new guy

[ccdbcvtrider1]

Am I crazy or does it seem every one who gets a Torro (aka, Heng feng, heng long, matorro, feng swie) etc etc.. all experience great problems out of the box?
the closest I have to one of these is an AsiaTam Stug III but I am using all Tamiya electronics, I have no issues---armor issues that is
It is mind bogeling how so many of those tanks are produced, the company makes a good bit of money from them, so why havn't they improved the quality?
Not to bash or anything, I have Tamiyas, never an issue yet (knocking on my head right now) You would think they would have some trolls out there visiting sites like this to get an idea what thier customers think

Well, best of luck with your models, I know with enough TLC and attention, be it upgrades or fine tuning, you can have a nice model..

Cheers!

Im not sure if my experience is typical. all i know is that I have used these more outside than the VS tanks we had before something broke. the VS tanks are not rugged at all.

Oh, and we have noticed that the cold affects the shooting. if its below 32 degrees F, they will shoot for a little while and then stop, but after warming back up in the house, they will regain shooting abilities again. or....does the IR, canon recoil, and LED take enough power that a cold battery cant power it? i just thought of that, maybe the battery gets cold and isnt supplying enough juice...odd the speed and driving of the tank didnt take a hit...but also when the battery is getting real low, we notice shooting is the second thing to go, first is sound.

Kevin

[MichaelC]

Michael-
I have the outer wheel off...its the inner wheel thats still on the drive shaft. dont i need that off in order to pull the gear box out of the hull? That inner wheel is the one I cant seem to pull off easily, is it just pressure fitted? I didnt want to pull too hard and break something. Also there is this piece of plastic on the outside of the hull that will need to come off as it overlaps the inner drive wheel, how is that held on? is it easy to take off?

Kevin

The inner wheel is usually just really tight on the drive shaft. If you wiggle it you should be able to get it loose and take it off. The plastic on the outside hull is the drive sprocket cleats and it should only be "tab" into the side hull so you should be able to pray it off as well. It might be easier if have the upper hull off so you can see how the tabs slides into the side hull. I know it feels like you are going to break it but there is actually quite a bit of give. If you get the inner wheel loose enough you might be able to slide it off the shaft without taking the plastic cleat off the side hull.

[ccdbcvtrider1]

Ok, so I got it all done, it was 15min tops...
Michael- that sprocket cleat on my tank is metal. it has two pins that go into the hull. the outside of the hull is plastic, inner is metal. there were two "c" washers holding the sprocket cleat to the hull wall. I was able to loosen two screws and pry the plastic wall from the metal hull so i could see in there, and then use a screwdriver to push the "c" washer off the pins. lost one of the "c" washers though, not sure how. anyhow, I got the inner drive wheel off just as you said and got the gearbox out. I found the metal box was actually bent. this was creating a wider than normal box allowing the drive shaft to have more plan than it should. I bent it back and then re-assembled. the tank is running once again.
I do think I will get a reduced ratio gear box though. maybe something more rugged too. looking into the Waltersons sets where you choose your gear ratio. ball bearings too, so that should be better.
until then, i think this one should last.

how loose do people run their tracks? is looser better so as to allow more flexability with the drive wheels? or is tighter better?

Kevin

[MichaelC]

I run my KV-1 (Which has been converted to a SU-152) fairly loose, a little dip between each of the top rollers very similar to the real deal. I don't run them that hard so it might not be a good example.

If you upgrade you gear box/motor you will find that they run at a much more realistic speed. I find that in some cases even the dreaded hull recoil is not even that severe depends on your gear set/motor combination.

Glad it is up and running again, but if you run them hard gear/motor is really the first thing you need to upgrade anyway. None of the stocks are any good for these brands (Taigen/HL/Torro/Mattrro etc).