OK, as I've said before I am new to the tankworld of RC. My first tank ordered from Raidentech. (I got the memo after I ordered.) The experience thus far has much to be desired in customer service. I emailed them complianing of the missing part and broken smokers. They emailed me back asking what antenna? Well I thought "the one on the tank" was specific enough, silly me. Anyway, they told me to call the support number which had me on hold for 20 minutes befor I hung up. Had customers to deal with of my own. As it stands I sent them another email asking them to have someone call me on the phone when they are not too busy to talk to an unsatisfied customer. No response. Wel, just thought I'd share this with you guys, though you've probably heard it all before.
Please supply links for good smoke unit!!</p>

Hey Yellow;
RC TankWars.com Were else !?! Duca,................

Your lucky you got an intact tank, I got 2 from them in the beginning and both had broken parts and the Tiger I had a smashed turret, they wanted me to pay shipping to get another. The good news is you can make an antenna from some wire

Raidentech is great for price especialy metal tracks and combo deals. On the other hand %50 of my henglongs had somthing wrong with them out of the box. If its not major i just fix it it seems mutch easer than ther non existant service

Ordered 2 tanks from them once and asked that each have a different frequency. Of course they show up with the same one so I asked if they could send me another set of crystals? Nope, wanted to RMA the whole tank! Forget it, I ordered them from Tower. Many, many, many months later an envelope arrives in the mail with a pair of crystals in it. They were for aircraft!

Sounds familiar. I got screwed over by Raidentech too- took over 4 months to get my money back after being charged on my Visa for a tank they were back ordered on. You get what you pay for.

But it is fairly common to be charged return postage when there is a problem - I got mad at Mato when I had to pay $12 to send a faulty transmitter back. The bottom line is they have to do it to keep their costs down, or the tank price is built up with a buffer "just in case". But I do recommend Mato Toys - if it is not a big part they will just send you a new one. And they sell the same smoke units as your defective- they carry a lot of replacement and upgrade parts. I've ordered 3 tanks from them with no problem (although the smokers usually don't work for some reason). And last tank I ordered- a KV-1.... I asked for a frequency other than 2 or 3. It arrived with channel 3, but had a set of channel 1 crystals with it. They also sell the crystals, but I thought that was pretty decent of sending freebies for me.

I have ordered from Mato, RCCommand, and RcTankwars, all three have been great. But I will add that RCTankwars has been the best, Phil is great when it comes to customer support, and he is always there to help even after receiving the product, he is a godsend to this hobby. Also welcome to the forums, and to this hobby.

Cheers,
Wade

Just got my KV-1 from raidentech first time i ordered from them everything works and all the parts were there guess i got lucky and the price was definately right.

Tiger you ARE lucky...And yes Rebellion Phil IS a Godsend. He is there all the time for you. I'm new to Rc Tanks and was lucky enough to find rctankwars.com. I got a Tiger 1 from Raidentech and one side traks did not move. Bummer!! Sent back and got one from RCTankWars.com Runs Great!
Duca..........

Phil is the one I always go to. It is the service after the sale that does it for me.

That and he has never laughed at how I paint tanks.

Well, everything else on the tank seems ok to me...only thing I notcied is it seems to drift to the right slightly and the trim doesn't fix it. I'm hoping that when I install the aluminum hub and idler tensioners the problem will go away. If not i will have to turn to you fine people for some help.
I made my own antenna today from a piece of MIG wire and the help of a pair of needle nose pliers. Everything is going along as planned....by Murphy's Law. lol
As for the smoke unit I am not confident to try modding this thing myself just yet...no experience with these things. I also don't want to buy another one that will work for 3 minutes and die. On the other hand, being a state emissions specialist, I can just leave the smokers off and tell everyone my tank is just running super clean.

If the gears are metal they should be broken in before running. This will get them pretty close as long as the motors are healthy. Also check track length, alignment and sprocket tightness.

It has metal tracks and drive wheel, but I think theadlers areplastic. thought that was supposed to be metal too. I ordered a metal set with the other goodies, so I'll make sure to do the break-in when I get this thing apart.

Well, here's a few pics of what I've started to do. I made the flags to see how they would look. Probably going to end up changing them for the final, but it's a start. I began the simulated damage and test painted the mud guards in Tamiya German grey to see how it looks. Much better than the stock color, IMO. I also made the antenna...






Criticism is welcome...

Great Start!

Now what are your plans? What unit will your beast be from? What year? Now what I enjoy the most....well almost the most....research.

Here you go. A little something that will give you..... ole about 6 hours or looking. But we warned you...this is addictive!

http://members.iinet.net.au/~wackywheelz/tigers/

Don

Thanks Chief!! I know it doesn't look like much yet, but I think it'll come out nice with the german grey finsih and decals, and supplies, and crew and...oh man, I need to get another job.

Wanted to update how things worked out with raidentech...
After a couple of days, I finally got someone on the phone and they informed me that the smoke units are not sold by them seperately. They told me they would do an exchange of the tank for a new one, but I declined. They then agreed to refund some of my money to compensate for the failed unit. I agreed to this and in the endRaidentech has made good for me. They also said they shipped a tank antenna for me, being that it was missing from the box upon arrival. So, all is good in tankworld.

Glad to hear that they are taking care of you... but, next time remember that RCTankWars and RCCommand check the tanks before they ship and a lot of problems can be avoided. I got my #2 Tiger from Raidentech about a year ago because of the cost and free shipping. I blew a board in my #1 Tiger and for the price got the board I needed and a "parts tank" [right!] that is now being converted to all metal. Was disappointed that it was an old Tiger with a non-reinfored lower hull when everyone else was shipping the ones that were. But I also just found out that the radio doesn't have all the metal bits in it that the batteries contact with so it is useless... I never ran two at the same time and just swapped out radio crystals so I never caught this until the other day since both are now running.
Never again...

Wow, another bad experience,huh? Well, I don't like being put off and that's what they did to me for the last couple of days. The fact they they discounted some money for my toruble makes me feel a little better, but that is the last time i buy from them. Next tank will come from Bill or Phil.

Glad to see ya got it worked out YS.

First tank experience is an adventure. LOL

+1 to that. We noobs are lucky to have a forum like this one with a generous and very talented membership. Best of luck with your new Tiger. I'm about the same stage with mine.

Cheers, Bob

Bob,
You're absolutely right. This forum and searching it for the past three weeks has been invaluable. Many thanks to all you old timers for helping us young bucks!

Blake

The knowledge on this forum is terrific. I was browsing the FAQ section earlier and there is a lot of useful info there too. I would like to see a step-by-step there on taking them apart and maybe some english wiring diagrams for the electronics. That would really be helpful.

good to hear that they refunded you some money for the smoker unit...
enjoy upgrading your tank and may i ask what would be the next tank in your list?
hehehe
daryl