Advice to buy a new tank - good options, reliable and that dont break the bank

[cravo]

AliExpress is just like e-bay and Amazon where registered sellers pay a fee to sell their merchandise. Compared to e-bay and Amazon, the customer service on AliExpress is non-existent. Customer service is a foreign concept to most merchants on AliExpress. (The people in their home country do not expect that.) There are good sellers on AliExpress too. I have had positive experience with Toucan Hobby Store, Heng Long RC Store, Sowofa Official Store on AliExpress. I do not buy whole RC tank or other large pieces there because the shipping is very high and they won't agree to ship by air for large RC tank. Shipping a whole RC tank by surface mail will assure damage to the tank after the long journey by sea. Buying RC parts in small package is ok and usually come in 2-3 weeks by air.

Cancelling an order or return a merchandise is next to impossible on AliExpress. Some of their price may be very attractive. Shop carefully with only the established sellers. Let us know how your purchase ends up. Good luck.

If you can cancel the order from AliExpress, do it. Order the tank you want from one of the German RC shops that Meter Rat listed for you.

First of all thanks for the advice.
Indeed the price on Aliexpress was the cheapest that i could find even comparing with the german stores for he PROFESSIONAL model i chose.
I got shipping for free but even before that it was cheaper.
The order was already shipped it should arrive between 20 and 26 of October, lets see.
I have bought other rc cars by aliexpress and no problems whatsoever, inclusive i had some issues and the buyer just replaced and send me some parts with no cost or shipping cost, they just asked me what was the issue and for me to make a video explaining wich i did and they contacted the factory and after one day they said it will send me the parts, no charges.
For now my experience in Aliexpress is good and shipping time i think is also reasonable (two weeks) for delivery. (i cant count the rest of the days because the product was out of stock and also hollidays in china, i know because i asked prices and availability in other supplyers and all reply the same).
When it arrives i will let you all know and post some pictures of the experience.
Thank you all for the help.

[keilau]

I know, i buy it from Aliexpress.
Cheapest price i could find with shipping and its sold out the version i want also on other suppliers.
I am looking for the professional version with metal tracks bearings, metal road wheels, metal gearbox, metal idler and sprockets and metal rockers.
I think its all.
I have contacted other sellers as well and the reply was the same, sold out.
I never had any issues with it and i can cancel the order if needed and buy from another seller as well.
But thank you for the advise, i know there are lots of scammers out there.

AliExpress is just like e-bay and Amazon where registered sellers pay a fee to sell their merchandise. Compared to e-bay and Amazon, the customer service on AliExpress is non-existent. Customer service is a foreign concept to most merchants on AliExpress. (The people in their home country do not expect that.) There are good sellers on AliExpress too. I have had positive experience with Toucan Hobby Store, Heng Long RC Store, Sowofa Official Store on AliExpress. I do not buy whole RC tank or other large pieces there because the shipping is very high and they won't agree to ship by air for large RC tank. Shipping a whole RC tank by surface mail will assure damage to the tank after the long journey by sea. Buying RC parts in small package is ok and usually come in 2-3 weeks by air.

Cancelling an order or return a merchandise is next to impossible on AliExpress. Some of their price may be very attractive. Shop carefully with only the established sellers. Let us know how your purchase ends up. Good luck.

If you can cancel the order from AliExpress, do it. Order the tank you want from one of the German RC shops that Meter Rat listed for you.

[cravo]

I have no idea where you purchased your tank from, but I think you may have been scammed. I hope not. And I hope you get your product. There seems to be companies out there that, that are advertising products which they do not hold in stock. Or have never held in stock. I hope this is not the case for you, but the long lead time for delivery, and now asking for further time does not sound good to me. The old adage “ if it sound to good to be true, it probably is” comes to mind.

I know, i buy it from Aliexpress.
Cheapest price i could find with shipping and its sold out the version i want also on other suppliers.
I am looking for the professional version with metal tracks bearings, metal road wheels, metal gearbox, metal idler and sprockets and metal rockers.
I think its all.
I have contacted other sellers as well and the reply was the same, sold out.
I never had any issues with it and i can cancel the order if needed and buy from another seller as well.
But thank you for the advise, i know there are lots of scammers out there.

[Meter Rat]

Regarding my tank i will have to wait from the place i order it the professional version with bearings its sold out and for now i dont know when it will be with me.
They asked a few more days (and i am giving because it was the lowest price i could find and with the configuration i wanted).
Lets see how long it will take, it was planned to arrive at end of october.
And then i would like to try it in the snow ;).

