Tamiya German Tank Panther Ausf.A - Complete Kit - 56605 (Radio Controlled Model Review)

  Released by Tamiya on June 30, 2018, the German Tank Panther Ausf.A (#56605) is a Complete Kit, with a 2.4Ghz radio system and is based on a plastic tub chassis, with a front-mounted double gearbox driven by two 130 electric motors, that operate together or individually to produce forward/reverse running and pivot turning.

  In June 1941, the fearsome war machine of the Wehrmacht rolled into Russia to be greeted by an even more powerful force, the new Russian KV-1 and T-34 tanks. The sloped armor and powerful 76.2mm gun equipped T-34 made it both offensively and defensively superior to the main tanks of the Wehrmacht at that time, the Pz.Kpfw.III and Pz.Kpfw.IV. To rectify this imbalance, Germany started work on the Panzerkampfwagen V, more commonly known as the Panther. Like the T-34, its armor was constructed with ample slopes. It was mounted with a 70caliber 75mm main gun which could penetrate the armor of a T-34 at even a frontal assault. The Model A Panther was equipped with various improvements over the Model D version, including a ball-mounted hull machine gun, stronger wheel fixings and an armored cupola in the turret.

Rating: 4 RCScrapyard

My First National

   When I first started in RC, way back in the late 1980s, I would turn up to the weekly club meeting, with my Tamiya Boomerang, Acoms transmitter, two sets of crystals, a couple of 7.2v batteries, a charger and a tool box with a wheel spanner and a few spares.
   It was three five minute qualifying rounds and a final, and every month we would have a trophy meeting. The trophies were donated by a two of the older semi professional guys who basically ran the club and over the years had collected what must have been hundreds of trophies and had no space for them anymore. The lure of a trophy always brought out the "not as enthusiastic types" and the small church function room was always packed on those nights.
   About a year in, my collection of B final trophies was beginning to clutter my room, and my dad bought me the new Tamiya Manta Ray. That was the big turning point in my RC career.
   From then on it was A finals all the way. Then one day in the summer of 1992 the club organisers (the semi pro guys) asked me if I would like to go to a BIG national meeting way down south in Malvern. I asked my dad and with a bit of prompting he said "why not".
   When we got to that meeting we found there were around a hundred competitors, with ten groups of ten. I was in group "H". a two of my friends went down with us and they were in group "I" so were on just before me.

Choosing the right Tire Inserts

   Once upon a time, all RC model tires were equal - they were all trash. None of the old tires had any kind of internal support, because the hard compound they were made of didn't need it. But that was before the newer soft compounds were developed. These new tires were so soft that if some kind of insert was not used they would just lay flat under the weight of the car. Thus, the new science of tire inserts was born.

Inserts for Off-Road Tires

   The basic soft foam inserts that come with many off-road rubber tires can be in one of two types. They can be basic rings of sponge, or the cheap and nasty strips of sponge. Many of the latest foam inserts now come pre-shaped, but more than often, they will need some work done to them before they are inserted into the tires.