Hooben ZTZ-99A - Bought on a whim
Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2022 11:16 pm
I never did a thread on RC Tank Warfare for this tank, but since I've made progress on it you guys can get all the build info to date.
In Feb of 2021, the https://www.hooben-shop.com had the Hooben ZTZ-99A listed as only $208 with free shipping. That seemed like a good deal IMO for a tank in a version no one else makes, but it is a Hooben so all bets are off. There are actually 3 ZTZs on the market in 1/16. There is the HL ZTZ-99 (actually a Type-98, but sold as a ZTZ-99), the HL ZTZ-99A (actually a ZTZ-99), and the Hooben ZTZ-99A (an actual ZTZ-99A). All three represent different versions of the tank even though two of them have the same designation. Chinese tanks get very little love from the R/C community which is probably why I like them...
I did a bad thing and bought it. I couldn't pass up at that price so I took a huge gamble on Hooben. I ordered it on 2/8/2021 and it arrived on 3/5/2021. In typical Hooben fashion they sent me a bogus tracking number on Feb 20th that meant nothing. Shipment actually went out on Feb 24th under a different tracking number which means the shipment actually took nine days to get here from HK. That isn't bad for actual transit time. Hooben basically took 16 days to process the order and actually ship it.
Now for the good - the packaging was excellent. The box is made from like 1/2" corrugated cardboard with cardboard reinforcement angle pieces on every exposed edge. The interior is a softer type of cut foam.
Some pics of how it came from Hooben:
Upper hull arrangement.
Turret traverse motor.
Lower hull. Main battery connection is a Deans type connection and comes with a Deans to Tamiya adapter. No battery is included. Standard battery box size. Plastic the hull is made out of looks and feels more like ABS than styrene.
Close up of the electronics. They look similar to a Taigan MFU. Shows the ability to hook up a hobby grade transmitter in manual, but uses what looks to be a Molex connection for that and not a standard servo type cable. Gears are ferrous - magnet does stick to them. Unsure if it's a 370 or 380 motor yet, but it does look like a 390 will fit fine. All the solder joints look better than HL joints.
Part of the smoke system. I produces tons of smoke. This motor is wired to one of the drive motors. I assume that is so the volume of smoke will increase as the motor speed increases.
Bottom of the chassis with the nylon tracks. They are single knurled pin that resemble Leopard 2A6 tracks. I don't have a Leo, but I can confirm the Leo tracks, idlers, and sprockets are NOT compatible as they physically will not fit under the track guards. Comes with plastic idlers, plastic sprockets, and plastic suspension arms.
Upper hull detail - greased from the factory.
Similar torsion spring setup to some HL tanks, but the spring bale is larger diameter.
Wheels came with bronze bushings (5x8x2.5mm). Can be adapted to take 5x9x3mm bearings easily. No rubber tires. Tires are plastic. I have verified that HL ZTZ metal bearing wheels will fit the shafts, but the arms are plastic so it's probably not a good idea to mount them as they would put too much stress on the plastic arms.
Turret detail with mount for IR system. IR system is similar to Taigen.
Inside of turret upper.
Turret setup. Uses servo recoil and motor driven elevation. Gears are all plastic. Barrel pivot point uses bearings. Daughter board is normally mounted in the hull.
Bottom of the turret. Greased from the factory.
Turret ring has ball bearings installed.
Large general decals.
All of the digital decals included, but I think I will paint the camo on and skip the decals.
Nice color, numbered placement guide for the digital decals.
In the next post - The teardown and start of the build.
In Feb of 2021, the https://www.hooben-shop.com had the Hooben ZTZ-99A listed as only $208 with free shipping. That seemed like a good deal IMO for a tank in a version no one else makes, but it is a Hooben so all bets are off. There are actually 3 ZTZs on the market in 1/16. There is the HL ZTZ-99 (actually a Type-98, but sold as a ZTZ-99), the HL ZTZ-99A (actually a ZTZ-99), and the Hooben ZTZ-99A (an actual ZTZ-99A). All three represent different versions of the tank even though two of them have the same designation. Chinese tanks get very little love from the R/C community which is probably why I like them...
I did a bad thing and bought it. I couldn't pass up at that price so I took a huge gamble on Hooben. I ordered it on 2/8/2021 and it arrived on 3/5/2021. In typical Hooben fashion they sent me a bogus tracking number on Feb 20th that meant nothing. Shipment actually went out on Feb 24th under a different tracking number which means the shipment actually took nine days to get here from HK. That isn't bad for actual transit time. Hooben basically took 16 days to process the order and actually ship it.
Now for the good - the packaging was excellent. The box is made from like 1/2" corrugated cardboard with cardboard reinforcement angle pieces on every exposed edge. The interior is a softer type of cut foam.
Some pics of how it came from Hooben:
Upper hull arrangement.
Turret traverse motor.
Lower hull. Main battery connection is a Deans type connection and comes with a Deans to Tamiya adapter. No battery is included. Standard battery box size. Plastic the hull is made out of looks and feels more like ABS than styrene.
Close up of the electronics. They look similar to a Taigan MFU. Shows the ability to hook up a hobby grade transmitter in manual, but uses what looks to be a Molex connection for that and not a standard servo type cable. Gears are ferrous - magnet does stick to them. Unsure if it's a 370 or 380 motor yet, but it does look like a 390 will fit fine. All the solder joints look better than HL joints.
Part of the smoke system. I produces tons of smoke. This motor is wired to one of the drive motors. I assume that is so the volume of smoke will increase as the motor speed increases.
Bottom of the chassis with the nylon tracks. They are single knurled pin that resemble Leopard 2A6 tracks. I don't have a Leo, but I can confirm the Leo tracks, idlers, and sprockets are NOT compatible as they physically will not fit under the track guards. Comes with plastic idlers, plastic sprockets, and plastic suspension arms.
Upper hull detail - greased from the factory.
Similar torsion spring setup to some HL tanks, but the spring bale is larger diameter.
Wheels came with bronze bushings (5x8x2.5mm). Can be adapted to take 5x9x3mm bearings easily. No rubber tires. Tires are plastic. I have verified that HL ZTZ metal bearing wheels will fit the shafts, but the arms are plastic so it's probably not a good idea to mount them as they would put too much stress on the plastic arms.
Turret detail with mount for IR system. IR system is similar to Taigen.
Inside of turret upper.
Turret setup. Uses servo recoil and motor driven elevation. Gears are all plastic. Barrel pivot point uses bearings. Daughter board is normally mounted in the hull.
Bottom of the turret. Greased from the factory.
Turret ring has ball bearings installed.
Large general decals.
All of the digital decals included, but I think I will paint the camo on and skip the decals.
Nice color, numbered placement guide for the digital decals.
In the next post - The teardown and start of the build.