Torro German Leopard 2A6 1/16 Scale Battle Tank - RTR Review

[Tooeleflyboy]

Hello Guys,

Here is my 2 cents on the Leopard 2A6 by Torro. Let me start with saying, I am not into the tank hobby so deep I belong to a club or even do the tank battles outside of my own home with a couple of Heng Long tanks. Bang for the buck I do enjoy the two HL tanks I own. This is my first "Next Level Tank". I will start off with the unboxing. As you can see in the pictures, my outer cardboard box was torn apart badly! I expected to at least find a damaged wood box at the least. To my surprise, NO DAMAGE! The tank itself was very tightly incased in foam inside the wood crate. First rate packing and the wood box is beautiful! What an impressive first impression!

[Tooeleflyboy]

Opening the tank up I found the lid to be a bit fussy. I fixed this when I realized one of the metal tabs was hanging up a little on the slide mechanism. Used the Dremel to round down the back side of it a bit and now it works perfect. I do like this feature over the HL in that you do not have to remove 8 screws to get to the innards of the tank. The slide release is located on the bottom of the tank. This is mentioned in the instructions. Typical layout you are use to seeing no surprises here, but take note on the nice gear boxes and the all metal tub. Very heavy duty. I did add a bit more grease before my first run, even though the gears appeared to be grease well. Good amount of room for larger batteries. At the rear you can open the 2 small drop down covers to reveal the volume knob and external charge port, if one wishes to purchase an overnight charger. The other is the on/off switch.

[Tooeleflyboy]

Here is what come supplied in the kit. I spent about 3 hours adding all the detail parts and the decals. I found some paint needed to be removed from the accessory parts in order to get a good fit and have the glue hold well. The decals, personally I do not like dry transfer. Water slide would be a better choice in my opinion. Working with these had a few challenges and you will still need to clear over them if you intend for them to remain on for a long period of time. I used some flat clear lacquer with a brush and just made sure to get the edges so they would not lift. The tail lights, I added clear behind them so they would stick for sure along with the 4 small white decals that go in the center.

[Tooeleflyboy]

I took some photos of the body hatches and a few other pieces that open up. I Have been looking for information on those sail panels that are mounted to the sides of the turret. Anyone have a name and function for them?

[Tooeleflyboy]

So, now the verdict on running the tank! Mechanically and cosmetically it is a sound unit. "Very heavy weight wise! Kind of a beast to pick up. I do not think the turret needs to be metal, but the tub for sure! First thing I notice is it is loud, plenty of volume. Speed is decent but I am sure the weight restricts that some. Solid running gear for sure. Outside in the dirt I did notice going straight forward it would run over anything. Any sharp turns left or right in the small gravel would result in them getting thrown up onto the lower track and then getting caught in the drive sprocket. A simple reverse would clear that out and then you could proceed. A few things to mention that could be improved upon. Barrel elevation does not have full control of up and down from the radio. Simply pull back the left stick and it will cycle up and down until you get the desired elevation. The engine sound is very authentic to the real tank engine but only offers idle and full throttle. No graduate sound to match the speed of the tank from slow to fast. The turret sound track over powers the level of the V12 Diesel. That could be lowered in the sound card. Red LED rear lights only come on in reverse. I would just have them on with the headlights. Smoke unit like most, only puts out a small amount. In real life I do not think this tank smokes much so for me I turned it off to save the battery for more runtime. Overall A very nice heavy duty tank that should last a good long time.

[Tooeleflyboy]

What brought the fun to an end! I was traversing some fine dirt when suddenly the tank started to spin hard right. Stopped, backed up and it straightened out. Proceeded forward and again, spins hard right. At this point I realize something is caught in the track. Opss! It is one of the copper tow cables!!!! I was not able to remove it on site so had to come home and cut it out. Be careful! They like to come off the lower hooks. Mine must have popped off and I backed over it. I will get another set but before I use them look for a way to better attach them. Problem is, they need to be removed each time you open the lid for battery access.

[Tooeleflyboy]

Last item to mention. I was so happy to find these servo jumper wires in the kit. You plug them into the motherboard, then over to your own receiver and you can use your own Hobby grade radio! What a great idea. Well, just an idea. Torro never properly assigned channel 5. This carries the mix for turning the smoker on/off and the machine gun fire. So you lose those two options. Well not a big deal on the smoker. You could use an RC switch for that running off your own receiver, but losing the machine gun, not so great. Maybe V3 electronics will fix the issue.

