In Praise of HengLong Tanks
 

I bought my first ever RC tank this past summer, a Heng Long Tiger 1 with metal tracks and sprockets from Banana Hobby. Little did I know then that this one tank would turn out to be the opening to a floodgate of fun, frustration, resolve, support and friendship. The tank arrived at my door within a couple of weeks and as I pulled it out of the box it's huge size and weight (metal tracks) immediately captured my imagination. That first week was filled with shooting toy soldiers, running over LEGO bunkers and hiding the tank from my wifehttp://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/js/f...ssed_smile.gif. I was an instant hero with my 10 year old son. Cool factor 10 all the way.

My first set back which I thought was a disaster,actually turned out to be an opportunity to show my mechanical problem solving prowess. My idler axle snapped when a twig got caught between the idler and metal track(see pic #1) and I was forced to experiment with and work out a financially viable solution (see pic#2)

About a week after my Tiger arrived my 6 year old daughter put what she thought was an airsoft BB in the hopper and promptly jammed the unit. (The BB was in fact a small yellow candy). $13.95 later, two brand new airsoft units arrive in the mail along with the corrected mantlet and gun barrel from MatoMart and we're back in business.

As it stands now, my Tiger I is nearly indestructible. I hammer it through the yard with reckless abandon, it plows through 18" high leaf and twig piles, over rocks and through the front ditch. If it breaks I don't care because it was cheap to buy, it's cheap to fix and a blast to drive. I run it nearly every day and never get tired of seeing it's suspension soak up the terrain and it's modified "airhard" gun blasts beer cans, targets and toy soldiers with deadly accuracy and power.

Since that first Tank I have bought and sold several HL tanks and have also discovered the great little 1/24 VS Tank series.

That first tank also put me in the path of Tim, Glen, Dennis, Duke, John and many more great fellows at the CAN-AM Tank Club and all you great guys on the forum.

Thanks HengLong for getting me started in this great hobby because if I my only option was to buy a $700 Tamiya, I never would have.

Mike (The Eggman)<br type="_moz" />

RE: In Praise of HengLong Tanks
 

AMEN!.....you couldn't hit the nail any harder on the head then that!.... 

RE: In Praise of HengLong Tanks
 

I enjoy mine.

Ijust got into the hobby in late July, 2010, I think the availability of the HL tanks was a contributing factor.

My first purchase was a HLPanther G.

I operate it "stock" but have broken in the motors and cleaned and re-lubed the gearboxes.

It runs with the original plastic tracks and it has been operated al lot in August, throughinto October. It has done very well, the smiles/dollar ratio is LARGE.


The only mechanical modification I have made is a simple Airsoft upgrade;

1.) Replace the mainspring with a Handipack Part #88023, 1/2"x 1 3/4", .054"wire compression spring.

2.) Place a 1/4" Plastic Acorn Nut as a spacer betweeen the above listed spring (round crown of the nut points toward the plunger), space it with a couple washers, if you want, it will give added power but place more stress on the gears/motor.

3.) Cut about 4 coils from the tension spring, if this is not done,the gun mechanismwill not set or cock.

4.) Place some #1 and #2 washers, as sold by hobby shops, two on each shaft to keep the gears centered and bearing on each other.

5.) Optional; replace the metal barrel, as, I can't offer more detaI on that because I used the original Panther barrel which seemed OK

6.) Ensure that your little o-ring (not really an o-ring but similar) has good attachment and integrity.


Test the gun, ouit of the tank with bb's to see how it is shooting before reinstalling it. For apower source, I use a 7.2 volt tank batterybattery; polarity is critical, it works well one way, reverse it and the gun is junk, before you can even blink. Red to red, black to black, red the power wire goes to the bottom motor connection.

Once it is working, super glue a piece of styrene across the upper forward joint of the platic housing to keep the two halves together. Glue a little piece of styrene over the upper shaft under the removeable side cover to keep it in place.



Anyway, it was my first re-finish job, shown in the picture, wearing the markings/camo of the Hermann Goering Division, Poland, 1944 (decals from Elite Armor).

http://cgi.ebay.com/TAMIYA-1-16-LATE...item3355d89d7d

I am currently working on my HLTiger I, it is getting a make over to a tank from the Abt. 506.

I have a Stug III, Pz IV and Jagdpanther waiting itn the re-painting "pipeline"., all HL's.

I am enjoying this, a lot :)

RE: In Praise of HengLong Tanks
 

Wow...I like the paintscheme...Ive been considering a Panther as my next tank. Ive been working on my Walker Bulldog, just about finished with installing rubber pads on my metal tracks...all said, with full metal upgrades I bet I only have about $250 into it....you can't beat that...!

RE: In Praise of HengLong Tanks
 

Eggman...I agree with all you have said regarding H/L Tanks insofar as bangs per buck and fun/upgradeable value...You can't beat them.
I also like the fact that your young children enjoy them as well. It's always a treasured moment when they become engaged in what Dad/Superman is doing. I remember those days and envy you.

