Review and Discuss: Heng Long 1/16 King Tiger "The Brute"

[Kestrel]

Now there HAS to be a battéry upgrade. If there IS...I think I'll need to know...

[Kestrel]

My unanswered question was, can the firing function be upgraded to a more *powerful* one. Upgrade the spring to a tighter spring.?

[Alpha]

With steel drive sprocket, and idler, wouldn't steel road wheels make the suspension somewhat...complete?

My second photo above shows two different running gear setups... the Upgrade to the left and the Pro to the right.

The Professional edition *does* have metal road wheels. I call it "metal everything", if not clear in the first photo above:

Metal tracks
Metal idler wheel
Metal sprocket
Metal road wheels (all of them)
Metal wheel caps
Metal suspension arms
Dual bearings per arm

The cheaper versions, what are often called Basic/Standard and Upgrade, have plastic versions of all of those parts above.

A basic rule when looking at photos of any stock Heng Long tank is, "If it's painted, it's plastic".

If it's unpainted bare metal, it's... unpainted bare metal.


The Professional Edition of the King Tiger also has a metal recoiling barrel.

[Kestrel]

Another thing, is an upgrade for the main gun.? Maybe a stiffer spring or an upgraded gun tube insert?

[Kestrel]

With steel drive sprocket, and idler, wouldn't steel road wheels make the suspension somewhat...complete?

[Alpha]

Kestrel The metal running gear on the Pro edition gives a heavy feel to the tank, but what i like most about it is the clinking and clanking that can be heard as everything moves against each other. It's noisy in the best kind of way!



To the left can be seen the baser versions that have plastic painted road wheels and ABS suspension arms compared to the right side's metal arms and metal wheels. The wheels house two bearings each. The same springs are used between both versions.

[Kestrel]

I shall opt for the King Tiger with the steel tracks. Just a comment, the REAL tanks recoil will rock the tank back on the 3rd road wheels. I, back in 5he day, commanded a M48A5 that fired a 105mm main gun and a 7.62mm co-axial machine gun.

[Alpha]

sfcfury Unofficially, off the top of my head they're probably 2-3 weeks away at this point. The best way to know exactly is to enter your email in the Notify Me field on the product page. The System will email everyone on that list the moment the tanks are in stock on the shelf and ready to ship.

[sfcfury]

Any time estimates on when these will actually be in stock?

[Kestrel]

Perhaps Heng Long could add a Pro Plus Deluxe version. A serious tanker could "order" certain options from the factory (at an additional cost of course) Just an idea.

[Alpha]

southernmd_man All of Heng Long's standard and Professional edition tanks use screws to fasten the upper and lower hull. Only their Professional Plus edition, which is still in development, incorporates a quick release mechanism for easy access to the internals of the tank. The battery is accessible from the outside via an external hatch, so opening up the inside of the tank isn't something most tankers would do very often. If they did, it's six screws to remove the upper hull.

[southernmd_man]

Quick question...will this line if tanks have screw retainers for the upper hull, or quick release latching like another brand?

[TiredIronGRB]

I will need this...

[Alpha]

I've begun to paint one of my King Tigers in the so-called hidenhalt "ambush" scheme used later in the war. While most KTs didn't last long enough to become very weathered and rusted, I'm going to take liberties with this one and heavily weather it as time allows over the next couple weeks, including installing weathered metal tracks. Stay tuned!

[Alpha]

Jdcrow I just got back from the factory, and can now confirm for the first time that they were able to implement the barrel recoil into the Professional Edition of the King Tiger. We'll be the first to carry these!

The barrel recoil you've seen online for anything Heng Long has produced before today is most likely aftermarket upgrade kits that are intended to produce instant servo driven recoil, which negates the possibility of firing an airsoft BB. Heng Long's new Professional Edition, out of the box, will use their motor driven recoil setup, which as described in the other thread has a partial second delay between the recoil cycle starting and the firing sound/track recoil/airsoft BB firing. This incongruence is caused by the time it takes for the motor to compress the spring which fires the airsoft BB.

[Jdcrow]

Alpha, I noticed some videos on this tank show the Gun Barrel with recoil. Will this one include that? or is that an upgrade item for the entire Heng Long category? Got to have the barrel recoil if its an option.

