Henglong vs Taigen

[sclui56]

Flexing is NOT an issue on the Abrams (or other modern tank) UNLESS you forego the two hull halves being screwed together and instead use magnets. At which point flexing can occur and braces become useful as you loose the “unibody” effect of the hulls being physically attached to one another.

But as always if you want braces just because, they don’t hurt anything and add weight. Weight is a good thing in rc ranks.

Appreciate the insight, and I recall reading your comment when someone asked about using magnets at the time. I was only concerned about the idler mounting area getting stressed, especially if I were to go with the padded tracks and/or stronger motors. I do like the HL electronics, other than the fact I can't use my own Tx. Thanks.

[Zippersnapper]

When I first saw/heard of the magnet mod, the first thing that came to my mind was the immediate sacrifice of structural integrity. Personally, I don't think it's a good idea.
The thought has crossed my mind however, to drill out the boss, and screw these into the post. That way integrity is increased, and the fear of striping out the hole is gone. I've used them in wood of course, and they work awesome. A tad bit of gorilla glue would anchor them in the plastic quite well I believe.

[Rubicon99]

Appreciate the insight, and I recall reading your comment when someone asked about using magnets at the time. I was only concerned about the idler mounting area getting stressed, especially if I were to go with the padded tracks and/or stronger motors. I do like the HL electronics, other than the fact I can't use my own Tx. Thanks.

The idler mounting surface material does look like it needs a bit of strengthening for the long term especially for use with heavy tracks and upgrades motors turning those tracks. How to best do this? There are a few ways I have seen and that I am testing. To that end I have had two 6.0+ hull for some time now and so far I haven’t broken the stock non strengthening mounts nor the strengthened mounts I am testing. So really at this point don’t know if the ones people have broken were flukes or poor design and material.

[Vaseline]

the only time Ive outright broken a screw boss, I dropped my JagdPanther on the floor with the motors in, impact snapped the bosses holding the motors flush with the hull. Ive stripped a couple in various other tanks, in both cases I filled the holes with sprue goo, and epoyed an aluminum tube sleeve over the boss.

[Zippersnapper]

Let us know! I Like It! One thing I think the author said, that he was using it off an RX (the old 27mhz) board. Hopefully voltages will be correct for our 6.0's.

Fans arrived... I started by giving the stock blower a soak in de-bonder, so I could remove it without destroying it.



Then I cut the nipple off, and sanded that side smooth, after which I used a dremel to open up the tiny air intake hole. I tried to make the hole conform somewhat to the curvature of the fan
The fan was then superglued to the side of the smoke tank....



I soldered the JST plug from the original blower onto the brushless fan. The fan would not run in the stock port CN12 (6v) due to the voltage requirement. So it was plugged into unused port CN2 (radiator fan-Battery voltage) instead.

Now the Walker Bulldog bellows smoke like nobody's business....and its whisper quiet:

[sclui56]

What voltage fan did you get? I ended up with these https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000...12664c4dDAsJCL

[Zippersnapper]

What voltage fan did you get? I ended up with these https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000...12664c4dDAsJCL

I bought these, because the seller was only an hour and a half away from my house. No voltage was specified, so I rolled the dice...
I ended up getting 7 for a tad under $20

https://www.ebay.com/itm/113680222990?var=413804856785

[sclui56]

I bought these, because the seller was only an hour and a half away from my house. No voltage was specified, so I rolled the dice...
I ended up getting 7 for a tad under $20

https://www.ebay.com/itm/113680222990?var=413804856785

Looks a lot better in your HL. I used the 20mm fans with a modded old style smoker (pump/piston) in my Taigen, I suppose there isn't enough voltage to drive it so it was much less spectacular.

[Zippersnapper]

What voltage fan did you get? I ended up with these https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000...12664c4dDAsJCL

You went with the 5v? Let me know how long it takes to get to your door. I'm beginning to lose patience with Chinese ordering. I finally received the CROWS for my Abrams from DKLMRC and it was damn near 5 weeks. Anyway, since I know how to make the heating coils and have the material already, and I read somewhere that the tube and fittings can be purchased from Fish Aquarium places (pet smart) and I can get some thin plastic for my laser etchers, my next hair brain scheme is to make my own smoke generators from scratch. Got these on the way as well..

https://www.ebay.com/itm/203350190506

[Zippersnapper]

The M1A2 Abrams couldn't be neglected...Installed Smoke unit-Love the compactness:



And it blows....

[sclui56]

I would have thought DKLM would be a bit quicker since it's coming from HKG instead of mainland. I ordered the 5v since I only had Taigen models up until a week ago before getting the Abrams. That order from Alixepress was made on 03.23 and arrived 04.14, so that's par for course I suppose. My abrams is all apart ATM between waiting for 1 bad red motor and painting the metal wheels, I just didn't like the look of metal, and ended up using Testors' Modern Desert Sand 1963, which BTW is much much closer to the real thing than what HL used.

