Running the tank:
Driving Heng Long tanks is easy to learn. The right stick controls forward and reverse, and left and right travel of the tank treads. The left stick controls the turret's traverse (side to side) and elevation/depression (up/down) of the main gun. The trick is to synchronize your movements so that the tank moves realistically, and points the gun as the tank moves in a different direction. All Heng Long tank turrets can traverse 320 degrees, and the barrel elevates and depresses through a range of 20 degrees or so. When you hear a "clacking" sound, the movement has reached its maximum limit and you must stop pushing the stick in that direction. Perhaps in the future Heng Long will be able to implement a limit cutoff switch.
Refer to the manual for how to fire the machine gun, the main gun sequence, load 6mm BBs, and conduct IR battles. The TK6 also allows the user to program a range of features by means of pressing down a combination of buttons and moving one or the two control sticks. The amount of recoil can be adjusted higher or lower, the top speed can be set to two limits, the sensitivity in forward turns and reverse turns, and other actions are programmable in mere seconds. Out of the box, the King Tiger's track recoil was too high for my liking, so I reduced it to the Low setting. The forward turning was too fast for my liking, more akin to an RC truck, so I reduced it down to turn more slowly and react to my inputs more sensitively like a real tank. RC Airplane pilots would recognize this feature as adding "Expo" or "Exponential". It's a neat feature that Heng Long has included in this latest generation of TK6 MFCB.
Gears, Driveability, and Run Time
The Upgrade version available from Motion RC does not use Zinc Alloy gears like Upgrade versions of years past. Rather, as of 11/2019, all of Motion RC's Upgrade version tanks include Steel gears, which are superior to the old Zinc Alloy gears in every way. While the remainder of the tank's running gear is ABS plastic, I prefer this Upgrade version because the steel gears in the gearbox are very durable, yet the plastic tracks keep the tank light and maneuverable. The King Tiger is already such a large tank that it has a good weight without extension metal parts. The Professional version replaces the plastic tracks, drive sprocket, and idler wheel with metal versions. This roughly doubles the weight of the tank from ~5+ pounds to ~10.5 pounds, and increases the cost as well, so I recommend the Pro version for tankers who don't mind having a shorter drive time or having to buy a couple spare batteries. The durability and heft of the more expensive Pro version will appeal to those who want weight above all other considerations. By contrast, for the average casual RC tanker wanting to save weight and cost, I think the cheaper Upgrade version is worth considering.
Like other tanks with wide and long tracks, such as the Leopard 2A6, Challenger II, Abrams, and T99, the Upgrade configuration of the King Tiger can climb comfortably at 35 degrees with good traction. Like other tanks at the Upgrade level, the plastic tracks grip most surfaces well, although it tended to spin out sometimes on tile floor. On a hard dirt hill, the King Tiger climbed a 50 degree slope with the plastic tracks. I'd expect the metal tracks and higher weight to lend better traction on steeper slopes, although again, I don't expect tanks to perform like RC crawler trucks.
Indoors, the sound is very loud, the LED headlight is bright, and the smoke is easily visible. Outdoors, the sound is still readily audible and the LED is also visible in daylight, but the smoke becomes difficult to see. This is just as well, since the real tanks weren't constantly venting smoke as if they were on fire, so I don't mind the reduced visible volume in daylight.
The stock battery is 2s 7.4v 1800mAh. With the smoke running, sound to maximum volume, and moving constantly, a big tank like the King Tiger even in its lighter Original/Upgrade version will consume the battery in about 20 minutes. With scale movements and firing sequences, medium volume, and with the smoker turned off because it's not very visible in direct sunlight, I can stretch the battery to about 30 minutes or more. The much heavier metal tracked Professional version uses the same motor, so pulling much more weight decreases drive time due to having to move about 11 pounds of tank. Buy extra batteries because they're inexpensive, or consider upgrading to the Admiral 2s 2200mAh or 4000mAh. The Heng Long battery bays, on all tanks except the T-72 and T-90, can fit much larger 2s packs such as the Admiral 2s 4000mAh. 2s is the maximum recommended limit for the stock components.
"Send It!" Firing the Airsoft BB Cannon and the IR Battle System
Firing the machine gun by pressing the labeled button triggers a machine gun sound and a bright LED at the base of the coaxial mount located in the turret alongside the main cannon. Firing the main cannon is accomplished by holding down both the cannon button and the machine gun button, resulting in a cannon firing sound and a track recoil and a 6mm BB going flying 30 feet out of the tank. It's all synchronized very well, so that the overall effect is convincing. I prefer the lowest or the middle setting for track recoil, because the highest setting is too exaggerated and unrealistic in my opinion. I appreciate the need to push and hold two buttons to fire the main cannon, as this prevents accidental firing of the 6mm BB. The BBs don't hurt, but they are projectiles nonetheless, so all precaution should be taken for safety. I normally don't load any BBs, and after about 30 shots at the included target, which humorously depicts a King Tiger with the earlier style of turret, I taped over the BB loading hole so that there's no risk of any further BBs firing from the main cannon. The King Tiger's main barrel is already a long weapon in and of itself; I don't need it firing projectiles, too.
The most fun I've had with all these recent Heng Long tanks is engaging in IR Battles with other tanks equipped with the same TK6 MFCB. Whether a BB is loaded or not, firing the main cannon will always trigger the cannon sound and the track recoil, and will also always trigger the IR (infrared) emitter that's hidden in the mantlet, facing forward. This IR emitter sends an invisible beam that is detected by the IR mast that connects to any other TK6-equipped tank or Tamiya IR battle system equipped tank. The mast connects magnetically to the turret, and receives "hits" from other tanks. Registered hits result in the tank shuddering for a split second. After five hits, the tank plays back an "explosion and burning sound", then shuts down for five seconds, before powering back up automatically so you can resume battling your friends. A backyard brawl with four or five tanks is serious fun! Maneuvering and angling for a shot while driving for cover, all the while shouting taunts to your friends, becomes very competitive very quickly. I noticed that the taller profile of the the King Tiger makes it more vulnerable to taking hits from a distance, compared to a lower profile Panzer III or KV-1. Even the modern T-90 has a lower silhouette and thus presents a smaller target than does the big ol' King Tiger.
