WeCoHe Gear Boxe Upgrade for Tamiya KT

[mangaroca]

Has anybody used WeCoHe Gear Boxes for Tamiya King Tiger (the ones that cost ~£300)? I'd like to know if they are worth the price. Also, do you need different engines (I found this one: http://www.axels-modellbau-shop.de/kata ... 292aee2b70) or are these gear boxes designed for the torques of the original Tamiya engines? WeCoHe shop website is currently unavailable - I hope they will be back up soon!

Thanks!

[tomhugill]

I had them in a king tiger I owned briefly. Short answer no they're not worth it. £300 is a massive ammount, for that you can get a set of mr design gearboxes or the modelbau spigell units which are really nice and nearly £100 cheaper.

I think the wecho kit provides a 2:1 reduction over standard tamiya. It works well and is very smooth, it's just too expensive for what it is....

[971wright]

Hi Big problem with King Tigers is the tracks and gearboxes ,Have seen new Tamiya gearboxes with 3:1 reduction fitted and metal tracks ,destroy themselves in a matter of minutes when running on grass. I have a full metal lower hull on My heng long King Tiger, with metal tracks and wheels , Fitted with Heng Long 4:1 steel gearboxes and 480 motors and Tamiya electrics, it will do donuts on grass it chews it up , so far havnt had problem with it (I drive my tanks like a stole them no mercy). For the price I think Heng Long steel gearboxes are about the best out. Have never had any problems with them .

regards pete

[tomhugill]

I'll echo what Pete is saying about the black steel 3:1s, have them in my 9kg full metal sturm tiger and they handle anything.

If you don't fancy messing about with buying new sprockets and changing the mountings for new gearboxes you could do a lot worse than the impact tus. Both my king tigers (both with metal tracks) have run them for several years without issue.

Also tamiya gearboxes with 3:1 drop outs are a terrible idea. The gearboxes aren't designed to take that level of torque. As Pete says at the first sign of trouble the gearboxes will eat them selves.

[mangaroca]

This is promising for my wallet!

I already got new idler and new road wheel suspension (impact). I plan to get full metal sprocket and full metal tracks. WeCoHe makes metal road wheels with ball bearings and they're on my list too.

Would you be so kind and link the gearboxes and potentially engines that you would suggest to go together with this setup? Basically, I plan to pimp this baby so if anything can be metal it will be. I'd love to get this beast move in scale too so proper gearboxes and torque is crucial...

Thanks!

[tomhugill]

If you really really have to get metal wheels (and I wouldn't) get the asiatam ones. They're 1/3 the price of the wecohe ones, have bearings and you won't be able to tell the difference when painted (this goes for a lot of the metal upgrades). If you want extra detail your better off buying a photo etch kit and adding that. If you want extra weight to make your tank ride more realistically just ballast it with lead.

[mangaroca]

I've looked around and really couldn't see anything that would say "yes, I'm the thing you want to buy"...

1. Original Tamiya + reduction gear (http://www.axels-modellbau-shop.de/kata ... ::255.html) are easily damaged.

2. Heng Long doesn't make gearboxes for Tamiya KT, only for their own Heng Long.

3. Other stuff is in USA and I'd rather not import it...

I really see no solution here. I'm getting Modellbau Idler Wheel (1945) and new all-metal tracks so I definitely need new, more powerful gearboxes - 3:1 or 4:1 (I can't decide which would be better) but I cannot find anything exact. No brand, no link... I am prepared to pay for a good product but it has to be... good...

Please, post some links if you have a remedy...

PS. I just found out the "Late King Tiger Tracks with 18 teeth sprocket wheel" from Modellbau are out of stock and the all metal Road Wheels with ball bearings are also unavailable... The three things (together with the gearboxes) I want are not available...

[tomhugill]

Hey, I'll dig some links out for you today! The tamiya standard gear boxes will cope will metal tracks fine though!

[mangaroca]

Thanks! Well, I'm not afraid to spend some cash so if an upgrade is worth it I'll go for it. I definitely want to get:

- "late" version sprocket wheels
- metal tracks (obviously also "late")
- road wheels (possibly metal) with ball bearings
- "motion in scale" - whatever it takes for the engines and gearboxes to make the tank move "in scale" (I already have the Turnigy Chip)

I will be grateful for your assistance!

[tomhugill]

Pm sent!