Heng Long Metal Barrel Recoil BB shooting unit upgrade kit

[keilau]

This is all I wanted to know.

There is NO model tank recoil unit, commercial or home built, that can get even close to scale recoil speed and damped rebound. The cannon sound are way too weak too.

[tank_me]

The OpenPanzer TCB board can adjust a bunch of recoil parameters and there are other boards that can also:


Servo Recoil


RC Ouput Uncategorized Groups on the TCB is reserved for servo recoil. You can choose to have the servo recoil automatically whenever the Cannon Fire function is triggered, or you can trigger it manually with the Servo Recoil function. You can also set the speed of the recoil movement – for all these options, see the Motors tab in OP Config.

Because the recoil servo is not directly associated with any specific channel on your transmitter, you can't adjust the servo end-points or reversing using settings in your transmitter. Instead we've created a special menu accessed directly from the TCB that lets you adjust the end-points and reversing by using the sticks of your transmitter. Be sure to run through Radio Setup first though so the TCB can correctly identify your transmitter's settings.

Note: You can also reverse the recoil servo's direction from OP Config, see the Motors tab. But the end-points can only be adjusted from the special menu described on this page.

The TCB has four special menus chosen by the position of dipswitch Blogs and Groups To select the Servo Recoil setup menu set both dipswitch Blogs and Groups to Off. Then to enter the menu, press and hold the INPUT button on the TCB for two seconds. To exit the menu, press the INPUT button again briefly.

While in this menu use the barrel elevation stick to adjust the end point. Use the steering stick to select which end-point you are adjusting. And use the throttle stick to reverse the servo's movement. See the video below for an example.



https://youtu.be/n1Tdl_iyVGE

[keilau]

https://openpanzer.org/forum/index.php?page=buy

In February 2019 Hobby King announced they had discontinued the TCB from their store.

At the present time, there is no place where the TCB, Scout or Sound Card can be purchased.

[tank_me]

I'm aware that the TCB can no longer be purchased as I own three of them. You said there is no board that can allow you to adjust the servo parameters. You can build your own TCB or there is a version of the TCB called the MTCU produced that uses the Open Panzer software for configuration. You can see Rad's review on it.

https://radindustries.wordpress.com/.../19/kim-olsens-mtcu/

[keilau]

I'm aware that the TCB can no longer be purchased as I own three of them. You said there is no board that can allow you to adjust the servo parameters. You can build your own TCB or there is a version of the TCB called the MTCU produced that uses the Open Panzer software for configuration. You can see Rad's review on it.

https://radindustries.wordpress.com/.../19/kim-olsens-mtcu/

Thank you for the link. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the review of the MTCU.

I am a low budget operation with the goal of creating reliable RC tank with good drivability in backyard lawn. It does not prevent me from enjoying the exciting work you guys do.

[keilau]

I have successfully add barrel recoil feature to a M26 Pershing and a M4A3 Sherman, both of which have the plastic barrel molded as part of the mantle. I used Heng Long tank specific "metal barrel recoil BB shooting kits". It is easier than building my DIY servo recoil and the result is pretty good. The Pershing metal barrel is painted in a brownish olive drab which is different from the dark green olive drab on the old Pershing. The Sherman barrel is bare tuned aluminum. My last step is to get both painted to the matching tank color.

For my remaining tanks, a German Leopard 2A6, T-34/85 and the Tongde M60A1, which have independent barrel, I hope to use the much less expensive HL generic barrel recoil BB shooting kit and keep the original tank barrel.. It should be more challenging and more fun.

It may be days, or even weeks, before I have results to report back here.

I took a 2 months break from my RC tank recoil project. I resumed the activity in late July with the HL T-34/85 using a HL generic BB shooting recoil unit that I got for $10 from one of the Toucon sellers. The pictures show the parts, the finished metal recoil BB unit and the reassembled turret. I will detail the challenges in the next few days. It is not a difficult project, but does need some elbow grease.

The T-34/85 looks like before, but with a recoil barrel.

