Mato M36B1

[Rubicon99]

My HL King Tiger has the DKT board inside. Is there a way to program the hits-speed-reduction for this board? Thx!

PM RichJohnson and he can advise you. He runs those boards in his tanks.

[RichJohnson]

Put the SD card in your computer ad read through th text file and select the mode you want under battle section

[SoCalBobS]

Just got my M36 today - two day shipping apparently it came from a warehouse in Bell, CA.

So this is essentially my first Mato. I had a PzIII many years ago, but the world has moved on, so to speak. My opinion? Well done hull, hatches are metal hinged, wheels roll for now. The elevation servo arm was broken likely at the factory, but my bins of r/c parts made it a quick fix. Good tank, worth the cost.

But...

Dang! If this is the way others have to control their tanks in battle, no wonder they don't want Heng Long tanks on the battlefield! Instead of movement right/left, forward/back on one stick and turret left/right up/down control on the other, and two buttons to fire, this is bizarre! Truly a pat your head, rub your tummy type of coordination. I mean no offense guys, though. This is actually why I got the tank, to learn the system.

One serious note to the experienced guys here: all of the wiring is in harnesses, if you change things, do you just bypass the harness? I noticed this in regards to the servo arm. If I'd had to replace the servo, I'd still be tracing wires!

Oh, and another last thing. To turn on the tank, there is a switch under the rear grill. Unfortunately, the M36 turret bustle blocks access to it, and you can't turn the turret when it's off, or open the tank to access the switch! hey, if it were easy, everybody would be a tanker...

[Rubicon99]

Just got my M36 today - two day shipping apparently it came from a warehouse in Bell, CA.

So this is essentially my first Mato. I had a PzIII many years ago, but the world has moved on, so to speak. My opinion? Well done hull, hatches are metal hinged, wheels roll for now. The elevation servo arm was broken likely at the factory, but my bins of r/c parts made it a quick fix. Good tank, worth the cost.

But...

Dang! If this is the way others have to control their tanks in battle, no wonder they don't want Heng Long tanks on the battlefield! Instead of movement right/left, forward/back on one stick and turret left/right up/down control on the other, and two buttons to fire, this is bizarre! Truly a pat your head, rub your tummy type of coordination. I mean no offense guys, though. This is actually why I got the tank, to learn the system.

One serious note to the experienced guys here: all of the wiring is in harnesses, if you change things, do you just bypass the harness? I noticed this in regards to the servo arm. If I'd had to replace the servo, I'd still be tracing wires!

Oh, and another last thing. To turn on the tank, there is a switch under the rear grill. Unfortunately, the M36 turret bustle blocks access to it, and you can't turn the turret when it's off, or open the tank to access the switch! hey, if it were easy, everybody would be a tanker...

Bob you can re arrange the servo plugs order on the RX to give the Clark a HL like driving fighting layout.. A lot of Clark user do that. I do it with my older Tamiyas and they end up nearly spot on to the HL driving and fighting control layout.

It does boggle the mind that Clark and Tamiya have stick movement that are just not intuitive. One reason I really like the Tamiya Finespec radio is you can plug in all the servo leads in 1-4 order and then reassign each digitally to the order needed to achieve an exact HL stick and battling layout.

As far as the wiring harness goes it is old school HL style central hull plug type and a mess. You can bypass some of it, other stuff not so much. Wish I could help more but it’s been a minute since I worked on those old harnesses and have thankfully forgotten most of it.

[tank_me]

This non-intuitive stick movement thing you guys keep referring to doesn't exist on the SBUS versions of the Clark boards like the TK40/50/80. The firing, engine start, lights, etc. is all on switches for the SBUS versions. Mato is using the older non-SBUS version in these tanks.

[DavidN]

Hope you got the painted version. I am having difficulty painting my tank because of those rubber wheels, lol.

[Rubicon99]

This non-intuitive stick movement thing you guys keep referring to doesn't exist on the SBUS versions of the Clark boards like the TK40/50/80. The firing, engine start, lights, etc. is all on switches for the SBUS versions. Mato is using the older non-SBUS version in these tanks.

Yes we are talking about the Clark systems without SBUS.

[761st]

"you can re arrange the servo plugs order on the RX to give the Clark a HL like driving fighting layout"

Is this a logical presentation or is there a layout to guide you? Thanks

[oldwolf]

One reason I really like the Tamiya Finespec radio is you can plug in all the servo leads in 1-4 order and then reassign each digitally to the order needed to achieve an exact HL stick and battling layout.

