New guy getting an HL KING tiger-what mods on a budget?

[Marc780]

Hello. I'm a modeler from California seriously considering the HL king tiger as my first big model tank. I have a couple questions if the model building experten can give me some advice...

The tank will not be heavily used, but on the grass and maybe dirt and sand. What are the essential mods I should do and what is the cheapest way to do them? (Some of you may be chuckling right now.. )

Steel tracks and gearbox, are they a necessity or should I wear out the old ones first? Bearings or bushings in the wheels? The cheapest way to put bearings in the sprocket axle for reinforcement? I'm looking for any good tips you gentlemen have the idea is a compromise between best tank/cheapest tank...

[jaw7620]

Hi Marc, run it till the tracks and boxes break and then upgrade the plastic for metal,the steel boxes are the best to go for tracks and sprockets there are several to chose from.there are several options on the bush bearing side I guess most of it comes down to cost and time,when you start modding it all depends on how fat your wallet is.When looking for upgrades try our list of recommended vendors who all offer good advice and give a good service

[Marc780]

Thanks for the reply, I've noticed there are several vendors of tank parts in England and I would be, the willing to buy parts however I get the impression the shipping costs are going to be a major issue. There's nothing to be done as business is business but naturally I would like to find a source closer to the USA. There seems to be a dearth of people selling the parts in the US.

Of course there's Ebay but they are not a reliable or consistent source of parts. There are certainly plenty of hobby and r/c shops in the US. But after going to dozens of sites its clear that every one of them are all about r/c cars or airplanes and little else. You could visit most of them and never see an r/c tank at all let alone parts.
Not sure how many Americans are on this site but if anyone knows a US outlet for parts it might be helpful.

I'm also curious about Tamiya parts interchangeability with the HL tanks as their parts seem much easier to find, although usually quite dear on the pricing.

I get a feeling I might find myself at ace hardware a lot as they sell many generic parts, such as bearings and the like...trying to low buck this tank is going to be a challenge and along with comparing vendors for new tanks, and learning new modeling knowledge on sites like this- I find it an interesting part of the hobby rather then an obstacle or problem.

[PainlessWolf]

Marc,
There are several sites that deal with RC tanks in the U.S. One of the best so far is Artistic hobbies. Look under the Taigen Tanks and parts on their site. The Taigen tanks are basically improved HL tanks so parts are interchangeable. Welcome to the Forum as well. A huge crowd of knowledgeable sorts here to assist and of international scope tho' the site and most members hail from dear old Blighty. Post pictures of your tank and mods as you can. We love pics here so we can walk around and kick the virtual road wheels. http://www.artistichobbies.com/index.html
regards,
Painless

[palepainter]

Welcome to club of....Old guys chasing cats around the house. Like Painless mentioned, Gene at Artistic hobbies is great to deal with, here in the US. He is great about contacting you when stuff that has been previously out of stock, comes in. Really can't say enough about my purchasing experience with him. Thank you Painless for that advice. There are quite a few vendors in the UK that get high marks as well. Some of the stuff you see overseas, just isn't available here....yet. I think the hobby is gaining some ground from what I have seen on Ebay over the years.

Who can own just one tank? The cats aren't that great as competitors. You will have to have at least two.

Pale

[dgsselkirk]

Hey Marc,

shipping from the U.K. isn't too bad as long as you keep it under 2KG. Check out Forgebears ebay store. You can also talk to Curtis up here in Canada from Immortal Hobbies. Be patient with him. It is just a part time gig. I know he sells tanks and parts all over U.S. and Canada.

One tank....yea sure!

[Marc780]

Thanks for the kind replies everyone, GraciousWolf, i went to the imortal hobbies, he does seem to have a lot of parts for taigen and a few for tamiya-right now he has a metal hull tiger 1 early, for $60 by the way-but who's to know which parts interchange with the heng longs?

Incidentally I read some advice here, to another user that said always get the black gear steel drive boxes never the regular cheap steel ones because they make noise and dont work right...i stumbled on this site and they have the kind of steel gears they say not to get, im wondering are they all that bad? However all they give is a number, not the tank name, so no idea what HL tanks they fit!

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Henglong ... rbox-free-



This hobby is already getting kind of like a battlefield scavenger hunt and i havent ordered the tank yet. I just googled the gearbox and model # and thats what came up....free shipping from china yet.

Heng long model factory numbers of the tanks: for gearbox and other parts:

"Heng long 3818" is the tiger 1
"3848" is the HL Mark III tank. .
"3838" is the HL Snow leopard tank.
"3819" is the "Crap" panther (wrong front hull) Panther
"3869" is the Jagdpanther
"3888" and "3888-1" is the King Tiger

So for instance if i had the King Tiger already i'd want this gearbox,

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Upgrade-Metal-G ... 4d1998ca67

if yours isnt listed heres the HL site to find the model number of your tanks (they also have parts).

http://www.henglongtoys.net/eng/Product ... =27&Page=4

[ALPHA]

California?? ... Greetings Marc... you are so very lucky... not only have you found one of the best resources to perform upgrades...but a great place to show off what you have done... that be this board
Living where you do also avails you to several options as there are many deals to be had there

Now to answer your question...the first thing you might want to do is secure the clutch gear on those plastic gearboxes... as they will freak both you and your son out when they bind and grind .... it doesn't hurt the tank when they do..but the sound is a little disorienting ...both gearboxes and plastic tracks should give you miles of pleasure...
One thing you might want to invest in ...is a lipo battery...depending on brand...they are sometimes smaller than the stock battery... last longer... and have better power output as well as duration... adding up to a lot of fun for everyone

When things start to break.. that's when you go into modification mode... EBAY is the best source for parts that I know of.... I personally use a lot of the Hong Kong dealers for steel gearboxes as their delivery times are excellent ...detail parts can be found all over the continent... just check the Seller black and approve lists on the board...and though many that are off continent like myself have reservations about a dealer Mato Mart... they are good there...so you might want to give their site a look see


It's a fun Hobby...hope you and yours enjoy yourselves .. what might add a little excitement should things hit a head.... a second tank

ENJOY THE ADVENTURE

ALPHA

[Marc780]

California?? ... Greetings Marc... you are so very lucky... not only have you found one of the best resources to perform upgrades...but a great place to show off what you have done... that be this board

Now to answer your question...the first thing you might want to do is secure the clutch gear on those plastic gearboxes... as they will freak both you and your son out when they bind and grind .... it doesn't hurt the tank when they do..but the sound is a little disorienting ...both gearboxes and plastic tracks should give you miles of pleasure...
One thing you might want to invest in ...is a lipo battery...depending on brand...they are sometimes smaller than the stock battery... last longer... and have better power output as well as duration... adding up to a lot of fun for everyone

When things start to break.. that's when you go into modification mode... EBAY is the best source for parts that I know of.... I personally use a lot of the Hong Kong dealers for steel gearboxes as their delivery times are excellent ...detail parts can be found all over the continent... just check the Seller black and approve lists on the board...and though many that are off continent like myself have reservations about a dealer Mato Mart... they are good there...so you might want to give their site a look see


It's a fun Hobby...hope you and yours enjoy yourselves .. what might add a little excitement should things hit a head.... a second tank

ENJOY THE ADVENTURE

ALPHA

thanks for the info alpha...can i ask why they design the clutch to slip? so the gears dont break and motors burn up or something?

[cannedheat]

hi old chap wot wot
I am no expert far from it old boy , but I had a tiger metal this, metal that it ended up being like a floundering whale so my tuppence worth is ,reach a happy medium ,so your tank can cope with most things ....... wot wot