Reliability of a Panzer III

[bikerdude]

Looking at getting one of these for my son as we've given up on his Tiger I. My Bulldog and other sons Pershing, and now Bulldog too, all worked fine on the grass, going up and down the slope without issue. Even driving down some of the garden steps and over obstacles, as well as doing tight high speed turns they were fine. The Tiger however seems to loose a track regardless of how careful you go. Watching it as he uses it, the tracks just seem to be too wide and unsupported near the outside edges so it digs in to the grass and comes off. Looking at the Panzer III the tracks are nice and narrow, and the drive sprocket and idler supporting both sides of the tracks hopefully it'll be as good in our garden as our others! But I was just wondering if anyone here had a HL Panzer III and had had problems? And being a small tank, is it possible to fit a normal NIMH stick pack in it with a little modding?

Thanks

[wibblywobbly]

Yes, the PzIII is a good runner, I have had a few. The Tiger is reknown for shedding tracks, especially on grass. One solution is to file down the edges of the cleats to a chamfer. This stops the tracks digging in on turns with grippy ground.

[c.rainford73]

The plastic Panzer III is a nice little runner. Sometimes the road wheels outer wheel may pop off during hard running on rocks and dirt. Simply super glue them back. A great little upgrade is the track tensioner kit. Easy to install

[bikerdude]

Yes, the PzIII is a good runner, I have had a few. The Tiger is reknown for shedding tracks, especially on grass. One solution is to file down the edges of the cleats to a chamfer. This stops the tracks digging in on turns with grippy ground.

Thanks, but I really don't have the patience for that! He liked the look of the Tiger when he was initially choosing a tank, but after 8 months of it constantly letting him down he's lost interest in that particular model.

The plastic Panzer III is a nice little runner. Sometimes the road wheels outer wheel may pop off during hard running on rocks and dirt. Simply super glue them back. A great little upgrade is the track tensioner kit. Easy to install

Thanks, good to hear, then hopefully they can play in the garden without me having to refit the track every 10 mins! By tensioner kit, do you mean a Henntec track tensioner? Funny you should say that about the road wheels, one of the outer upper idler wheels on my bulldog popped off a couple of weeks ago and I keep forgetting to glue it back.


Now to decide whether to sell his Tiger as is, or take the bit's I could use for another project, and then sell the hull, deck and turret, and maybe electronics. Oh and obviously then the challenge of finding a nice cheap 2.4GHz P3 for him.

[c.rainford73]

Here you go.... This is the kit, and a picture

https://www.forgebeartanks.com/store/p2 ... 783a6d.jpg[/img]

[Arnie_DK]

On sale at Rctank.de

https://www.rctank.de/Taigen-24-GHz-Pan ... ummer-Tarn

[c.rainford73]

This is a very nice version at a great price

[bikerdude]

It is lovely, and if it were for me, I’d be buying it right now, but for a 6 y/o I think it’s a bit too nice, and would soon look a lot worse for wear. I’ve found an HL P3 for £90, and think I can use some spare metal gearboxes I bought for the tiger.

[HERMAN BIX]

Hey Mr Biker......he's 6...........and will soon get bored with it.
You however, shall inherit a really tough Pz III, and carry on to make it a truly superb AFV.
Your call, but hey, at least you can argue the point with ya Mrs that you are "recycling" an otherwise scrap toy

[bikerdude]

Hey Mr Biker......he's 6...........and will soon get bored with it.
You however, shall inherit a really tough Pz III, and carry on to make it a truly superb AFV.
Your call, but hey, at least you can argue the point with ya Mrs that you are "recycling" an otherwise scrap toy

I thought the same when he first got his Tiger, but that was about 8 months ago and he’s only losing interest due to the throw-a-track obsession of the tank. He’s even gone as far as spending time in my garage using up my bits of wood to make a ‘bridge’ to drive over. We have quite a bit of fun in the garden in the sun running the 3 tanks around, up and over things.