Do Tamiya and Henglong use similar materials to build their Tanks??? I cannot tell the different between the materials that used in Tamiya and Henglong. Thanks

If you owned both you would know the answer, which is no.

The plastic bits are similar, moulding is similar, but thats about it .Tamiya is better , but the price!!

I've heard people refer to the fact that HL plastic is a bit more brittle than Tamiya - not in a major way, but it makes a difference when you are trying to cut or shape it. (ABS vs Styrene???)
Mato's plastic was suppose to be closer to Tamiya's.

HL's are built more like toy store tanks, and Tamiya are hobby shop / RC tanks. HL uses self tapping screws into plastic where Tamiya tends to use machine screws, nuts, and bolts - especially in parts that are high stress or frequently assembled / dis-assembled. Tamiya also uses stamped metal and aluminum - which they should considering the price difference.

The HL KV-1 uses plastic made from recycled rat feces. Not sure what they were thinking there. Seriously, it's as strong as softserve frozen yogurt.

The other 4 HL's I've played with have been nice, stiff plastic that doesn't seem to easily break. Well, except for the TC hatch hinges.

Without ever laying eyes or hands on a Tamiya, I can guess the plastic is going to be much higher quality. If it isn't, Tamiya needs to be drug out back and shot for charging what they do.

Here's my story about the durability of Tamiya tanks:

A couple of years back, I wanted to repaint my first 1/16th tank, which is the Tamiya Tiger I. So I removed the tracks and placed the tank on the workbench. Stupid me forgot that those roadwheels were free-rolling, because I've gotten used to placing my tanks on odd surfaces, since the tank's weight and tracks were enough to keep it in place.

To make a long story short, the Tiger took a dive on the hard cement floor. The plastic stock barrel shattered to pieces. But aside from that and a few gauge marks off the paint, the tank was intact. Some detailed parts also came off due to the shock, but they snapped clean off, since I use glue sparingly. And those parts were easily glued back into place.

But yeah. I was simply amazed by how little the tank was damaged. The sound of that crash was horrific, and I seriously was thinking I just lost a $600-tank when I slowly walked over to pick it up.

But it's still a shelf queen to this day, on its....5th repaint now?

That's horrifying and awesome all at the same time Googly. I'd hate to see what would happen if my 10lb Panzer III landed on it's head.