VsTank Pro coming to life

A big push to the hobby was given when VsTank Pro appeared. A Hong Kong company called ToyEast Limited started working with the factory that used to produce OEM tanks for Marui. By that time Marui was no longer working with them. ToyEast bought the molds and released their first tank M1A2 Abrams. Then followed Leopard A6 and Leopard A5. Initially they were only available in airsoft version. Next, ToyEast developed infra-red battle system and released the tanks the with IR battle capabilities. The tanks turned out to be great runners and performed just as good as those made by Marui.



ToyEast did not stop there. They developed a new controller and MCU that allowed better tank control - the main featurea were more realistic start of the tank and better turn control. With that modification they released yet another tank - Tiger I Early version. The tank, again, was identical to Marui Tiger but it had new conroller and MCU which features Barrel recoil. Next ToyEast released new modification of Tiger - the Late Production model. The detail on Tigers was true to prototype down to different exhausts and Late Tiger having only one headlight instead of two. Tanks buffs would also notice zimmerit coating on the Late version.

Seeing great interest to their tanks from both RC guys and modellers ToyEast decided to invest further in R&D and release a completely new tank, something that hasn't been released by anyone before - a Russian T-72! As of this writing the tank is not sold yet but early pictures and videos has shown amazing detail and great running capabilities. The tank will start shipping in 2 weeks and it will be the first modern russian RC tank on the maket. As soon as I get my hands on one I'll post a review.

Stay tuned!

A short history of RC tanking

RC Tanks is a fairly new hobby that has started growing in the last 10 years. This is mainly due to new tanks coming into the market at affordable prices. Up until recently the only major player on the market was Tamiya. Its tanks are of good quality but their price point ($600+) has been out of affordable range for most folks. On the other end of the range are toy-like tanks that one can still find in Radio Shack and Wal-Mart. Those tanks cost anywhere from $40 to $80 but they are just that - toys. Their quality is lacking in both detail and running capabilities.

There has also been little known RC tank manufacturer on the market in the last decade - Marui. It is a japanese company, which is well known for their line of airsoft guns. They have also been manufacturing 1/24 RC tanks that can shoot airsoft bullets, just like their real airsoft guns. But most of the rest of the world hasn't had access to them because they were never marketed and sold outside of Japan. These tanks are Abrams M1A2, Leopard 2A5 and 2A6, Japanese Type 90 and German WWII Tiger I. The tanks sold for around $150+. Few individuals who had these tanks commented on their good detail quality, running characteristics and an awesome airsoft gun. Another interesting feature is that these tanks run on standard AA batteries. The ability to use rechargeable NiMH batteries with 2500+MAh capacity increased tank runtime to well over one hour.

With Marui tanks slowly appearing on Ebay both RC car and military modelers quickly noticed them and interest in this hobby increased. The tanks satisfied both groups nicely: RC guys got a rugged vehicle with great runtime and good appearance and military modelers who for many years were stuck with good looking but stationary vehicles received a fairly detailed model out of the box that was actually drivable (and was good at that!)

But it took another company's initiative to advance this hobby line to the next level. And that will be the subject of my next blog entry to come...

First post!

Hello and Welcome!

We've decided to start a blog dedicated to radio controlled tanks in 1/24 scale.

My own tank fleet consists of 1/24 scale "VsTanks Pro" tanks, so much of the information will be about them. Over the next few weeks I am planning to give an overview of the tanks themselves as well as "RC Tanking" hobby in general. This hobby, unlike RC cars, is still very new and most of my experience has been from trial an error. With the introduction of this blog my goal is to help gather and share this information with anyone who is also in this hobby or is considering to get in.

Stay tuned!