Tanks

Eric dropped by today at team valadez hobbies with some tanks and I thought they were cool looking, they do all kinds of things like shoot plastic pellets, emit smoke from the exhaust, and make noise.
Here is a pic

Nice ...i so want one

Eric....damn I already was looking at the tanks last night, now you need to bring some on Saturday and educate us on which ones to get and which ones are not worth even looking at...I know you said they are slow but I can already see someone putting a 3cell lipo and trying to make it do the impossible.

Hey maybe this will break my berg addiction....

Jorge

Oh boy i can picture tank wars now

I was thinking twin lrp x12 6.5 motor upgrade with a orion 5600 90c lipo.

Guys, I have some empty Tank Hulls (bodies) and some other different kind of tanks, Have some smaller 1/16 German WW2 Tanks named Panzer 3, Panzer 4, these are the ones that have given me no issues at all.
All others like the Tiger Tanks are excellent too, Track system is different on these and are also very low maintenance.

Eric jr and I have done lots of research on R/C Tanks and to get the best bang for your buck the Heng Long made Tanks are fine. Tamiya is big bucks and mostly have laser guns. These Heng Long are either Airsoft and the latest models can also be converted into laser.

While Tamiya runs you for some 500 dollars and up near one thousand or more, the Heng Long do cost just a fraction and are as much fun or more to use.
Parts are readily available .
The Airsoft gun assembly is the same for all of them you may buy new replacement parts anywhere from 7 to 12 dollars. The new replacement plastic Tank tracks are valued at around 20 bucks with Track Sprockets included. Motors are brushed 380 type.

(Basic Tanks have plastic gears on the trany ,no smoke effects no engine ,gun and machine gun sound neither.) Best models are smoke and sound ,airsoft and as your like, either plastic Tracks or Metal Tracks as on these last photos taken by "outforder". Here you see the German Panther Tank and an American "Bulldog" medium size Tank.

General info...

All these Tanks tranys , gun elevation and airsoft guns are interchangeable . All Tracks are easily fixed they are built with track blocks , so if you break a track just remove the single track block by removing a pin and install another block (link) in its place. ( you don't need to buy a whole new track) I keep extra old tracks for spares but so far had to repair a track only once.

For display Metal tracks are best for daily use plastic tracks are better. With metal tracks and gears the battery lasts much less time as in contrary , with metal gears and plastic tracks a 7.5 volt power pack lasts a long time.


Light Tank versus Heavy Tanks; 1/16 scale Battle Tanks ...

Discovered that the lighter the Tank the better is the handling on the sand, heavy Tanks tend to dig more into the loose sand. Climbing sand berms is also best with the lighter Tank.
The best Combination for daily use so far has been Metal geared Tranny with plastic tracks.

You may visit You Tube, type R/C Tanks or Heng Long, Tiger Tank r/c check them out !!


Some Samples...

Don't just buy any Tanks just yet, please wait to see first hand , I can leave some Tanks and a junked disassembled Tank for you guys with Jorge this week for you to check out . If that is OK with you Jorge.

A new model just came out, an all metal Tiger Tank body gears and all. 499.00 (Most likely be best for display and show.)

All these Heng Long Tanks are plastic bodies. The Tamiya have stronger hulls and reenforced bodies , to many Tamiya parts are way to expensive so some upgraded their Tanks with the same Heng Long trannys and Airsoft guns.
We still have some Metal Airsoft/laser metal edition Tanks new in box. To become laser only a small sensor is needed, which costs around 20 bucks. These newer model Tanks
are laser upgrade ready.
Road wheel can also be upgraded to metal as other accessories for the Tank such as the display grenade launchers/ exhausts etc...

Repairs;

Repairs are simple and inexpensive. Will leave some Tank stuff at Valadez, you are welcome to check them out.






Paint;

Our Tanks are pretty much plain looking because I'm waiting to learn how to learn to paint with Airbrush. This way paint them Battle worn and dirty looking. ID. Marking Stickers are readily available, I usually order replacements from England. This hobby is really big in Europe.

Basic info....

These R/C Tanks are commonly 1/16 scale powered with a 7.5 , 7.2 volt six cell Ni-Cad power pack same as the R/C Cars. I use the 6500mah this way can run All Metal Tracked Tanks and the battery power will last longer. Usually they come with a 1200 or 2200 Ni-Cad.



Some get to know stuff....

There are bigger Tanks in the market but highly valued.


PickleB21 = Pickle Battalion B Company , Second Platoon, First Tank. The Bumper number on my Tank was 3/33 (Pickle) B21


Lots of fun ....

We have some plastic toy tanks bought at the Flea Market that we use at targets here at home, also use empty soda cans. Or just shoot at each other instead.

Airsoft BBs are very effective , there are of different weights and also some do leave a painted spot where they hit.

Airsoft BBs shooting range and accuracy varies depending on the Tank Barrel length and type of Airsoft BB used.


Gear Ratios / Speed

Some Tanks do have different gear ratios, for a realistic driving a 3 to 1 ratio trany is best, also some others have a much faster stock trany . Anyhow, you adjust your speed with the controller joy stick.
Built in speed controllers levels may vary, some are three speeds while others are 10 speed levels . I really have not noticed much difference between them unless one wants to drive extremely slow. I'm sure one may find ways to make your own changes to the electronics .

Who knows ... maybe install brushless 380 size motors and see what happens.... ??

Eric I have no problem with you bringing tanks to the store even for sale hopefully you guys can make it out on Saturday to the swap meet and we can learn more about them.

Jorge

Sure thing Jorge, thank you. Will bring some for you to keep there for a few weeks, one opened -up so you guys can have an idea of how they are inside, maybe this will help you guys thinking on some MODs to do on them .

Will leave you two others as "Demo" for anyone to play with.

Not a problem if any brake down. They are easy to fix and I have plenty of spares. I'll be glad to have you show them up....

Some upgrades are...

About these Tanks, prices vary depending on the upgrades and extras. They could start from 85 dollars (no options, all plastic) to over 200 dollars with many metal options already installed.


Sample of upgrades ;

Metal Sprockets, Metal Tracks, Metal Roadwheels, Metal support rollers, metal Hull. Smoke and Sound, Laser ready prep.
Metal accessories such as Grenade Launchers, metal Main Gun Barrel Shroud .

There now is an all Metal Model Tiger Tank available.
Many already come with upgrades, which make them much more realistic r/c scale models.

Tanks are excellent for driving here in the desert, no special track is necessary. Pretty much like the Rock Crawlers, all you need is Nature .....

do they shoot paint balls?

Have not tried the paint balls but have used the ones that leave a chalk mark where they hit.
They are called "Marking BBs", soft mark. I have a box of 0.12 gram Fluo Yellow.

Have some Airsoft Guns so we use them in the Tanks and on the Guns as long as they are 6mm in size. Heavier ones like the 0.25 gram can also be used but firing range may decrease.

Will leave an open Tank at Valadez so you guys can see all the Tank components . Will also leave a gun assembly for you to see and decide if the softer paint BBs may work.

Guys thought it would be most appropriate to dress up a Tank as a Rock Crawler for my Avatar. Guess it may be much more attractive than tracks.