1-16 T55 from Hooben

[Stuart Galbraith]

Thinking of getting one of these, anyone else gotten one yet?

 

[Stuart Galbraith]

Just taken delivery of mine, looks very, very impressive. Ill let you know how I get on building it.

[Stuart Galbraith]

So on unpacking, I find that having paid 150 quid to get the electronics with it, Amazon in their infinite wisdom sent me the version san's electronic gear. I would send it back, but looking today Amazon, for no clear reason, has removed all Hooben stuff from their webpage. Pissed off doesnt quite cover it.

[JamesR]

[Tim Sielbeck]

It's still on US Amazon:

 

 

https://www.amazon.com/stores/HOOBEN/page/FFC5E70C-3463-4D29-9032-4F3B5965119B?ref_=ast_bln

[Stuart Galbraith]

Thats good to know, im on the lookout for some metal T55 wheels and possibly a T55 barrel. Ill have a root around on there, thanks for pointing it out.

Well perhaps its a good thing. Ive not heard the Hooben electronics are the finest invented, though it would have been nice to try them out. Ive bought a Heng Long 6.0 unit, the same one ive in my Chieftain, which has got plenty of modes I can use for all the lighting. So all is not lost. Ill try and take some photos when I get building. From what ive read this is a challenging kit to build, because they make so many mistakes in the components and bearings. We will see.

[shootER5]

I'd love a 1/16 M60 or M60A3 at a reasonable price.
 

Edited November 13, 2020 by shootER5

[Stuart Galbraith]

There is supposedly an M60A3 available from a Germany company. Ive seen a completed one on the RC Tank Warfare forum. No idea who sells it though. And there is an M41, which admittedly takes a lot of work to look right.

Id like an M48. Im astonished Tamiya passed over that and went to an M551. They want their heads read.

[Stuart Galbraith]

Soo... this was an odd thing. Today I got the Hooben RC unit, with the receiver, smoker unit, sound unit and IR battle unit in the post. It seems for whatever reason that Amazon dispatch the tank kit from the UK, but the electronics seem to be sent direct to the buyer separately from Hooben in China.

Ive absolutely no idea why they would do it that way, though I suppose it does have he advantage that the only versions they are sending out are the ones with the most up to date electronics, so i shouldn't complain.

On the negative side ive got a Heng Long 6.0 Receiver and transmitter coming in the post. Although as I do have a T34 sitting on the shelf that needs a new electronic brain, then ive got a use for that too.

Well thats the last expenditure for say, the next 10 years. Ive spent enough I think.

[DougRichards]

I don't think that I could get one: a 100mm barrel (bore not length) scaled down to 1/16 still means 6.25mm, and that would probably get me arrested for have an imitation firearm....  😀

Actually, could one of these things be rebored or rather equipped to fire a .22 round by remote control?  Well, I am sure that it could be done.  Would be fired by, in scale down a length 35cm ordnance.

[Stuart Galbraith]

A friend of mine had a RC Chieftain he built that could fire a blank starting pistol. Although I dont think he shouted about that for obvious reasons.

Building the kit, its great and crap in equal measure. On the one hand, the suspension, fiddly though it is to assemble, really works, and seems to have some good spring return. OTOH, some of it is made from cheap metal and is very fragile. I broke one suspension part and have to figure out how to make a replacement. Ive a feeling its going to be like this all along. Hey ho.

Got a metal Barrel though Doug, so it would be ideal for all your home defence needs.

[Ssnake]

The "1:10 Scale" modeller's club in Munster, in the late 1980s, allegedly had a member from the artillery battalion who built an M109 with 9mm bore, got a gun permit for it, and managed to shoot live rounds on the range out to 1800m in high trajectory.

[Stuart Galbraith]

My same friend also managed to scrapbuild a Conqueror and have it driven by a petrol strimmer engine (the gearbox must have been a work of art). Didnt make him very popular driving it around convention halls though...

Edited November 18, 2020 by Stuart Galbraith

[DougRichards]

2 hours ago, Ssnake said:

The "1:10 Scale" modeller's club in Munster, in the late 1980s, allegedly had a member from the artillery battalion who built an M109 with 9mm bore, got a gun permit for it, and managed to shoot live rounds on the range out to 1800m in high trajectory.

😃😃😃😃😃

[Ssnake]

I have, however, never seen that thing with my own eyes.

[Stuart Galbraith]

There is an amusing scene in the Horror Movie 'Extro', when a Tamiya 1-16 scale King Tiger starts behaving like its larger breathen and starts firing live rounds at one of the main characters. I seem to recall he defeats it by dropping a towel over it. Ah, if only they had that cunning plan in the Ardennes.

 

[bojan]

5 hours ago, Ssnake said:

The "1:10 Scale" modeller's club in Munster, in the late 1980s, allegedly had a member from the artillery battalion who built an M109 with 9mm bore, got a gun permit for it, and managed to shoot live rounds on the range out to 1800m in high trajectory.

1:10, 9mm for 155mm... Ah, I see, he also built in sub-caliber training device

20g shotgun would be almost perfect with it's 15.63mm bore diameter, but I guess ammo availability, recoil, and local laws might have also played some part.

[Stuart Galbraith]

Ok, my advice to any of you that might want a T55, never, ever buy a Hooben kit. Of anything, ever.

I was assembling the suspension and 2 parts broke. I actually replaced them with plastic because it seemed stronger which should probably tell you something. Then today I got as far as assembling the electronics. Ran beautifully for 5 minutes. 'This is really great' I thought, 'it was really worth persevering with'. 

Then the gearbox drive sprocket fell out. On closer examination the circlip they put in to hold the assembly in the gearbox was fittted defectively and had eroded whilst being driven. For 5 minutes.

At this point I would rip the gearbox out and buy a much better heng long high grade gearbox, except the drive sprockets wont fit the spindle of a heng long gearbox. So I would have to take out the drive axles and put them in a heng long box, at which point I could have exactly the same problem. Ive taken the cheap option and im ordering some circlips on Amazon, but not surprisingly my enthusiasm is rapidly eroding.