RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

I paid $35 shipped for this Mark III, "as is". the seller was not lying, it is missing a lot of parts but i was surprised it even had motors (I figured it must have motors as the front sprockets were still there). It is missing tracks, transmitter, cuppola, battery, and a few other things. I already have many of the parts from upgrading my King Tiger and Tiger 1 so I bought it. Tracks are on the way and so's a new cupola (the photos don't show it but the cuppola is mssing too).


I was surprised to find it has a metal gearbox, and metal sprockets. I hooked up the battery and dug out my old non S and S transmitter, which are luckily universal to the tk01 board which is what this one has. I was surprised to see the radio system, headlights and motors still work. I was planning on ripping out the old radio and just putting in my RX18. But since I can make the old system work though-I am going to just use it for a while! Until i HAVE to switch it out.

My guess is this tank wasn't used much. There are no wear marks on the bottom of the road wheels- the original black paint is still intact. The gears in the gearbox are dry of lubricant but unworn. Maybe it's just another tank that got driven once and put away in a closet til the owner got rid of it.



I sprayed it with a coat of grey primer-the factory grey plastic is the first thing to go. This tank won't be grey for long-too dull. I will do a sand gelb base plus one camo color, probably brown.
something like this is what i will paint it soon. I got this photo from google -mine doesn't look like this yet, still grey.

Great Deal mark!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Nice project...especially since you have come accustomed to how the internals work...Think you will have fun with this one...that smoke deflector can be changed to a metal one should you choose to do it
What a great buy

Enjoy your next build

ALPHA

Marc,
Best 35.00 I've seen spent in a long time. ) I've got most of a couple of packs of small metal details for this tank from Forgebear so I will keep an eye out for needed items you might mention.
regards,
Painless

Nice find I like the choice of paint you have picked, keep posting pics [quote][/quote]

Oh yeah that is just the primer-if i had paid closer attention to the seller's photos-he did post many-I would have noticed TWO OF THE RETURN ROLLERS are not there...might have thought twice about buying it. But probably not. The bargain is already not such of one already, but after awhile everyone pretty much knows the deal and what is going to happen when you obtain yet another tank. A forum member told me after i got the King tiger and started posting here, "this is only your first one, of many you'll see!" At the time I thought he must be joking...



I ordered two road wheels from "Rcparty", such an odd name that i googled them to see if they were even legit. But no one else had the return rollers, which they call "loading wheels" or some such. They charge in euros but they also speak the universal language called Paypal so no problem ordering. They have parts no one else does including "Ali Express". They return rollers are about $4 each. Then ordered metal return roller mounts, as they were about the same cost as the plastic parts RCParty had, and these i ordered from ali express "Mr wang"/Heng long store. I'd like to point out, you cannot trust every vendor on ali express! It is not a chinese Amazon.com, they are pretty much a clearing house for chinese vendors and all their promises of "purchase guaranty" are just words on a web page and not to be taken seriously. I.e. Caveat emptor is very much in force here!!! Mr Wang is one of the dependable ones there, i have done a half dozen transactions with him and all good. (I don't recommend ordering from anyone but him, mato outlet, and heng long store because I have been burned more then once by the vendors there-not all of whom come through! Been waiting for almost two months for a speaker from one of them!) These mounts in the photo below, cost $12 shipped.

Here is the link for these mounts that fit Mark III and the Stug.

http://www.aliexpress.com/snapshot/6130711737.html



Not sure where i am going to put all the parts from 3 different tanks now! I was amazed my wife did not complain. Her only concern is not the room they take, or ugly tank parts around, or even the cost etc. but the time i spend with them, away from her!

I just went to the "RCParty" website and they are GONE!

I hope its just a glitch on the website otherwise i just paid them $20 that i'll never see again...i looked up the website and its based in Czech republic. I guess i'll start another search for return roller wheels...possibly i have gotten taken! Anybody have any to sell?

Update on the last post- rcparty.com is a going concern after all, the sites still there. They have a lot of heng long parts! I think they might be based in eastern europe. FWIW. I ORDERED something from them then canceled the order, they promptly gave a refund...point being, they must be reliable sellers from that sort of customer service! I think I will order something from them soon-I'd like to add more hatches to the pzkfw I I I and then see what happens.

The usual issue with even the best vendors is slow delivery. Even many of the Chinese vendors at Ali express can deliver something in a fortnight and 3 weeks tops- if it takes longer I don't order from them again. From bitter experience at AE-they're basically a Chinese ebay-i stick with mato outlet and hang long store when ordering at Ali express. Order get from anyone else there is a total crap-shoot as you may get your part or you might not! Email them after 3 weeks and you get a broken English reply saying basically "OOPS-MY BAD-WAS SHIPPING ISSUE...I RESEND!" Then you get your part 2 months after you ordered it (if you're lucky.)

On AE ignore the "buyers guaranty"- it's worthless, just words on the Web page to lull the unwary buyer!. Just try finding someone to contact if you have gotten taken by one of the sellers! you find yourself in an infinite loop of mouse clicks that lead nowhere.

Thanks for the 411 Mark... and how goes the tank?

ALPHA