Hi folks, I have a question about IR battle compatibility between the different brands of rc tanks -
specifically between Heng Long and Hooben.

For example- will a Hooben Sherman register hits from my HL Tiger (and vice versa)?

I know with HL you can't set the number of hits to knock-out based on the type of tank, its 5 hits for a kill across the board, regardless if its a light, medium or heavy tank. That would not be my immediate concern - I just would like to know if a Hooben & a HL will be able to register hits on each other.

I'm looking at a Hooben M4A3E8. 

From https://www.hooben-shop.com/collections/1-16-rc-tanks/products/hooben-1-16-us-fury-medium-tank-m4a3e8hvss-sherman-easy-8e8-easy-eight-2-4g-radio-control-full-functions-rc-tank-rtr-master-weathering-accessories-figure-metal-barrel-and-muzzle :


Thanks in advance for any info you can provide on this.

I can honestly say I've never even tried a Hooben for IR Combat.
Maybe MikeC can weight in a bit as I know he has had a few Hoobens (currently and in the past).

Jarlath wrote:

I can honestly say I've never even tried a Hooben for IR Combat.
Maybe MikeC can weight in a bit as I know he has had a few Hoobens (currently and in the past).

Thanks Jarlath. As an aside - I was wondering how do you folks run your battles there in K-W or Oshawa or other sites - do you run battles with Heng Long mixed with Tamiya ect, or do you run separate battles that are only Tamiya or only HL ect? This is in reference to my query on compatibility between brands and # of hits to knock-out a tank. Thanks again. Pete

Jarlath wrote:

I can honestly say I've never even tried a Hooben for IR Combat.
Maybe MikeC can weight in a bit as I know he has had a few Hoobens (currently and in the past).

Unfortunately all my Hooben experience is with their kit which does not include electronics. I have no idea what their new ones are like as they seem to be using a new set of electronics which I believe is NOT Heng Long or Taigen compatible. 

In K/W it is always and only Tamiya battles. The few battles that happen at the Mississauga field is less organized and is always Heng Long. Clark board happens to have the Heng Long option so you can in theory battle Heng Long with your Clark board also if everyone else is Heng Long.

MikeC wrote:

Unfortunately all my Hooben experience is with their kit which does not include electronics. I have no idea what their new ones are like as they seem to be using a new set of electronics which I believe is NOT Heng Long or Taigen compatible. 

In K/W it is always and only Tamiya battles. The few battles that happen at the Mississauga field is less organized and is always Heng Long. Clark board happens to have the Heng Long option so you can in theory battle Heng Long with your Clark board also if everyone else is Heng Long.

Thanks Mike! Then it looks like buyer beware at this point with Hooben. 

I'm holding out (for now) on brands like Tamiya & Mato just for cost reasons. Guess it's Mississauga for me then, which is fine since it's a little closer for Niagara folks. 
Sorry for going off topic now, but I assume any upcoming Mississauga battles would be posted on this site - my understanding is the range is rented from the VietRC folks so not sure what it would entail to participate in a battle there (fees, ect?). Thanks again. Pete

No there is no charge and Hach is the organizer there. The only thing is that there is also a large contingent of crawlers so not all meets are just tanks although there are always someone with a tank there.

Just not as organize on the tank battle front that's all.

Clark and Tamiya play together. 

HL and Hooben play by their own rules as far as I know; I had read a post yesterday somewhere (Regarding the new Hooben Cromwells) that they (Hooben) run a similar board to HL but on their own frequency. There WAS talk of Hooben supplying optional Clark boards with their RTRs but that was either short-lived or never fully happened.

There ARE ways to run HL tanks to the Tamiya standard but I'm not sure how that works with the newer boards. Unfortunately there's no easy way as far as I'm aware to get other standalone boards to play nice with Clark / Tamiya. That's the main reason Dean & others requested the Hooben tanks be supplied without stock electronics.

where are hooben located?

Thanks Strato50! Like the other replies, that certainly helps clarify things much better for this newbie.

dougjobe wrote:

where are hooben located?

That's a good question! I'm not sure TBH, was just going to mail order from their web but I decided  to put the idea on hold for now since they don't seem to readily interface with other brands. 

