RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

Sorry if I gave the wrong impression jack I was trying to be light hearted

edpanzer wrote:Sorry if I gave the wrong impression jack I was trying to be light hearted

PHEW! I thought I said something wrong. We're all good here!

Hey,

Thanks for all the responses, at least we are getting some good feedback, without raising to many brandwars. All the recommendations have been done outside of the 'Tamiya is better' discussions.

I must say, I am a little put off by the fact that sand is going to be the enemy and that I should steer clear of it. I had a suspicion that this would be a concern. When I first started looking at the Tamiya, I was going through the manuals online to see if there was anyway to 'seal' the hull a little bit. Not waterproof it but rather to try and minimize the ingress of sand. There are ways to try and reduce it, but it will never be dust proof. The Tamiya's all seem to have plastic gears and although this is designed to strip out before doing any damage to other components, it also means that they are the weakpoint themselves. Parts are hard to come by here, and Tamiya gearboxes aren't as readily available as the other brands it would seem. I am all for the steel gearboxes of the Imex/Taigen options, and I have no problem replacing gearboxes (what? once a year with some weekend running?) as long as it is possible to do. I cannot stay ENTIRELY away from sand, it is part and parcel of the place I live, but I suppose I could try to spend more time in less sandy areas
I will say that the advice of just getting a HL, running it to see how it goes, and then adding to the armory later, seems to appeal to me. I like the builds, and spend so much time on building my planes, that I sometimes just want to go and tool around with something 'less hassle', and being a tank newbie, this might be the way to go.

I will have to keep looking into this. I know I am going to have to drop some coin, but a part of me says maybe get a cheapo tank, with some upgrades to act as spares/replacement parts. Might be the better way to go.

Thanks for the feedback guys.

I have never stripped a Tamiya gearbox. They are a mixture of nylon, brass and steel.

If you run a Tamiya tiger stock, on dry, fine sand, the wear will not be that bad. It's wet coarse sand which kills components, it would ll get in and stick, build up and break items, wet snow is just as evil. You'll want to put some bearings or bushings around the drive axles and probably put the electronics in a then plastic card box.

I'd speak to someone at http://www.desertarmor.com/DAK2/DAK_HOME.html. They run Tamiyas, IR battling in the desert.

I have a Taigen Tiger 1 stock gear boxes, but promax 480 motors in and runs really well in the sand so far..but it is fine
inland Florida sand..new England dirt with just a few tiny stones caused trouble:)

Yeah, dont run them on any kind of gravel/tiny stones. Its like throwing small football sized rocks in a real tanks tracks. it will destroy them.

I have 3 tanks all with different electrics. I have found that rubbish electrics and make or brake the feel of your tank. Best I have is the IBU2. its configurable, so you can make it perform how you want it to.

Ok, well that's inspiring that sand may not be as big a problem as I thought. The sand around here is very fine, beach sand....its actually, finely crushed sea shells. I know it creates havoc with spurs and pinions in cars, but that's usually with the rubbish Tamiya alloy pinions, change it to steel, and problem solved. Even though dry, this sand was once under the sea, so it is pretty salty and does cause rust in the wrong places. But that can be cured with sealing/plasti-dipping ICB's and whatnot. I am more concerned about the sand getting to the grease in the gearboxes, and creating a grinding paste....those zinc gears in a lot of the Taigen tanks will probably wear down pretty quick, but the steel ones should be pretty resistant. The sand getting in the tracks is no problem, it wont cause damage, just some wear. Don't mind replacing tracks from time to time.
Because the sand is soft, I am thinking maybe a metal hull with a plastic top, might be the best mix of weight and stability, but that remains to be seen. I am leaning towards one of the Taigen Tanks. They have some decent Scratch & Dent units that might fit the bill.
Does anyone know if the IR system can be removed as a separate item? I would not need it, so maybe remove it and put it on the market to try and recoup some cash.

All very interesting.

Hi, If you use steel gearboxes then I would lubricate the bearings in the gearbox shafts and keep the actual gears clean and free of anything that will hold grit/sand or any abrasives,
My first choice in lubricant is a motorcycle chain lube,
NOT OIL
but the dry wax type which will avoid excessive wear.
As to the I/R Tank, if you do not want I/r then buy the Airsoft, Every Tank that TAIGEN sell comes in both versions, it will be cheaper and you do not have to use the facility, but it does have the advantage of following the true silluette of the Tank which is lost with an I/r tower.
shaun

The Tamiya Tiger is also metal hulled, the Taigan metal insert is just a partial copy of it. Having both I can say with certainty even if you put bearings on both around the axles you'll get more crap inside your Taigan due to the way they copied the HL hull because of how the top attaches to the hull. The Tamiya on the other hand is completely sealed around the underside of the sponsons and where the hull covers the gearboxes. A small amount of liquid electrical tape around the underside of the joins and some plastic card around the gear box bases and up the back of them and those gear boxes could be sealed up very easily from any dirt. My Tamiya Tiger is probably the only tank I'd run in sand because of that, all the others including the other Tamiyas I'd hesitate.

Thanks bilpe......now I am back to square one! lol

Ok, so if I were to go for the Tamiya, it means a lot of building, painting (desert yellow with a little weathering) and of course Tamiya's renowned quality. I also get a reliable machine that is likely to last and maintain some resale value, should I get bored of it!
What upgrades should I do then. From some searches, it seems that the best functional upgrades would be the idler tensioners and the hull/gearbox brace. I would like to look into some scale speed gearboxes, but will do that once built.

If I go for the Taigen, I get an all-ready-to-go tank, with potentially full metal hulls and whatnot, a 4:1 gearbox and a decent paintjob. I don't get the modular Tamiya approach, but something that is fairly serviceable, with only a few minor upgrades to get me going.

Decisions decisions....