Hooben stuff

[Rubicon99]

I read RichJohnson review of the Hooben Merkava 4M at RCU. My impression is that the Hooben is a wellbuilt RC tank with too many details to break off easily. It is fun to work on. I am eagerly waiting to see DavidN reviews of his new possession.

I have the Hooben nylon tracks and sprockets on the Heng Long IDF Merkava 4. I am very pleased with the look and running quality ot the Hooben track.

Trust me Rich is being "careful" about what he says about his Merkava issues. He breaks it all the time at battle events and has had to make endless costly upgrades / improvements to keep it running even remotely reliably.

Hooben makes great looking indoor running tanks, but they struggle to hold together when run outdoors in anything but hard packed surfaces.

[keilau]

Trust me Rich is being "careful" about what he says about his Merkava issues. He breaks it all the time at battle events and has had to make endless costly upgrades / improvements to keep it running even remotely reliably.

Hooben makes great looking indoor running tanks, but they struggle to hold together when run outdoors in anything but hard packed surfaces.

I trust you understand RichJohnson much better since you met him at tank meets. After I read RichJohnson review of the Hooben Leopard 1A5 and Merkava 4M, he gave me the impression of being very positive about the Hooben tanks, but the opposite is true. It is not just "being careful". It is difficult to read diplomatic reviews.

[Rubicon99]

I trust you understand RichJohnson much better since you met him at tank meets. After I read RichJohnson review of the Hooben Leopard 1A5 and Merkava 4M, he gave me the impression of being very positive about the Hooben tanks, but the opposite is true. It is not just "being careful". It is difficult to read diplomatic reviews.

Hooben does read the post on RCU.com as it is a forum more for the hard core hobbyist and builder (more their audience). RichJohnson has built a relationship with Hooben and they do take his constructive feedback seriously. With Chinese companies it is better to use a softer tone then bitter one no matter how true the information is you are presenting. Otherwise they will not listen to any feedback even if it is helpful. So yes in a nutshell there is a bit of "diplomacy" being used.

Also RichJohnson is a "master builder" and sometimes what is easy to fix or build for him is seemingly next to impossible for others. I often have to remind him of this.

[tank_me]

Just a heads up. The Hooben ZTZ has a reputation of being really fragile like their Merkava.

Yeah, my Hooben ZTZ burned up it's recoil servo the first time I use the tank. That's why I had to mount that aluminum arm on it to relocate the servo so it would work right. The suspension arms move around a lot as in wobble laterally. I've never taken it on the battlefield as I don't think it will hold up very well. Maybe one of these days I will. I need to try different electronics in it as the TCB doesn't seem to be working with the gearboxes. I get weird driving characteristics, but that's not Hooben's fault. I even put a different TCB in it with the same results.




The idlers mounts were just plastic shafts sticking out of the chassis with plastic on plastic contact for the idler. I also replaced the idler mounts with a T72/T90 type Henntec and added bearing to the idlers.

[DavidN]

All three of my tanks are made with strong plastic. They have almost 90% of the accessories on tank already. I did not have to install anything except I will have to do the weathering and the decals.

[DavidN]

The decal set for the ZTZ99 .....

[quitcherbitchen]

I am interested in the motors. Are there differences between the models?

[DavidN]

I am interested in the motors. Are there differences between the models?

They are all the same....


The ZTZ99...




The Cromwell....




The Tiger I...

[keilau]

They are all the same....

The ZTZ99...

The Cromwell....

The Tiger I...

Do they all have the same plastic on plastic idler wheels like tank_me ZTZ99?

[RichJohnson]

My first advice is to remove the transmissions, disassemble them and replace all the ball bearings as they failed one by one in each tank I had until i just replaced the rest of them.

my review on my mark4M is very long and comprehensive. I really don’t see how anyone could get a positive take on it for a general rc enthusiast if you read it carefully. In short the first 15 feet of running a wheel broke off. Most of the others did as well, requiring me to have the wheel arm redesigned by a 3d guy before I linked up with JVM, and then use shapeways to print all new arms.
everything seems to break on the tank very easily. The turret has squashed itself due to lack of support framework in it. I have used a heat gun to reshape the turret a few times and then brace it but it still sags more. It’s just too large and thin and soft of a 3d print material for use in the sun for very long or to be in a warm garage.

my leoaprd 1a5 lost all its bearings as well however the tank model has held up much better. It’s smaller with more support and I ordered the metal edition which is the only version I recommended if you buy a hooben and want to run it.

for the Merkava, if they make a metal edition buy it and be careful and don’t leave it in the sun if you really have to have one.

[quitcherbitchen]

Any advice on the what bearings to get?

