My Review of the Heng Long 1/16 Scale Challenger II Tank

[Sappo]

Hey thanks for that, was looking on the aliexpress page for Toucan cause the ebay store doesn't export to NZ

[Rubicon99]

Hey thanks for that, was looking on the aliexpress page for Toucan cause the ebay store doesn't export to NZ

Toucan has a non EBay web site as well that you can buy direct from. Or “TankZone“ on Aliexpress which I think is actually HLs Aliexpress store.

[Commander Botha]

Hello Everyone,
I have recently bought the 1/16 Heng Long Challenger II with the 6.0 set up and all metal road wheels, idlers, drive sprockets and tracks, and steel gear box. This is a fantastic looking tank. Have any of you had issues with the sprockets? I have had two break with only a month of operation. The first was caused by the screw coming undone and the outer part broke into pieces. Toucan Hobby kindly replaced it at no charge and I received the replacement last night. As I was installing it the same outer part sheered off from the axle holding it to the rear part of the sprocket. I was able to flood the recess with super glue and accelerator that seems to have worked as I gave the tank a good run last night after reassembling the tank.

I was looking online at replacement drive sprockets and saw the Mato version with track guides. In your experience, could you please tell me if the Mato (or other brands) are better quality than the original Heng Long sprockets. Also, will the Mato sprocket work with the original Heng Long metal tracks. I really don't want to replace the tracks if I can help it.

Thanks for your help.
Jarrod

[Rubicon99]

Hello Everyone,
I have recently bought the 1/16 Heng Long Challenger II with the 6.0 set up and all metal road wheels, idlers, drive sprockets and tracks, and steel gear box. This is a fantastic looking tank. Have any of you had issues with the sprockets? I have had two break with only a month of operation. The first was caused by the screw coming undone and the outer part broke into pieces. Toucan Hobby kindly replaced it at no charge and I received the replacement last night. As I was installing it the same outer part sheered off from the axle holding it to the rear part of the sprocket. I was able to flood the recess with super glue and accelerator that seems to have worked as I gave the tank a good run last night after reassembling the tank.

I was looking online at replacement drive sprockets and saw the Mato version with track guides. In your experience, could you please tell me if the Mato (or other brands) are better quality than the original Heng Long sprockets. Also, will the Mato sprocket work with the original Heng Long metal tracks. I really don't want to replace the tracks if I can help it.

Thanks for your help.
Jarrod

The Mato Challenger 2 sprockets are the same as the metal HL sprockets. I am assuming you have been using the plastic HL sprockets because the metal ones are extremely hard to break.

Yes the metal sprockets will work with the HL Challenger 2 plastic and metal tracks. They will not work with any other aftermarket tracks unless you use a small rubber spacer placed between the two sprocket halves.

Hope this helps.

[Commander Botha]

Thanks for your reply. My Chally has metal tracks and metal sprockets. In looking at pictures on line it just looked like the Mato sprockets were just a little different, beefier perhaps especially in the "spokes". The problem has only been in the one that unscrewed and the replacement. The other side has been fine from the start. I have super glued the heck out of the latest one that broke and is so far holding up, but I'd like a set on hand if and when the super glue gives out.
Do you sell the Mato sprocket?

[Commander Botha]

Ok, a newby tanker question: with the track tensioner, you'd loosen the tracks for soft sand, ect, and tighten them up on hard surfaces?

[Rubicon99]

Thanks for your reply. My Chally has metal tracks and metal sprockets. In looking at pictures on line it just looked like the Mato sprockets were just a little different, beefier perhaps especially in the "spokes". The problem has only been in the one that unscrewed and the replacement. The other side has been fine from the start. I have super glued the heck out of the latest one that broke and is so far holding up, but I'd like a set on hand if and when the super glue gives out.
Do you sell the Mato sprocket?

Sounds like your axle shaft screw threads are the cause of the issue you’re having with the axle attachment screw coming loose. Try some blue tread lock on the screw threads and let it set up for 24 hours. It is a common occurrence and occasional re-tightening of the sprocket screws is needed on all the HL tanks especially ones with metal tracks or that are running more powerful motors and batteries. If the screws are not kept tight the sprockets will tend to loose tracks easily and this leads to increased stress on the sprockets and tracks.

If you want the Mato branded sprockets buy a set. It will not hurt anything and they work fine with stock HL tracks.

[Rubicon99]

Ok, a newby tanker question: with the track tensioner, you'd loosen the tracks for soft sand, ect, and tighten them up on hard surfaces?

Neither!

You want you tracks on a modem tank to be “taught” = not to tight and not to loose for best performance on all surface types. Each modern tank is different even two of the same kind can and do often require different track tension to work well. It is a matter of trial and error as to finding what each of YOUR tanks like.

Wait it gets even more confusing. Track type, plastic, metal, metal/rubber padded, single pin and dual pin all require totally different tensioning, some more some less. Also as track wears it will natural loosen up. This typically happens fast at first then slows down over time. That is unless you drive often in fine sand or silty powdery dirt, then it happens at a constant fast rate and you will find yourself tensioning the tracks rather often.

[Commander Botha]

OK, Thank you very much for your input. I'll play around with the tensioner and see what I find. I have ordered a set of Mato sprockets as a back up.
My Chally has all metal tracks, road wheels, idlers and sprockets. A steel gear box and I just replaced the original motors with the red motors. I can already see a difference in performance with the new motors.

