Small Scale Military Headquarters

I'm thinking of buying one of these for a 6/7 year old who never has had an RC car. $50 will make it one of the bigger gifts, so I want to make certain it's going to be something he can enjoy. Assuming it's not tossed down some stairs, etc , is this pretty sturdy? After reading about the Abrams, I don't want wheels to start breaking off or gears stripping. Does the lack of speed control make much difference in playing with it? Can it still be controlled fairly well, even with one speed? Anything else I should take into consideration? Thanks, any information is appreciated -

So far, mine has held up pretty well since my 3-year old keeps hijacking it. My concern would be the tracks still stick. If you can explain to the kid that when they stick, stop running it, loosen the tread, and off it goes - I would say it should be fine. I haven't been too gentle and nothings broke yet (knock on wood).

i got one a couple of days ago and it has been attacked by my 19 lb cat (in self defence) several times and nothing has broken yet.
hey M M i took nail clippers and cut a little off the track where it stuck.
took a red magic marker and marked tread when ever it stuck and it always was same one so i niped about a 1/32 inch off right there and it never has stuck again. on 3rd set of batteries and runs fine

Thanks, KAGNEW. Will have to give that a try.

The M113 may be a little better for a 6/7 year old, as there is less that can be broken on the vehicle. Then again, the turret function on the Panzer IV is quite fun. Track sticking is a problem, but a kid your son's age should figure it out. The tracks on mine stick on really soft surfaces like soft, broken mud, grass or soft carpet. The tank runs and manuvers fast and can go over lots of terrain - better than many RC cars - so that sould be fun for a kid (as well as my 24 year old self ) My Panzer is still running fine three weeks on!

Pending your decision, you may want to get him a figure to go with it!

late sunday when we got back from trip we blew some leaves in a pile.
i ran panzer threw it several times it did fine. i can't seem to get it stuck anywhere.

I picked up one of the Panzer IVs yesterday (my first 1:18 scale vehicle) and I have to admit I'm a bit disappointed. It seems that on any surface other than dirt or tile, it throws a track with annoying regularity. Having a few RC tanks already, this is not such a horrible occurance. I'm used to it.

My biggest beef is with the main gun. It sticks up at a ridiculous angle while the turret faces front, and it ocilates up and down as the turret rotates. What is that? Even my itty bitty 1:30 scale Hen Long Sherman has independant elevation control. I feel the Panzer IV would be much better off with just manual adjustment if they were unwilling to include RC elevation adjustment. The recoil action is also a bit silly, especially if you forget to turn the sound on.

All this having been said, the detail on this tank is excellent. It's also an extremely fun tank to play with, and I do not regret buying it. So long as you recognize it's limitations, I would recommend this machine.

i still think for price you can't beat it.
mines on 7th set of batterys
i have a 1/16 Tiger1 that does much more but cost $199.00 and was a semi kit that i had to put together and paint

It's a fairly easy operation to remove the feature that actuates the gun-moving-thingy.

I agree w/ most of you guys, for $50 its fun, and i missed the original non-R/C version. So finding this was a good deal. But here is a HEADS UP. I bought it this evening, get it home and look what is waiting for me when I get it out of the box.


you can see in the 2nd pic the cracks that are there. All the wheels on that side were like that. And of course you could'nt see it due to that being the side towards the inside of the box. I still ran it for a while, then the 2 sets of wheels finally came off. Still ran very well w/ them missing. Looks like I will be returning to WM tomorrow for a new one. Still a neat tank. Just wish it seemed more sturdy. Also the box was in good condition and showed no sign of damage.

I'd say that tank is in need of some repairs there. Now I know why there were some complaints about the quality in construction of this tank. That doesn't bode well for 21st to manufacture vehicles with those kinds of defects.

How many times have we told you to quit driving through the minefields...

TJ

look what is waiting for me when I get it out of the box.

