Mato tanks

**Rubicon99** · Jan 5, 2021, 09:50 AM

Originally posted by dai phan

Hi all,

I notice Heng Long and Taigen are pretty popular with the tank crowd but much less mentioned about Mato. Tamiya I understand due to the very high cost. The reviews on Mato tanks are not favorable ( some call cheap pot metal construction ). Is this why Mato in my opinion is the black sheep of the family? Dai

Some of their stuff is really good, some not so much. They make pretty good metal tracks for example.

**SoCalBobS** · Jan 5, 2021, 11:59 AM

I had a Mato Panzer III, from 8 years ago. Granted, my impressions may be out of date.

Yeah, upper hull was pot metal, hinges on hatches full of flash, easy to break. Top heavy, rolled upside down on a hill, weight of the tank bent the barrel. Their radios then were screwy, four channel only. To activate sound, for instance, you had to move the left stick halfway down then move it sideways, or something like that. If I still had, it, I'd replace their electronics.

As R said though, tracks and wheels were fine.

**dai phan** · Jan 5, 2021, 12:58 PM

Originally posted by SoCalBobS

I had a Mato Panzer III, from 8 years ago. Granted, my impressions may be out of date.

Yeah, upper hull was pot metal, hinges on hatches full of flash, easy to break. Top heavy, rolled upside down on a hill, weight of the tank bent the barrel. Their radios then were screwy, four channel only. To activate sound, for instance, you had to move the left stick halfway down then move it sideways, or something like that. If I still had, it, I'd replace their electronics.

As R said though, tracks and wheels were fine.

That is why now I buy Taigen tanks unless the tank is only available with HL's offering. I just ordered the Abrams. I look at Mato but with the negative reviews, no longer in my considerations. Dai

**DavidN** · Nov 27, 2021, 09:15 AM

Originally posted by SoCalBobS

I had a Mato Panzer III, from 8 years ago. Granted, my impressions may be out of date.

Yeah, upper hull was pot metal, hinges on hatches full of flash, easy to break. Top heavy, rolled upside down on a hill, weight of the tank bent the barrel. Their radios then were screwy, four channel only. To activate sound, for instance, you had to move the left stick halfway down then move it sideways, or something like that. If I still had, it, I'd replace their electronics.

As R said though, tracks and wheels were fine.

Hi Bob, Do you still have your Mato Panzer III? If you do, can you kindly check if the Mato barrel is longer and narrower in diameter at the end compared to the one from HL panzer III? I am not satisfied with my HL panzer III barrels. They look like they are 75mm instead of 50mm. If you can confirm for me, then I can order some Mato barrels to replace those on my HL. Thank you!

**SoCalBobS** · Nov 27, 2021, 09:23 AM

Don't have it. But the barrel was sized for 6mm airsoft bb's like Heng Long's so it would have been just as thick.

**RichJohnson** · Nov 27, 2021, 01:44 PM

David, I have a scale mato barrel in the HL panzer 3 I have that is a field prop. It clearly is too tiny for bbs.
You would want to order the IR version recoil barrel. But their recoil unit is wonky, it actually launched the barrel out of the turret every time it fired because it was a conversion from the airsoft unit. It would wind up and then pull back and bam, let go, launching the barrel. Would be neat to convert to a missle launcher lol.