[Tooeleflyboy]

My final opinion on the tank. Love it, but the electronics function wise could be better to match the rest of the package and so could the toy grade radio. I would be willing to give up the fancy wood box (sad face) in place of these items to be upgraded. With that said I am looking into some options to do this myself. I will gladly share this with all of you as I see what path I choose to take.

[DavidN]

Thank you for sharing your nice Torro Leopard. I myself could not afford the Torro Leopard. I bought a Henglong one. I really like the paint scheme of your type of Leopard. I repainted my Henglong the same similar camouflage. Here it is:

[Masonmac95reallywantsatank]

Nice tank I just think I’ll stick with Heng Long because of so many more functions and controls


edit: never mind after looking it over torro is really nice especially things like the barrel recoil I should of looked it over more

[DavidN]

Nice tank I just think I’ll stick with Heng Long because of so many more functions and controls


edit: never mind after looking it over torro is really nice especially things like the barrel recoil I should of looked it over more

For your information, my HL Leopard 2 also comes with metal barrel recoil :-).

[DavidN]

Of course Torro tanks have much more metal parts, more details and nicer. I myself have 4. Those 4 are the ones that HL don’t make: late Tiger I, panther F, Jagd-King Tiger, and panzer IV G. I have no alternative but to get them for my collection :-)

[Masonmac95reallywantsatank]

DavidN really! That’s very nice did you install it or get it that way and yah I’m really starting to like the torro’s especially the latch to access the inside but I still love heng long

[DavidN]

DavidN really! That’s very nice did you install it or get it that way and yah I’m really starting to like the torro’s especially the latch to access the inside but I still love heng long

I purchased my Torro tank fully assembled RTR. For the price of one Torro Leopard, I got myself 2 HL RTR Leopards: 1 plastic for indoor and 1 with metal running gears for outdoor. I don't mean to be picky, but the painting department for Torro don't do a good job on painting :-)

[RichJohnson]

Nice review. The metal chassis is the best way to go on the Leo2 but yeah that metal turret makes it heavy.
there are various articles on here about tuning up for more speed including bumping up battery voltage etc but you would probably need a better after market tank control board to do that. Various ones are Elmod, Cark, and the new DKLM DKTank(version 2 is not out yet, V1 is sold out)

[sclui56]

Rich,

You are absolutely right, the 4:1 gearbox in the Taigen Leo makes it run like a WW II tank. Might have to try their V3 gearbox since they say "While these gearboxes will run a bit faster than our 4:1 gearboxes they are much slower than the 3:1 gearboxes."

[RichJohnson]

The 4.1 trannys are an 89:1 gear ratio. The 3.1 trannys are 39:1 ratio. Much faster. It will take some current to get them started but once moving it will run faster. I have them in my M60a3 but with custom made longer shafts required for my special build.
Also, see if you can order the taigen 390 upgrade motor. It is way better than the stock motors and you will need that with your extra weight.
If you are interested in going further, I think you can put a henglong turret on your taigen/toro hull, they are the same molds but made in plastic and much lighter. Then you can also start doing other mods too.
I dont care for the metal turrets of the taigen/ toro brand espeically with their shermans since I cant mod them being metal but oh well. I have a couple and just use them as is.

[sclui56]

My Leo actually came with the black 390's. I have seen a HL upper mated to the Taigen lower before without issues. In fact, I have a second Taigen lower and was looking for a full HL upper including turret but it fell through, and I ended up with a full Taigen upper in IR since I wanted barrel recoil (1st unit is BB). I may still try to piece together a HL upper. But I think I will try their V3 gearbox first (the ones with the magnetic covers). OTOH, the 3:1 came with the PZ4 propels the tank way too fast, I was actually surprised they stuck the 390's in the smaller tank. I ended up swapping in a pair of Tami 380's and rely on the Tx to limit output for now, until I find a suitable gearbox.

[Tooeleflyboy]

Finally finished weathering mine!

[SoCalBobS]

Finally finished weathering mine!

Ah, the famous Bavarian crocheted camouflage! Seriously though, it looks great. The netting drapes realistically.