RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

Hi peeps,

I've recently purchased two tanks, an early non smoke and sound Tiger I and a smoke and sound Tauch Panzer. Both were sold as faulty.

The first one the Panzer III had shorted electronics listed as the fault. I've looked at it and the problem is that one wire is melted. This wire runs from the battery to the switch and then onto the RX18 board.

Inside the tank they have looped the wires to tie up some slack, this loop was completely melted to the underside of the battery compartment and has warped the feed hole into the compartment. On the other side of the compartment near the battery plug the insulation has essentially melted away to nothing leaving bare wire.

The battery is missing some of it's plastic yellow covering but does not appear to be damaged.

Any Ideas what could have caused this? Irregular battery discharge? Kinked cable causing an overheat?

The solution would be to replace the entire length of cable, including switch and battery terminal, but I am unsure if the control board has been damaged. Is it possible to buy this item from a vendor or would I have to make it myself?

Next tank, the Tiger.

I purchased this as a possible paint donor for my proper Tiger, I had to test it out of curiosity! I made one mistake, I used the battery from the Panzer above (the Tiger came with no battery or charger), now this might be fine but I don't know if the battery is OK or FUBAR.

When powered the Tiger's Turret immediately traversed, no lights came on and it didn't go through the connection cool down I thought it might. The turret just traversed clockwise got stuck and then traversed the other way.

I've opened her up but cannot see any obvious signs of damage or problems, my usual failed electronics test (sniff test) showed no issues either.

Any help appreciated!

Problem #1 is a short in your main battery lead or the switch. rewire the whole circuit from bat to switch to board and use a different battery to test. Aslo, pop the cover on the board and check for burns.

Problem#2 Again, a short(where??) Check the little junction board and connection board in upper hull for bad solder joints, stray wires,harness damage, etc...

Sometimes, HL and other companies like to put mounting screws through the wiring harnesses.
Rx18's are tough and your may be OK(if you don;t have rx18's, I would say go get one).

Pick up a spare hl rx18 and some of the connectors(I like the 'IR' kit as it comes with everything except the receiver). get one tank to work and switch components to the other tank (like receiver)

If you don;t have a fine tip solder iron and easy flow solder (not that horrible NON electronic solder) get this stuff too.

Hi Xrad,

Thanks for the response. I've sort of fixed the Tauch, I cut the wire just past the switch (it was damaged almost to the switch) and rewired using a set from ebay. I just joined using the usual connectors. She finally had power after that which led to the next problem.

When I first opened it up the bridge board was broken off its retaining tabs, one peg snapped the other side was broken at the bridge. When it failed originally I guess the owner just pulled the halves apart. Anyway, I should have fixed this but didn't and it lead to a wire, complete with solder joint and trace pulling off the bridge.

I checked the wiring diagrams online and cut the wire based on this, turned out I cut the barrel elevation So I found the correct wire and rejoined both of these, now everything is working. I think in the future I will replace all the wiring between the two with a scotch block (screw terminal).

I had thought the BB gun was broken but I forgot I had switched it off! I tested it last night and hit a pepsi max tin at about 4m, I misjudged the power and the ricochet caught be in the face, must not use indoors, must wear PPE!

At the end of this meandering tale I do still have some questions so please be patient:

I've read the tracks are back to front, any idea what the correct orientation is? Currently mine are put on chevrons facing toward the front.

Not sure what the trim is for, so far I've found it engages the more even when stationary or causes it to spin or run forward?

The Panzer doesn't seem very steady, it sort of meanders a little off course when running in a straight line? I think perhaps it's user error as it seems to meander at about 4m, and I don't have the tank aerial fitted!

Shame we've had torrential rain up here as I am dying to take it outside, chasing the cats inside is only fun for so long!

I've been enjoying the Tauchpanzer so much I've not yet properly played with the Tiger pro or the broken Tiger I have!