Hello from glabrous in the UK

[glabrous]

Hi from not so sunny UK.

I'm a total newbie. I made tanks when I was a kid (1/72 and 1/35, to a reasonably high standard, if I might say so). I always lusted after the Tamiya Tiger, but couldn't afford it. A visit to Bovington a couple of weeks ago, on 'Tiger day' rekindled my interest. Tiger 131 had an outing - awesome.

Anyway, since I've been looking at lots of sites and fora. I'm generally pretty confused. This is what I've gathered so far.

No one in the UK seems to sell the Tamiya off the shelf, though my local Modelzone says they'll order one for 'about £400'. The 'full option' kit, which seems a misnomer as there's lots of options to add. I'd need to add a 4ch RC, pref 2.4 GHz digital. I could upgrade with numerous options the nice people at welsh dragon could sell me. I could add a Tamiya battle system. I could spend a LOT of money, mainly on web sites.

Then there's 'Heng Long' - again, not sure where to buy. As far as I can tell, they come ready made, can be upgraded. They don't have a recoiling gun (but, maybe, a chassis?) but can have bb.

Then there's Taigen. Not clear the relationship with Heng Long, as some sites say 'Taigen Heng Long', but the 'full metal' tanks sold by Nitrotek look like an excellent buy.

I'm not clear what the main advantage of Tamiya would be? How disassemblable are the Taigen's - could I repaint if I wanted?

Any pointers, advice etc. very gratefully received.

[MichaelC]

Can't help you with Tamiya, but Heng Long IR tanks does barrel recoil as well as the unpopular hull recoil. I personally don't mind the hull recoil a little. Lots of thrid party option to upgrade, including metal basically everything and also better electronics etc.

Taigen basically makes a upgraded version of the Heng Long Tiger, with full torsion bar suspensions, 2.4 Ghz Taigen specific radio/receiver etc. In terms of disassembability, you can pretty well strip them down and build them back up if you like which is part of the great thing about them. I am constantly working and reworking them all the time with upgrade/paint etc.

Tamiya obviously is the king of the hill, but when you factor in the cost, and if you like full metal, HL and Taigen is not bad at all.

Welcome BTW !

[Red Devils]

Welcome aboard glabrous,

Just to be on the safe side, check the vendors black list, ol' Nitrotek is in there. A friendly warning...

Derek

[sparks]

Hi glabrous,
Welcome to the forum
sparks

[lister fiend]

Hi glabrous & welcome to the forum.
I do not own any tamiya rc tanks
But I can tell you henglong tanks are
Cheap, easy to fix & of your not careful
Can nearly cost as Much as a tamiya
If you go mental with the upgrades
I would still say get a henglong.
Have a good play with it.
Trawl the forum to see what others have
Done to theirs.
Then buy another,so you have one to play
With, whilst you tinker with the other!
Cheers
Lister

[glabrous]

Point taken about Nitrotek.

However, here's a question (which, suspect isn't new). I've roughly costed putting together a 'fully upgraded', metal hull/turret/wheels/sprockets/idlers/gears/tracks 2.4 GHz using WDM advertised, mainly Taigen, parts and arrive at around £400. This seems to tally with the 'kit' advertised on Tankzone, if it were available, so I guess I'm about right (and could still add more). Nitrotek advertise their 'full metal' Taigen at ~£230. Can anyone explain the difference? I'm more than happy to spend money on quality, and to deal with people who know how to deal with customers (and WDM have already been exemplary) but it would be nice to know where the differences lie.

Thanks

Glabrous

[jarndice]

Hallo Glabrous, First of all both Tankzone and Nitrotec can be found in the blacklisted area of the vendors site, this is because too many of us have been ripped off and are trying to save others from a similar fate. WDM, FORGEBEAR, TANKFORCE 1 and many others will save you money and frustration and if you ask will give all the help you could wish for. use them, we do. If you go to the approved vendors site you will be surprised by the various items available. The thing about buying Heng Long, Torro or Taigen is that the base price is bearable and the upgrades you carry out as and when you have the time and money. Tamiya are great but outside the financial reach of many of us, we can only dream and in the mean time upgrade to try and match them. good luck. shaun

[glabrous]

I quite understand, Shaun, and the last thing I want to do is cast any aspersions on WDM etc. - I very much believe in supporting good vendors - it's well worth spending extra doing so, especially when buying over the web. However, please appreciate that I'm new to this and it's hard for me to tell whether, for example, a 'Taigen lower hull for Heng Long Tiger 1 with metal chassis & torsion bars 1/16 scale' is the same as a 'Strengthened metal chassis.' So my question is, basically, are the parts basically the same, but the advice is Nitrotek aren't reliable enough to risk doing business with, or is there also a material difference in the parts which it would be useful for me to know about? (As an aside, I'd have thought someone should be pointing out to Taigen that they need a UK distributor of 'Ready built' tanks with a better reputation for customer service.)

[jarndice]

Glabrous, You are dealing with people selling the same thing using different words, good for mark up you know!! As to Taigen, I doubt they care where the money comes from, you have to remember not everybody who buys Tanks are members of this forum so they have not got an early warning system such as ours. It is possable to buy a metal Tiger hull without torsion bars but I would expect the seller to say so, If you go to forgebears site or tankforce1 both on E-BAY you will find Tiger 1 metal hulls for sale and without exception you will be clearly told what is included.And remember the vast majority of the people in this Madness ( my wifes WORD) are helpful as well as tall good looking and have never said a rude word in their lives!!!!! enjoy. shaun