Tamiya Sherman

[mickyb]

Hi folks,

Just a couple of fotos of the stripped Sherman for you to view, and a few observations.

As some of you know, I bought the tank second hand with extras like metal tracks and full 4 channel rc kit, a real bargain too. Since buying it, I have been looking at it while waiting for the battle system to arive from USA and wondering what needs doing to it.
I realised that I knew nothing about the tank cos I never built it so I thought it best to take it apart.....as you do!
In the process I have knocked a few bits off, and stuck them back on, whilst deciding on a plan of action. And then I noticed that it had been painted in the wrong colour....this may sound a daft statement to some of you but this is my first allied tank so the colours are new to me.
This tank had been painted khaki not drab olive so out came the paint and compressor. In the process of preparing the shell for painting I knocked a few more bits off.... and stuck them back again. Now we have a propper allied paint scheme of Tamiya drab olive matt.

I must say that this tank is incredibly fragile unlike the HL series which I and my grandchildren abuse constantly. The rabbits tend to chew things too but nothing has fallen off the HL jobbies apart from the Tiger rear mudflaps which just clip back on. My observation is that the Tamiya Sherman is a super model but has very fragile sticky out bits. If I had made this tank I think that I would have left all these fragile bits in the box cos I am woried about taking it along to a club weekend which potentialy means more damage. Tamiya use hard plastic where HL must use recycled washing up bowls, Tamiya is thin and HL is the thickness of the washing up bowl. In future I think I will stick to HL as I can chuck 'em in the boot and if I break something off I know there is enough meat to glue onto again if necessary.
I am very fortunate that finantially I am ok, I can afford this hobby, and could afford to buy Tamiya all the time but comparing the two makes I will stick to HL cos I cant see the difference adding up to £300.

The wierd RC control stick movements confuse me too. Why didn't Tamiya put all tank direction movements on one stick and let you have the other for turret and cannon control. My heli controls are on one stick as are all my boats so why have Tamiya decided to go this wierd way? I hope that I can move the rcvr plugs and get it my way...

Dont get me wrong, the Tamiya Sherman is a super tank to look at, and it sounds amazing, but I am dumbfounded with the full retail price.

Enuff moaning...I always wanted one and now I have got one and cant wait to get it back together and running round the garden.

(The pics showing the tank with tracks are pre new paintwork)

I bet this post proves to be controversial and gets quite a few comments.....so go on shoot me....

Mike

[Tracks]

Nice tank, i dont own any tamiyas, but its the quallity and detailing that makes a bit of differance i think.

The fact everything is truly to scale and in proportion. H/Ls have mistakes, deliberate or not..

[forgebear]

nice job mike glad you got the compressor out then and made a start good job mate

[Matdragon]

hi mike i think the main difference is in the quality, detail and electronics.

to buy just the tamiya MF and DMD unit is usualy costs around £200, which is half the difference allready!

then theirs the metal shassie, metal boxes and proper susspension etc etc ...

cant wait to see this one finished, you've made a good start on it allready mate!

thanks,

Matt

[grim_marmazet]

hi mike i think the main difference is in the quality, detail and electronics.

to buy just the tamiya MF and DMD unit is usualy costs around £200, which is half the difference allready!

then theirs the metal shassie, metal boxes and proper susspension etc etc ...

cant wait to see this one finished, you've made a good start on it allready mate!

thanks,

Matt

Your right there Matt! I'd only buy the Tamiya electronics seperately to do up a tank Tamiya don't make, like the Stug or PzIII. As you said you have the extras you get with Tamiyas as well, like the metal hull, proper suspension, and not to forget the more accurate details. For example of this is the Tiger 1, it has the off-axis gun and asymetrical turret which the HL one doesn't.
Cheers,
Rik

[971wright]

Hi You can have Turret controls on one stick and drive controls on the other stick ,all you need to do is swop over the leads from the DMD that go to the reciever,with out seeing it cant tell which ones need swopping ,you can set them up so they operate just the same as Heng long ,you may have to experiment a little.

regards pete

[tankmad]

This shoud look good finnished keep up the good work I think the reason the tamiya parts break easier than heng long is tamiya are primarily a static model company while heng long are made as rc tanks.
Stevie

[Ex_Pat_Tanker]

HL's are toys, Tamiya's stuff is a high end model kit - One cannot be easily or cheaply made into a accurate model, the other cannot be expected to survive long in the hands of a child