Building Tiger 1 Late Production from Mato's lower hull

[SteelBird]

Finally arrived after long waiting. After the first try and heart hurting Mato's all metal PzIII, I decide to give another try on Mato's product; the chassis of the renewed Tiger 1 and mix it with HL's upper hull. The whole package below costs me US$255 + US$13 for shipping. It took 10 days to arrive.

I prefer the late production of the Tiger 1 rather than the early one so I decide to build one like this. I ask them to change the road wheels and the copula to the late production. My plan is: first, make sure this Tiger runs well with HL's electric. If it doesn't run as expect then everything will stop here and no more Mato. secondly, fit the Tiger with Can Suo's TK-16 board which I'm having it but no transmitter. This board has rather good sound. dealer recommend a AT-9 9-channels transmitter which cost around $100. thirdly, paint the Tiger with single color; maybe German grey or desert yellow. finally, make it as much like a late Tiger as possible with camouflage and zimmerit (wrong spell?). That is!

[Xiaoshan_Sailor]

I'll be following since I'm doing similar with Nick A's M4A1 upper hull kit on the Mato M4A3.

[SteelBird]

Start by running the lower hull alone, it seems tough. Love it! But fitting HL's upper on it is not an easy job. I follow the instruction on their website but it doesn't fit. I will try to do my own measurement.


(this instruction fails)

[SteelBird]

How the Tiger currently looks like... It will be a hybrid Tiger I think.

[c.rainford73]

I really like this. Keep up the great work

[square4]

Looking the business, can't wait to see it finished.

[SteelBird]

The beast weight totally 6kg and it hits the ground today. I took it to the garden in front of my office for a run. The garden is filled with thick grass but the tank could navigate through it without any problem though it sucks in a lot of grass into sprockets, road wheels and idlers. The speed is a bit too slow. I don't know if it was due to weak battery or Heng Long's electrics. Since there were no off-track, maybe it's time to order a AT-9 transmitter and fit in the TK-16 board.

Video of the test run below, enjoy...

[SteelBird]

This is the current status of the Tiger.

[c.rainford73]

I'm glad it runs very nicely for you! It appears they have improved their product.

[SteelBird]

I'm glad it runs very nicely for you! It appears they have improved their product.

Yes, I believe they have paid some attention about quality on this product though still not enough. The torsion bars found on this Tiger are much improved compared to those found on my previous Panzer III. The Panzer III's torsion bars rely on a plastic circle (like tape) to stay firm with the wheel arms. That's completely nonsense to me. When the plastic circle breaks (and it is very easy to break), the torsion bar starts dancing in the wheel arm. I'm grad they pay attention on quality and hope that we'll have a perfect metal King Tiger in the future.