Advise on buying first RC tank

[Leo Part 1]

Hi,

So I'm getting into the RC world. I'm planning to buy a Leopard 2a6 with the intention to do all kinds of upgrades. I would like to make it as realistic as possible in the future.

And here's where I'm a bit stuck. I have a few things that I find particular important:

- Metal tracks (eventually to be replaced by Mato Toys tracks)
- Metal gear box, idler wheels, sprockets and roller wheels
- 360 degree turret rotation
- Main gun recoil
- IR (not BB) gun
- Upgrade possibilities

I can buy an "as-new" Heng Long Leopard 2a6 V6.0S promotion edition (metal gear, idlers and sprockets). At about 225 euro it is not very expensive, but it has the plastic hull and no recoil or 360 turret. On the other hand, I'm also looking at a Torro Pro edition of the Leopard and the Taigen metal edition (V3). They cost quite a bit more than the Heng Long but have a fully metal lower hull and a 360 turret (and the Taigen has gun recoil, not sure if the Torro has that).
Of course I could update the Heng Long with a 360 ring and recoil, but I stil wonder if I might not be more future updates ready with either the Taigen or the Torro Leopard.

On of the most important things I would like to add in the future is a stabilized gun (vertical and horizontal). Probably by replacing the V3 or V6.0S board by a Clark TK80SP G2 and a GBS unit. I also might update the sound at some point, depending how the standard sound turns out to be.

So, I'm looking for some advise: buying the Heng Long leaves me some money for updates. But the Taigen and Torro have a few updates when compared to the Heng Long. Would you advise on the Heng Long or the Taigen/Torro?
And is the Taigen just as upgradable as the Torro? The Taigen is around 100 euro cheaper then the Torro......

[PainlessWolf]

Good Morning,
Some useful advice. Taigen pretty much is Torro and vice versa. Torro may be a bit more detailed out of the box but that is because it generally comes from European distributors. Last bit...If you want to build your tank up and get experience in how to do so, buy Heng Long and a bunch of add-ons to make it what you want the vehicle to be. If you want to start from a higher level of baseline, buy the Pro versions of Taigen\Torro tanks and you will need fewer add-ons to get to the point where you want to end up at. It all depends on how much time and effort that you want to invest. Bear this in mind. Hardly anyone is satisfied with even the nicest Ready to Run RC Tank. There is _always_ room for improvement.
regards and have fun on your New Adventure. ( We certainly have ;o)
Painless

[Leo Part 1]

Thank you, Painless!
The Taigen looks like a good deal. The Torro is more expensive but only seems to have the wooden box as an extra. Not really worth the 100 euro I think.

[General Jumbo01]

Sounds as though you've already arrived at a decision. I doubt you'll be disappointed. If you are lUK based then check out Forgebear, the UK distributor and a well respected forum member

[Leo Part 1]

Sounds as though you've already arrived at a decision. I doubt you'll be disappointed. If you are lUK based then check out Forgebear, the UK distributor and a well respected forum member

Not 100% sure, but the Taigen seems to be top of mind right now. I just wonder if it just as upgradable as Heng Long/Torro. But if they are basically the same, it should be, right? If been sucking up the entire internet today (or at least it feels like I did). There's so much information and yet so little. Finding good information on which I can make a decision is pretty difficult.

I did have a look at Forgebear. There's just 1 issue......right now it will take forever to get to the other side of the channel (I'm in the Netherlands)>

[General Jumbo01]

I think we've just struck a Brexit deal with no tariffs so you've just got the Dover bottleneck to delay things. Dave at Forgebear is ex post office so knows all the postage tricks.

The Taigen / Torro models are in effect one and the same whilst the Heng Long has different electronics. Both are good, the Taigen/Torro upgrades being maybe a little easier to get. Henglong v6 based units provide a lot of control from their transmitter.

The Torro wooden crate is a wasted expense but l do have one. It makes a reasonable door stop!

[Jimster]

My only complaint about the Taigen metal edition Leo is the metal turret roof. Totally unnecessary, too heavy and hard to modify. I love the metal lower hull and free rolling road wheels etc but I wish they would use a plastic turret roof.

[Son of a gun-ner]

This place in Germany may be worth a look, although they are a little expensive, they are on our recommended vendors list for good honest service

https://www.rctank.de
https://www.rctank.de/

As for purchasing Clark boards, we have a forum member that we would highly recommend, who lives in Norway.

Viewing profile - maxmekker - RC Tank Warfare
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[Leo Part 1]

This place in Germany may be worth a look, although they are a little expensive, they are on our recommended vendors list for good honest service

https://www.rctank.de
https://www.rctank.de/

As for purchasing Clark boards, we have a forum member that we would highly recommend, who lives in Norway.

Viewing profile - maxmekker - RC Tank Warfare
memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=2177

Thanks. I was looking at rctank.de already. But on some forum in the Netherlands I've read that rctank.de updates standard HL tanks to Taigen versions themselves. That would mean I do not get an original Taigen. But of course, I'm not sure if that is true.

[RobW]

Check if the metal tracks you want later fit the standard sprockets: not all are interchangeable.
360 turrets aren't as good as you think. They use a slip ring which may, or may not slip easily so the wires still can get twisted up. The slip rings also tend not to have enough wires for recoil etc as standard so sticking to 340 can make things a lot simpler.

It's all down to what you want: anything can be done if you know how! Others on here know how.....