Torro 1/16 Scale German Leopard 2A6 Metal Chassis

[keilau]

There is no matching attachments on the taigen chassis for the heng long you have to make them yourself or buy the torro hull it has the matching attachments. https://www.motionrc.com/products/to...-tor1383889017

Oh!!!!! I will see what I have to do and report back here using the Heng Long upper chassis.

The Torro upper hull is not expensive. Does the Heng Long turret work with the Torro upper hull?

How difficult is it to mount the HL compatible gearbox to the Torro metal chassis? Do I have to get the Taigen gearbox too?

[fcolin821]

I think the turret should fit ok. I used a taigen gearbox the mounting points are the same as the HL gearbox

[keilau]

I think the turret should fit ok. I used a Taigen gearbox the mounting points are the same as the HL gearbox

Thank you for your feedback and information.

I have been doing metal upgrades to my HL Leo2A6. Everything went well with the gearbox, track, servo barrel recoil and MFU.


I want to add ball bearings to the road wheels and found that the only way to do so is to switch to metal road wheels. I soon found out that the original HL coil spring is too weak. After some adjustments of the coil spring, I got it look ok statically.


But it does not run as smooth as I would like with all the added weight. I decide to go the all metal Torro lower chassis with torsion bar suspension.

[keilau]

I ordered the the metal lower chassis and the road wheels and sprockets to match from rctank it looks like the hubcaps don't come off any one had this problem

I received the package of metal lower chassis, road wheels and axle sets today. No, the hubcaps don't come off the road wheel and it is designed as such.

The road wheel comes in 2 halfs. Using the 14 axle set for road wheel and the 28 tiny screws, I first pass an axle through the inner half of the road wheel and screw the axle to the swing arm. The outer road wheel half covers the axle head and is attached by a pair of tiny screws from the inner surface of the road wheel. The fitting of the 2 road wheel half is very tight, probably because of the paint.

The lower chassis is completed with everything I expected but not painted. I will paint the chassis and suspension arms before I attach the road wheels. The motor axle housing is built in to the chassis and comes with a pair of ball bearings.

So far, I like everything I see very much.

[fcolin821]

I found the wheels were a tight fit so i sanded down the paint.
It's a bit easier to take the suspension arm off to attach the wheels i use a drop of blue thread lock on the axles because the threads are not very long.

[keilau]

I found the wheels were a tight fit so i sanded down the paint.
It's a bit easier to take the suspension arm off to attach the wheels i use a drop of blue thread lock on the axles because the threads are not very long.

The 2 road wheel half have an index tab for alignment. I plan to use a C-clamp to gently press fit them together before tightening the screws.

The Leo2a6 lower chassis is a big component. I expect to paint at 4 different direction with 3 fine mesh coating each. It will take the better part of Tueday, 2/25.

[keilau]

An interim report 4 days after I received the Torro/Taigen Leo2a6 metal lower chassis. So far, it is very positive.

I use olive green (Оlivgrün RAL 6003) as the base color. It takes care of most area except a small grey black patch on the lower front. The rear panel has lots of features that I took a few more coats to cover.

The Heng Xin gearbox went in surprisingly easy. I put in the motor shaft ball bearings before I finally tightened the gearbox. No sanding or grinding. The alignment looks good. Final word is on how it drives.

I use Mato sprocket and idler wheel. They both install easily as is.

The HL upper chassis matches the Torro lower chassis very well geometrically, showing very little gap sitting in place. Finding a way to fix the 2 pieces securely is going to be a challenge. There is no pre-drilled hole to access the mounting screw sockets on the upper chassis.

I put in the inner half of the road wheels on the left side. They rotates freely, but not as smooth as I would like. I am wondering about the quality of the ball bearings. I will explore the possibility of replacing them with Uxcell brand ball bearings tomorrow.

Work in progress. To be continued.

[keilau]

I broke one of the idler wheel adjusters while taking off the idler. It is careless and stupid. It will set me back many days while waiting for the replacement part.

[keilau]

When I first started the Leo2a6 metal upgrade in 2022, I got both the Mato and the Heng Long idler set and used only the Mato one. After I broke one of the Mato idler adjuster, I found the Heng Long idler adjuster in my parts bin. The HL adjusters are drop in replacement for the Mato ones.

I installed the inner road wheel halfs on both side. The chassis looks level without adjusting the torsion bar springs. It looks good. Will continue tomorrow.

[keilau]

The HL upper chassis matches the Torro lower chassis very well geometrically, showing very little gap sitting in place. Finding a way to fix the 2 pieces securely is going to be a challenge. There is no pre-drilled hole to access the mounting screw sockets on the upper chassis.

I cannot resist the temptation to order the Taigen/Torro upper chassis. It was delivered this morning. It comes with everything I need to latch it to the lower chassis. An excellent value for $40 shipped from Taigen Tank.

The hole is a perfect match for the Heng Long Turret. It comes with the turret rotation motor and a accessary parts bag.

Yesterday, I finished only one side of the road wheels. I hope to finish all mechanical and electrical work tomorrow for a test run indoor. Outdoor test will have to wait for the spring in Chicago.

While waiting for spring, I can finish the painting.

[keilau]

For the past 2 weeks, I test fit the Torro upper chassis to the lower metal chassis. Attach small parts to the upper chassis and tried to find way to improve the wobbling suspension arms. I had a major set back on Sunday. The HL TK-7.1 MFU stoped working. It refused to come online.