[keilau]

My first advice is to remove the transmissions, disassemble them and replace all the ball bearings as they failed one by one in each tank I had until i just replaced the rest of them.

my review on my mark4M is very long and comprehensive. I really don’t see how anyone could get a positive take on it for a general rc enthusiast if you read it carefully. In short the first 15 feet of running a wheel broke off. Most of the others did as well, requiring me to have the wheel arm redesigned by a 3d guy before I linked up with JVM, and then use shapeways to print all new arms.
everything seems to break on the tank very easily. The turret has squashed itself due to lack of support framework in it. I have used a heat gun to reshape the turret a few times and then brace it but it still sags more. It’s just too large and thin and soft of a 3d print material for use in the sun for very long or to be in a warm garage.

my leoaprd 1a5 lost all its bearings as well however the tank model has held up much better. It’s smaller with more support and I ordered the metal edition which is the only version I recommended if you buy a hooben and want to run it.

for the Merkava, if they make a metal edition buy it and be careful and don’t leave it in the sun if you really have to have one.

Do you mean the gearbox when you referred to "transmission"? I went to the Hooben website and found only the HL CNC gearbox for their 1:16 scale tanks. Did they package a different gearbox in the Leo 1A5 and Merkava 4M?

https://www.hooben-shop.com/products/hooben-scale-1-16-all-metal-closed-cnc-gearbox-fit-all-hooben-tanks-or-hl-tank

In DavidN pictures of the Hooben interior, the gearbox seemed to be an open frame gearbox with sleeve bearings. Not an acceptable pairing for the Hooben price point. Can you show some picture of the transmission failed bearings?

[tank_me]

I've never seen a Hooben that came with the nicer enclosed gearboxes. Both of mine have the same open gearboxes. I enquired about the enclosed ones for a 1/10th tank and never got Hooben to respond to my inquiry.

[keilau]

I've never seen a Hooben that came with the nicer enclosed gearboxes. Both of mine have the same open gearboxes. I enquired about the enclosed ones for a 1/10th tank and never got Hooben to respond to my inquiry.

Hooben advertise the slightly modified Heng Long CNC gearbox for their 1/16 scale RC tanks.

HOOBEN New Released Scale 1/16 All Metal Closed CNC Gearbox Fit all HOOBEN Or HL TANKS Available in 1/37 and 1/56 speed ratios Matches all HOOBEN TANKS And Henglong Tanks.

[RichJohnson]

to my knowledge all Hooben 1/16 tanks have come with the same transmission/gearboxes. The Mierkava and the leopard 1a5 have the same gear boxes as well as the fury ez8 Sherman. They use standard flanged ball bearings, and the shielding on the race falls off all the balls fall out and the ball bearing disintegrates within a short amount of lifespan use. I experienced a driveshaft break because the ends are shouldered smaller to fit into the ball bearings when the ball bearing fell apart the gear mesh put lateral pressure on the gear shaft and snapped the shoulder end off because it was now crooked and pushing against the open disintegrated ball bearing housing rather than spinning. Once I replaced all the bearings and the broken shaft they were fine. The transmissions have been running fine since. I have run longer now than they did before the first bearings failed
plenty of photos of the tranys and damage is posted un those reviews on rcuniverse

[tank_me]

There are two different versions of the Hooben enclosed gearbox. One type is basically a clone of the HL "CNC gearbox" and the other is larger made for larger 1/10th scale tanks that says it can take a 550 or 775 motor. I wanted to know what the drive shaft dimensions were for those to see if they'd work for my 1/10th scale project Jadgtiger, but I made other arrangements at this point. Hooben didn't want my money I guess.

[quitcherbitchen]

Does anyone actually have an up graded CNC enclosed gearbox? I have a second T-55 that I got second hand that is missing the motor. I would like to know if it is worth it.

[tank_me]

Does anyone actually have an up graded CNC enclosed gearbox? I have a second T-55 that I got second hand that is missing the motor. I would like to know if it is worth it.

I have several of the HL versions. I like them. Had no issues and they run great in my heavy Taigen hulled KV-1 and SU-152. Can't comment on the Hooben versions, but they look like they use a double flat on the output shaft instead of the single flat like on a Heng Long. Also, it doesn't state shaft length or if they are high/low (HL) or mid/low (ML) motor placement. For the T55, I would go with a mid/low version of the gearboxes as the standard Hooben gearbox on mine seems to make contact with the upper deck. I don't have any clue what the length of the shaft is though.

[Handy Lance]

Does anyone actually have an up graded CNC enclosed gearbox? I have a second T-55 that I got second hand that is missing the motor. I would like to know if it is worth it.

I have both
HL version CNC enclosed
vs stamped chassis open version

quieter
smoother running
heavier
had to refab mounts from bottom
pricy


I am glad I disassembled my gearboxs upon arrival. Some crazy grease in 1 spot inside tranny, doing nothing. Also, filings, and dirtish stuff. I found the CNC version acts as a great heat sink for the motors.

Once properly cleaned, shimmed and greased the CNC enclosed gearbox is much better.
Price though👎🏻


,

[DavidN]

My Hooben ZTZ-99 is done.