RC Tank Wishlist -- Tell Us What You Want To See in the RC Tank Industry

[Wrench567]

I would like to see some tank support equipment like an M88, M113, and even am M109 howitzer. An M60 a1e1 would be great too.

[Meter Rat]

I would like to see a UK Centurion. Or an earlier Churchill. Or a DD Sherman. The Centurion in particular, as I would have a go at building a replica of my far there tank, or similar, from the Korean War.

[fuchstraumer]

I would like to see a UK Centurion. Or an earlier Churchill. Or a DD Sherman. The Centurion in particular, as I would have a go at building a replica of my far there tank, or similar, from the Korean War.

good news for you, then! https://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/rc-...ere-range.html

Haya Centurion coming, and with probable bearings in the road wheels so it won't suffer the same fate of being a shelf queen like the Chieftain is out of necessity....

[Dutchy93]

Hello Alpha,

You asked for some feedback in this thread so I'll give a few notes of things that I noticed.
For reference, I am a newcomer in the RC tanking world and I have a 'standard' edition from the Heng Long M41 Walker Bulldog (plastic gears, plastic tracks and sprocket, etc) for a few months now, so my views are mostly based on that type.

-It is a good looking model with enough details that easilly snap into place. The odd hole for a part wasn't drilled or got filled during production molding, but that isn't even worth mentioning.
Though the odd thin part (Like bush covers for the turret periscope) does sometimes have a rough time getting pushed inside its hole. When adding it to the tank I was afraid of breaking it.
It may be minor, but perhaps a small point on the list.

-The tank drives well, has nice ground clearance and is overall powerful enough to do most things you want it to do. Hell it can clim over most bulding bricks, which is impressive to me.

-It has a nice sound engine, though I would suggest a better volume control (perhaps with a volume knob hidden away behind some hatch) to make the sound usable indoors.
My phone registered the sound at around 80dB with the lower setting on (tank on the ground and I'm standing next to it), which is quite loud for human ears.

-The top and bottom half are easilly separated with just a few screws. Though the engineer in me isn't super enthousiastic about the self tapping screws.
I get that other options out there are possibly more expensive, but if for some reason I want to mod my tank/have to fix something I feel more comfortable opening it up if I know I can do that as often as I think is necessary.
There is only so many times you can screw a self tapping one in the plastic shaft before the hole is ruined. Is there a way to add metal bushings/screw holes in there to increase the longevity of the connection?
Or perhaps have some upgrade options available so any enthousiast can easilly modify his own tank without risking ruining the screw holes.

-The plastic tracks have a tendancy to get thrown off the plastic rear drive sprocket when making turns on cut grass. Not pivot turns, but wide circles. (note, my tracks are tensioned properly for as far as I can see)
Now I noticed that on the metal tracked version (assuming the store pictures are correct) has metal retaining flanges in the middle of the sprocket where the tracks ride on.
Is there a reason why the plastic version doesn't have these retaining flanges?
My guess is that with these retainers the track won't walk off so often, increasing the drivabillity.
If these retainers are left off to keep model accuracy, though I understand it, for my own driving fun I personally think that such a thing is not as important. You barely see the sprocket that much anyway so I'd see it as a minor 'inaccuracy'.
Other tanks that lack these retainers might benefit from this change as well.
In short, I rather have that my track stays on when driving on 'soft' terrain like cut grass, then having a scale accurate sprocket that lets my tracks walk off easilly.
If the metal M41 sprocket is usable with plastic tracks without risk of breaking/wearing the tracks excessively then maybe this could be mentioned in the upgrade category of the forums at least.
To give people some options to fix this issue without resorting to throwing the track/sprocket away and going for the Pershing versions (as others here have mentioned before).


So to sum up:
- A more durable way to connect the top and bottom hull halves without risk of ruining screw connections.
- Volume control for the speakers for indoor use.
- Upping drivabillity by adding retaining rings on the drive sprocket.

Aside from these points, this tank is awesome. I love it to bits and I greatly enjoy driving it around both inside and outside in the garden.
I hope these 2 cents help.

