Hooben stuff

[Rubicon99]

I have a few of the Hooben tanks. As RTR models go they are in most respects better detailed then HL tanks. Their new gearboxes are an easy match for Tamiya BUT their electronics just flat out suck and the Hooben battle system is not Tamiya or HL compatible.

Mechanically they work well but Hooben takes short cuts and still uses plastic on plastic rolling contact between the wheels and their axles which leads to a rather short life expectancy for all the axles if the tank is driven outdoors in dirt or sandy conditions. HL changed this with their 6.0 tanks and no longer does plastic on plastic do to the rapid wear issues.

The electronics can be easily changed out with a HL 6.0 or higher but the 6.1 would be best as the Hooben tanks use servo recoil and would need the 6.1 if you wanted to retain this feature. Of course any other aftermarket MFU can also be used such as Tamiya or Clark.

The rolling plastic on plastic wheel to axle issues can also be addressed in a few ways though neither is “plug and play” and will require some moderate modification and modeling skills. The most common modifications is to sleeve the axle shafts with brass. This creates a metal bushing effect and greatly increase the life of the tank. HL kinda took this approach with their new 6.0 tanks by using metal suspension arms and “plastic” wheels on their non metal wheel tanks and it works well.

Now for the really bad part! Hooben is HORRIBLE in after sales support for their products and acquiring spare parts of any kind is all but impossible. Trust me I have tried and tried! So when you buy a Hooben you have to be ready to improvise and make other parts work or make your own parts.

The new Hoobens are exciting tanks and I am keeping my fingers crossed that Hooben is following the lead of HL with making improvements, but even if not their tanks with some extra work can be made into something reliable and special.

[UltraVargen]

Following. My eyes fell on the Elephant a couple if times, but the negativity about the brand has held me back.

The Merkava that Rubi99 posted looks spectacular. I'm not really drawn to the modern stuff, but all the same I'm impressed.

[Sureshot]

On the RCU tank forum there is a lot of cautionary tales and negative comments about Hooben.
Nice subject matter however.
A friend of mine has a Hooben Elephant that is very nice but I think it has Clark electronics.
Steve

[dai phan]

Seeing R’s post regarding the Merkava, I looked at Hooben’s website. Lots of good stuff! I thought it’d be worthwhile to run a general thread about their tanks. Anybody got any? What’ve your experiences been?

What’s their IR compatibility with HL and Tamiya? How about their transmitters, receivers and MFU’s?

Here’s another real interesting preorder alongside the Merkava!



Dai, better get out your credit card! 😉

I am a fashion and oil mogul so money is like water ! Let's hear from Rubicon99 ! Dai

[SoCalBobS]

QB, yeah sometimes the subject overrides quality issues. Hooben’s VK4501 calls to me. I’ll do some research on RCTW.

<I agree completely about Dynam planes. I just bought their BF109, BF110 and Albatros DV. Photos on the Callie thread.>... back to our regular programming. 🤪

[quitcherbitchen]

They (people) on tankwarfare.co.uk seem to dislike them on almost every level. I have no experience with one. Lots of threads over there on the subjects. I am neutral as I really like Dynam foam airplanes because the subject matter they choose to model are very cool even if the quality is so so. Everything can be improved even in tanks.

[SoCalBobS]

Seeing R’s post regarding the Merkava, I looked at Hooben’s website. Lots of good stuff! I thought it’d be worthwhile to run a general thread about their tanks. Anybody got any? What’ve your experiences been?

What’s their IR compatibility with HL and Tamiya? How about their transmitters, receivers and MFU’s?

Here’s another real interesting preorder alongside the Merkava!



Dai, better get out your credit card! 😉