As with all other Heng Long TK6 series tanks, I found the King Tiger's IR emitter's sensitivity to be acceptably consistent in overcast conditions out to ~10-15 meters. In optimum conditions, a hit can be registered out to 25 meters or more, but in my experience this was rare, and in local RC tank engagements, the range to target tends to be much shorter. It should also be noted that IR technology is susceptible to decreased performance in direct sunlight, which is why IR Tank Battlers often use sunshades on the IR receiver ("apple"). IR receivers can also be masked by obstacles, even those on the turret. Additionally, it appears that turning the turret can create less than consistent results when registering hits. The King Tiger is so large that its IR apple is small by comparison, and does not distract much from the vehicle itself. If you do decide to paint the mast to blend it in with the rest of the tank further, just remember not to paint the actual dome.
Power and Handling
The King Tiger moves at a walking pace at full throttle on the High setting and about 25% slower on Low setting. Hold G and move the left stick up or down to select the High or Low setting, respectively. With the proportional steering controls, can really be slowed down for "creeping" maneuvers that look very scale. Refer to the instruction manual for specific directions on programming your tank's responsiveness to your preferences. This is where the TK6 MFCB shines, in giving excellent proportional control to everything that moves on the tank. Older versions only cycled their cannon barrel up/down in a loop, but now with this TK6 version I can elevate or depress the gun at any time along its path, and I can do so quickly or slowly in proportion with my stick inputs. For this and other reasons, I consider the previous ten years of Heng Long's MFCBs to be completely obsolete, and this new MFCB TK6 is the way of their future. I wouldn't recommend buying the previous versions that came before the TK6.
Upgrade path and "Wrenchability" --how easy is it to service, maintain, and upgrade this tank?:
Speaking of the TK6 MFCB, I was pleased to see that it has several unused ports. There is a brake light port, and also turn signal ports. There is even a "Main Cannon Barrel LED" port, that flashes in sync with the cannon sound. If you were okay with running an LED into the barrel and cancelling the airsoft BB firing function, you could within minutes have a neat simulated "flash" at the tip of the barrel every time you fired the main gun. I don't expect anyone to add turn signals on this King Tiger, however, but it's nice to know there are at least expandable LED port options.
In terms of overall ease of working on the King Tiger, like its fellow "big tanks" the Abrams and Challenger II, I'd give it a 10 out of 10 because its hull and turret are both very large. This makes accessing the tank's internals very easy, and there is a lot of space for adding a larger speaker, for example, or implementing a recoiling barrel or other DIY upgrades.
As mentioned previously, my King Tiger is the "Upgrade" version, meaning its exterior components are all plastic, while the gears in the gearbox are steel. I find this to be a great balance between cost, driveability, and weight. The plastic tracks are wide, which is good traction, but not so good for lateral rigidity. The plastic tracks can be twisted with one's fingers approximately 45 degrees around datum along the length of the entire tank.
The more expensive "Professional" version features metal tracks, road wheels, idler wheel, and drive sprocket --essentially all the moving drive system parts outside of the tank--. This significantly increases the weight, which some tankers may enjoy, and also the durability in certain conditions, but the trade-off for this weight gain is lower drive time. For anyone operating the heavier Professional version, I recommend buying a spare battery or two.
The metal parts also arrive unpainted, making it easy to visually distinguish in product photos which version is which. If the road wheels are green and the track is black, they're plastic and that's the Original or Upgrade version. If the road wheels are metal colored and the tracks are as well, then they're metal and that's the Professional version. The metal wheels would need to be painted by the user, if he/she prefers. I know I do! Below to the left is shown the Original and Upgrade versions which are visually identical from the exterior. Below to the right is shown the Professional version, with its all metal unpainted exterior running gear (tracks, road wheels, idler wheel, drive sprocket).
Visually distinguishing the painted wheels of the Original and Upgrade versions, left, is easily accomplished compared to the unpainted metal wheels and tracks of the Professional version, right:
Things to watch out for:
1) The plastic BBs included in all of Heng Long's tanks aren't the best. Their instruction manual recommends visually sorting the BBs and removing any BBs that are deformed, flat, broken, or oblong. Almost 8% of the BBs in my Challenger II's bag of BBs were throwaways. Still, there were at least 70 or so BBs that were sufficiently smooth and spherical.
2) Don't flood the smoker. There is one smoker in the tank, with two exhaust tubes. Those tubes in fact function as both the exhaust for the smoke and the intake for the smoke oil, so it's imperative that you only put one drop in each of the tubes every hour of smoking. Less is more! If you overflow the tubes, the smoke can't exit, causing the smoker unit to clog and die.
3) Read our "Do's And Don'ts of RC Tanking" article *here* and watch its accompanying video *here* for all relevant tips, tricks, and warnings that pertain to any RC tank. Most importantly, do not attempt to run the tank into obstacles larger, in 1/16 scale terms, than what the real tank was subjected to. These tanks are not scale crawler trucks, so don't expect them climb over rocks and boulders taller than the tank's ground clearance, which is typically around 1" from the underside of the hull. Also, do not attempt to drive in water or mud. In their stock form, RC tanks are not intended to be used in wet or muddy conditions. Extensive waterproofing and cleaning is just the start of upgrades required to make such operation repeatable without irreparable damage.
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