RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

I'm new to this so forgive me if the info is already here somewhere. But I can't seem to find it.

I am planning a upgrade to my Heng Long King Tiger (3888). Found a metal chassis online for about US$440 shipped. It's not a bargain but a little cheaper than a Taigen/Torro (yeah I know T/T is a better model, except for the V3 electronics that I am not a fan of). I even asked henglongtanks.com and they didn't know what parts are needed.

Questions: How do I fit a plastic upper hull to a metal chassis (both HL)? What are the parts I need? Is there a tutorial?

Hello, unless I'm mistaken, I don't remember seeing a tutorial on this forum for this kind of thing? What's blocking you? If both are HL, there shouldn't be any major problems? Except for fixing the upper chassis? Some members on this forum use a system of small magnets. Look at the post "Construction Journals" Roi Tigre, you should find some ideas there. Otherwise there is a generalized system on many models, see attached photo, and which should make your work easier. Not knowing how the metal chassis is made? There will certainly be an adaptation to be made, and a bit of mechanics?
https://www.rctank.de/Tiger-I-Schliesss ... ong-Taigen

Jofaur86 wrote: ↑Thu Feb 27, 2025 5:31 pm Otherwise there is a generalized system on many models, see attached photo, and which should make your work easier.
https://www.rctank.de/Tiger-I-Schliesss ... ong-Taigen

That's it!! I saw a video that Erik did years ago and he mentioned a kit like that (but never showed it). Now the trick is to find it (locally in the US or AE) to save cost. Thank you so much!!

This mechanism? One part is fixed on the rear of the tank (lower chassis) there are two small hooks to fix on the two columns, which exist (maybe?) on the upper chassis, and a small tab under one of the rear edges, allows to unclip the top of the tank. Sorry I don't have any photos. But by browsing the forum, it must be possible to find.

This equips Taigen/Torro tanks, so there are many US members on the forum, so you should have no problem finding an address? see also the "Sellers" post here

I did a search of Toucan Hobby (https://www.toucanhobby.com/), the source of the lower hull you picture above. (See the little Toucan near the left rear of the hull.) I had no luck finding the Schließsystem ("closing,"or "securing" or "fastening" system). Jofaur86 has summed it up: typically the front of the Tiger upper and lower hulls are held together by flanges that slip together (often quite tightly). Then the hooks are screwed to posts hanging from (so to speak) the bottom (inside) of the upper hull. The long crosspiece is screwed to the horizontal part of the lower hull above the return rollers. The text below your photo on the web page explains:

With this set you can affix the upper and lower hulls of your Tiger I.
This is the same fastening system as is used for the metal lower hull of the Taigen Tiger I.

Mit diesen Set können Sie ihre Tiger I Oberwannen bzw Unterwanne bestücken.
Es ist das gleiche Schließsystem wie bei der Tiger I Metallunterwanne von Taigen

I also checked Torro (https://www.torro-shop.de/-Startseite) (same as Taigen), which firm offers a Tiger I kit (https://www.torro-shop.de/1-16-RC-Kit-Tiger-I), hoping to see online instructions. Alas, I had no luck.

Over twenty years ago, when I first fell over an RC tank at a (somewhat) local hobby store, I started using Google Advanced Search (https://www.google.com/advanced_search) and a now-defunct forum like RCTW to learn what I could and to find dealers and sources. I still do so.

Keep in mind that a lot of the metal "upgrades" are not made by Heng Long. If Heng Long doesn't sell the tank with the "upgrade" on it, it is not made by them. So like tracks, wheels, and sprockets are made by Heng Long and completely designed to fit. You can tell by the gearboxes in this item that this hull is not made by Heng Long. Heng Long sells metal hulls, but when they do, they use their own HL branded gearboxes. Those are gearboxes made by Heng Xin. Anything not made by Heng Long, may require some fitting work to make it work with the HL. More than likely this is made by Canshuo. Canshuo is known for making stuff that may have some issues with compatibility. The "Heng Long RC Store" on AliExpress is actually Toucan Hobbies and NOT Heng Long corporate.

I don't see much in the way of connection point for the upper hull so you may need to fabricate those yourself.

And the website henglongtanks.com...is also Toucan Hobbies NOT Heng Long. There was a post on FB if I remember a while back saying that Toucan was launching that site. All of the individual product pages are exactly like the Toucan Hobby site even down to the "US Warehouse" tags.