New Hooben T-55 tank on the way - at last

[Marc780]

I'm so excited I had to start a new post about this tank, the T55 I have been itching to get for years, ever since I knew they made it. I had been holding off since the electronics seem a bit dodgy, to me, but I finally sent away to get the basic non-static kit, from DKLM ... $350 out the door... the kicker is my brand new Abrams M1 arrived today too! $120 for that one... I was wanting another project since my T90 is almost finished now; and now i have TWO projects, along with an ultimate Gearbox to go in the M1... the T55 will be a challenge alright!


I am undecided about which paint scheme to put on this tank, could go with a Russian army cold war plain green, like the T90 but that seems boring after all, but the only camo schemes are on the Arab-Israeli war tanks, perhaps a Syrian model or even Iraq-Iran war tank. Or maybe one from the Soviet-Afghan war, the Russians gave away and sold this tank to every one of their allies, many of whom still use it as first line armor even today- so the variations are probably endless.

[Maccrage]

How about one from one of the African wars?

[Soeren]

Great keep us.posted. I like that one too. Good idea to deviate from the standard camo.

[Model Builder 4]

Very nice Marc, you will not be disappointed it's a great looking tank, I have one which I'm planning to build into an Egyptian t55 over the winter so my M51 israeli sherman has something to aim at I dont know if you are aware but stian ( maxxmeker ) on the forum supplies some excellent upgrades for this tank

Cheers, Lee.

[Marc780]

Very nice Marc, you will not be disappointed it's a great looking tank, I have one which I'm planning to build into an Egyptian t55 over the winter so my M51 israeli sherman has something to aim at I dont know if you are aware but stian ( maxxmeker ) on the forum supplies some excellent upgrades for this tank

Cheers, Lee.

Thanks for all the kind words, I have a metric ton of questions for anyone knowledgeable about this model that can answer them!...

ELECTRONICS - I have heard some negative opinions about Clark boards many people use in these tanks. Also I need to buy a receiver, the transmitter, and even programming things to make it work?! It's not the cost that puts me off the Clark stuff it's the additional complexity. And the image below I found on another site, tells me it is possible to just use Heng long electronics, and I'd like to do that if possible since I am familiar with them. Here is an image of someone on another forum who did it, you can see the receiver (presumably also heng long) and the unmistakable Heng long RX...this proves it can be done but he didn't say how. All i want is reliable driving, turret traverse and gun elevation and the lights, recoil can come later, maybe) and of course the sound. Is there any reason I can't hook up HL RX 2.4 ghz system?

[tomhugill]

As I said before the modern kit isn't very compatible with Henglong electrics because the recoil and elevation are servo based and because the turrets small you'll stuggle to fit a Henglong elevation and recoil/BB unit.

[tomhugill]

The older kit had a tamiya style recoil and elevation. However because it doesn't have the cam style elevation it would still struggle.

It's not impossible but would need a lot of work to make it work.

[c.rainford73]

Hello Marc I'm very happy with my Clark tk60 boards and the newest IBU2U. Both are excellent IMHO and the programming for recoil and such is very simple.

Carl

[tomhugill]

Hello Marc I'm very happy with my Clark tk60 boards and the newest IBU2U. Both are excellent IMHO and the programming for recoil and such is very simple.

Carl

I'll second this. Got one in my t55, it's awesome. The tk24 is great too. Some complain about programming but I find it's quicker and easier than the IBU, just because you don't need to mess with SD cards and pc

[Marc780]

Hello Marc I'm very happy with my Clark tk60 boards and the newest IBU2U. Both are excellent IMHO and the programming for recoil and such is very simple.

Carl

I thought Clark board and IBU 2 were for the same purpose but they're not? If Clarks work ok then I'll use em. If its not too much bother, can anyone tell me what all do i need to buy to make that tank run and drive? I think, but not certain this kit comes with the 2 turret motors,(if not i'll just buy them from DKLM). I don't know if Clark board comes with the receiver, (they won't say) and I already bought the wiring set from DKLM (along with the hull reinforcing plaint for $50). I have no clue as to

what transmitter should i get?
- What servos,
- Extra wiring I would need?
- the battery and the wiring ?

Any assistance would be very much appreciated - this is all new to me. My own experience with add-on-R/C gear is when I built a simple R/C aircraft, a Dehavilland Beaver and even hooked up the electrics (I made it too fancy with 20 coats of paint - it was so heavy the only time i tried to fly it nose dived into the ground) but this is even less cut-and-dried then that... you'd think DKLM would have the info on what to buy on their site but, they don't, I seaxrched far and wide, nobody even has a how-to.

I see the other setups people have done on other sites and all that wiring seems to come out like a big spaghetti mess! I figure if I plan it right I can avoid that, but I have the feeling when the kit comes I'll get so excited to start it my good intentions might go out the window like it always seems to. So I'm trying to buy all the parts first. I get the definite impression these electronics will be fiddly and require a lot of tweaking, and reconfiguring... a real design challenge. I figure to put in coupler connectors (and quick release hull, and maybe reinforcing of the hull, like maybe I should put the hull together with with wing-nuts, or maybe velcro lol)