newbie questions

[tigerfan8]

Hello I am looking for a first RC tank. Can anybody suggest a good starter tank as standard and good UK dealers or outlets?

[Martin2556]

Hi & welcome,
I suggest you contact Dave at Forgebear, he provides an excellent service, link below.

https://www.forgebeartanks.com

[Kaczor]

As for the first tank, I recommend the Heng Long with the 7.1 board. They have everything you need to start and have many upgrade options.

[Meter rat]

In the UK you have Dave at Forgebear tanks, Northampton based, or Andrew at Haya Ltd just over the water in Swansea. For your first tank, I would ask yourself some questions. Will I be using it indoors or out doors? How much money do I have to spend? What are my skills? Do I want a modern, or pre-history WW2? I am guessing from your title, you are a Tiger fan. I know one person who will be happy. If I may? I will suggest you get an all plastic Heng Long, either a Tiger, Sherman, or T72. These are pretty fault free out of the box. They have upgrades, and if you find you do not like the hobby, you will not have spent too much money. Tanks like the Abrams, Leopard, and Challenger do have track retaining issues, especially with metal tracks. If you enjoy building kits, a Tamiya is up there, if you have the funds.

[jarndice]

Hi. Welcome to the Forum I concur with both www.forgebeartanks.com which incidently is just outside of Bedford on the A421 a couple of miles from Junction 13 of the M1 and Haya, They both have a fine range of Armour as well as upgrades,
You might like to look at Haya's own brand Centurion and Forgebears Tongde Centurion which is cheaper than Haya's, indeed Tongde have a decent range of armour,
Our Northern Britain correspondent is averse to the Tiger 1 but as a starter it has the advantage of being instantly recognisable to people who have little knowledge of our hobby and it is big enough inside to prevent newbie hands accidently pulling out wires and it is for what you get with a Heng Long Tank very good value for money,
There are more spares and upgrades for the Tiger 1 than any other and most non electrical spares from Taigen are a one for one swap and quite a few Tamiya parts will also fit but if you are unsure talk to us first,
Enjoy this place and finally do remember when it is 11 at night with work tomorrow and the bl**dy thing will not work you are doing this for fun
(We are open 24/7 if all else fails)

[michaelwhittmann]

Window shop on eBay.

Do you have it across the pond?

[jarndice]

We certainly do and it got faster last month when our Gertie across the road invented something she is calling the wheel
Sorry but you left yourself wide open,
I do not recommend e bay to new members of the Forum because you could find yourself buying damaged or old outdated stock and to a newbie they are non the wiser only to find out too late that they have been ripped off.
If this person buys a Heng Long tank on E Bay there is no guarantee that they are getting a 7.1 board vehicle instead it could be any of the earlier boards.

[michaelwhittmann]

Never had a problem but I'm sorry you have.

eBay vendors can be used to compare and contrast, esp. price.

[Herr Dr. Professor]

Welcome, tigerfan8! You have gathered some excellent advice so far. I approve of Meter rat's fine list of questions for beginners (and well beyond). Even though I am thousands of kilometers away, I certainly concur with the advice to start with forgebear ( https://www.forgebeartanks.com/store/c1 ... ducts.html ) or Haya ( https://www.hayaltd.co.uk/ ). Frankly, I do not use eBay much except for small parts not widely available here in the U.S. Otherwise, I, too, most often turn to UK or German sellers I know and trust.

Keep us informed and ask questions as you need.

[MrChef]

I also suggest a known vendor for your first tank. Since navigating market prices and hidden costs can be a challenge when starting out. Definitely suggest Dave at Forgebear if you're on that side of the pond. Their service and support is second to none. I have a package of goodies on the way from him this week.

But let's be clear the Heng Long tanks do not come with the TK 7.1 MFU stock.

Heng Long tanks come with the TK 7.0 MFU or "board"