HAYA Centurion Mk3. First Impressions.

[Ad Lav]

I see what you mean about the luminous green now!

You could try a couple of more powerful motors, what ones are fitted to it?

The Tamiya has twin 380’s and runs around nicely.

Sound wise, you could fit an amp and a better speaker for better sound?

[Ecam]

Just a stab in the dark. Have you tried any other batteries in this one? Some times we blame something not working well and find it was an undercharged or faulty battery. I do like what you are doing, but so far haven't built a post WWII tank.

[ongbenghui]

It could be that I need to upgrade with a pair of more powerful motors so that I can run the tank on any surface other than those that are smooth and flat........it would also be nice to be able to run it on a well cut dry lawn or ....an undulating surface ....

I would like to hear from other owners of the HAYA Centurion to find out if this is lack of power and performance is "normal", or if my example just happens to have a pair of very weak motors.

I made a number of modification on my Haya Centurion with TK50. Loving the process of modification.

And yes, I did changed to a different motor. I have tried a few different RS380 motors and I arrived on a set of Mabuch RS-380SH-4535 which I think the speed is reasonable (fast) on 2s.
My son has a really different opinion though because with actual centurion, the actual tank that is using the Rolls-Royce Meteor is really underpowered at 650hp and not really fast at 34.6 km/h.

I have also tested with a slower motor and similar motor at a 3s Lipo, that made the tank pretty fast.

I think the regular motor that came with the tank is sufficiently fast.

I typically used a set of Gaoneng 65000mAhr Low profile HV lipo for my tanks

[zooma]

I see what you mean about the luminous green now!

You could try a couple of more powerful motors, what ones are fitted to it?

The Tamiya has twin 380’s and runs around nicely.

Sound wise, you could fit an amp and a better speaker for better sound?

Thanks Ad Lav,

I am away for a few days at the moment so I cannot check the motors for any markings to identify them, but they look like standard Heng Long motors and gearboxes - and is why I thought it should run at least as well as my Heng Long tanks.

Not having enough power to pull itself along at all (unless running on a smooth flat surface) suggests to me that it is short of power.

Whether this is due to poor motor choice, incorrect pinion gear size, or just not enough power being delivered to the motors via the Clark board (is this possible?) is something I need to find out as I really like the HAYA Centurion but it’s performance is underwhelming (to put it mildly).

My Tamiya Leopard 2A6 certainly “drives around nicely” and has no trouble driving over a well cut short lawn or any of the mild undulations that defeat the Cent. I don’t need as much speed as this on the Cent, but it certainly needs more power than it has now.

I have tried different types of well charged 2cell battery’s and none of them can help boost the miserably poor power output.... and it why I am asking how others have improved their HAYA Centurions performance.

The engine sound volume is another problem to be solved, but first I want to improve the power so I can drive the tank other than on very flat smooth surfaces.

More power should also improve the steering when the tank is moving too.

When I get back I will read any responses from anyone that has been able to get their own HAYA Centurion running better and start looking for alternatives with their results in mind.

Thanks to anyone taking the time to read this and offering their thoughts with possible improvements.

[zooma]

Just a stab in the dark. Have you tried any other batteries in this one? Some times we blame something not working well and find it was an undercharged or faulty battery. I do like what you are doing, but so far haven't built a post WWII tank.

Hi Eric,

I have tried several different fully charged batteries as the weak performance suggested to me that the tank must have a flat battery - because that’s exactly what it felt like.

Further tests (including putting the same batteries in different tanks) has proven that it is not the batteries that are at fault.

......the Centurion would make a good first “modern” tank for you to start with as it was designed during the Second World War .......

Bob.

[Ecam]

I have tried several different fully charged batteries as the weak performance suggested to me that the tank must have a flat battery - because that’s exactly what it felt like.

......the Centurion would make a good first “modern” tanks for you to start with as it was designed during the Second World War .......

I guess the only other thing I'd look at before condemning the current set up is how free does it roll. If it is possible pull the motors from the transmissions and with the tracks installed see what effort is needed to turn tracks by hand (for example I have a motor-less Sherman that gets towed by my M32 ARV - the tracks roll that easy) and also turning the gear that the motor pinion turns. You may be right that it is the motors. The tank is fairly new and there may not be that many on the road, I only found one other by Haya on the forum. So getting other's experience may not be as easy as hoped.

I may branch into the MBTs at some point but there are a few things that I still want to build in the WWII era. If I go post war my first two would have to be the Atomic Cannon and Teracruzer with the Mace missile both in 16th and RC and then possibly a "Super Duck".

[jarndice]

I was never going to buy a Tamiya Centurion but I had to have a Cent, I bought the Haya and the Tongde, They are both great but I keep going back to the Tongde, Sorry but in my opinion it is the better model,

[Ad Lav]

Have you had all three side by side?

Would be a good test, the Tongde is certainly the best value for money.

[zooma]

I was never going to buy a Tamiya Centurion but I had to have a Cent, I bought the Haya and the Tongde, They are both great but I keep going back to the Tongde, Sorry but in my opinion it is the better model,

I have ordered a Tonge Centurion from Forgebear and they will let me know when the next batch arrives.

It will be nice to compare them directly ... and to have another Centurion on patrol - maybe one that is able to run on smooth well cut (short grass) lawns or even slight inclines would be nice

[zooma]

Have you had all three side by side?

Would be a good test, the Tongde is certainly the best value for money.

We don’t have a Tamiya Centurion in our club yet, so we can only compare the HAYA and Tonge versions.