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My Heng Long Tiger Build


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After posting so photo's of my tanks here are the builds as requested. First is the Tiger which was an early version made by Heng Long as it had the old turret and mantle etc. It was bought second hand off ebay for around £30 because my youngest son didn't think it was a good idea to dismantle his new Tiger tank.

I first decided to strip the Tiger down completely, so off came the battery and then the nylon tracks. The tracks require you to push out one of the connecting pins this done with a very small nail or pin and using a hammer so something similar to push out the pin and pulling it the rest of the way out with nose pilers. The photo shows inside the lower hull with the nylon gears and the RX13 circuit controller board. The aluminium rod at the back is an after market add-on to add strength the hull and to mount the idler wheels which I will show later. The plastic sprocket wheels were removed as they are just attached to the drive axles with a small allen bolt. There is a long white plug connecting the upper hull and turret to the controller card to unplug and also there are two wires to cut connecting the RX13 controller to the lights. I did this because I was upgrading the controller card to a new one. The rear is removed by unscrewing two screws.

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To separate the turret from the upper hull there are two circuit boards to unscrew and a few more screws on the turret ring and motor. With these unscrewed the turret should come away. The photo shows inside the turret with the gun elevation motor at the back and the BB gun assembly attached to the gun mantle. I needed access to this because this is an early Heng Long version of the Tiger and the gun mantle was the wrong way round. At this point it is a good idea to mark all the wires to make it easier later on. I wish I did!

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The next photo shows inside the upper hull. The wires are for the front lights which I am going to replace.

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The next job was to remove the track wheels. The outer wheels should just pull off with a little help and the back wheels need a bit of assistance off a hammer and small screwdriver as you have to remove the wheel axles from the plastic suspension arms. With all the wheels removed I unscrewed the screws holding the suspension arms to the hull as I was adding metal suspension arms. Be careful as there is a spring behind each arm.

To remove the plastic idler wheel you have to split the wheel at the seem to allow access to the screw attaching the wheel to the hull. Next I unscrewed the screws attaching the gears and motors to the hull and I also removed the RX13 controller. The lower hull should be free of parts now and you can tidy up the hull and give it a wash.

I purchased a set of metal suspension arms but like most things to do with these tanks they require a bit of modification. Because as you can see in the photo the hole for the wheel axle was squared and I require a round hole which was accomplished by drilling out with a pin vice and bit.

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So the wheel axles will stay attached to the suspension arms I decide to drill and tap to allow me to use 3mm grub screws. Also the wheel axle required the spline to be removed off each one making them easy to attach.


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The wheel axle before....

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And after.

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Before I fixed the suspension arms and axles in place, I attached two aluminium side strips and a rear bar track tensioner to add more strength to the lower hull as I was going to fit metal tracks and gears. These were bought off the web and the side strips actually come with instructions how to fit but the tensioner didn't. Once fitted the side strips make attaching the suspension easy. You can easily work out how the springs go into the suspension arms and the arms just screw into the strips. The rear bar and track tensioner fit is easy to work out and do.

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Here is a photo of a trial fit of part of the new metal gears.

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Edited by sunray
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The photo shows the upper hull with all the plastic moulded tools removed and filled, new lights fitted and the driver and machine gunner hatches cut out and working metal ones fitted. I also opened up the drivers viewing slit but you can now buy an open drivers viewing slit if you don't want to do it yourself. The side skirts have been attacked with a heat gun and screw driver.

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The reason why I have cut out the Drivers and Gunners hatches and added metal ones, was to enable access to the On/Off button and Volume control as I wanted to move them from under the hull.

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Next was the turret. The commander cupola had to come off as it was facing the wrong way. This came off quite easily and was tidied up and stuck in place with super glue facing the right way. The turret comes apart with the removal of a few screws allowing access the BB gun and gun elevation motors. Not being a big fan of BB's I disabled the gun. I dismantled the barrel which is again straight forward. I wanted to do this to add a barrel extension as the barrel comes in the recoil position. The extension is available on-line for about £3.00. The plastic barrel requires cutting with a razor saw but first you will have to remove the aluminium barrel which is inside the plastic one. The extension fits well with the aluminium barrel reinserted in the plastic one and everything in glued,filled and rubbed down. On the early version of the HL Tiger the mantle is the wrong way and had to be swapped around.

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I also bought a pair of metal smoke dischargers as I didn't have the plastic ones. Also I bought a metal pistol port as the plastic one fitted was the wrong way around. As I attacked the upper hull with a heat gun I did the same with the turret but in my haste I damaged the emergency hatch and that to had to be replaced. The handles for the hatches were made from bent paper clips.

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The turret was then reassembled and fitted back to the upper hull.

