Noob needs help for Xmas

[BobMoon]

Hiya guys,

I'm looking for a 1/16th scale tank for my son and I to mess about with.

There is a Heng Long Tiger 1 on ebay for £100 which includes updated electrics, sounds & smoke, metal tracks & gears, etc. but after looking around I see the Taigen Hand Painted Metal Upgraded Panther with 2.4GHz from nitrotek for £135.. worth getting, or stick with the Tiger 1?

Thanks!

[FreakyDude]

if its for your son get him the Taigen. It will last a bit longer but there is things that will break fairly quickly. Any handyman kind of guy should be able to fix most of what goes wrong so no worries mate.

Really any choice is great as long as dad plays with him. Merry Christmas to you and I hope you and your boy have a great holiday.

[BobMoon]

Thanks... Are the metal upgrades really worth it for general messing about? And is the 2.4ghz that much of an advantage? I know its better on my buggy, but I'm trying to justify the prices on everything, and thinking about it I could get TWO standard smoke & sound tanks from Heng Long or Taigen (and upgrade as needed) for the price of 1 partially upgraded Taigen with 2.4. Damn you, decisions!

[FreakyDude]

getting 2 HL tanks and upgrading is a viable decision as it gets one important thing done. It allows you to play with your son. The HL tigers are only BB shooters but it is easy to convert to Infra Red.
If your handy and you can model things then by all means go with the 2 tanks, If you don't want any work at all then the Taigen is a good place to start.
Just remember every brand can and should be upgraded as nothing comes truly complete straight out of the box.

Thanks... Are the metal upgrades really worth it for general messing about? And is the 2.4ghz that much of an advantage? I know its better on my buggy, but I'm trying to justify the prices on everything, and thinking about it I could get TWO standard smoke & sound tanks from Heng Long or Taigen (and upgrade as needed) for the price of 1 partially upgraded Taigen with 2.4. Damn you, decisions!

[lister fiend]

Hi bob
The plastic gearboxes wear out pretty
Darn quickly on grass & carpet.
So thats about 25 quid
I don't have metal tracks
But the plastic ones stretch.
I guess they only stretch so far
Before snapping.
Sorry for giving you more
Food for thought
& good luck on your decision
Lister

[BobMoon]

Hey guys,

I went nuts and bought 2 Heng Long Pro tanks with metal tracks/drive wheels/gear boxes My son can open them both and decide if he wants a Bulldog or Tiger

Small problem so far however, the Tiger's turret wont turn smoothly and keeps sticking at various points. The whole thing seems to have a lot of play too. I saw a thread (maybe here) about someone else having problems and their solution was to glue a small section of cable tie under the main gear, removing play, keeping all the gears in contact.

With Christmas being so close and a seller who turned out to be an idiot, I fear a replacement might not make it here on time... Do I sent it back or attempt a fix myself?

[Dietrich]

Hi BobMoon,
Very nice xmas presents...!! ......I am not sure about putting cable tie underneath a 'straight-out-of-the-box' Tiger tank...It has been done to take up the 'free-play' in the turret...but I think that a cable tie would be too thick to use directly on its own and I am not sure how 'confident' you will be in taking the Tiger apart....OR...on the effect that it would have on the warranty ??....
If it gets sent back at a later stage it will be obvious that you have taken it apart....SO....
It CAN certainly be fixed but are you happy to 'void' any future warranty ??....What do the shop say about 'Express-Delivering' a replacement in time for xmas ??
Alb.

[BobMoon]

Hiya,

I'm more concerned with the time the shop will take to turn it around. I've hard a hard time communicating with them and am a little upset they over charged me AND charged me twice on postage. They did offer a refund for one error but seem to have now taken back that offer. Also, who is responsible for the return postage fee? If I have to pay that too I'd rather drive across the country and pay them a little visit...

Ultimately, I'm not bothered about the warranty as I'll be painting and weathering the shell, but IF something is structurally broke, I may not be able to fix it... gear rings and the like are cheap enough though. Anything deeper than that could give me a headache.

I'll sleep on it and phone the supplier in the morning. Somehow I don't see them being very helpful, but we shall see

My wife and I are both really gutted as we think our son will love the Tiger more.

[BobMoon]

After speaking with the shop this morning and getting their permission, I opened the tank and identified the problem. The main black turret gear is miss-shaped and not round, so when turret gets to about 90 degrees the gear isn't wide enough to reach the white drive gear. New black ring on its way and the Manager was very helpful indeed.

A quick google search reveals I'm not the only one with this problem too, so bet there's plenty of black rings being sold out there (wonder what googlebot will make of that!? )

[Dietrich]

Hi,
Excellent news about the shop.......and a sensible decision by the manager.....it MUST be getting close to xmas....
Alb.