This is the second failed HL TK-7.1 MFU in 7 months. The first HL TK-7.1 MFU lasted only a few days. I don't remember any HL MFU failure until the 7.1. I am reluctant to buy another 7.1 MFU for its reliability issue. Returning to 7.0 means giving up on servo recoil and servo elevation. Your comment will be greatly appreciated.

The 7.1 is twice as expensive as the 7.0. It has a very nice metal case while the 7.0 case is plastic.

[keilau]

I ordered a new HL TK7.1 MFU from Toucan Hobby. What does the USPS tracking message mean?

Your shipment was received at 3:56 pm on April 1, 2025 in TRENTON, NJ 08650. The acceptance of your package is pending.0

It sounds strange that the Post Office received a package, but not yet accepted it.

[Evan D]

Shipping info received waiting on the package.

[tank_me]

Trenton, NJ is a huge sorting center. Sounds to me like it's in the facility, but not slated for transport yet.

[keilau]

Trenton, NJ is a huge sorting center. Sounds to me like it's in the facility, but not slated for transport yet.

The sequence of events shown this morning: (reverse order)

1. Wed, Apr 2
   8:06am
   Departed USPS Regional Facility
   JERSEY CITY NJ DISTRIBUTION CENTER, 07097
2. Wed, Apr 2
   8:06am
   Estimated delivery date updated to Sat, Apr 5
3. Tue, Apr 1
   8:37pm
   Arrived at USPS Regional Origin Facility
   JERSEY CITY NJ DISTRIBUTION CENTER, 07097
4. Tue, Apr 1
   7:22pm
   Accepted at USPS Origin Facility
   CRANBURY, NJ 08512
5. Tue, Apr 1
   7:22pm
   Estimated delivery date updated to Fri, Apr 4
6. Tue, Apr 1
   3:56pm
   Shipment Received, Package Acceptance Pending
   TRENTON, NJ 08650
7. Tue, Apr 1
   3:15am
   SHIPPING LBL CREATED USPS AWAITS ITEM
   CRANBURY, NJ 08512
8. Tue, Apr 1
   12:46am
   Tracking number provided

Last month, I had another ebay purchase that was "received and acceptance pending" for 3 weeks, no delivery. It was a large plastic model ship kit and difficult to get lost. Eventually, the seller refunded.

[tank_me]

Hey, NEVER underestimate the USPS ability to lose something or misdeliver it.

[keilau]

I cannot resist the temptation to order the Taigen/Torro upper chassis. It was delivered this morning. It comes with everything I need to latch it to the lower chassis. An excellent value for $40 shipped from Taigen Tank.

The hole is a perfect match for the Heng Long Turret. It comes with the turret rotation motor and a accessary parts bag.

Yesterday, I finished only one side of the road wheels. I hope to finish all mechanical and electrical work tomorrow for a test run indoor. Outdoor test will have to wait for the spring in Chicago.

While waiting for spring, I can finish the painting.

Now I have a working Frankenstein German Leopard 2A6 with Torro metal lower chassis, plastic upper chassis and Heng Long turret with servo mechanism. I have a Valejo WWIII NATO Armour & Infanrty color set, but concern that the 17ml bottles are too little for multiple coatings of a 1/16 scale tank. I decided to use 2 spray cans for supplement. I used Krylon Colormaxx Italian Olive which is a perfect match for the NATO green. I cannot see any difference in shade when I used the Valejo NATO green for patchup correction. The Krylon matte black is too black because NATO black is a black grey. I hand painted the NATO brown using Valejo because the area is small. Now I get a Frankenstein painting too. The HL NATO camouflage on the turret is not accurate. The same paint on the plastic upper chassis and metallic lower chassis have slightly different shade too. After 2 layers of dull coat, they look good enough and I call it done.

I use the HL chassis as my painting guide. Instead of playdough, I used caulking cord for soft edge marking.

I did not get a soft edge in the new NATO camo. I believe mostly because the spray paint can comes out too hard. I will need to go back to airbrush to get the soft edge effect.

[keilau]

I found the wheels were a tight fit so i sanded down the paint.
It's a bit easier to take the suspension arm off to attach the wheels i use a drop of blue thread lock on the axles because the threads are not very long.

After trying many time to press fit the 2 half of road wheel, I was never able to get the 2 halfs to be as parallel as I desire. I finally follow your lead to sand off the paints. After that, it works much easier and much better in alignment.

Painting done. Road wheel alignment done. The final step is to mate the HL turret to the Torro upper chassis. The tank runs much better than the metal upgraded HL chassis. It is still cold in Chicago. I have not test it outdoor yet. I expect it to be much improved.

[keilau]

The lower metal chassis upgrade took 2 months at deliberate pace. The total project cost is 241Euro for the chassis, road wheel and axle set from RCTank.de plus US$40 for the upper Torro plastic chassis from taigen.com. The finished Frankenstein Leopard 2A6 is the heaviest 1/16 scale RC tank by a long shoot (to the next one). Just waiting for the weather to get warmer for the outdoor test run. I do not remember the Euro conversion rate, but it was before the US dollar started dropping due to the tariffs.

The overall alignment quality is a close second to the Tongde M60A1 and much improved over the Heng Long metal upgraded plastic chassis.

[keilau]

I will soon post the Henglong Leo leftover part for sale at the FOR SALE OR TRADE forum. It include the original HL lower and upper plastic chassis, metal roadwheel with tire, motor axle ball bearing housing etc. The coil springs are a mix of stiffened and original ones optimized to level the chassis. I plan to offer it as is in a single package. Shipping will be UPS due to its size. If interested, you can PM me anytime to make an offer. The gearbox, nylon track, radio and turret are not included.