Mating the M4 Sherman Heng Long upper hull/turret to a Taigen lower?

[LordLudikrous]

I’ve got my heart set on the M4 Sherman as the next tank to tackle once my Tiger is done and dusted. I really like the extra features the 7.0 Heng Longs come with, but I also like the quality and ruggedness of the Taigen metal hulls. So what I was thinking was getting the cheapest Heng Long 7.0 M4 and picking up the Taigen M4 lower hull set (inc tracks, wheels, gearboxes etc), and mounting the Heng Long upper hull, turret and electronics to the Taigen lower hull. If I can do this successfully I’ll have the best of both worlds.

I was wondering if anyone had any experience with doing this and if so, what was it like? Was it straightforward, easy, challenging, etc?

Luckily Forgebear has photos of the undersides of the various parts involved and it looks like I just need to:

• Add hooks for the quick release to the Heng Long upper rear (I have spares from my Tiger).
• Somehow add the front hook for the quick release to the Heng Long upper front (possibly gluing some plastic, filing down so its flush, then drilling holes and screwing the hook in).
• Remove the switches from the bottom of the Taigen lower hull and seal the holes up. Looking at the video reviews of the latest Heng Long M4 the switches are all under hatches on the upper hull and the lower hull only contains the battery compartment.

Does all of this sound practical and will it work? Doing it this way will work out around £70 more expensive than the professional grade Heng Long M4 but I think thats a reasonable price to pay for a completely metal lower body and running gear.

Thanks.

[Kaczor]

I my opinion it's not worth the effort. I did this in my Soviet M4A2 and regret it. If you can, buy separately Taigen parts (lower and upper hull, turret) and Heng Long 7.0 electronics. However, I do not know how to connect Taigen recoil and elevation to new HL boards.

[Herr Dr. Professor]

Kaczor is a more experienced and better RC technician and modeler than am I, so I would seriously consider his points. If you are starting from a new tank, I would think going with an all Taigen or all HengLong basis would make more sense and perhaps ease things a bit. I, however, am a bit stuck on the Taigen sound (despite the great qualities of the HengLong 7.0 electronics). So here's another idea: what about getting the Taigen Sherman 75 or 105 and setting up the Taigen V3 MFU to an aftermarket receiver and transmitter of your choice for better control? I believe you might lose the MG sound that way (if I correctly understand discussions here on RCTW), but might the better transmitter help with speed and steering control? Of course, on Rad's recommendation, one might change out the Taigen or HengLong MFU for a Beier board and get altogether better control and better sound possibilities.

[LordLudikrous]

Thanks for the replies. Can I ask Kaczor why you felt it wasn't worth the effort? Is it one of those situations where it looks like a fairly straightforward fit but actually the dimensions are slightly off?

[Kaczor]

In my opinion, the HL upper hull is of lower quality (e.g. softer plastic). In my case it is only held together by gravity. Additionally, in HL you have to remove the strip with screws to fit the Taigen lower hull.posting.php?mode=reply&t=35745

[Barmonkey]

Just wanted to add...The Taigen/Torro upper hull isn't very expensive.

[Barmonkey]

I am not sure if the Heng Long turret fits the Taigen/Torro upper hull or not. I think they do use the same small turret rotation ring.

Try to find the complete Taigen/Torro lower hull with motors. Seems like a good deal and is less expensive that individual parts.

Change the motor connectors to the Tamiya bullet style.

Install Heng Long 7.0 system and turret. I am not sure if the Taigen on/off switch is wired the same as the Heng Long or if the Taigen smoker unit is compatible...

[forgebear]

no it wont fit the taigen has a deep dish on the body to let the turret side down inside it

[forgebear]

if you look at the link here you can see the top deck and the dish
https://www.forgebeartanks.com/store/p1 ... _Tank.html

[LordLudikrous]

Thanks for the responses everyone. I was aware of the turrets not being compatible due to the differences in turret rings but somehow missed the fact that the bolted section of the transmission cover is molded onto the HL upper hull.

The thought of getting the Taigen tank sans electronics and shoving HL ones into it did cross my mind, but I seem to remember reading that the Taigen turret elevation and recoil mechanism are not compatible with HL? Or am I getting my wires crossed (no pun intended)? If thats not the case (or its something easily solved with some rewiring) then that could be an option.

Unfortunately I'm having trouble searching for the information is that all the keywords involved are so common.