[dai phan]

I vote to go with the Professional version it is a great starting point and dollar for dollar the best value. Adding the upgrades it comes with later will end up costing more in time and money.

About the only thing I do not like about it is the ALL metal tracks. Their design has NO grip and are only single pin not the double they should be. Single pin design on what should be a double pin track do not run as smoothly.

With the addition of the new idler wheel track tensioning system I would recommend dumping the all metal track and buying a set of dual pin DKLM or Mato “Abrams” metal/rubber padded tracks. HUGE improvement in running smoothness and off road grip. They are heavy and work best with upgraded motors which are another story.

I plan to buy the Challenger and buy the Mato track as you advise. Dai

[dai phan]

The Challenger 2 is one of my favorite R/C tanks. It's huge for a 1/16 scale tank, looks mean as heck and has superb suspension articulation that make for one smooth cross country running tank. With the new 6.0 version now coming with an adjustable track tensioner it should be even better then before.

Here are a few photos of my Challenger 2 tackling an off road tank obstacle course.

Do you have any issues of the parts breaking off in the back like Alpha mentioned in his review? Dai

[Rubicon99]

Do you have any issues of the parts breaking off in the back like Alpha mentioned in his review? Dai

Oh yes, the fuel drums will scrape and can be ripped off easily if not “glued” on instead of just press fitted. Also expect to loose your tow hooks/mounts both front and rear at some point regardless how they are installed.

[dai phan]

Oh yes, the fuel drums will scrape and can be ripped off easily if not “glued” on instead of just press fitted. Also expect to loose your tow hooks/mounts both front and rear at some point regardless how they are installed.

On my Leopard, I use CA to glue the parts. Shall I do the same for the fuel drums? The tow hooks shall I leave them off? I just ordered a Challenger 6.0 version. Dai

[Rubicon99]

On my Leopard, I use CA to glue the parts. Shall I do the same for the fuel drums? The tow hooks shall I leave them off? I just ordered a Challenger 6.0 version. Dai

CA will help.

I would not leave the tow hooks off the rear as they help reduce impacts to the fuel drums. The front maybe? But then you will have to deal with the open mounting wholes exposed in the front hull. For you that should not be an issues but for some others it would be.

Either way it’s up to you. Spare plastic parts as reasonably easy to come by both at MotionRC or EBay.

[dai phan]

CA will help.

I would not leave the tow hooks off the rear as they help reduce impacts to the fuel drums. The front maybe? But then you will have to deal with the open mounting wholes exposed in the front hull. For you that should not be an issues but for some others it would be.

Either way it’s up to you. Spare plastic parts as reasonably easy to come by both at MotionRC or EBay.

I want scale so I will install them. I will be careful and not put it in paces like I see on YT. BTW what do you think of Haya tanks? Dai

[Rubicon99]

I want scale so I will install them. I will be careful and not put it in paces like I see on YT. BTW what do you think of Haya tanks? Dai

Their Chieftain is cool but has a major oversight with its road wheels and suspension axle arms. They used plastic on plastic and this is well known for wearing out rather quickly. HL learned this and changed it with their 6.0 tanks. Why Haya did not use road wheels with bearings or metal suspension arms for the price they are asking is beyond belief. This is the main reason myself and many others canceled our preorders last year.

Haya sources many of their tank parts from HL (though they try to deny this) and I believe they are actually built in the HL plant just with Haya labels. No doubt Haya has an exclusive contract for the Chieftain. I can’t confirm this but it makes sense given all the HL parts, internal packaging and manual printing they are using. To me this makes their Chieftain WAY OVER PRICED given the cost of similar spec’d HL tanks.

Most of their other tanks are either stock HL or Taigen....just rebranded.

[dai phan]

Their Chieftain is cool but has a major oversight with its road wheels and suspension axle arms. They used plastic on plastic and this is well known for wearing out rather quickly. HL learned this and changed it with their 6.0 tanks. Why Haya did not use road wheels with bearings or metal suspension arms for the price they are asking is beyond belief. This is the main reason myself and many others canceled our preorders last year.

Haya sources many of their tank parts from HL (though they try to deny this) and I believe they are actually built in the HL plant just with Haya labels. No doubt Haya has an exclusive contract for the Chieftain. I can’t confirm this but it makes sense given all the HL parts, internal packaging and manual printing they are using. To me this makes their Chieftain WAY OVER PRICED given the cost of similar spec’d HL tanks.

Most of their other tanks are either stock HL or Taigen....just rebranded.

With the 600 USD price tag, many have comment on RCU that it is way over priced and does not offer any real adavantages over HL releases. Dai

[Rubicon99]

With the 600 USD price tag, many have comment on RCU that it is way over priced and does not offer any real adavantages over HL releases. Dai

And they are right IMO. The Chieftain is a cool 1960-80s era NATO tank and I would love to have one, but it would require a lot of fab work to make durable enough for use where I run my tanks.

Hopeful Haya will finally offer the metal suspension arms and road wheels they said were coming. Still just vapor at this point....

[dai phan]

Hello all...

What do I need to do to add muzzle flash and smoke? That is just tooooooooooooooooooooooooooo KOOL to be ignored ! Thanks Dai

[dai phan]

Hi all,

The Challenger will be here this week and I have hard time finding the tank figures. Can you help ? Dai

PS: I have the Torro busts for the T90 and Leopard.