I have no idea where you purchased your tank from, but I think you may have been scammed. I hope not. And I hope you get your product. There seems to be companies out there that, that are advertising products which they do not hold in stock. Or have never held in stock. I hope this is not the case for you, but the long lead time for delivery, and now asking for further time does not sound good to me. The old adage “ if it sound to good to be true, it probably is” comes to mind.

[keilau]

sorry.
I read in some tank forums that people let the tank run two full packs suspended just to "break in" the gearboxes, (or running them with no load, not on the ground only running front and back but with the tracks not on the floor).
they said it would break in better.

Those people have no engineering background and do not know what they are doing. To them, the RC tank feels driving better after the break-in.

In the good old days, car manufacturers used to tell us to break in the engine for at least 5000 miles by not driving faster than 60 miles. We haven't heard that for many years due to improvement in manufacturing. Some of those advances trickle down to our hobby such as the Mabuchi small motors. Precision steel gear making, precision tiny ball bearing etc. The electronics too. Proportional ECS, 2.4GHz radio became affordable in the last 10 years.

[Rubicon99]

sorry.
I read in some tank forums that people let the tank run two full packs suspended just to "break in" the gearboxes, (or running them with no load, not on the ground only running front and back but with the tracks not on the floor).
they said it would break in better.

Absolutely not needed. It's a waste of time and nothing that just simply driving the tank around does not do. About the only thing that you can do to quite or smooth out the gearboxes is to heavily grease them and then just enjoy driving them.

[cravo]

Better quality RC tank gearbox is made of harden steel gears and precision grounded. You can hear it run quietly and without vibration. There is no need to break in.

If you get a gearbox that runs noisy and with lots of vibration, it is better to throw them into the trash can and get a better gearbox. Not sure what you mean by "run with the tank on the air for two complete packs wo"?

sorry.
I read in some tank forums that people let the tank run two full packs suspended just to "break in" the gearboxes, (or running them with no load, not on the ground only running front and back but with the tracks not on the floor).
they said it would break in better.

[keilau]

Guys i head some people do the breaking in of the gearboxes.
Like letting them to run with the tank on the air for two complete packs wo " break in the gearbox", then they clean the gearbox completely and grease them back.
What do you recommend?
Is it really needed?
If so how you do it?

Better quality RC tank gearbox is made of harden steel gears and precision grounded. You can hear it run quietly and without vibration. There is no need to break in.

If you get a gearbox that runs noisy and with lots of vibration, it is better to throw them into the trash can and get a better gearbox. Not sure what you mean by "run with the tank on the air for two complete packs wo"?

[cravo]

Guys i head some people do the breking in of the gearboxes.
Like letting them to run with the tank on the air for two complete packs wo " break in the gearbox", then they clean the gearbox completly and grease them back.
What do you recommend?
Is it really needed?
If so how you do it?
Regarding my tank i will have to wait from the place i order it the professional version with bearings its sold out and for now i dont know when it will be with me.
They asked a few more days (and i am giving because it was the lowest price i could find and with the configuration i wanted).
Lets see how long it will take, it was planned to arrive at end of october.
And then i would like to try it in the snow ;).

[cravo]

Hi guys take a look at this pictures bellow.

[tank_me]

I did not know the CNC gear boxes used 540 motors. I assumed, wrongly, they were just posh gearboxes with 390 motors. I was aware the Cross current gb had 540 motor. I was just trying warn the OP of the situation. We are in Europe so never seen them here, and could be cost prohibitive. Tis all.

I have some of the CNC machined completely enclosed HL gearboxes installed in both my Taigen hullled KV-1E and SU-152...they have 380s on them and are geared at 1/56. The also make that gearbox in a faster version with a 1/39 ratio. There is a gearbox set with 550s on it, but it is not made by HL. Not sure who makes it, but I have several of those and the cases are flow cast and not CNC machined. That gearbox originally was sold by HobbyRaw and DKLM RC in their Leopard and Challenger metal hull (non HL). In order to fit one of those in the Abrams, I had to replace the 550s with 540s as they are shorter. The 550s were just too long to fit comfortably for my liking. I bought the CNC HL gearboxes because at the time they were cheaper than the "dual current" HL gearboxes or the DKLM RC PDGBS equivalent, but recently on AliExpress they were pretty cheap so I bought a couple for my modern tanks. They have yet to arrive.