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Now for the brains. This Tiger came with an RX13 card which I wanted to replace with the newer RX18 board which again isn't that hard but you will have to do a bit of soldering, but nothing hard (just soldering wire to wire). First I made a base to house the RX18 out of an old CD case and bits of scrap plastic. As you can see from the photo the RX18 is plug and socket compared to the RX13 which is soldered. This makes it easier to work with and gives you a few extras like IR, smoke, etc.

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After that I relocated the On/Off switch on the lower hull just below the gunner's hatch. I also fitted the new motors and gears which add a lot more weight.

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Like every else after thinking I decided to change around and I moved the On/Off switch to the drivers side which seemed the right thing to do and I put the volume control on the gunners side.

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I fitted the receiver above the battery compartment which was no problem but I didn't want to use the whip antenna that comes with the tank in case I poked my eye out. So I made an internal antenna out of a "Biro", copper wire, scrap plastic and a "Nerf Gun bullet". I cut the biro to the length of the nerf gun bullet, then a cut to length a piece of copper wire making sure it was longer than the whip antenna. I inserted the biro into the bullet and I wrapped the copper around the bullet. I attached two bits of plastic as brackets and glue the assembly to the lower hull. I have tested the range in excess of 60 metres with no problems.

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To give me a bit of practice of soldering I had a go at making a hatch handle but not to scale. I bent a small piece of copper wire around a craft knife handle and soldered the ends together. Next I cut another piece of copper wire to the inside diameter of the ring and soldered into place. Now I cut two smaller pieces of copper and soldered them in place. Finally I cut yet another piece of copper wire to make the shaft and soldered that in place. A hatch or valve handle made from scrap copper wire. The grab handles were made by bending into shape using flat nosed pliers.

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I'm liking this - especially the part about the aerial. They're quite annoying, aren't they? ;)

You are right there Mike plus the internal antenna gives excellent range and its cheap. It took about half an hour to make. Thanks for taking the time to comment.

Cheers

Ian

Edited by sunray
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I wanted to add metal idler wheels, sprocket wheels, tracks and track tension. The problem I had was the idler wheels didn't have any bearings fitted and there was too much play on the stub axles so this is how I remedied it. I bought some brass tubing, one the diameter of the stub axle and the other the out diameter of the first if that makes sense.

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Here is the stub axle and my brass collets.

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Here is the 10mm bearing but the hole on the idler wheel was 9mm. Enter my trusty dremel and stone.

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Bearing fitted.

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With another piece of brass tubing I made another collet to take up the rest of the play and I put a cut in it to allow some adjustment.

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Because space was getting tight the fixing nut had to be filed to size and it was all greased.

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The finished article running smooth with no play!

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Edited by sunray
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With all that done the tiger was reassembled which is basically the reverse of the disassembly process to check everything worked as it should which it did. I then took it apart again this time to paint. This was my first attempt at not only one of these tanks but also of using an airbrush, so if I can do it anyone can! I bought a DVD entitled AFV Acrylic Techniques by Vallejo which I highly recommend and after watching it a lot of times I decided to give it ago hence the Tiger. All the paints used are acrylic and made by Vallejo apart from the varnish which was Pledge Floor Wax (for gloss) and Hannants Matt varnish to finish.

I first added some metal tools, photo etch engine grills, track holders and track and zimmerit (which is made from a rubbery substance) which is glued to the tank body but some filling and rubbing down is required. I added the zimmerit as it was a first attempt and I thought I would give it ago, I know this is an early Tiger and it probably didn't have any but I put this down to artistic license; anyway here we go.

Giving everything a clean and sprayed on grey primer which takes forever as they are big models at 1/16 and a Tiger has got a lot of wheels. Then I did some pre-shading which also took for ever. Once dried everything was painted Dark Yellow (Model Air) and the cam was sprayed free hand. The tank is then sprayed with the floor wax for a gloss finish for the decals which I bought on-line from Germany. Them added it was spayed with gloss again with two coats which also took forever and left to dry.

The brackets on the turret bins were made from aluminium off mackerel tins bent and drilled.

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The clamps for the wire cutters and axe, etc were also made from mackerel tins.

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Mackerel tins again!

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The cable on the headlight is bent solder and the tiny clamp is made from a "coke can".

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Now I added the wash made by Vallejo using a brush and I found it easier to wait for the wash to dry and then using Vallejo's Airbrush Cleaner and a brush to push the wash where you want it to go. The wash does take along time but with a cup of coffee or a can and the match on the radio time flies.

The next photo shows the first bit of chipping. I admit there is a lot but I find it relaxing to do and also I used to own a "T" reg yellow fiat that believe it or not had more chips than the Tank!