RE: In Praise of HengLong Tanks
 

I don't want to Hijack your post here Eggman. But Glennb has posted a pic of his astonishing Panther as well and I was just wondering if I could post some detail pic's of the Bovington Panther on here. In that way GlennB could see what a great job he's made of his H/L Panther.

All the best,

Nick.

RE: In Praise of HengLong Tanks
 

Hijack away, Glen B's Panther is a perfect example of what makes this hobby such a blast.

RE: In Praise of HengLong Tanks
 

Thanks, that's flattering http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/js/f.../red_smile.gifbut there's a lot of experienced people on this forum that can make a better job of it than that. I am very happy with it for a first 1/16 scale tank, the last time I built any model was at least 16 years ago.

I learned a lot from forum members, both on line and in person from those members that are in my area. This is a very enjoyable hobby for me.


I would love to see that. :)


If you didn't want to put it here, you could put it on the build thread;

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_10...m.htm#10137273

RE: In Praise of HengLong Tanks
 

Thanks, I have seen pictures of the HGDiv. tanks before with that paint scheme. Elite Armor provides a CD with a simple paint guide with the decals, a nice touch, IMHO.

The Panther is nice. Mine did have a number of broken plasticinternal parts that I found when I stripped it down for painting. It was like they used a 3/8" drive impact gun to install the screws ;)

I spent some time putting the "puzzle" back together with super glue, then reinforcing it with epoxy, it all went back together well and works just fine. Probably not all are like that, it wasn't a big deal for me, I think it is one of the things that can be expected at the price point but my other HL's do not have this issue. Would this keep me from buying more? Not at all.

Nice Bulldog, at $250, thats a lot of smiles per miles :)

RE: In Praise of HengLong Tanks
 

Ok Gents...here goes. I'm not sure abot the pic size policy here so I'll try one and see if it fits the screen. If it's huge then I'll re-size the rest.

RE: In Praise of HengLong Tanks
 

That one looks good...I'll try a few more.

RE: In Praise of HengLong Tanks
 

they might be a bit jumbled up but you should be able to re-order them in sequence.

RE: In Praise of HengLong Tanks
 

Some more

RE: In Praise of HengLong Tanks
 

A few of the rest

RE: In Praise of HengLong Tanks
 

And the final few.

RE: In Praise of HengLong Tanks
 

Oooops overloaded the server....here are the final ones.

RE: In Praise of HengLong Tanks
 

I hope they are of use Gentlemen...let me know.

All the best,

Nick.

RE: In Praise of HengLong Tanks
 

Is this the same Panther. I was in Bovington a couple of years ago, and took this picutre of the Panther they had. Same tank?????

RE: In Praise of HengLong Tanks
 

Mike,<div></div><div>Pfft..... my HL KV1 is better and more durable than your Tiger......lol</div><div>My son accidentally knocked it off the roof of my car (I know, I shouldn't have had it there in the first place,) and landed top down on the driveway. To my amazement.....nothing but a fixable crack on the turret periscope port and paint scrapage on the barrel......now, while I miraculously was saved from having to pay for any part repairs.......I now have to pay to have the deeeeeeeep scratches the metal tracks made on the roof of my car removed/painted over.</div>

RE: In Praise of HengLong Tanks
 

Yay, HL porn! :D


http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e2.../kvivan2-1.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e2...8/kvivan-2.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e2.../kv20ivan1.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e2...DSCN3313-1.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e2...8/DSCN3304.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e2...8/DSCN3303.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e2...8/DSCN3300.jpg

RE: In Praise of HengLong Tanks
 

Yep, love them or loath them, they have made this hobby accessible to many more people than Tamiya would have done on their own - and without them we wouldn't have El-Mod or Darkith's units as alternatives to get involved in the IR battling side of things.

On the down side, their cheap wares have caused my addiction to spiral out of control [&:]:
http://i1013.photobucket.com/albums/...r/HPIM3311.jpg
DAMN YOU HENG LONG!!!! SEE WHAT YOU MADE ME BECOME!!! [:@]

*ahem*
Just kidding Heng Long: Please release a Matilda III, Merkava IV, Cromwell, Achilles IIc, Valentine IX and Crusader III, and a T26 and BT7 and, erm, well... all the other stuff on our wish lists really...? :D:D:D:D

;) Mart

RE: In Praise of HengLong Tanks
 

Ex_Pat.......what the heck is this?

RE: In Praise of HengLong Tanks
 

Thats a stripped down Andrew Design Sdkfz 222 - I'm slowly building it back up to combat capable, first steps are to correct their flaws in the drive train and add turret controls, and then bug the hell out of Thomas at El-Mod to release a combat circuit for it :D

RE: In Praise of HengLong Tanks
 

Ahhh....for a moment there, I thought it was the Batmobile Tumbler! lol

RE: In Praise of HengLong Tanks
 

sorry, nothing so exotic I'm afraid, lol :D