Hooben is China and with a horrible reputation. Their Sherman is NOT well put together. You are better off looking for a Tamiya Sherman and modifiying it to be the Fury by changing the turret if that is what you are after. Tamiya Shermans are relatively cheap. (see one I just sold here for $600 complete with EVERYTHING. Apple, emitter, radio.... )

I have decided to pass on Cromwell since they were evasive about some detail questions I asked them. And the questions I did get answered did not give me confidence! Like plastic sprocket and idler but metal tracks. Not a good combination...

dgsselkirk wrote:

Hooben is China and with a horrible reputation. Their Sherman is NOT well put together. You are better off looking for a Tamiya Sherman and modifiying it to be the Fury by changing the turret if that is what you are after. Tamiya Shermans are relatively cheap. (see one I just sold here for $600 complete with EVERYTHING. Apple, emitter, radio.... )

I have decided to pass on Cromwell since they were evasive about some detail questions I asked them. And the questions I did get answered did not give me confidence! Like plastic sprocket and idler but metal tracks. Not a good combination...

I have put together a Fury with a Tamiya M4A3 HVSS and a Taigen 76mm Sherman turret. The only issue with this set-up is that the Tamiya rotation unit won't work with the Taigen turret so you need to DIY a solution (either mount a Tamiya turret ring to a Taigen turret and then use the Tamiya rotation unit, OR you use a Taigen rotation unit and mount that onto the Tamiya upper. Not pretty either way). Moreover, unless you are using the Tamiya M51 Super Sherman electronics, the Tamiya M4A3 Sherman 105mm does not support recoil at all, not to mention a Taigen recoil. The integration is just really difficult. I did it but it was not the best.

The closest thing to a factory "Fury" (Other than Hooben) is the Taigen solution which only has a VVSS bottom:

https://www.rctank.de/Taigen-M4A3-Sherman-76mm-version-camouflage-in-metal-edition-1-16-with-gun-recoil-system-Xenon-flash-IR-battle-unit-V3-board-and-transport-wooden-box

Of course this still does not solve your Tamiya Battle compatibility problem. It will battle other Taigens, however.

holy cow who needs fury after all I have my two shermans one hL one Tamiya thanks for the info Doug

MikeC and dgsselkirk: thanks for the info and the heads up about Hooben. I was just reading on other sites that their product support is very poor.

I wasn't looking to model 'Fury', was just looking for a base to make a "Canadian" Easy 8. I prefer RTR at this point. Later I might get more adventurous. That only leaves the Taigen Sherman 76 (which is a VVSS).

But if I'm going to spend $800 on a tank, then I won't get another Sherman (already have a HL) but a Mato M10 that I'd make into a Canadian 17pdr Achilles with some light mods/kitbashing or a Mato M36 Jackson (US). They are advertised as having Clark boards.

Thanks again for the info!

https://www.heng-long-panzerforum.com/gallery/userImages/8c/5930-8c70c76c.jpg


https://www.heng-long-panzerforum.com/gallery/userImages/0c/6413-0ceb81fc-large.jpg

you gotta like shermans never have two many

HiawathaPete wrote:

MikeC and dgsselkirk: thanks for info and the heads up about Hooben. I was just reading on other sites that their product support is very poor.

I wasn't looking to model 'Fury', was just looking for a base to make a "Canadian" Easy 8. I prefer RTR at this point. Later I might get more adventurous. That only leaves the Taigen Sherman 76 (which is a VVVS).

But if I'm going to spend $800 on a tank, then I won't get another Sherman (already have a HL) but a Mato M10 that I'd make into Canadian 17pdr Achilles with some light mods/kitbashing or a Mato M36 Jackson (US). They are advertised as having Clark boards.

Thanks again for the info!

https://www.heng-long-panzerforum.com/gallery/userImages/8c/5930-8c70c76c.jpg


https://www.heng-long-panzerforum.com/gallery/userImages/0c/6413-0ceb81fc-large.jpg

Mato M10/M36 are fairly good tanks (solid as a rock) and it does come with Clark board which is great, but do stay away from the T49 tracks. I have chewed up more of those tracks than I can count, and have to finally switch the sprockets so that I can go with the hard plastic version of the T74 tracks. I actually had never been able to run the tank on the field with the stock T49 tracks for more than 5 minutes. I think their metal T74 tracks are okay, but at the end the original Mato plastic T74 (if you can find them) was the best I found with their metal Sherman lower which M10 and M36 both use.

