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The tank came packed very well with no damage. As usual, The graphic art on the box looks great and shows off the product well. I really wanted this tank based on the new 7.0 board and radio. The smoke unit has also seen a recent upgrade. The outer packing box comes with a new decal, that says, Professional Edition. It mentions the included metal parts. One customer has already been confused by this. He assumed it also includes metal “road wheels” based on the shown list, and it does not include that. Those, will only come on "certain" Professional Edition Tanks. Let’s go over a few things pertaining to my inspection so far. Instructions are clear. I like the fact, for RC newbies there was a tiny paper insert with instructions and a diagram, tucked under the small hatch, on front of the tank. Saying, ON/OFF switch is located here! Next, I remember several customers making tickets on this tank, that the machine gun barrel was missing. I found mine right away. But it is just placed into the box of accessory parts, “loosely” and could easily be overlooked. It 2X15mm, black and round. It should be placed in a bag like some of the other items came packaged. Also, I really think, when using the small clear bags to pack items in, then place them into a white foam crate, they should be colored. I almost overlooked the metal caps for my wheels. They were buried deep into a recess in the foam coffin. Ozzy called me the next day with a customer missing his. We had him look again, same situation and he found them. Next, I fired up the tank and got smoke for all of 5 seconds and it stopped. I also noticed the front LED light was covered over with paint. I cleaned off the paint and found a bright white LED. Soft white would be more appropriate for a WWII ERA tank. To remove the lid, you first have to take out 6 screws from the bottom side. First 4 are visible, other two, hidden above the tracksuit the rear. While removing the tracts, I came across one idler wheel that would not rotate smoothly. I removed the screw from the wheel to pull it off and the inner bearing just feel apart. I have a new set on order and will need to replace it before I can run the tank. Easy fix and $6 off ebay. I successfully removed the lid to get to the smoke unit. It would turn off and on from the remote, the fan spooled up. But no smoke. It was extremely hot to the touch, almost burning. I removed the 4 screws holding down the small lid on the smoke fluid reservoir box, and lifted it off. The nichrome wire was not broken. What I did find was, the cotton ball used to soak up the smoke fluid and deliver it up to the wick material, surrounding the wire, was shifted to the wrong side. This created a few issues. One, no fluid reaching the wick material. Second, it blocked the hole in the side of the box, where the fan blows the air in. Three, no airflow causes the unit to overheat. The fan does two things. Blows the smoke out the exhaust tubes, but also cools the heating element. This is why it was so hot. No air flow though the box. Results? NO SMOKE! These new units are superior to the old pump ones. But they will still require careful assembly to work correctly. One step back, Heng long has taken on the new TK7.0, is it only has two tank sound profiles. In the older 6.0, there was at least 5 including a turbine for the Abrams tank. Not sure why this decision was made by them. Customers have already complained about this change. I also understand a more powerful 3 watt, 4 Ohm amplifier was installed. One thing Heng Long has become a master at, it is, the snap together construction! Kudos to them. It is always a joy to assemble one of their tanks. The plastic parts go together nicely. In most instances, glue is not needed. I do recommend gluing smaller detail parts that could get lost in an outdoor environment. I will not need to same much on the performance or operations of the tank. That part is very similar between each tank. In the case of the T-34, it performs as expected and looks great.
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