Discussion: Heng Long's 1/16 scale M1A2 Abrams RTR, Upgrade Edition!

[Sappo]

Thanks Alpha, yeah a m1 or any tank shouldn't bounce over obstacles. I need to get the red motors to go with the steel gear boxes as well as steel suspension arms.

[Woohoo\o/]

The problem of 8x12x2.5 mm or 8x12x3.5 mm is real inner hole 7.9 mm and a little bit sanding shaft is necessary.

I can sand shaft no problem. Yes I read somewhere that sanding shaft may be necessary for some bearings.

[Elbee]

Sappo, Welcome to "The Squawk". Glad you're on board, Sir. Best, LB

[Woohoo\o/]

Is weight for a model rc tank good? I would imagine to a certain degree to simulate movement?

[Rubicon99]

Is weight for a model rc tank good? I would imagine to a certain degree to simulate movement?

YES it is very good. More weight = better track grip = greater mobility over rough terrain and smoother overall look while driving. Balancing the weight though is critical. 50/50 front to back is generally the best.

All my HL Abrams tanks weight between 12-15 Lbs. This is a combination of metal suspension, road wheels, metal/rubber padded tracks, large batteries and balancing weight.

Note: Weight does not necessarily slow a tanks top end speed down. It more often then not improves the usable top end speed by being able to drive more smoothly across a wider variety of terrain types. How? It doesn’t waist momentum bouncing around and having to consistently correct its directions of travel. With tanks...smooth is fast.

[Woohoo\o/]

That is great news. I'm so used to watching weight on my jets it's finally nice to not care about weight lol

[Hoomi]

I just ordered the Abrams. I was originally leaning towards the Bulldog, but as popular as the HL tanks have been on MRC, it was sold out before I was ready to order. However, after watching the Abrams video, I'm liking to the looks of it as well.

Something to play with when the conditions aren't great for flying, or I don't really have the time for the 60 mile round-trip to the flying field. I might have to see about getting my son a tank also, so we can have battles.

[Woohoo\o/]

Congratulations you will not regret the Abrams. I was torn between the bulldog and Abrams too. Just something soo cool about the Abrams especially when jumping over small hills and the bounce it does.

photo below I added the driver glass and the other part on the top (don't know the name or what that is really) I'll need to do the commanders capola soon.

[Hoomi]

I have some UV reactive resin that I might try using for the driver glass. Comes out of the bottle at the consistency of corn syrup, and cures solid when exposed to UV light.

I learned the first time I tried to use it, to not do so outside during the daytime. The resin hardens almost immediately under our intense sunshine here in Baja Arizona. It hardens plenty fast when hit with a typical UV flashlight inside, though. (We use UV flashlights around here to check for scorpions, all of which fluoresce under UV light)

[Woohoo\o/]

Wow must be cool to see the scorpions under uv. I used a pair of children's sunglasses, cut to approx. Shape and hot glued them on. Doing the commanders capola will be a real challenge.

[BluesDragon]

Well look what showed up at my door! Got this for my son (bottom right of scale photo) in trade for his Commander plane. We're gonna do our best to set it up like the his was with the 2/37AR.. thus no decals as of yet. I know the pics with the P-51 are not to scale, but they damn sure look fine sitting there! I pity the fool that comes up the driveway! lol

[Elbee]

Well look what showed up at my door!

BD, Never thought I'd have to worry about "Tank Envy", go figure. Thank you son for his service for us all. Looking forward to seeing your build on the Abrams. Best, LB

[Hoomi]

Wow must be cool to see the scorpions under uv. I used a pair of children's sunglasses, cut to approx. Shape and hot glued them on. Doing the commanders capola will be a real challenge.

That'll be one advantage to trying the resin - being fluid, it won't need to be cut to fit, it should fill to fit. I used it for lenses in Arnold Ziffel's goggles in my Air Hooterville Waco model, and it worked out nicely.

The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum here in Tucson runs "Summer Saturday Nights," when they stay open until 10 p.m. One of the popular activities is searching for scorpions with the UV lights, and I've had some fun doing macro photography with them (shooting photos of spiders and scorpions has helped me bring my arachnophobia under control). The museum has some waist-high stacked rock walls along one of the paths, that are very popular for people to sit on during the daytime. Once people look at those walls with UV lights at night, though, they never sit on them again. They're favorite hiding places for small scorpions.

Here's a shot showing how the scorpions look under the UV flashlight (with apologies to those who get creeped out by such sights):

[BluesDragon]

Thanks LB! No need for envy.. and don't get your hopes up. I'm sure it'll be amateurish at best. So long as makes him happy then I'm all good. The majority of photo's I've got of his tank are mostly covered in desert dust, so markings are tough to read. Got a bit more researching to do for sure.

[Woohoo\o/]

That scorpion looks crazy awesome.


BD congrats on that trade. The mustang looks close to scale size with the Abrams.

[Woohoo\o/]

Question. Is beach sand a bad idea to run a tank on?

[Rubicon99]

Question. Is beach sand a bad idea to run a tank on?

The finer the sand the better. Course sand is hard on tracks and sprockets.

Be gentle on the turns as tanks tend to through tracks easier in sand.

Sand does bog the motors down and you will eat through your battery FAST.

Have fun and take some photo to post up.

[Woohoo\o/]

Thank you. Yeah makes sense. And i will certainly take pics and videos.

[Hoomi]

I was curious how the real Abrams sounds, so poked a bit on YouTube. This video of an M1 doing some demonstration moves for a group of kids is nice for both sound, and showing how the real tank can move. Interesting to see that front-end dip on a hard-stop.

[T-CAT]

I was curious how the real Abrams sounds, so poked a bit on YouTube. This video of an M1 doing some demonstration moves for a group of kids is nice for both sound, and showing how the real tank can move. Interesting to see that front-end dip on a hard-stop.

Wowwwwwwww, the tank is a monster in performance. I didn't know it accelerated that quickly. For how big it is, that blows my mind.