[James]

German Tanks definitely evoked fear during WWII as their prowess on the Battlefield was well known. Great to see this one modeled and once again the weathering and modifications are nearly limitless. Really looking forward to one of these and a Sherman to go along with it. A nice large Diorama featuring these two would be impressive.

a proper diorama will have 1 King tiger and 5 Shermans. One on one would be like me in a fistfight with Mike Tyson

[StormyDog1962]

German Tanks definitely evoked fear during WWII as their prowess on the Battlefield was well known. Great to see this one modeled and once again the weathering and modifications are nearly limitless. Really looking forward to one of these and a Sherman to go along with it. A nice large Diorama featuring these two would be impressive.

[Alpha]

Reserved for 3DPs

[Alpha]

CONCLUSION

As with all Heng Long 1/16 tanks, I assess a rating for each of seven key areas. To be fair, I don't rate the King Tiger against other tanks twice its cost, but rather in the context of its own price point and intended audience, which is the entry level and mid-level RC tank enthusiast looking to get started without breaking the bank. From that vantage point, here is how I rank the Heng Long 1/16 Scale "King Tiger" German WW2 Tank:

Initial Quality: 93/100
The King Tiger arrived in perfect condition and securely packaged. Like all Heng Long tanks, the King Tiger is primarily constructed from ABS plastic.

The paint work from the factory was evenly applied and very good for this price point. I tend to think Heng Long does a good job on its multi-color camo paint jobs.

Like the KV-1, Sherman, and a few others in the recent TK6 series, my King Tiger's tracks were properly tensioned out of the box, so did not require any adjustment. I have spent time at the Heng Long factory to discuss their track tension process on the mass production line, so I expect to see this positive trend continue. Two spare track links are included in a bag, and twelve additional links are hung on the turret, so there's more than enough spares!

Despite being such a large tank with a long hull and tall side walls, the lower hull and upper hull didn't exhibit much noticeable flexing. I think a casual tanker would agree that under reasonable conditions, it is not necessary to reinforce the King Tiger's hull out of the box. Internally, the steel gears were greased and sounded good, although I expect after a couple of hours I'll need to reapply grease on the final drive gear.

User-Friendliness and Transportability: 82/100
The convenience of Heng Long's RTR package really makes it easy to get started in the world of RC tanks. In that sense, all of Heng Long's tanks excel in lowering the cost of entry into this segment of the hobby, and I think many scale enthusiasts would appreciate a scale tank as much as they would a scale airplane, car, truck, or boat. Heng Long's included radio does the job, without being overly flashy. I tend to prefer a cheaper overall package with this basic radio than one with super low latency and 1km range and hall effect sensored bearing gimbals. This isn't a jet flying at 100mph away from me at a thousand feet. While other manufacturers dominate the higher scale and higher featured market, the price is often prohibitive for someone starting out with their first tank to see if it's even something they're interested in.

The King Tiger's large size is as much of an advantage as it is a liability. The cannon barrel is mostly metal, and inside it is an aluminum 6mm ID barrel, for the overall large length makes it easy to catch on obstacles. Like the other "Big Five" in 1/16 scale from Heng Long (Challenger II, Leopard 2A6, Abrams, T99), the King Tiger weighs over six pounds despite being the "lighter" Upgrade version. The Professional version with metal wheels and tracks weighs about 11 pounds! So, persons wanting an easy to transport tank should probably look elsewhere. I recommend carrying this tank at all times with two hands and taking extra care not to knock its long barrel against anything.

The King Tiger lacks an adjustable idler like the newer Challenger II or T-72, which means fine adjustments cannot be made to track tension. My tank didn't require adjustments to the track tension, but if it ever did, a tanker would need to learn how to remove or add track links. This takes less than two minutes, but it is still a potential task that makes the King Tiger less friendly to new tankers.

Mobility and Drive Experience 90/100
The King Tiger has surprisingly good mobility despite its size, owing to its wider area of track contacting the ground and thus lower ground pressure. The wide tracks give positive traction when climbing reasonable grades, and its independent suspension and tall road wheels naturally give it better handling over uneven terrain. When used in the context of a scale tank and not subjected to unreasonable expectations of being a Crawler, which it is not, the King Tiger demonstrated good mobility on all surfaces I drove it on. Probably better still, the King Tiger's ground stance looks intimidating and its practical as well, with sufficient ground clearance to trudge through grass, weeds, short rubble, and gravel.

