Questions about upgrading HL PZIII and Tiger (Updated Issue)

[SteelAce]

I just purchased a Hanglong Tiger and PZIII and have been having a hard time with them constantly tracking. These are the ones with the metal gears and tracks right out of the box. I have googled everything I could and seen that I should get a few parts but am not sure if hey will fit these tanks.

I have been talking to Forgebear on ebay and am going to order from him in a bit but need to know a few things first.

Will the Heng Long upper hulls work on the Taigen metal hulls? ........ Mainly worried about the mounting as the Tiger I have has the hull with two screw hidden under the spare tracks up front. I dont seem to see how the PZIII upper hull will attach to the bottom.

Will the Heng long gearboxes fit? What about the stock metal tracks that I have?

Now as for what I plan on getting is the hulls of course, metal rollers and idlers for both tanks (the stock idlers are trash that wobble too much). I also plan on ditching the smokers as they dont work as I hoped.

Thanks in advance for any input. Sorry for the newbie questions, First time dealing with tanks

[jarndice]

Jon Hi,
First of all congratulations on finding one of the best dealers in our hobby,
Dave won't lead you astray.
The conversion to a Taigen Metal Hull using a Heng Long Body is commonplace and recommended,
It is a pretty straight forward swap with a number of advantages,
First you can forget about all those screws used to hold body to hull,
There is a quick release lever under the rear fender,
Slide it to one side and the body is free of the hull, Assuming you have detached the "Feifal"air cleaner pipes from the "Feifal" air cleaners
when your new metal hull comes it will include an instruction sheet which is easily lost/thrown out with the Packaging also a little plastic snap bag will have a box shaped piece of metal and some screws these when fitted at the front of the hull are used to retain the body.
When taking the body off the hull , first release the body from the hull using the release then lift the body from the rear and away from the front easing it backwards, DON'T forget the attached connections
I do not care for PZ111s and have no experience with them,
While most Heng Long and Taigen/Torro bits and pieces are interchangeable do be very careful with gearboxes,
The gearboxes themselves come in different Gear ratios, they also come with different output shaft lengths and widths, the mounts are often different from gearbox to gearbox as well as from tank to tank and maker to maker, this is one of the potential problems that Dave will help you with as well as other members of the Forum,
Never apologise for asking questions, We love them.
Shaun.

[SteelAce]

Jon Hi,
First of all congratulations on finding one of the best dealers in our hobby,
Dave won't lead you astray.
The conversion to a Taigen Metal Hull using a Heng Long Body is commonplace and recommended,
It is a pretty straight forward swap with a number of advantages,
First you can forget about all those screws used to hold body to hull,
There is a quick release lever under the rear fender,
Slide it to one side and the body is free of the hull, Assuming you have detached the "Feifal"air cleaner pipes from the "Feifal" air cleaners
when your new metal hull comes it will include an instruction sheet which is easily lost/thrown out with the Packaging also a little plastic snap bag will have a box shaped piece of metal and some screws these when fitted at the front of the hull are used to retain the body.
When taking the body off the hull , first release the body from the hull using the release then lift the body from the rear and away from the front easing it backwards, DON'T forget the attached connections
I do not care for PZ111s and have no experience with them,
While most Heng Long and Taigen/Torro bits and pieces are interchangeable do be very careful with gearboxes,
The gearboxes themselves come in different Gear ratios, they also come with different output shaft lengths and widths, the mounts are often different from gearbox to gearbox as well as from tank to tank and maker to maker, this is one of the potential problems that Dave will help you with as well as other members of the Forum,
Never apologise for asking questions, We love them.
Shaun.

Thanks for the reply. I actually just got a reply from Dave stating my upper hull will not work with the Taigen metal. So as of now, I am stuck at the point of deciding if i just want to Get everything for both tanks still and also get a new upper hull (hulls, metal rollers/idlers) for both, or just get all the metal parts I need for the PZIII from Dave and get another tank lol

This one ... http://www.ebay.com/itm/Imex-Taigen-1-1 ... 2071650074

[jarndice]

Jon I am confused
The Heng Long Tiger 1 Body WILL fit upon the Taigen Metal Hull FACT!!!
I am wondering what exactly Dave is referring to,
I suggest you get back to him and clear this up,
I think you or him or I have misunderstood each other.
Shaun.

[SteelAce]

I am positive he understood me. Here is his reply.

hi there if you mean you have the tiger that the top comes off by undoing the front 2 screws behind the track bar on the front then no it wont fit the tiger upper hull holds on with the center screw and a plate to slide into the front lower deck


As he stated I have the hull with 2 posts up front.

[jarndice]

Jon I have just popped off the body of a Heng Long Tiger1 from its very nicely fitting Taigen Metal Hull which was by the way provided by Dave It has two posts up front and a slimmer shorter post immediately behind and on the front lip is a central tag that slides under the hull to locate the body, this negates the need for the Taigen front modification.
So even more confusion, I also have another Heng Long Tiger 1 body with a single post and a smaller front lip which also fits the Taigen hull. I am hoping that "Jackalope" or another East coast member can come to the rescue.
Shaun.

[SteelAce]

I dont see that third post you are talking about



Hope img isnt too big, not sure how to resize lol

[jarndice]

Thanks for the picture Jon,
I have never seen such a configuration, obviously Dave has,
I know how I would fix it,
Cut a piece of 2mm thick PLASTICARD 3cms to 4cms (1 to 1 3/4 inches) long by 1.5cms (1/2 inch) and superglue it centrally to the underside of the leading edge of the Tiger 1 body so that it acts as the locating tab for the front of the body,
it should project forward of the body by 3mm (1/8th inch)making redundant the two small posts used to hold the screws connecting the two halves of the hull to the body,
So no cutting, just a bit of gluing,
I am hoping that the two posts under the engine bay are still being used as body to hull screw points as these are used to hold the quick release tabs at the rear of the body.?
Onward and upward
Shaun.

[SteelAce]

No problem. That does seem like it could work and would save me $30-60. I am one that would probly mess that up lol. Leaning on just dropping the money on the hull and turret from Dave, That way I can just have 2 tops to switch around whenever I feel like a new color

[SteelAce]

Question now is if I should get new idlers and drive gears for the tiger.

Here is my list so far.

Tiger I

Upper and lower hull with infrared recoil turret
Metal Rollers/wheels

Panzer III

Lower metal hull
Metal rollers/wheels
New Idlers with bearings

I already have metal tracks and gearboxes. These parts will hopefully make the tanks better and help with the tracks coming off.