[keilau]

The original non-recoil BB shooting unit has a stationary barrel. In earlier HL tank, it is a long aluminum tube with a plastic sleeve. In later tanks, HL makes one piece aluminum barrel. For recoil, a telescopic tube is needed.

The BB tube inner diameter was scaled for the 6mm BB's, making it too small to ride on the recoil tube. The one piece barrel has lots of wall material. I chose the T-34/85 barrel as my experimental subject, I removed 2cm from the barrel to allow room for recoil. The ID of the barrel will be enlarged to ride on the recoil tube which is a 7.6mm OD tube. I used a step drill bit to start before switching to a 5/16" drill bit. Drilling out the inner diameter of the tube is not easy even with aluminum. I used top brand new tintanium bit. Drilling the first half inch is easy. As I went deeper, the aluminum barrel heated up quickly causing the bit to bind. I stopped, let the barrel to cool before I drilled again. It took a total of 3 days to get the 4.7mm length I wanted.

Another unpleasant task is to transfer the BB feeding housing to the new unit. The housing was glued down to the old unit making it difficult to remove without breaking it.

After drilling out the barrel, I inserted an 8mm thin wall brass tube into it as liner. It makes a perfect fit and avoid aluminum sliding on aluminum. The brass liner also presents a positive stop for the mounting screw, not to intrude into the BB path.


This custom made metal recoil BB shooting unit is a drop in fit to the HL T-34/85 turret. It recoils smoothly. (Don't forget to use the G+B buttom to turn on the BB unit for the recoil to work.)

[Chs51]

In your opinion, what tank brand; Torro, Taigen, Mato, Tamiya or Heng Long have the best recoil with flash, without resorting to an aftermarket board?

[keilau]

In your opinion, what tank brand; Torro, Taigen, Mato, Tamiya or Heng Long have the best recoil with flash, without resorting to an aftermarket board?

I have owned 7 HL RTR tanks. My experience is limited and cannot comment on the other brands. The only HL that advertises with barrel recoil is the Merkava. All the HL that I have do body shaking when the main gun fires. I do not consider it a recoil. When I turn the gun 90 degrees and fire, the tank shakes in the axial direction. Even for older WW2 tanks, you cannot call this recoil.

You do not need aftermarket MFU board to get barrel recoil. The HL TK-6.0/7.0 board support trigger motor barrel recoil. The TK-6.1/7.1 board support servo barrel recoil. In either case, you need an aftermarket barrel and recoil mechanism.

I have done only trigger motor recoil because it is much cheaper. My eyes are not fast enough to tell the difference between it and the servo recoil mechanism. Both look huge improvement over the HL body shaking "recoil".

[keilau]

I took the new BB unit out of the turret which takes about 3 minutes. It's much easier once you learned how the interlock work. I broke half of the locating ring when I removed the small piece of the BB feeding tunnel which does not affect the functionality. I used a few small drops of RTV to fix the piece in place. Mechanical assembly of the turret is done. But electrical connections and functionality test should be next. Hope to complete before dinner time.

After the T-34/85 was back together and functioning properly, I went back to the Sherman to complete some unfinished business, namely, painting the 105mm gun barrel. I applied 3 coats of Kryton Colormaxx Italian Olive. Don't apply model paint to aluminum directly because of poor adhesion. Then, I brushed on a layer of Tamiya Xf-58 Olive Green. It is still more greenish than I would like, but the flat finish is much more flat than the Kryton spray paint. Thus, a better match to the HL color.

While I had the recoil unit apart, I cannot resist a minor upgrade. I insert a brass liner into the Sherman recoil barrel. The 8mm OD brass tube is a perfect fit. I brush on a little liquid CA glue to fix the liner in place. The 2mm thin wall brass tube eliminates the barrell and recoil stub gap while making the slip smoother.

The original barrel (in back) wall is too thin for modification.

