Hey all,
I had no idea what I was getting myself into after thinking it would be a neat idea to take RC tanks camping with us. Although the only set I could order were "toy" tanks, it was a great idea and I've learned a thing or two but there's more to go for sure.
I just received the Heng Long M1A2 and their Sherman (to start... more will be joining us I'm 100% sure of it). I've been a fan of the Abrams since I was a kid after seeing them during Desert Storm and it has been one of my favorite models ever since, so this tank is "mine". Having a wife and daughter though, "mine" is somewhat subjective. Anyway, initial testing was fine with the Abrams (and the Sherman); there are no problems, and everything functions as expected. After charging the batteries and working on both tanks, we of course tested out the IR battling in the house. After a while the Abrams would shut down (without being hit), and some time after it would recover, it completely shut down (no lights flashing). Pulling the battery I found the wires warm; it seems to be pulling some amps to just roll around the carpet. The Sherman has not done this. Ambient temps here were low 70's indoors and out. Both of these models have plastic tracks, and stock motors with plastic gearing.
I already knew there would be modifications on the Abrams in the future, but I'm leaning towards motors & gearboxes first with this trouble. I see a lot of people use the red motors; are they higher turn motors for more torque? Or are they similar but with different gearing? If I'm going to be running this at low speeds outdoors it seems like some more torque would be good and might help with the shutdown issue. I'm sure we'll be going through grass, dirt, rocks, and sand in the future and just want to make it reliable. I still need to figure out what batteries to run but I'm sure that info is here somewhere and I'll be searching for it. I was planning at some point to get the metal tracks with rubber pads, along with the metal sprocket and front idler as well but I think I need to solve this motor issue first.
I will say though overall I'm impressed with both models. I most definitely want to do more detail work on the Abrams but it's pretty impressive out of the box for sure. I'll be studying real Abrams photos to see what I want to do to it.
Thanks,
Clay
I had no idea what I was getting myself into after thinking it would be a neat idea to take RC tanks camping with us. Although the only set I could order were "toy" tanks, it was a great idea and I've learned a thing or two but there's more to go for sure.
I just received the Heng Long M1A2 and their Sherman (to start... more will be joining us I'm 100% sure of it). I've been a fan of the Abrams since I was a kid after seeing them during Desert Storm and it has been one of my favorite models ever since, so this tank is "mine". Having a wife and daughter though, "mine" is somewhat subjective. Anyway, initial testing was fine with the Abrams (and the Sherman); there are no problems, and everything functions as expected. After charging the batteries and working on both tanks, we of course tested out the IR battling in the house. After a while the Abrams would shut down (without being hit), and some time after it would recover, it completely shut down (no lights flashing). Pulling the battery I found the wires warm; it seems to be pulling some amps to just roll around the carpet. The Sherman has not done this. Ambient temps here were low 70's indoors and out. Both of these models have plastic tracks, and stock motors with plastic gearing.
I already knew there would be modifications on the Abrams in the future, but I'm leaning towards motors & gearboxes first with this trouble. I see a lot of people use the red motors; are they higher turn motors for more torque? Or are they similar but with different gearing? If I'm going to be running this at low speeds outdoors it seems like some more torque would be good and might help with the shutdown issue. I'm sure we'll be going through grass, dirt, rocks, and sand in the future and just want to make it reliable. I still need to figure out what batteries to run but I'm sure that info is here somewhere and I'll be searching for it. I was planning at some point to get the metal tracks with rubber pads, along with the metal sprocket and front idler as well but I think I need to solve this motor issue first.
I will say though overall I'm impressed with both models. I most definitely want to do more detail work on the Abrams but it's pretty impressive out of the box for sure. I'll be studying real Abrams photos to see what I want to do to it.
Thanks,
Clay
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