tiger 1 early or late production???

[aecon]

Hi all, I've bought a Heng Long Tiger 1 and I'm having a lot of fun with it but the tracks keep coming off. After a bit of research I thought upgrading the idlers to metal ones would be worth trying. But when I went to order the parts, there are different ones to early and late production models and I don't really know if mine is an early or late model. Anyone can help????

[jarndice]

I am not too qualified to speak about Heng Long Tigers but the main visual difference between early and late Tigers is in the cupola, early Tigers the cupola hatch lifts up and the late Tigers hatch swings out, also the turret vent in the early Tiger is to the right and behind the cupola and depending on how late your Tiger is the vent will be beside or in front of the cupola, early Tigers had a step on the spare track holder at the front and the exhaust arrangements on early Tigers were quite different to the later types and please do not ask me about wheels! hope that helps. shaun

[aecon]

It does help, thanks. My cupola hatch lifts up and the vent is to the right and behind cupola, but no step at the front though. I think mine is an early production one but it has got infrared battle system, does that make a difference?

[jarndice]

Hi, No it makes no difference, your problem would perhaps be better solved fitting HENNTEC track tension adjusters before going to metal idlers they are available from Welsh Dragon Models and Forgebear, both dealers are highly recommended. shaun

[aecon]

thanks, just had a look and they recommend the tensioners for metal tracks, I've got the plastic ones

[jarndice]

Aecon, a couple of things before you spend money, are the tracks in line front to rear? are the tracks loose or too tight? and I wondered if you had introduced yourself? we would sure like to know what drove you to this madness, it is after all the one thing we all have in common. shaun

[forgebear]

hi aecon. if your heng long tiger is a straight out of the box one then it is bound to be an early. I notice you mention late and early sprockets in metal. so I take it you are looking at asiatam. these will not fit the heng long base without extensive work but mato do a set of metal tracks, idlers and sprockets for the heng long that fit straight on. if you look at your rear idler, is there a little hole in the centre of the hub cap? if so you can put a screwdriver inside and unscrew the idler and it will come off. depending on how much money you want to spend on upgrades, you can also buy an asiatam/taigen metal base . this would give you the option to make different variants, late and early but bear in mind please it will make your tank very heavy and turning on grass or soft ground will put a strain on the tank and the rx18 board. hope this helps. dave

[aecon]

Jarndice, will introduce myself properly in the right section, but in a nutshell, my wife got me and my son 2 heng long tanks (tiger 1 and panzer 4) off somebody she knows last week and I'm well impressed with what they look like and can do. both tanks got issues so I'm just trying to get them sorted. The panzer's firing mechanism is stuck on firing constantly and the tiger keeps throwing a track.you said something about the tracks been in line, just had a look and both mine fan out about 3 mm at the rear end.

[aecon]

Hi forgebear, the sprockets and idlers set I was looking at is taigen, would that be any good?

[aecon]

tracks in line???