[fuchstraumer]

op and bottom half are easilly separated with just a few screws. Though the engineer in me isn't super enthousiastic about the self tapping screws.
I get that other options out there are possibly more expensive, but if for some reason I want to mod my tank/have to fix something I feel more comfortable opening it up if I know I can do that as often as I think is necessary.
There is only so many times you can screw a self tapping one in the plastic shaft before the hole is ruined. Is there a way to add metal bushings/screw holes in there to increase the longevity of the connection?
Or perhaps have some upgrade options available so any enthousiast can easilly modify his own tank without risking ruining the screw holes.

in quick response to these points specifically - Stanlley from rctanklegion has a great video on how to replace these screws with magnets.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYB-3-Q6Mas

that being said, the removal of the screws will make your hull bucket more likely to experience torsion when going over rough terrain or sharp bumps, which can pop the hulls apart again (especially if you cut out the battery box to make more room internally). Stanlley sells hull stiffening bars for a number of tanks to fix this, but I'm not sure if he has one for the M41 (it's also so compact that I don't know if it experiences this issue as bad as something that's really long and thin like the Challenger 2....)

- Upping drivabillity by adding retaining rings on the drive sprocket.

these retainers are really standard on most metal sprockets made in the past 5 or so years - it's not present on my old 09 Bulldog's sprockets, but is standard now. You can find these replacement sprockets online for a fairly affordable price as well, such as on the ebay store "toucanhobby". I just got a set to replace my old sprockets, and I think they were like ~$20?

the fun and difficult part of RC tanks is that the upgrade options are almost endless, lol. and there's so much potential for upgrading and tweaking that it's hard to stop once you get started!

[SoCalBobS]

Open letter to Alpha: what new products can we expect? Heh.

[windmill]

M60A3

I was a M1 tank crewman when serving in the RA in the early 80s, and a M60 crewman when in the Washington State National Guard. To me the M1 is boring, sanitary. The M60 felt like a true "tank", and I have memories of sitting in one at the Yakima training center listening to the news reports during the Gulf war.

[Hellcat 7]

M60A3

I was a M1 tank crewman when serving in the RA in the early 80s, and a M60 crewman when in the Washington State National Guard. To me the M1 is boring, sanitary. The M60 felt like a true "tank", and I have memories of sitting in one at the Yakima training center listening to the news reports during the Gulf war.

Where in WA are you located? I am new to this hobby and live in Olympia. I will be trying to get a local Tank club started.

[windmill]

Where in WA are you located? I am new to this hobby and live in Olympia. I will be trying to get a local Tank club started.

Covington area.
It seems like there is/was a club, but I haven't found any evidence its still active.

[Hellcat 7]

Covington area.
It seems like there is/was a club, but I haven't found any evidence its still active.

Would you happen to know the clubs name? Thanks

[fuchstraumer]

Where in WA are you located? I am new to this hobby and live in Olympia. I will be trying to get a local Tank club started.

Adding in that I'm in WA as well, up in Seattle proper.

[windmill]

Would you happen to know the clubs name? Thanks

N.O.R.D.P.A.C.
There's a page on facebook, but no activity that I see, and I don't really do facebook other than when it comes up in a search.

[Hellcat 7]

N.O.R.D.P.A.C.
There's a page on facebook, but no activity that I see, but I don't really do facebook other than when it comes up in a search.

Yes, I've been in contact with NORDPAC and just signed up to the group a few weeks ago on there new site( nordpac@groups.io) I was told by the CDR that all activities has been canceled until further notice.

I am in the process of creating a local club in Olympia and trying to confirm from other sources to make sure there is none in my area. Thanks for chiming in fuchstraumer and to you windmill for your time. I'm retired Army as well 11Z since 2014. Thank you for your service!

[GregH]

Would definitely like to see a U.S. M-60a1. It was the MBT of the U.S. for 19 years and is still in use by many countries today - with the next variants and improvements.
Spent many a day in the late 60's watching the M-60a1 at the Grafenwöhr, Hohenfels, and Wildflecken training centers.