The T-49 tracks are the ones on the M36 in your picture, and the metal T74 on the Achillies.

dougjobe wrote:

you gotta like shermans never have two many

Don't get me wrong, I love the Sherman! It's just my collection is very small (3 tanks) and starting out I didn't want to have 2 tanks that look very similar.

For me the Hooben Easy 8 passed muster because it was different enough (with the HVSS, 76mm T23 turret, and horizontal panels/mudguards/whatever above the running gear) as compared to my HL Sherman 105. And before I found out about the issues with Hooben, the price (at $298US) seemed right.

With the Taigen Sherman 76, I'm back to a VVSS and, to my eyes, starting to look more like my HL Sherman again. And with the Taigen I'm now at $800+.

So for that price range that's why I'm now looking at adding an Allied TD like an Achilles or M36 to my collection since -above the running gear -they look like a completely different tank.

Down the road, sure I'd like to get a Sherman 76 of whatever running gear type.

Now reading my own post, I'm beginning to think I just like making my life unnecessarily complicated...

MikeC wrote:

Mato M10/M36 are fairly good tanks (solid as a rock) and it does come with Clark board which is great, but do stay away from the T49 tracks. I have chewed up more of those tracks than I can count, and have to finally switch the sprockets so that I can go with the hard plastic version of the T74 tracks. I actually had never been able to run the tank on the field with the stock T49 tracks for more than 5 minutes. I think their metal T74 tracks are okay, but at the end the original Mato plastic T74 (if you can find them) was the best I found with their metal Sherman lower which M10 and M36 both use.

The T-49 tracks are the ones on the M36 in your picture, and the metal T74 on the Achillies.

Thanks for that very helpful information on the different track types, Mike! If & when I get around to acquiring one of the Mato Allied TD's, I'll definitely be on the lookout for a spare set of the T74 tracks - with the plastic as my first choice if I can get it.

The photo links of the Achilles & M36 are ones I found at a German-language RC tank forum which you might well already be aware of - https://www.heng-long-panzerforum.com/

Thanks again 

dougjobe wrote:

you gotta like shermans never have too many

You've never seen Dean's Firefly Factory! WAY TOO MANY!!!! LOL

way to go not to many shermans hahaha :Ayeaye:ps  I also have now 4 tanks left since we closed the field in Fort Erie sad

Jarlath wrote:

dougjobe wrote:

you gotta like shermans never have too many

You've never seen Dean's Firefly Factory! WAY TOO MANY!!!! LOL

I think I resent the implication! :-) Just about to start on 4 more. Here is a pic of the last batch...

Hay Pete make sure you go to the KW field you will not be disappointed. Tanks, Tanks and more Tanks !!

I am just up the road from the Mississauga field and some nice people there but I promises you your KW experience will include actual comparable IR tank battles if that what you are interested in.
Also just stick with a Clark board and save your time and money...

maybe you can have to many shermans what did I just say well done Patton would be proud

Captain Action wrote:

Hay Pete make sure you go to the KW field you will not be disappointed. Tanks, Tanks and more Tanks !!

I am just up the road from the Mississauga field and some nice people there but I promises you your KW experience will include actual comparable IR tank battles if that what you are interested in.
Also just stick with a Clark board and save your time and money...

Thanks Captain Action, sounds great! Based on all the feedback I've gotten, I'm leaning towards sticking with Clark equipped/ Tamiya compatible tanks for any future higher end purchases. I definitely want to check out the KW range sometime. And when my Heng Long's need to stretch their legs there's still Mississauga.

Thanks again, Pete

I have been getting IR units from LegoDRI on Etsy for my Heng Long tanks and are sappose to work with Tamiya. They also mke it so all of your HL boards don't have to be the same. LegoDRI parts are good out to 70ft. The only issue I havw found with them is it doesn't work properly with the 360 wiring.