Looking forward to see how the "new" smoke box comes out. BTW, the tubes can be had easily at local PepBoys/AutoZone. I also got a similar bunch of JST's, tired of recycling connectors.

[Zippersnapper]

I would have thought DKLM would be a bit quicker since it's coming from HKG instead of mainland. I ordered the 5v since I only had Taigen models up until a week ago before getting the Abrams. That order from Alixepress was made on 03.23 and arrived 04.14, so that's par for course I suppose. My abrams is all apart ATM between waiting for 1 bad red motor and painting the metal wheels, I just didn't like the look of metal, and ended up using Testors' Modern Desert Sand 1963, which BTW is much much closer to the real thing than what HL used.

Looking forward to see how the "new" smoke box comes out. BTW, the tubes can be had easily at local PepBoys/AutoZone. I also got a similar bunch of JST's, tired of recycling connectors.

Thanx. Good to know.

I don't own an airbrush, and can't justify buying the whole setup. Like yourself the factory paint on the Abrams was totally way off base, so I opted for this:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07LFZ885D/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Its close enough for me.

DKLM used Hong Kong Express to ship, and it pissed me off. It literally sat in China for 3 weeks before it even left the country. Ali Express on the other hand got here in 3 weeks.

Th CROWS was wasted money, as I don't intend to mount it now..





$46 down the tubes...

[sclui56]

Thanks for pointing to the Krylon, it does appear to be closer to the incorrect factory shade! Since AAF seems to be out of the Tami Leo tracks, I was going to opt for DKLM's padded ones, but once I added a couple of metal turret rings + motors to the tracks, damn shipping came to $55, so I just let it sit for now. Besides, after painting the HL metal and weather a bit, I am ok for now. Just wanted to take the shine off. I also don't have airbrush setup, close enuf is good for me in terms of toys/hobby stuff.

The CROWS looks really nice, 10x better than the 2 MG's HL shipped with.

[SoCalBobS]

Fans arrived... I started by giving the stock blower a soak in de-bonder, so I could remove it without destroying it.



Then I cut the nipple off, and sanded that side smooth, after which I used a dremel to open up the tiny air intake hole. I tried to make the hole conform somewhat to the curvature of the fan
The fan was then superglued to the side of the smoke tank....



I soldered the JST plug from the original blower onto the brushless fan. The fan would not run in the stock port CN12 (6v) due to the voltage requirement. So it was plugged into unused port CN2 (radiator fan-Battery voltage) instead.

Now the Walker Bulldog bellows smoke like nobody's business....and its whisper quiet:

Bump.

Zippersnapper, I'm reactivating this thread because I want to add a smoke unit to my T-35 project, and you really researched the smoker. The T-35's exhaust vents up from the center of the rear deck, and there's a ton of room in this tank, so a good smoker would be fun. I'm using a 6.1S board.

So to my question, how has your setup been working? I like the computer fan blowing thru the smoke box. In your M41 video, what heater wire and smoke oil did you end up using? I'm guessing since you put the fan in the fan circuit, it's on all the time, but smoke is only generated when the smoke circuit is on?

[sclui56]

Jumping in here Bob, try these, work quite well https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005...74c54c4dgQzddZ

Sample here https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Xzp...ew?usp=sharing

[SoCalBobS]

Jumping in here Bob, try these, work quite well https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005...74c54c4dgQzddZ

Sample here https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Xzp...ew?usp=sharing

If that's yours, very impressive!

[sclui56]

If that's yours, very impressive!

It's, after I opened up the diffuser and used Mega Smoke. It's good enuf for me, much better than the piston action noisy type. This is a fraction of the cost comparing to the 1x GI Smoker I bought,

[Zippersnapper]

Bump.

Zippersnapper, I'm reactivating this thread because I want to add a smoke unit to my T-35 project, and you really researched the smoker. The T-35's exhaust vents up from the center of the rear deck, and there's a ton of room in this tank, so a good smoker would be fun. I'm using a 6.1S board.

So to my question, how has your setup been working? I like the computer fan blowing thru the smoke box. In your M41 video, what heater wire and smoke oil did you end up using? I'm guessing since you put the fan in the fan circuit, it's on all the time, but smoke is only generated when the smoke circuit is on?

Please forgive my absenteeism. All my Henglong tanks that I retrofitted with the 25mm fan conversion have been working flawless. Yes, on Henglong tanks, the smoke is activated by the toggle switch. Smoke oil that came with the tank is used primarily as its thinner than vaping propylene glycol or vegetable glycerin. My Taigen tank however turned out to be an utter failure. I will be posting a question on that topic right now.