Hello to everyone here

[Jay-Em]

Well. Finally registered after lurking for quite a while.

I ended-up here after some problems with an ancient rx14 board, looking for a solution to some vexxing troubles.

I've been in RC-models for, well.. an eternity. 30 -35 years or something. I actively raced RC touring cars through the 80's and 90's, but got a tad tired of the hype and overblown ego's that started to flood the circuits. You know them. the "Bla bla need carbon, matched €200- cells, heated tires etc. etc. otherwise no chance of a win"
Also fiddled with Hydroplanes and speedboats. Which in the NiCad-era was quite daunting. 24 cells or more to get something resembling "speed" for me. Gets expensive fast.

Money became more & more the driving factor in the comp-environment. I started losing interest. I'm a modeler at heart. The kind of very bonkers/barmy guy that paints flowers on HO-scale figures' shirts, and scratch-built tiny park-benches out of split match sticks (yes ,I áctually did that). I prefer the build and the running in equal measure. The space-cockroaches that started to dominate Buggies and Touring cars, were the end for me.

I then, by accident, got a first-gen Tiger 1. Térrible piece of work. The last tank I built was the Tamiya Prtl. And yes, I built the tracks by hand. All 2x 230-something links of it, every link consisting of about 6 to 7 parts. No pre-built tracks in the early Tamiya-kits. This Tiger 1 was quite.. eh.. "shocking" compared to my earlier tank-related adventures.

The Tiger fell apart after just a little use in real terrain. Tracks split. RX 12 FETs burnt. etc. Most people know the drill. Thing ended in a box on the attic. I forgot about tanks for a while.

But then a friend of mine that worked for a large hobby-importer had a boot full of broken/returned first-gen Heng Long Bulldogs and Pershings. I bought a box full of tanks in several states of disrepair, for peanuts. He threw-in 2 full sets of RX-18 controllers and tx's. Consequently I made 3 working tanks from it. Noticed all sorts of upgrade stuff for it, and from there on it went....

Recently bought a Challenger 2. Repainted it, and am busy upgrading it with the Clark tk-22 with a leopard 2 sound set. close enough for me. I am not thát much of a purist.
I also am busy upgrading a Torro-edition IR Jagdpanther. Some slight detailing (photo-etched engine covers are a must afaiac) taigen bb gearbox. 5-pol high-torque/low rev 400-sized Igarashi's (for scale-speed) and a lot of airbrushing and weathering. It's going to sport the IBU 2.

Well. That's about it about me & rc tanks.

Hope to learn a lot here, and be able to offer some knowledge back.

[jarndice]

Welcome to the Forum JM
Some of us will be looking forward to your pictures of the Chally,
You will get along well with Herman for he paints flowers on 1/16 buckets!!! yes Buckets,
oh well it takes all sorts, Just why do they all come from the Antipodes ? Enjoy this place, we do.
Shaun.

[HERMAN BIX]

G'day Mr Jay
Yes, us 'Antipodean colonials', (not to be confused with the 'rebel-colonials' across the Atlantic)are a bit quirky.
I am a New Zealander currently adding to the rather weak gene pool here in Australia (fits helmet & waits)

Good to have you along & geting into it
I'm afraid I might be the 'type' that drove you out of the other hobbies
Ferociously competitive, and vocal with it.
But, the sands(and families) of time have past, so Im a lot more subdued now

Planes crash, boats sink, but tanks roll on
A lot more forgiving, and slower speeds to match the diminishing reaction times !

Cheers mate

[Panther Ausf G]

Hi Jay-Em
Welcome to the forum.

[43rdRecceReg]

Welcome out of the shadows, Jay-Em! Sounds as if you've accumulated a lot of useful knowledge, and I'm sure we'll benefit from it here...
Don't think you'll be troubled by any monstrous egos, either...

[SheepStrangler]

Welcome from me too, who only just beat you to the IN door

I'd love to hear what you think of the Chally 2, as I spotted those on eBay t'other day, and being fresh from a pilgrimage to Bovvy last month, it made me kind of interested

[Jay-Em]

@sheepstrangler.

I am quite impressed with -what actually is- a €299.- toy like The Challenger. HL has improved in leaps & bounds.

The best bit, for me as a modeler and scratch-builder- is that Heng Long sent their army of glue-monkeys home, and offers all add-on parts like wheel-covers, guns, shovels, the lot, on sprues. Yay! They are starting to make the difference between toy&kit smaller & smaller.

And the most recent Heng Long 2.4 tx and rx (the fully black tx) are, for what they cost, bloody good value, especially for noobies.

But, I digress, thanx for the heartfelt welcomes. I hope I can offer some advise and help from my long history of fiddling with expensive grown-men toys.

[Model Builder 4]

Welcome Jay Good to have you along, this tank thing is seriously addictive, you'll be into double figures before you know it look forward to seeing your work and don't worry there's no I'm better than you or my builds are better than yours on this forum and if anybody tries you can just run over their tank with your own

Cheers, Lee.