Hey, same break here! Someone sent one to me OOB (gift so I cannot look in the mouth) and when it arrived a few wheels were similarly broken. I am not sure if it came that way or if that is why I got it in the first place Anyway, I got it for display, not to drive so I don't mind but those wheels are clearly a trouble spot.

Here's my take: the tank was not built with RC in mind. You might have noticed that everything is RC this season, from TMNT to dinos, so WM probably wanted some RC tanks in their boxes, and 21st sent the tank molds to a company that does RC and they stuck some motors in, etc....

Now, when the hell was I going to find out there was an S2 RC Panzer? I have to read more carefully...just one more paint scheme I need. Cool.

Too bad you had those serious defects with your Panzer. Hopefully the others in the batch you got it from aren't that way as well. That is a cool scheme, however! I'm rather surprised to see that there is already an S2 version of the RC Panzer out there.

If you get one that works, it is well worth the $50. I have the S1 version and it didn't have any defects. Save for the track skipping when turning on rough or soft terrain (as mentioned above) it runs great. The range surprised me as well. There is a large empty lot near my house and I was able to perfectly control the tank while standing at least 250 feet it.

Wow! Look at that! Now I have to go home and look to see what might be getting ready to fall off of mine.

mine is still going! going! going!
and i haven't had any breaking problems yet
i use it as a scout tank because it doesn't shoot like our 1/16th tigers and other tanks. it draws out all the 6mm paint balls from my enemys
then my Tiger1 with new 40 shot gun comes in and cleans up so to speak

tmanthegreat wrote:Too bad you had those serious defects with your Panzer. Hopefully the others in the batch you got it from aren't that way as well. That is a cool scheme, however! I'm rather surprised to see that there is already an S2 version of the RC Panzer out there.

If you get one that works, it is well worth the $50. I have the S1 version and it didn't have any defects. Save for the track skipping when turning on rough or soft terrain (as mentioned above) it runs great. The range surprised me as well. There is a large empty lot near my house and I was able to perfectly control the tank while standing at least 250 feet it.

Well, I returned my landmined-ridden tank and got a new one. I inspected it there at the store and it was good to go. Yes it is worth the $50, very fun and climbs some really tough obsticles that I thought would stop it Normal play time, how long are you guys batteries lasting?

One thing I did to the old one before returning it, was trying to break the good idler wheels off by hand. TRUST ME folks, they are tough to break, they more or less crack first, as to give a warnng. If you catch it in time, you could apply glue to strengthen it. So the defective one I had must of taken a hell of a hit

Also all they had was that S2 scheme, what did the S1 look like, and are they accurate schemes?

Hmmm...after reading about some of the problems with the 21st tanks, and seeing the 1:16 tanks (thanks KAGNEW), I'm wondering if I should return the 21st I purchased, and order one of those 1:16....

Here's a photo of the S1 RC Panzer IV. I got the figure seperately

Hi,

Any word on when the static version of the Pz IVs with sideskirts will be released & where I can find pics of them & anyone know if the R/C Panzer IV will have sideskirts on subsequent releases? TIA!

Rgds.

tmanthegreat wrote:Here's a photo of the S1 RC Panzer IV. I got the figure seperately

what did you do to get your figure inside the tank? My hatch depth is only 1/2" deep

I placed it under hot water and removed the lower torso/legs section.

Dismantling the tank will reveal some telling secrets. Just a few screws.

All sealed/shallow hatches are plugged with easily unscrewed covers from the inside. You can also remove the feature that moves the barrel up and down.

While apart, if you're going to open the hatches up, try using some plastic to keep the R/C guts free from dust when you run the tank through your next battle.

I bought one of these as a present and put one on lay-away for myself. The question is I looked all over the box to see what number and sizes of batteries it takes and saw none.I dont want to open the tank as it is a gift.Can some one that has this tell me the number and sizes of them for me? thanks in advance Kim(nothing worse than getting a new toy without the proper batteries lol
)

Kim, just sitting here without it in front of me, I'm going to say it's 8 AAs and one 9volt. I think that's what I rememorate.

I dismantled mine to R/C the 1/6 kettenkrad.