[RonV]

A few days ago, I posted on a Heng Long Metal Barrel Recoil BB shooting unit for 3838 Pershing upgrade kit that I purchased for my 2005 Snow Leopard. I said that over 18 years, HL changed the cannon mantle mounting plate enough that the kit does not fit my Pershing. I contact the Toucan seller (build-for-u) to request a return. They got back to me in a few days after talking to the HL technical team. They came up with the idea of swapping the old mounting plate to the new unit. It works, but it is not a simple direct drop-in replacement. It took me 2 days of careful griding and cutting. I will post more pictures to describe the process in the next few days.

The Metal Barrel Recoil BB shooting unit works with TK-6.0/7.0 without any electrical modification. Just connect the recoil motor to CN6. I have upgraded the Pershing with a TK-6.0S MB which works together very well.

The Metal Barrel Recoil BB shooting unit is bulkier than the old BB only unit. I will do more test tomorrow to see if there is any interference problem in turret movement. In the pictures below, Left is the Pershing with the old cannon where the barrel and mantle are molded as one piece. On the right is the Pershing with the recoil unit. You can see the longer barrel.


I will like to mention that the seller, build-for-u, gave me the full refund and told me to keep the recoil unit. He asked for a positive feedback on ebay and that I keep them in mind for future business. I purchsed the Leopard 2A6 amd Sherman M4A3 from them the last 2 years. They have exceptional customer service.

I just purchased a recoil unit for my 2011 era Pershing. Looks like I may be in for some fun.

[keilau]

I just purchased a recoil unit for my 2011 era Pershing. Looks like I may be in for some fun.

See my follow-on post. Heng Long did a wonderful job to allow me to modify a 2023 mantle with the old mantle from a 2005 to fit the recoil barrel on an 18 year old Pershing RC tank.

[keilau]

I took a 2 months break from my RC tank recoil project. I resumed the activity in late July with the HL T-34/85 using a HL generic BB shooting recoil unit that I got for $10 from one of the Toucon sellers. The pictures show the parts, the finished metal recoil BB unit and the reassembled turret. I will detail the challenges in the next few days. It is not a difficult project, but does need some elbow grease.

The T-34/85 looks like before, but with a recoil barrel.

My next barrel recoil project is a TongDe M60A1 using a HL generic BB shooting recoil unit, same as the one used with the HL T-34/85. The M60 barrel needs to be cut and drilled out. I am trying to figure out a more efficient way than what I did on the T-34. I will post the process and result when finish.

[keilau]

Fyi you asked what the ID bore of the shuttle is, its 8.2mm same as the OD of the TD inner metal airsoft barrel.

It sounds like the TD barrel can work with RichJohnson servo recoil without mod. (I already drilled out the mantle.) I will wait for his restock.

I checked the TD OEM trigger motor recoil that came with the tank. It has the correct ID bore for the barrel, But the TD manufacturing tolerance is very poor. There is NOT enough clearance for the recoil shuttle to move freely with the weak trigger motor. I know how to make a Heng Long trigger motor recoil to work with the TD M60 and keep BB shooting. It is cheap, but it involves major surgery to the barrel. Besides, I really want to try servo recoil. The TD motherboard seems like a HL TK-7.1 functional equivalent.

[keilau]

I have been doing research on whether the TD M60 MFU supports a more realistic servo motor recoil. The TD M60 MFU has 3-pin servo connection for the recoil and elevation. My question is regarding the software programing. Does it work similar to the HL TK-7.0?

[Rubicon99]

I have been doing research on whether the TD M60 MFU supports a more realistic servo motor recoil. The TD M60 MFU has 3-pin servo connection for the recoil and elevation. My question is regarding the software programing. Does it work similar to the HL TK-7.0?

Short answer is yes in regards to servo recoil movement and setting it up to use the servo recoil is similar.

Everything else (features / functionality wise) is also close except the TD has better sound files and the 7.1 has a slightly better driving dynamic.

[keilau]

Short answer is yes in regards to servo recoil movement and setting it up to use the servo recoil is similar.

Everything else (features / functionality wise) is also close except the TD has better sound files and the 7.1 has a slightly better driving dynamic.

Thank you for your pointers. You are such a wonderful resource for the less experienced tankers like me.