Metal upgrades

[RonV]

I have a Pershing, and a Bulldog with metal tracks, drive sprockets, and gear box. I've been looking at other metal upgrades road wheels, idler wheels, suspension arms, and shocks. Are these good upgrades, or are these a hindrance by adding too much weight, or other things I'm not foreseeing?

[Evan D]

I have all the metal bits on my Bulldog. Very happy, very troublefree.

[Rubicon99]

I have a Pershing, and a Bulldog with metal tracks, drive sprockets, and gear box. I've been looking at other metal upgrades road wheels, idler wheels, suspension arms, and shocks. Are these good upgrades, or are these a hindrance by adding too much weight, or other things I'm not foreseeing?

Weight on tanks is a good thing. So don't worry about it. Adding the metal suspension parts to both tanks is a good thing.

[tank_me]

Might get ever so slightly less battery life per charge with the extra weight, but the extra weight makes the tanks jump around less going over terrain IMO. I personally like when they look and act heavier.

[keilau]

Weight on tanks is a good thing. So don't worry about it. Adding the metal suspension parts to both tanks is a good thing.

Might get ever so slightly less battery life per charge with the extra weight, but the extra weight makes the tanks jump around less going over terrain IMO. I personally like when they look and act heavier.

I second both Rubicon99 and tank_me. I have not yet run into a case that a 1:16 scale RC tank gets too heavy. On the contrarily, I added 2 pounds of lead weight to a HL T-34/85 to make it run more realistically.

The Pershing balances itself very well and has good total weight with all the metal parts. For all metal upgrade, it is very beneficial to get ball bearings for all moving parts, gearbox, sprocket and wheels. Replacing the HL stock grey 380 with a 390 motor helps too.

[Jarlath]

I have a few ounces of mass attached to the front lower hull for balance.
I have metal sprockets and tracks on my Bulldog. Plastic arms and roadwheels currently. On ground the tank drives excellent and has no issues with tracks what so ever, tracks off and the roadwheels are SLOPPY due to the plastic on plastic with dust & debris eating away at the axles/hubs.
When one fails, I'll upgrade the arms, roadwheels and idlers and install a Henntec Idler system, but not before then.

Love my Bulldog!

[Panzermechaniker]

I have a few ounces of mass attached to the front lower hull for balance.
I have metal sprockets and tracks on my Bulldog. Plastic arms and roadwheels currently. On ground the tank drives excellent and has no issues with tracks what so ever, tracks off and the roadwheels are SLOPPY due to the plastic on plastic with dust & debris eating away at the axles/hubs.
When one fails, I'll upgrade the arms, roadwheels and idlers and install a Henntec Idler system, but not before then.

Love my Bulldog!

After last battleday I very much dislike your Bulldog😀

[RonV]

Jarlath, keilau, you guys talk about Balance, what are you referring to?

[cmdrcody]

Balance = Equal front to rear weight distribution on tank tracks.

[Jarlath]

It depends on many things. Suspension spring strength, battery placement, gearboxes, etc...
An example of an unbalanced Bulldog, albeit this is soft suspension springs in the front.

[Jarlath]

After last battleday I very much dislike your Bulldog😀

Is that not why I am rebuilding two of your tanks? That Bulldog is becoming my favorite battler.

[RonV]

It depends on many things. Suspension spring strength, battery placement, gearboxes, etc...
An example of an unbalanced Bulldog, albeit this is soft suspension springs in the front.

Thank you, as they say "A picture is worth a thousand words"

[tank_me]

I try to mount my battery and larger speakers on the opposite end of the tank from my gearboxes so that it balances out.

[keilau]

Jarlath, keilau, you guys talk about Balance, what are you referring to?

I purchased a plastic version of Heng Long T-34/85 with the intension to do my own metal upgrade. While the HL metal version works ok and is robust, but it left a lot to be desired in appearance. For example, the open pin design of the HL metal track looks very bad to me.

The HL T-34 comes with metal swing arms, but weak suspension spring that was designed for the HL plastic track. The word BALANCE means proper and even tension of the track to make it look good and run well on rough ground. My metal upgrade include Heng Xin gearbox, 390 motor, Torro metal track and Mato sprocket and idler.

The Torro metal track is slightly shorter than the HL plastic track. As a result, it pulls up the first and last road wheel off the ground. I added 2 pieces of track and it turns out to be too long with too much shacking.

I removed the extra links and went back to the original Torro length. Then the weight balance I described earlier. The T-34 looks ok and runs well. I still have to fine tune the track tension.

[tank_me]

The Taigen T34 sits lower where the proper suspension height is supposed to be which is why the track might be slightly shorter. A lot of folks lower the HL version of the T34 to get it to a more appropriate height. All of mine are the Taigen/Torro lowers so I haven't had the same issues with mine. Most of the Taigen parts are different though - tracks are closed pin as you found out, the suspension arms mount differently, the wheels mount differently, the gearboxes are different, the lower hull is different, the Taigen turret upper half is metal, and the upper hull mounts differently (but they are basically the same and can be mounted to either). I can't comment on the idlers and the sprockets as I don't have any HL sprockets or idlers to compare to my Taigen ones. The tracks on the T34 run pretty loose and when they are properly tensioned they will droop and touch the tops of the road wheels, but not as bad as your pic with the Mato tracks.

Good luck with the project.

[keilau]

The Taigen T34 sits lower where the proper suspension height is supposed to be which is why the track might be slightly shorter. A lot of folks lower the HL version of the T34 to get it to a more appropriate height. All of mine are the Taigen/Torro lowers so I haven't had the same issues with mine. Most of the Taigen parts are different though - tracks are closed pin as you found out, the suspension arms mount differently, the wheels mount differently, the gearboxes are different, the lower hull is different, the Taigen turret upper half is metal, and the upper hull mounts differently (but they are basically the same and can be mounted to either). I can't comment on the idlers and the sprockets as I don't have any HL sprockets or idlers to compare to my Taigen ones. The tracks on the T34 run pretty loose and when they are properly tensioned they will droop and touch the tops of the road wheels, but not as bad as your pic with the Mato tracks.

Good luck with the project.

Even the cheaper Heng Long T-34 chassis has track tension adjustment. I use the Mato idler wheel with the Torro track. My T-34 project was side tracked when I received the TongDe M60. I am getting back to the T-34 after finishing the M60 metal upgrade. My upgrade to the T-34 include a non-servo recoil using the HL generic recoil unit. I do not like to waste the good looking metal barrel that came with the T-34.

My tank inventory are all budget HL and TD model. Your experience with higher grade tank is very helpful to me. Thank you for sharing.