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

[Hoomi]

Is there still any open Radio Shack stores anywhere?

[Woohoo\o/]

Decided to stiffen up the tub. The front of the Abrams is low so I couldn't allow the bar to extend all the way however it is rock solid.

I have a question. I want to DIY my own 360 turret. Is this possible? Do they sell a universal slip ring I can get from Amazon or local tech store (radio shack/best buy) ? Things are going real slow due to the covid19 virus.

found this on Amazon. Will this work?

https://www.amazon.com/Taidacent-Connector-Conductive-Collector-Transformer/dp/B07NW7BTH7

[Hoomi]

She arrived today, and I took her out for a test spin this evening. I loaded some airsoft pellets in, but I couldn't get it to shoot them. I need to recheck the instructions and see if I missed something in the controls or set-up.

Edit: Found the "check out" steps in the New Tanker thread. Will try that tomorrow!

[Hoomi]

FedEx estimates my Abrams should arrive on Friday.

[Rubicon99]

Thanks man! Not gunna lie she could use a scotch more low end grunt to climb. I too will be looking into better power plants. Shoot a link to the motor's you're looking at. I cannot leave anything stock and if it's cheap and greatly benefits performance I am all in!

I already have dozens of the RED 390 motors. Motion I understand will be caring them soon but until then the best place to buy RED 390s is EBay: “Heng Long 390 motors” will pull up a good number for sale.

[RCGuy83]

Your rock crawling r/c background will be very helpful in both driving and understanding the benefits of upgrades. Mine sure did.

Think about adding the red 390 motors and rubber padded tracks. More speed, torque and 200% improvement in track grip = some awesome terrain driving fun.

Good placement of your battery that is where I have been placing mine for years now.

Thanks man! Not gunna lie she could use a scotch more low end grunt to climb. I too will be looking into better power plants. Shoot a link to the motor's you're looking at. I cannot leave anything stock and if it's cheap and greatly benefits performance I am all in!

[RCGuy83]

New tankers be aware you CAN in fact change the control of the tank putting FWD/REV on the LEFT stick instead of the RIGHT. See the #2 step for how to do this. Keep in mind doing so in turn moves the cannon barrel raising/lowering to the RIGHT stick. You'll have to experiment and see which mode you like best. Additionally this sheet tells you how to turn the LED lights ON/OFF. Ignore the bottom #3 step for Dual-Current Driving System. Our model tanks are not setup for this.

[Rubicon99]

Hello fellow Abrams tankers! I wanted to share my experience and mods thus far with the M1A2 Abrams Upgrade edition. I've never driven an RC tank but have an extensive RC crawling, 1/8th scale racing, RC flying, and RC boating background. My goal was to beat on it good and hard to see what it can take. I am very happy to report that the stock tracks are holding up great off-road though I did buy the metal upgrades. I'm driving it like a rock-crawler more than a tank and it's taking anything I can dish out. Knowing I would want more run time than the stock 1,800mah pack could provide I bought an Admiral 2S 5,000mah pack to fit inside the tank. Though I could have knocked out the front wall in the stock battery location to slide it in I found that having it up front added a nice amount of weight to help the front end get better traction climbing things. In order to keep it out of the way of the turret rotation I used double sided tape to stick it down to the floor in the nose of the hull. I then stuck the speaker box right on top where it remains out of the way of the turret when rotating. I have yet to charge it and have about 3hrs of hard running on it. The tank is a blast to drive around and my 4-year old daughter is enjoying it as well (unarmed of course) since it's nice and slow. Now..... I just need to find some fellow tankers to battle in So-Cal.

NOTE: Per the supplemental page included with the tank I switched the FWD/REV movement of the tank to the LEFT stick which then puts the barrel raise/lower on the RIGHT stick. I really like driving it this was vs stock. Also of note on that same page is how to turn headlights ON/OFF which is down by simply holding the G button and moving the left stick up at the same time.

In the video below I tried to take it through a wide mix of activities from cannon targeting and firing, to dirt driving, to traversing rough terrain. A tank battle in this 'playground' would be epic. Biodegradable BB's are on the way!

Your rock crawling r/c background will be very helpful in both driving and understanding the benefits of upgrades. Mine sure did.

Think about adding the red 390 motors and rubber padded tracks. More speed, torque and 200% improvement in track grip = some awesome terrain driving fun.

Good placement of your battery that is where I have been placing mine for years now.

[RCGuy83]

I experimented with FPV'ing the turret and driving/firing the tank. I am happy to report that it 100% changes the ball-game having serious potential for tank-to-tank battling. To say it's fun is an understatement but I need some adversaries! I used a simple stand alone FPV setup I made to be able to put on anything I want. Now that I see the potential I will wire into the turret a much cleaner FPV camera setup fed off the main battery pack. Imagine having 6-8 tanks FPV'd with all the drivers sitting at a table with 14"-17" monitors displaying their view.

[RCGuy83]

Hello fellow Abrams tankers! I wanted to share my experience and mods thus far with the M1A2 Abrams Upgrade edition. I've never driven an RC tank but have an extensive RC crawling, 1/8th scale racing, RC flying, and RC boating background. My goal was to beat on it good and hard to see what it can take. I am very happy to report that the stock tracks are holding up great off-road though I did buy the metal upgrades. I'm driving it like a rock-crawler more than a tank and it's taking anything I can dish out. Knowing I would want more run time than the stock 1,800mah pack could provide I bought an Admiral 2S 5,000mah pack to fit inside the tank. Though I could have knocked out the front wall in the stock battery location to slide it in I found that having it up front added a nice amount of weight to help the front end get better traction climbing things. In order to keep it out of the way of the turret rotation I used double sided tape to stick it down to the floor in the nose of the hull. I then stuck the speaker box right on top where it remains out of the way of the turret when rotating. I have yet to charge it and have about 3hrs of hard running on it. The tank is a blast to drive around and my 4-year old daughter is enjoying it as well (unarmed of course) since it's nice and slow. Now..... I just need to find some fellow tankers to battle in So-Cal.

NOTE: Per the supplemental page included with the tank I switched the FWD/REV movement of the tank to the LEFT stick which then puts the barrel raise/lower on the RIGHT stick. I really like driving it this way vs stock. Also of note on that same page is how to turn headlights ON/OFF which is down by simply holding the G button and moving the left stick up at the same time.

In the video below I tried to take it through a wide mix of activities from cannon targeting and firing, to dirt driving, to traversing rough terrain. A tank battle in this 'playground' would be epic. Biodegradable BB's are on the way!

[Woohoo\o/]

Getting some mods done. The bearings worked out perfectly thanks guys. I also added magnets for quick access.

[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.

[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.

[Woohoo\o/]

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

[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/]

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

[Woohoo\o/]

That scorpion looks crazy awesome.


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

[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.

[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):

[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