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Edited by sunray
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With the chipping complete I used a graphite pencil to give a more metal look. I just ran the pencil over the edge and buffed with a finger.

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And finally its finished. I have two more tanks to post so when I get some time I will post them up. If you have any questions or comments please let me know and I will try to help out.

Cheers Ian

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Really nice job,particularly on the engineering side,which was done with much the same tools I have to hand-I am tempted as I have a massive garden which on 2 dogs get to churn up,why not me.....what was the AUW before and after? And performance too,with and with out the metal running gear? Are you still on the same battery set up? Typical running time? And,just how much extra did that lot cost? Sorry,I do a bit of R/C aircraft as well as modelling,hence the interest.

Paint job is really nicely done,but rather well rusted-these things tended to have short,brutal lives,possibly being recovered and repaired several times and repainted. his one has the look of being abandoned for more than 12 months in the open...but as you say,artistic licence,and you clearly had fun doing it! Look forward to seeing the others.

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All that chipping might be considered a bit excessive -but I can understand how you can get lost in doing it :)

It's really good to see the photos of it being built-up in stages too -and that final touch of graphite works wonders!

Lovely stuff -inside and out- thanks for uploading all those photos!

Bill.

Edited by Bill_M
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Really nice job,particularly on the engineering side,which was done with much the same tools I have to hand-I am tempted as I have a massive garden which on 2 dogs get to churn up,why not me.....what was the AUW before and after? And performance too,with and with out the metal running gear? Are you still on the same battery set up? Typical running time? And,just how much extra did that lot cost? Sorry,I do a bit of R/C aircraft as well as modelling,hence the interest.

Paint job is really nicely done,but rather well rusted-these things tended to have short,brutal lives,possibly being recovered and repaired several times and repainted. his one has the look of being abandoned for more than 12 months in the open...but as you say,artistic licence,and you clearly had fun doing it! Look forward to seeing the others.

Thanks for the comments.

Now for the answers to your questions.

The AUW now is approx 3kg and the original one was about 1kg or there abouts.

The performance with the nylon gear is quite good and it will work with the metal track but the main reason I decided on the metal gears was the ratio to give a better scale speed and they both work well inside and out. The metal track is excellent in my opinion because as well as looking the part when it goes over terrain the extra weight it adds makes it easier to control.

The battery set up is the same which is the Heng Long battery supplied with the tank which is Ni-Cd 1700mAh. I did buy another battery as a spare which is 3200mAh.

Running time is around 1 hour with about 2 hours charging but I am not too sure as I have never timed it.

I have seen them being sold new for around £55 that was for the Tiger without smoke. As I have said mine was £30 off ebay secondhand. The metal track with metal sprocket and idler wheels cost around £50. The metal gears and motors are approx £50. The barrel extension was £3 to £4. The headlights were around £5 to £6. If you need the RX18 with wiring looms and plugs it cost me £20. The spare metal track and holders for the turret were £12. The drivers and gunners hatches were £5 for the pair. In total my Tiger cost in total about £200. You can buy the tanks with metal upgrades, etc already fitted but I think it more fun this way. You can get most things off ebay or a site called http://www.welshdragonmodels.co.uk/ which is excellent.

This was my first attempt at one of these and my knowledge about electrics and radio control would fit on a postage stamp. I have am doing another tank as we speak, a Panther G which I will post up as soon as I can. After that I have a few more tanks to do which are another Tiger (this one has a metal hull and fully recoil-able metal barrel), Stug III, Panzer IV and another Walker Bulldog.

I hope this helps and thanks again.

Ian

Edited by sunray
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And thank you for posting,and also the additional details. I'd seen the amount of stuff on *bay after your post,there seems to be an endless amount of after market do das, but like you say,the fun can and would,for me, be in DIY. I'd go for the metal chassis and running gear/gearboxes/tracks for the same reasons you state,I can't decide if it easier and cheaper to skip the Heng Long route altogether and get the AM stuff straight off. I imagine you have little of the original running gear left!

Cheers

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  • 5 weeks later...

I've had one since 2007(an S&S Tiger 1 that is).

It's been fiddled with and modified over the years,but still runs it's original suspension,sprockets and idlers.

The gearboxes are still the nylon geared affairs,but with the extra gear modification fitted to take it down

to 3:1 ratio.

It also runs Tamiya tracks,much better than the originals.

The original Rx13 is still fitted,but the gun elevation had died,prolly something to do with fitting a recoil

unit and flash strobe,then modifiying the transmitter to fire the main gun,flash the strobe and trigger the recoil.

The Tx is also modified to put fwd/rev/speed control on the r/h stick and steering on the left(like an rc car),that mod

along with the 3:1's make a much nicer and controllable drive.

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  • 7 years later...

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