire back of the Jeep!
All I can remember was "You didn't say it was big as the Jeep Mark!"

Turbobearcat

I love mine, I bought it for $125 back about a year ago, it had already been modified with metal barrel and machine guns and periscope guards.
Now I have three extra 1/6 size men that I have no use for I need to get rid of.(1 German 1 American)

My Stuart would benefit from a true radio and speed control like my Abrams(The Abrams can become an AWESOME tank with so changes) it has the one speed is what you get
which I hate to see.

donovan3

I got both versions of these tanks when they first came out at the time when I was collecting 1/6 figures like Dragon and Ultimate Soldier. They are really nice tanks and yes fairly durable. They are not going to beat any of the 1/16 in component performance area but they do the job nonetheless.

BIGMIG

You are going to like it -There is enough room inside one of them to park a small car. I hope you end up with a good one,there are a lot of them around that have not had much run time on them.

BIGMIG

fleshpedler

There,s not that much room in them, when they get modded to this degree.
Fleshy.............................

kennywsp

My Feedback: (3)

WOW whats all in there?

j z

Here's another source for 1/6 stuarts, but my pockets aren't deep
enough. Regards, JZ[link]http://www.rctanks.us[/link]