Speaking of that radio, does anyone know of a seller that has it in stock? I got one in the spring for my new Tamiya 1/16 Centurion and really like it. I want to get another for my next Tamiya tank project but no one seems to have any in stock nor any idea when they will get more.

[SoCalBobS]

Hope you got the painted version. I am having difficulty painting my tank because of those rubber wheels, lol.

Bare metal, like yours. It’ll be a while before I tackle painting. I want to be comfortable manipulating things like the electronics and maintenance beforehand.

[Rubicon99]

Speaking of that radio, does anyone know of a seller that has it in stock? I got one in the spring for my new Tamiya 1/16 Centurion and really like it. I want to get another for my next Tamiya tank project but no one seems to have any in stock nor any idea when they will get more.

Ebay and they are out of Japan. The prices have doubled in the last four months from $150 to over $300. That must mean supply is very low which is no surprise. I managed to find a few stand alone receivers to pair with mine on eBay and immediately bought them. The receivers were not cheap, but less then $300+ for a box new TX/RX.

[oldwolf]

Ebay and they are out of Japan. The prices have doubled in the last four months from $150 to over $300. That must mean supply is very low which is no surprise. I managed to find a few stand alone receivers to pair with mine on eBay and immediately bought them. The receivers were not cheap, but less then $300+ for a box new TX/RX.

Thanks. Found one on ebay and ordered it.

[DavidN]

Bare metal, like yours. It’ll be a while before I tackle painting. I want to be comfortable manipulating things like the electronics and maintenance beforehand.

If you want to drive your Mato with the right stick similar to your HL tank, switch channel 2 to 3 and 3 to 2 on the little Mato receiver. I did it on my 2 tanks. And to turn the tank on, move your left stick diagonally to the left lower corner.

[DavidN]

There is another feature that wasn't mention about the tank in the Toucan Hobby website. There is a LED light inside the barrel which flashes upon firing. I like it and I will probably leave this feature the way it is. I will put the IR bulb elsewhere.

[SoCalBobS]

If you want to drive your Mato with the right stick similar to your HL tank, switch channel 2 to 3 and 3 to 2 on the little Mato receiver. I did it on my 2 tanks. And to turn the tank on, move your left stick diagonally to the left lower corner.

Thanks David for the info. I did it and yes, turret on left stick and drive on right. Follow on questions: how do you raise and lower the barrel, shoot the mg and turn the lights on and off? Swapping plugs affects all these functions!

[DavidN]

Thanks David for the info. I did it and yes, turret on left stick and drive on right. Follow on questions: how do you raise and lower the barrel, shoot the mg and turn the lights on and off? Swapping plugs affects all these functions!

Hi Bob! I have just gotten home. For the MG to fire, move your left stick to the right lower corner. For the barrel to move up and down, move your left stick to the 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock direction. To turn the light on and off, the left stick needs to be shifted to the 4 o'clock direction. The right stick has no other function except for driving.

[SoCalBobS]

Hi Bob! I have just gotten home. For the MG to fire, move your left stick to the right lower corner. For the barrel to move up and down, move your left stick to the 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock direction. To turn the light on and off, the left stick needs to be shifted to the 4 o'clock direction. The right stick has no other function except for driving.

Cool, thanks.

[DavidN]

Well, I replaced the Mato IR set with the LegoDEI set. I left the Mato flash LED inside the barrel and installed the IR bulb at the right side. I will probably paint it after the LA tank battle event.

[SoCalBobS]

I just tested the power of the Mato IR Emitter. Not surprisingly, it's much weaker than our aftermarket bulbs. In a shady evening, it only worked at about 30 feet, whereas the tank with the "good" bulb was at the expected range. It worked reliably at where it tested, at 100 feet. To make the tank competitive the bulb has to be replaced, either in the barrel or as you did alongside it.

We think the manufacturers skimped on the bulbs and receivers, but maybe they optimized them for indoor use. Once I fired the good bulbs in my workshop, and it registered hits at over a 60 degree spread just by reflecting off nearby surfaces!

[Rubicon99]

Well, I replaced the Mato IR set with the LegoDEI set. I left the Mato flash LED inside the barrel and installed the IR bulb at the right side. I will probably paint it after the LA tank battle event.

Looking good. But I would caution about using such an exposed long styrene plastic tube for the IR bulb “barrel” The IR energy tends to “bleed” through the white plastic and hit tanks next to it even when the tube is painted. Make sure you prime the tube with a few extra coats of black primer prior to your primary paint coat color being applied to minimize IR “bleeding” occurring.

For IR tubes it is best to use a metal tubing of some sort. This eliminates the “bleeding” effect completely.