Greetings from California

[Christopher]

Hello,
I have been following the forum since December. It has been a wealth of information as well as information. This is my first post. I bought my 1/16 rc tank in October of 2018 after coming across a video on YouTube video. After watching numerous more videos on Heng Long, Taigen, Tamiya, Mato, etc., I purchased a Heng Long Tiger 1 tank. I didn’t see how you could spend $500.00-$1000.00 on a tank.Well fast forward and the only part left of my Heng Long is the upper deck. I have replaced the lower hull, the turret, hatches, wheels, sprockets and idlers are metal Taigen parts. The tow cables, tools, air filters, lights, and machine gun are Mato metal parts. The tracks are metal Tamiya. The electronics are IBU2, and the gears are now DKLM. The not so surprising news’s is that I have spent more than I had planned, but the good news is now I have a complete Heng Long tank minus the upper hull to put together. After that long winded introduction I do need some help. My DKLM gears will not work once I put the tracks on them. Without the tracks the sprockets go forward, reverse, left, right, etc. Once I add the tracks the idlers won’t spin but the belt on the gears will continue to spin. Any type of resistance to the sprockets will cause the sprockets to stop, but the belt on the gears will still spin. I added extra links to the tracks thinking that they may be too tight. That didn’t work. Any information you can provide will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

[Jimster]

Welcome from Illinois! I can’t answer your question however I find it amusing that our rc tank journey parallels each other in every respect except that I’m running a Clark TK-40s board with a Flysky i6s transmitter.
I bet you retained the HL upper hull because the tools weren’t just molded on like the Taigen hull.

[Xiaoshan_Sailor]

Welcome from Hangzhou, China directly across the pond from you. I started with one of the early HL Tigers that I got direct from the factory for the princely sum of roughly $25.00. 16 years & far too many tanks later I just dropped the equivalent of $135 on new M26 wheels from KKRC. It doesn't get any cheaper but sure does lead to a lot of fun.

[Christopher]

You are right Jimster, after making all the changes to the upper hull to make it more historically correct, i didn’t see the need to replace it.

[Christopher]

Xiaoshan_Sailor, I had no idea how expensive this hobby could be., but it is definitely worth it. I am glad I went the route I did. I had to put in a lot of time and effort to get my tank to the way I envisioned it. I don’t think I would have gotten the same enjoyment out of it if I had bought it all ready complete.

[Xiaoshan_Sailor]

That's true. Always more fun in building but I never can find enough time. Currently finishing a backdated M4A1 using Mato's all metal M4A3 & Nick Aguilar's upper resin kit. Between those & redoing the wheels to make them accurate, I have to be sure my wife never learns how much I have tied up on this project. That said, am really looking forward to Clark's pending Mark IV Male but want to build it either as a hermaphrodite or tadpole variant; am leaning towards the former to keep it more simple.

[BarryC]

Welcome Christopher,

It's not only expensive but equally additive, but it's so much fun!!!!

Barry

[43rdRecceReg]

A belated welcome, Kit!
Hope you find all the answers you're looking for here, Christopher.
More than that, I hope they're all correct

[tankme]

Welcome. There are quite a few of us yanks here on the forums.