Well I'm impressed...

[ausf]

The HL StuG was left on my porch this afternoon (wasn't supposed to be here until Monday) so I had the perfect chance to give a once over.

I only have two of the oldest Tamiyas, Tiger I and M4 so this was my first look at HL. I really wasn't expecting much for $130 USD delivered, but I'm pretty impressed. It's a lot more accurate and detailed than I expected, some issues, but I planned on redoing the whole lot anyway, but there's more to work with in place.

I cracked the lid off and opened the smoke generator and will address everything right off the as per the thread of wicks and fuse lengths, so that's okay. I'll test it before I go rerouting the hoses to the actual mufflers.

I took the speaker out of that cheesy box and aluminum taped it to the underside of the rear deck, turning the hull into the speaker. Definitely isn't Tamiya type bass, but it's an improvement. If I come across a larger speaker, I'll swap it out.

One track is on backwards, but that's easy peesy. I'll either tone the light down put it in a Notek, or just lose it all together. What were they thinking with the MG, that the driver's face glows red whenever the loader shoots?

Functions well, I'll have to get used to the throttle on the right. I'm sure I'll be upgrading to metal gears, sprockets and tracks, if not the suspension too, but for now I'll just live with it for a while. I really can't wait for the IR Mako adapter to get here from Kevin, then I'll really put it through the paces.

I hope the Panther is as good a surprise as this turned out to be. That was even cheaper at $100 even. If so, I'm going to add one of the DBCRC2s for the IR and Spektrum radio.

[Woz]

HL's are great for the price. The bonus is that you can spend what you want on whatever mods you want to do.

[panzernut]

Could you tell me where you purchased the Tanks? Thanks.

Jack

[ausf]

The Stug I got from NST gifts through Amazon. Free shipping and it was $132 for the IR with smoke and sound. I have a Mako from Kevin on the way so I could use it with the Tamiya battle systems. I'd probably go plain (no smoke, sound or IR) and add some after market stuff if I was to do it again.

The Panther was from this place:

http://www.radiocontrolledtoysonline.com/Heng-Long

It was $101 shipped, airsoft, smoke and sound. It shipped right away but the tracking only says 2lbs, so I hope there's no issue there. That place is in Florida, but oddly enough, both shipped from the same city in CA, so I imagine there's some huge warehouse with containers of HLs out there.

I have an email into NST about the StuG, I think the RX-18 is faulty, so we'll see the power of Amazon. I don't want to send it back, I've already have a few hours into it with smoke mod, etc.

The gun doesn't elevate, but the sound works. The motor works when jumped to the recoil, so I have elevation, but only when firing, which isn't what I'm after. I only ran it for a minute or so at a time and less than 10 minutes total, so it couldn't be overheating.

[Ace Rimmer]

The Stug I got from NST gifts through Amazon. Free shipping and it was $132 for the IR with smoke and sound. I have a Mako from Kevin on the way so I could use it with the Tamiya battle systems. I'd probably go plain (no smoke, sound or IR) and add some after market stuff if I was to do it again.

The Panther was from this place:

http://www.radiocontrolledtoysonline.com/Heng-Long

It was $101 shipped, airsoft, smoke and sound. It shipped right away but the tracking only says 2lbs, so I hope there's no issue there. That place is in Florida, but oddly enough, both shipped from the same city in CA, so I imagine there's some huge warehouse with containers of HLs out there.

I have an email into NST about the StuG, I think the RX-18 is faulty, so we'll see the power of Amazon. I don't want to send it back, I've already have a few hours into it with smoke mod, etc.

The gun doesn't elevate, but the sound works. The motor works when jumped to the recoil, so I have elevation, but only when firing, which isn't what I'm after. I only ran it for a minute or so at a time and less than 10 minutes total, so it couldn't be overheating.

Just had a quick look on the link boys and the panther is a pantiger, but the others are ok.

Ace

[blimp]

Hello ausf , you have power to the recoil but not the elevation motor - they share the (+) power feed , so i'd suggest the elevation (-) return wire is worth checking , just a simple bad connection causing your problem - and It could save you the cost of a new RX18

• A poor switch contact in the TX will give the same symptom . A multimeter check will pinpoint it .

[ausf]

Hello ausf , you have power to the recoil but not the elevation motor - they share the (+) power feed , so i'd suggest the elevation (-) return wire is worth checking , just a simple bad connection causing your problem - and It could save you the cost of a new RX18

• A poor switch contact in the TX will give the same symptom . A multimeter check will pinpoint it .

Thanks Blimp.

My first thought was I crimped/cut a wire buttoning it back up, but they all checked out. I also connected the motor directly to the Rx board. It runs off of all the other leads, but no luck otherwise. I jumped the elevation to the recoil, so the canon does elevate/decline with firing. It can be raised/lower with a slight stick movement before the recoil engages, but it's not easy.

The Tx left stick contact is scratching a groove so it's definitely suspect, but it triggers the sound effect so a signal must be getting to the Rx. When I opened the Rx box there was the definite scent of burning electronics.

NST got back to me quickly and offered parts. They'll send new TX now, but they don't have a Rx in stock.

Whoops, I didn't look closely at the Pan(tiger), pretty hard to miss the spare track holder though.
Shouldn't have a pint while I order things late at night. In my defense, it's only meant to be a donor for a Trumpeter T-34/76, so no real harm done.

[ausf]

I do my best work after a few empty Guinness.

Unfortunately, ordering bleary-eyed takes away the argument that staying home saves money.

[ausf]

I finally sorted out the problem, or at least worked around it...

Using the color coded chart on the wiring harness, I used the vacant turret rotation leads for elevation and it works like a charm. My unit was actually wired a bit different, the LEDs and turret are reversed. but regardless, the elevation now functions with the left stick horizontal movement and fires when pushing up. It's better than the original since I can control minute up and down movements as opposed to the normal HL StuG operation of move to the limit then reverse.

If any StuG owners want directional control of elevation, just solder the motor leads to the last two vacant leads on the turret terminal (right behind the elevation motor).