The aforementioned flex inherent in the plastic tracks found on the Original, Upgrade, and Upgrade-A versions, however, are prone to skipping a tooth if the user tries to do a fast "super spin" maneuver because the outer edge of the track cleat can dig into softer surfaces and gradually work its way out. In scale maneuvering speeds, however, the plastic tracks functioned flawlessly. It's a tank, not a drift car.

I recommend the second or third sound set for this tank. Tap the G and K buttons at the same time to switch between different sound sets.

Durability 82/100
Lacking metal suspension arms but including metal mounts for the idler wheel is a mixed bag in terms of long term durability. Granted, I have never broken a plastic suspension arm, but it should be stated that the Original and Upgrade versions do not have metal suspension arms.

The bottom of the lower hull on all my tanks has accumulated scratches over time. The King Tiger has a 30mm ground clearance and a fully flat underside. But it is worth noting that any Heng Long tank after a couple of hours of driving will likely have many similar scratches along its underside. Over time some scratches may accumulate along the side skirts and road wheels, as well, but I count that as "realism" and again don't mind too much. Real King Tiger's fenders were often dented or missing altogether!


Scale Fidelity 82/100
Several sprues of plastic parts are provided for the modeler to install on the tank to enhance its overall scale appearance. These all plug into pre-drilled holes, and are nearly "snap fit". A few of the parts were loose, so I bonded them with ABS glue. But otherwise, I prefer to keep the parts unglued so they're easy to remove or replace if needed in the future. Installing the plastic "accessory parts", including the smoke grenade launchers, bustle bins, tools, rear view mirrors, and many grab handles, took about 45-50 minutes from start to finish. Plan for an hour if you want to take your time cutting the parts out of the plastic sprues. I recommend a sharp clipper designed for this purpose, as it makes cleanup much easier. The accessory parts are pre-painted and really enhance the tank's overall surface detail.

There are some limitations inherent with this price point, however. Avid tank historians can probably spot several inaccuracies, from the glacis' welds, lack of engine deck screens, simplified MG mount, etc. The spare track links would also benefit from some filling and detailing. For the average tanker, I don't think these individual scale inaccuracies are deal breakers --Heng Long's King Tiger is still an impressive brute of a tank-- but they are worth mentioning. Super scale modelers will likely spend time further accurizing the Heng Long base model, and I think such will be time well spent. I'd recommend looking for the Trumpeter 1/16 Scale King Tiger, which is a static (non-RC) plastic model, to use it as a donor for spare parts in certain areas. The Trumpeter 1/16 static kit is often recognized as superior even to Tamiya's 1/16 kit.

Ease of Maintenance and Upgrade Potential 93/100
To continue my thoughts regarding scale fidelity, Heng Long does sell a PE ("Photo-Etched") steel mesh set, that better represents the screens used on the engine deck. It's well worth the few dollars.

The King Tiger is easy to wrench on due to its large size. The internal area is cavernous, and would easily accept, for example, a larger speaker, an upgraded smoker, a larger battery, or an aftermarket barrel recoil system.

Overall Value (Cost, Size, Performance, Quality) 90/100
I consider the King Tiger to be one of the better values in Heng Long's 1/16 scale tank lineup. For enthusiasts who want to show up at the next RC IR Tank Battle event with one of the biggest 1/16 tanks out there from the WW2 era, the King Tiger is the largest made by Heng Long. New tankers can get into the RC Tank hobby knowing that they're fielding a good looking tank at a great value for the money. It is easy to drive, less easy to carry around, and represents the real King Tiger with reasonable accuracy, considering this price point. For tankers looking for a big tank, this one is worth considering along with the British Challenger II, American Abrams, Chinese T99, and German Leopard 2A6. Any of these five heavy/main tanks dwarf smaller tanks such as a Panzer III or Sherman.

My Personal Averaged Total Score for the Heng Long 1/16 Scale "King Tiger": 87/100

The Heng Long King Tiger is an impressively large tank and literally stands a shoulder above all other tanks in the 1/16 scale series. If you want Big WW2, the King Tiger is worth considering!