RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

1:16 Tiger I by Heng Long seems pretty attractive and affordable. The basic version seems to be pretty plain color-wise and is all-plastic.

So now it comes a long row of drivetrain metal upgrades: tracks (either HL or Mato), drive wheels, gearbox, all metal wheels, steel+brass gearbox all added to original Heng Long Hull.
Finally I can get Mato full-metal hull and keep the Heng Long plastic top.
And on the top of that I can get a full-metal Mato so at least I dont' have to upgrade the metal I already read the threads where people upgrade gearbox and electronics even on that one!
So my questions are - what is the best approach for a starter?
- do I really need all those metal upgrades - how many extra miles would I get out of metal drivetrain parts comparing to plastic? Maybe it makes it move or look more realistic? I'm not sure whether the tracks color is realistic or I'd need to repaint them and keep repainting as the paint peels off?
- is it worth getting the plastic and keep upgrading it or get it already upgraded as much as I can afford at the moment (Heng Long top hull with Mato metal bottom hull or even full-metal Mato)?
- which gun is better Airsoft with no recoil or IR with recoil? I plan to drive it around for fun no battlefield yet.
- how difficult is to repaint plain HL or Mato into my favorite green camo?

hi toshik, your best bet is to buy the upgraded one as it will work out cheaper in the long run , as for the cammo painting its easy to do ,tanker 242

Thanks! HL version seems to have a long list of missing detals - does Mato suffer from the same low detailing?

Have you looked at Taigen? I'm well impressed with mine.

Hi Toshik, A fair few of us start with a trawl through the recommended dealers site on the Forum and a good look at dealers on E-BAY, If I am going to build a Tiger 1 I need lots of parts.
A lot of us use FORGEBEAR on E-BAY or www.welshdragonmodels.com both of whom sell world wide, of course you have IMEX and the afore mentioned MATO In the USA and Canada.
You will need a DREMEL or similar and I would recommend a PIN VISE.

What I am looking for is a TAIGEN Metal Hull, preferably with Metal wheels and idlers and sprockets, Steel gearboxes, 4/1 or 5/1 Metal tracks although that is more vanity than need as the plastic tracks are pretty good, a TARR 1/11 smoker,
a 2.4 digital control board, Clark or IBU2, A plastic/ABS body, HENG LONG new bodies have tools and other fittings that just pop off whereas if you buy a TAIGEN Body the tools are moulded on and are a pain to get off without damaging the surrounding area of the tools,
A choice of Turrets, Late model turrets are different to early model Tiger 1 turrets, both are available in Plastic or Metal.
Doing it like this means you can manage the price of your Tank and getting a Plastic/ABS Body makes it easier to add or remove things, bearing in mind that the Body is what will be taking most of your visible efforts as the Turret should not need much work and most of the work with the Hull is going to be internal.
Or of course you could buy a TAIGEN or HENG LONG or TORRO Tiger 1 ready to run, just put in the batteries and go but that misses the point.
I know that amongst other members of the Forum Tomhugill will be quite rightly singing the praises of the TAMIYA Tiger 1
I would remind you we do this for fun, no honestly we do!!!
Whatever, we love questions please do ask. and welcome to the Forum. Don't forget your pocketbook shaun

OK I have at least 6 options in 1/16 RC Tiger-I so far:

- Heng Long most affordable one. All-plastic, RTR has a lot of missing or incorrectly copied original details. Upgrade land!
- IMEX/Taigen mid-range price. Plastic with lots and lots of metal parts RTR. Not sure about the detailing level - owners please input!
- WSN/Trumpeter mid-range. Plastic need upgrades to make it move - owners please input!
- Torro mid-range price. Plastic with lots and lots of metal parts RTR. Not sure about the detailing level - owners please input!
- Mato top range price. All-metal top to the bottom RTR. Not sure about detailing level - owners please input!
- Tamiya top range price. All-plastic, RTR version is available. Excellent detailing - owners please input!

OMG!

Also we have 2 options for the gun;
- Shooting airsoft with no recoil cool but pretty much useless
- Imitation with LED with recoil acting like a real thing

I personally like all-metal Mato with IR gun too bad they do not paint them into green camo I'd love to get it as kit for assembly. Lack of the frontal spare tracks means it's late version?

Hi there my advice would be to buy a second hand Tamiya Tiger1
In the long run you will save ££££££ in upgrades
I spent around £600 on my heng long tiger 1
And thats not to mention all the alterations i did to the heng long hull.
You can pic a good tamiya tiger for £300 and with that you get there great sounding electronics.
The one thing that bugs me about heng long Tagien and torro tanks are the turrets are the wrong shape.
This has never been adressed only tamiya and wsn have the rite shape turret and mantel.
Even the mato all metal tiger is wrong and with it been all metal will be a pain to chop off all the mistakes.
The rest of the tanks are not bad the panther G is very good.
But i was doing another tiger i would go down the tamiya option and save myself money and time cutting and chopping all the mistakes on the heng long torro and mato Tagien models.

Thats my opinion anyway lol

The Cupola, the Feifal air cleaners the location of the headlights and the lack of front spare tracks all point to an early Tunisian campaign Tiger 1, Shaun

toshik wrote:OK I have at least 6 options in 1/16 RC Tiger-I so far:

- Heng Long most affordable one. All-plastic, RTR has a lot of missing or incorrectly copied original details. Upgrade land!
- IMEX/Taigen mid-range price. Plastic with lots and lots of metal parts RTR. Not sure about the detailing level - owners please input!
- Trumpeter mid-range. Plastic need upgrades to make it move - owners please input!
- Torro mid-range price. Plastic with lots and lots of metal parts RTR. Not sure about the detailing level - owners please input!
- Mato top range price. All-metal top to the bottom RTR. Not sure about detailing level - owners please input!
- Tamiya top range price. All-plastic, RTR version is available. Excellent detailing - owners please input!

OMG!

Also we have 2 options for the gun;
- Shooting airsoft with no recoil cool but pretty much useless
- Imitation with LED with recoil acting like a real thing

I personally like all-metal Mato with IR gun too bad they do not paint them into green camo I'd love to get it as kit for assembly. Lack of the frontal spare tracks means it's late version?

This is my Taigen I think the picture you posted is an early or mid tiger mines a late you can tell by the wheels

I still like the metal Mato most
There are 2 more color options (grey and original metal) - would like to hear suggestions on which one to choose. Since everybody says METAL almost 7 kg should be way to go! Or isn't it too heavy for 1/16 model?