Unofficial Tongde LeClerc 1/16 MBT discussion group

[SoCalBobS]

For anyone following this thread and intending to use it for long range IR battling, I've found two things:
1. In stock setup, the barrel doesn't depress to horizontal. For short range battles this is not so important, but at long range it "shoots high' and will miss a low sitting tank. I had to remove 1/4 inch from the elevation motor mount to change the geometry so it can lower to horizontal or even a degree or so more.
2. The aftermarket recoil unit by Rich Johnson did not fit. This is because the Tongde geometry between the gun mount and the elevation motor is not the normal relation found in other tanks. Perhaps others could make it work, I just didn't see how.
I'm not sure why these quirks are there. It may be because the turret is by far the shallowest I've seen. Anyway, the tank is modified for long range shooting, but it took work.

One other thing; the stock IR emitter is in the box mount over the barrel. Per #1 above, the barrel elevation partially blocks the IR beam. Also, the stock Tongde bulb has about a 30 foot range on a cloudy day. I put a high power IR bulb in the barrel instead.

[SoCalBobS]

[Rubicon99]

For anyone following this thread and intending to use it for long range IR battling, I've found two things:
1. In stock setup, the barrel doesn't depress to horizontal. For short range battles this is not so important, but at long range it "shoots high' and will miss a low sitting tank. I had to remove 1/4 inch from the elevation motor mount to change the geometry so it can lower to horizontal or even a degree or so more.
2. The aftermarket recoil unit by Rich Johnson did not fit. This is because the Tongde geometry between the gun mount and the elevation motor is not the normal relation found in other tanks. Perhaps others could make it work, I just didn't see how.
I'm not sure why these quirks are there. It may be because the turret is by far the shallowest I've seen. Anyway, the tank is modified for long range shooting, but it took work.

One other thing; the stock IR emitter is in the box mount over the barrel. Per #1 above, the barrel elevation partially blocks the IR beam. Also, the stock Tongde bulb has about a 30 foot range on a cloudy day. I put a high power IR bulb in the barrel instead.

Did you by chance take any photos of the inside layout of the turret as it comes from TD?

[SoCalBobS]

Sorry no, I didn't. If I take the turret apart again I will take photos. Right now I'm using the stock bb gun body cut down to allow wire access for the IR bulb, but it would show the basic setup. One issue regarding the recoil unit is that the metal barrel is not necked down to fit into the RJ recoil unit like HL's and even TD's M60, Centurion and others.

[DavidN]

I plan to get this tank from Toucan. If any local member in SoCal wants one, let me know. They will ship our tanks to their US warehouse and then they will send to us.

https://www.toucanhobby.com/products/td-h2408u-leclerc-320-pu-agn-dzn1?pr_prod_strat=e5_desc&pr_rec_id=182ef7700&pr_rec_pid=8707628990714&pr_ref_pid=8707628826874&pr_seq=uniform

https://www.toucanhobby.com/products/td-h2408-leclerc-320-po-agn-dzn1?srsltid=AfmBOooXI3wmWrKmOPZ0A0IJAscOsV34OTsWRB82cv0scw5fGOmdcifk

[DavidN]

Toucan gave our SoCal RC Tank Club the final quote for this tank from US warehouse: $160 plastic and $280 for metal; shipping included. If anyone wants one, please PM me.

[SoCalBobS]

Good price.

FYI, I bought the plastic version. So far, through one Mission Bay battle, it's working fine. I'm going to run it with the plastic gearbox unless and until it fails, then replace it with metal ones. It's the same gearbox as for the M60 and other tanks except the Chaffee and maybe the Paladin. I haven't opened up that one yet.

[DavidN]

I finally finished converting mine to the IR LegoDEI battle unit. Thanks to Bob for all of his previous posts. There were a lot of works in modifying this thing to have the barrel aiming down horizontally. It is nice to havethe left and right turn lights on too. I will apply a dullcoat on this weekend.