M2 Bradley by Tongde

[SoCalBobS]

Pretty much done, ready to roll. The IR seems to be working ok with a new TD board.

[RichJohnson]

Is it going to work IR battling with Tamiya based systems?
both of the TD boards I tested would take one hit and lock up the IR and not take any more hits.

[SoCalBobS]

Is it going to work IR battling with Tamiya based systems?
both of the TD boards I tested would take one hit and lock up the IR and not take any more hits.

I registered 6 hits in a row, so we'll see. This is a 2.0 board, necessary for the TOW and rear hatch functions, so they may have updated their other circuits.

[RichJohnson]

That’s good to hear.
We keep seeing TD solve the problems that we identify when we get the tanks and put them in the field.
I reported the IR battle issue back to their rep when I discovered it,
I hope going forward they keep upping their game like this.

[Meter Rat]

Pretty much done, ready to roll. The IR seems to be working ok with a new TD board.

I have to say that is a very impressive looking vehicle. It’s now got me in a tis. I wanted a Leopard. Now I want a Bradley and a Merkava as well.

[SoCalBobS]

I have to say that is a very impressive looking vehicle. It’s now got me in a tis. I wanted a Leopard. Now I want a Bradley and a Merkava as well.

I have the Leopard as well. I'd put it at #2, after my Challenger. There are threads on this around here, but the plastic tracks are more reliable than the metal - they don't detrack as much.

[Rubicon99]

I have to say that is a very impressive looking vehicle. It’s now got me in a tis. I wanted a Leopard. Now I want a Bradley and a Merkava as well.

Can't go wrong with either the M2 in metal or Merkava in metal. The Merkavas are arguably the best of the HL "modern" tanks in running reliability and detailing (aka tracks staying on). The M2 is a big tank and you get a lot for the money. Stock they look toyish but as Bob has shown with a little paint and weather attention they can be made to look like a $1000 tank.

[keilau]

Can't go wrong with either the M2 in metal or Merkava in metal. The Merkavas are arguably the best of the HL "modern" tanks in running reliability and detailing (aka tracks staying on). The M2 is a big tank and you get a lot for the money. Stock they look toyish but as Bob has shown with a little paint and weather attention they can be made to look like a $1000 tank.

I have been working on the TongDe M60A1 for many weeks now. It still doesn't look like a $1000 tank. It is not the tank, but the person who works it!

[Rubicon99]

I have been working on the TongDe M60A1 for many weeks now. It still doesn't look like a $1000 tank. It is not the tank, but the person who works it!

Why do you insist at every opportunity to give "back handed" themed comments toward TD products. Sorry your experience has not been good, but you were advised by more then a few people not to buy the all plastic version as it would need a lot of extra tweaking to make run as well as the metal version. Your problems are not the norm for the TD M60 owners I know.

As far as looking like a $1000 tank well mine and all the other around me do. In fact my A2 conversion just won first place in a armor modeling show. Unheard of for a 1/16 scale tank. Why because we took the time to repaint, add accurate 105mm barrels, servo recoil and elevation, barrel flash, flood lights, crew kit, and other modifications and detailing parts. Like the M2 Bradley, the M60 has good bones to build from.

I think Bob clearly demonstrated with his paint and detailing the M2 has great potential to look like a $1000 Tamiya tank and having seen it run, operate like a $1000 Tamiya tank.

[keilau]

We are just here for fun. My attempt for humor obviously backfired.

Saying that my TD M60 does not look like a Tamiya is NOT a backhanded comment about Tongde. It is just an engineer's perspective. Heng Long product is in the budget end of RTR tanks. Yes, I believe TD is not up to the standard of HL yet! You are free to disagree and defend TD.

I replaced the torsion bar brackets and added ball bearings to the suspension arm to the M60 per your advise.

My biggest complaint about Tongde is that they use soft cast iron screws in tank assembly. They can strip easily even if you use hard tipped screw driver and work very carefully. I replaced all the TD screws with black annodized hardened steel screws. (Mixed size/length metric screw kit are available on Amazon at very good price.)

[SoCalBobS]

Yesterday I entered my M2 Bradley in the L.A. tank event. I discovered an unfortunate feature of the TD board that I fear will make it unacceptable in IR fights. Neither the IR receiver nor the headlights flash when it registers a hit! The board does accept hits, the tank "wiggles" to indicate a hit, and after 6 hits the tank stops, like the HL board. but, no light indicators. To me the operator this isn't critical since I would see the wiggle but it is to the enemy wanting to know if their shot was on target.

There is a workaround that may allow the Bradley to be used, but at the expense of the feature of the TOW launcher going up and down. This is simply the substitution of the board with a Heng Long 7.0. Everything else would act as a standard HL tank. The TOW launcher would have to be left in the up position with no circuit operating it.

To anyone experiencing frustration at the event of not knowing I was hit, I apologize. If you saw my tank wiggle and eventually stop, then no harm no foul.

[SoCalBobS]

Per post #51, I replaced the TD 2.0 board with a HL 7.0. The hits and lights now work as they should. The tank wiggles and the headlights and LegoDEI lights flash. HOWEVER. Now the autocannon does not work, that is the barrel doesn't cycle and the muzzle light doesn't flash. I tried a few alternatives but no luck. So now I'm left with a tank that will function correctly in an IR battle, but some of the show off functions don't. Hmmm.

I'll be contacting DKLMRC, as they have the only connection with the TD factory I'm aware of, to see what if anything can be done.

[RichJohnson]

Have you tested every possible light port on the TD bradley unit to see if any port will flash lights on an IR hit?
I hope you can find a port on there that works. This would be a sad conclusion since they fixed the IR intercompatibility over the prior TD board.

[SoCalBobS]

...continuing from posts 51 & 52:

Fought using my M2 Bradley at the October 2023 San Diego tank event. As I'd noted before, the TD board doesn't flash lights when the tank is hit so I substituted a HL 7.0 board. My observation was that at the distances we engage, the LED's on the tank and the IR receiver are pretty much invisible in sunlight. What does show up is the twitching when a tank receives a hit, which the TD board does do. So, I've put the TD board back in. Now the TOW launcher and the auto cannon features work again. 6 of 1, 1/2 dozen of the other...

[RichJohnson]

Stick with the TD board we can live wiithout the flashing lights and just watch for the wiggle wiggle when it gets hit.

[SoCalBobS]

Regarding Post #52...

I had switched the main board from TD to HL to have it work well in IR battles. I lost the TOW rise and Autocannon functions when I did. Recently I was made aware that the HL 7.1 transmitter had an additional servo control. The 7.1 board has a circuit CH5 that runs a servo by a trim tab on the right stick. I plugged a servo into it, and ran the servo from point to point with the tab! And, it is proportional. Move the tab part way, move it slowly, and the servo reacts appropriately.

[SoCalBobS]

David N has an Abrams with two extra functions, a hatch and a periscope. David, what are the two commands for them?

[DavidN]

David N has an Abrams with two extra functions, a hatch and a periscope. David, what are the two commands for them?

Press "G and S" switches the turret rotation to periscope panoramic rotation. "K and stick 2 down" opens the hatch.

[SoCalBobS]

Press "G and S" switches the turret rotation to periscope panoramic rotation. "K and stick 2 down" opens the hatch.

Thanks! What channels were the periscope and hatch plugger into?

[DavidN]

Thanks! What channels were the periscope and hatch plugger into?

For the periscope, they have this board (the one that has the yellow box) where the 2 sets of wires from the turret rotation and the periscope go in. The 2 sets of wires coming out from the board go to CN3 and CN5.