Small Scale Military Headquarters

Just got this 1/16 Trumpeter RC T-34/85, it looks pretty nice right out of the box IMO, but I'll do some additional weathering and detailing to it. The cannon/MG firing, turret rotation, and engine startup/shutdown/running sounds are very nice, and add a lot of realism to the model. The tracks are individually linked and have a realistic look to them, and the roadwheels are rimmed with REAL rubber, which I thought was a very authentic feature.

16 AA batteries Even rechargeable ones would set you back a penny. Wonder if it would be hard to make it use a battery pack? But I am thinking about picking one of these up how is the"battle system" and the recoil action?

Rechargeable AA (1000 Mah) Ni Cads run about $0.95 ea. and NiMh (2300 Mah) run $1.87 ea. from all-battery.com and if you buy in lots of 10+ you can save even more. I have a professional quality microprocessor controlled Maha MH-C801D quick charger that will charge 8 AA's of any type or capacity in 1 hr. so rechargeing enough AA's to keep from going broke buying alkaline cells is not a problem. Run time on this tank with freshly charged cells is reportedly around 30 mins., so keeping enough charged cells around for say two half hour runs won't be a problem for me. I would have preferred that it ran on the 7.2 volt Sub-C cell packs like the RC Pershing, and I have heard at some of the RC forums that people have converted these to run on the 7.2 volt packs, and even the 9.6 volt AA Nimh "robot" packs, and it already has the Tamiya mini connector in the battery compartment if you decide to convert it, but personally I don't want to fool with a conversion like that just yet, but maybe later. Good quality Sub-C packs can run from $15 to $25 ea. (and up) depending on manufacturer and capacity, so there is no tremendous advantage cost wise on the Sub-C packs versus AA's that I can see, plus they take FOREVER to charge (4 hrs. minimum) with the chintzy wall chargers that comes with the Hen Long tanks. As for the IR battle system...it's been raining here for like a week straight now, but as soon as the sun comes out I'll let you know how it goes LOL The gun recoil looks and sonds fine to me, but I've never witnessed an actual T-34 firing, so I can't really say how realistic it is... There are some You Tube videos of this tank in action if you're interested in seeing it doing it's thing. All things considered I'm very happy with it, and would recommend it to anyone who is getting into RC armor, it's really quite nice right out of the box, and has plenty of potential for additional weathering, detail, and add ons like metal tracks etc.

kit or ready to run?

Panzer_M wrote:kit or ready to run?

No assembly required.... install the batteries and she's ready for action. BTW, the "16 batteries" that Kim referred to are the total for BOTH the tank and the transmitter, and the main consumer of battery resources is the tank, the transmitter uses very little battery power by comparison. I'm thinking of adding the metal tracks even though they are kinda pricey. Also...for anyone who cares about such things, the Cyrillic script on the turret says "Suvorov".... a famous figure in Russian history

Ost, if you don't mind me asking, what was the cost?

If you compared/displayed it with a 1:18 Tiger, would you be disappointed in how they display together?

I'm pondering some of these RC tanks just for display with 1:18 tanks I already have (Sherman, Panzer, Tiger 1, Panther, halftracks, etc.), and just wonder if things like the T-34 display well with the existing 1:18 stuff. I know the 1:16 Tiger doesn't look good alongside the 1:18 Tiger, but I'm wondering if other models would look ok.

Ost, if you don't mind me asking, what was the cost?

It ran me $118 including shipping from Canada. Shipping was $35, which I felt was a tad steep, but it arrived at lightning speed considering the distance involved, it shipped out on Monday and arrived on Thursday.

If you compared/displayed it with a 1:18 Tiger, would you be disappointed in how they display together?

Personally I think they go together pretty well. Where people seem to see a noticeable difference is when trying to display vehicles of the same type in both scales, for example an XD Tiger and a 1/16 Tiger. I dont have an XD Tiger on hand, but take a look at these comparison shots of the T-34 and an XD Panzer IV... the Pz. IV was a smaller tank in real life than the T-34 (around 25 tons or so for the Pz.IV versus about 35 tons for the T-34/85 as I recall) so I think it looks right at home next to the 1/16 tank in these pics, but you be the judge. As for XD figures and equipment...I think they work fine with most any 1/16th vehicle. Click on the thumbnails to enlarge...

dimensionally, the t-34 was only a hair larger than the P IV. The Trumpeter is in actuallity quite a bit larger looking than the 21c P IV and just a bit smaller than the Panther.

What this means is, while it doesn't look correct if you are well versed in the relative sizes of tanks, it is still a very believable size.

So it's up to you whether it will fit in or not.

If we get a true 1/18 T-34, FOV is now our only hope as, since 21c has been sitting on the fence about it all these years, i don't see them producing one now, since it will have a $100 price tag.