[fuchstraumer]

I do have to say that the sheer variety of potential liveries for the M60 makes it interesting, and a lot of the variants and upgrades to the M60 don't involve many changes to the lower hull (usually - barring a few exceptions): meaning it's prime for customization by people since replacing the lower hull or changing that is usually not very feasible. New turret, add-on 3D printed parts, repainting or different decals? That's all easy, and there's already a huge market for it.

I'm still on team "please give us some french armor" but I would not be upset by the introduction of an M60 by any means

[Rubicon99]

I do have to say that the sheer variety of potential liveries for the M60 makes it interesting, and a lot of the variants and upgrades to the M60 don't involve many changes to the lower hull (usually - barring a few exceptions): meaning it's prime for customization by people since replacing the lower hull or changing that is usually not very feasible. New turret, add-on 3D printed parts, repainting or different decals? That's all easy, and there's already a huge market for it.

I'm still on team "please give us some french armor" but I would not be upset by the introduction of an M60 by any means

This ^^^^^^ 👍👍👍

I wouldn’t mind an AMX 30. Lots can be done with it as well.

[DevilDog77]

Several tanks come to mind. Sherman Easy 8 with 76mm gun, Sherman firefly, M18 Hellcat, M3/5 Stuart, British Matilda II, Churchill, Cromwell, Crusader, halftracks such as US M16 and German Sd Kfz 251, Elephant, Jadgtiger, Soviet SPGs.

[SoCalBobS]

Several tanks come to mind. Sherman Easy 8 with 76mm gun, Sherman firefly, M18 Hellcat, M3/5 Stuart, British Matilda II, Churchill, Cromwell, Crusader, halftracks such as US M16 and German Sd Kfz 251, Elephant, Jadgtiger, Soviet SPGs.

I’d buy them all, but I think HL wouldn’t go so far as to design different gearboxes and turret and gun mechanisms some of those might need. Not that we have any sway with HL, but an M60 would probably be the easiest to utilize their existing hardware.

Too bad they couldn’t make modification hull top kits for the Jadgtiger, Pz IV, T34, etc. Same lower hull tooling; SPG’s and such.

I did find on eBay an M3 Lee upper hull kit for the Sherman, 3D printed in Russia. Problematic to traverse the main gun or turret and Airsoft the hull gun, but capable of installing an IR bulb there. A MG bulb in the turret would also be feasible.

Search for this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/General-Lee...t/133511176038

[Nfafan]

Sign me up for a Matilda, Crusader, CharB, R35, T54, Churchill, PzII, Semovente 75, BMP, heck, all of them!

[Vaseline]

I’d buy them all, but I think HL wouldn’t go so far as to design different gearboxes and turret and gun mechanisms some of those might need. Not that we have any sway with HL, but an M60 would probably be the easiest to utilize their existing hardware.

Too bad they couldn’t make modification hull top kits for the Jadgtiger, Pz IV, T34, etc. Same lower hull tooling; SPG’s and such.

I did find on eBay an M3 Lee upper hull kit for the Sherman, 3D printed in Russia. Problematic to traverse the main gun or turret and Airsoft the hull gun, but capable of installing an IR bulb there. A MG bulb in the turret would also be feasible.

Search for this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/General-Lee...t/133511176038

There was a czech company called Profiline that made resin kits some 5-6 or so years back(out of business but bet you could still find the conversions on ebay). I have a jagdpanzerIV L/70V that was built from one of those kits, and I remember there being a conversion kit to turn a T34/85 into either an SU85 or an SU100. theres another company in Germany I believe it was making some 3D print conversions for a PZIV, They are really sparse on the surface detail unfortunately, but At least in my opinion modelling the gun mount for a Nashorn or the upper crew armor of a Dicker Max isnt something Im too keen on modelling myself. Matoro used to make a Jagdtiger, could probably find one of those knocking around ebay as well, but if I recall, they had some scale issues, the citadel angle wasnt right, or long enough or something of that nature.