Now Hooben makes a CNC labeled gearbox that uses either a 550 or a 775 for their 1/10th scale tanks, but it is much larger than a 1/16 scale gearbox. They also make the smaller HL type CNC gearbox with the 380 which is just a copy of the HL version. I personally wouldn't mind testing out the 1/10th version in my 1/10th Jagdtiger if the 3D printed 550 setup doesn't work well.

[Meter Rat]

I did not know the CNC gear boxes used 540 motors. I assumed, wrongly, they were just posh gearboxes with 390 motors. I was aware the Cross current gb had 540 motor. I was just trying warn the OP of the situation. We are in Europe so never seen them here, and could be cost prohibitive. Tis all.

[keilau]

I’ve fitted a slip ring to one tank. They are readily available without having to make one. 15 or 18 Wires x 2. 30 or 36 solder joints to make, and I have never really needed to use it. Maybe in a battle. Tanks do look silly with their turrets spinning around and round.
I’m not sure if 540 motors will fit without a lot of work or alternative gearboxes.

Heng Long make 2 gearboxes that use 540 motor(s). Search for Heng Long CNC gearbox or the Heng Long dual cross current gearbox. Gearboxes are not universal. Make sure that you get the correct gearbox designation for your tank.

[Meter Rat]

Hi no need to cut any wires at all.
Just buy the mod for the whole pinion ring 360 degrees on the turret.
And regarding the wiring you can check the connections and just buy the same connections and then do the MOD with the provided wiring and conections.
Buy the same connections to make the modification and then make the wiring to fit the stock connections if you want to put it back to stock is just remove the mode and conect all again with no issues.
Except for the part it needs to be installed in the center of turret to make the UPGRADABLE wiring. ;)
Not for now but something to consider.
Also some 540 motors but i dont know if stock motherboard / esc will handle the amp draw of a 540 motor.
I was planning in some crawler motor like 27t or 35t to have more low end and torque and then i could play with pinion gear to check speed and torque.
But lets see...

I’ve fitted a slip ring to one tank. They are readily available without having to make one. 15 or 18 Wires x 2. 30 or 36 solder joints to make, and I have never really needed to use it. Maybe in a battle. Tanks do look silly with their turrets spinning around and round.
I’m not sure if 540 motors will fit without a lot of work or alternative gearboxes.

[SoCalBobS]

Cravo, Heng Long already has a slip ring available that runs all the wires on a standard r/c tank - 2 wire elevation, 2 wire IR emitter, 3 wire IR receiver, 2 wire BB shooter, 2 wire trigger, in some cases 2 wire muzzle flasher and 2 wire machine gun flasher.

You're also re-opening a long line of debate regarding slip rings overall. They're most useful if you plan to spin the turret extensively, otherwise one half or one full rotation won't foul the wiring as long as you rotate it back. Some, including myself, have seen them fail, at which point we remove them anyway.

[cravo]

That looks good. If you want to have a go. It’s your tank. Above my skill set l’m afraid.

Hi no need to cut any wires at all.
Just buy the mod for the whole pinion ring 360 degrees on the turret.
And regarding the wiring you can check the connections and just buy the same connections and then do the MOD with the provided wiring and conections.
Buy the same connections to make the modification and then make the wiring to fit the stock connections if you want to put it back to stock is just remove the mode and conect all again with no issues.
Except for the part it needs to be installed in the center of turret to make the UPGRADABLE wiring. ;)
Not for now but something to consider.
Also some 540 motors but i dont know if stock motherboard / esc will handle the amp draw of a 540 motor.
I was planning in some crawler motor like 27t or 35t to have more low end and torque and then i could play with pinion gear to check speed and torque.
But lets see...

[Meter Rat]

That looks good. If you want to have a go. It’s your tank. Above my skill set l’m afraid.

[cravo]

HI guys i found something really nice to try to implement on the turrets of the tanks.
Please check bellow after min 37.11s
And provide your thoughts about it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qam0DmWq_No

[Meter Rat]

Fore and aft, or side to side?

Side to side. If their right legs are shorter they run clockwise around the mountain. If their left legs are shorter they run anti clock wise. That only applies to wild haggis. If the legs are the same length they are usually farmed.

[SoCalBobS]

Fore and aft, or side to side?