Heng long tank

[Cameron Schaeffer]

I've noticed that when I'm looking around to purchase a Heng Long tank some say plastic gear box and others say steel. Example the King Tiger sku says 3888A plastic gear box and the other sku says 3888 steel gear box. Is this true or is it just misinformation?

[Rubicon99]

I've noticed that when I'm looking around to purchase a Heng Long tank some say plastic gear box and others say steel. Example the King Tiger sku says 3888A plastic gear box and the other sku says 3888 steel gear box. Is this true or is it just misinformation?

Buy only the ones that say “STEEL” otherwise you will be sorry. The old saying “ buy once cry once “ is very true with all tanks.

[tanks for us]

There is both plastic & steel. Smart $$ is steel. Plastic will likely strip the gears. Also good idea to get steel (watch out for zinc often called metal gears!) drive sprockets and idlers. Road wheels can be plastic if you want to save $$ and weight. I would avoid plastic track unless you plan to baby it.

[DavidN]

As you become familiarized with the hobby, you will notice with the prices also. Tanks with plastic and zinc gearboxes, in general, are about under $150 for small and under $200 for large. Some retailers also have the "upgraded" and "customized" versions. Those come with steel gearboxes.

[SoCalBobS]

A safety net.... if you've bought a plastic geared version and they break, you can always buy replacement steel gears. You can virtually completely disassemble these tanks with a couple of screwdrivers, etc. That's the good news. The bad is you can expect to be doing that as things break, whether you want to or not. A direct email to Toucan Hobby, for instance, can get you a replacement for a lost Panzer IV suspension module for cheap...ask me how I know!

[Sappo]

And the best thing about things breaking and doing upgrades is you get to know your tanks and why and how they work. Just make sure you take photos if you are doing any work on the electrics

[Cameron Schaeffer]

I think I might just go ahead and get the Professional version with the steel upgrades. I found a King Tiger steel upgrades for about 220$

[Rubicon99]

I think I might just go ahead and get the Professional version with the steel upgrades. I found a King Tiger steel upgrades for about 220$

That’s pretty cheap. Make sure it is a 6.0 or higher. There are still a lot of the older 5.3 systems out there. Trust me you don’t want a 5.3.