herrmill

First of all, I want all to know here on the forum that this review was put up on my own free will as an UNBIASED & INDEPENDENT new product review, & is not in anyway connected with IMPACT or their owners. Just as with my earlier Pz III review, I like to get information on new products out to the RC tank community to show others what is available. I also like to share news on products that offer the best value & quality considering what we routinely have to pay top dollar to enjoy this hobby. As they say in the entertainment world, Now on with the show!


As you all know, I live in China & have been fortunate to meet some of the manufacturers of the toys that we all like to collect. One of the guys I met recently was Erwin Liow, owner of IMPACT, who came out last month with a new line of metal track for 1/16 RC tanks. Being an independent reviewer, I asked to purchase a sample of the new PzKw III track which I received yesterday. I've attached several photos of my Pz III with IMPACT's track set along with some of the original stock track for comparison.

At first I was surprised at how light the track was when I received it in the post. Granted, the Pz III's track is much narrower & less substantial than a Tiger's, but the light weight cast metal track was a nice surprise & is greatly appreciated given the "Mickey Mouse" suspension HL has on their new tank. As you can see from the first photo, you'll want to I'll replace the existing light weight springs with something more substantial.

As noted before on other postings, the casting quality is done very well & the enclosed pin & fastener design is a simple, yet elegant, approach to providing an authentic scale look. Erwin apologized for not offering a more accurate track as he had originally specified that the link horns be open as in the real Pz III track, but the production costs would have been prohibitive with the resulting higher defect rate & labor cost needed to clean each link.

I used the extra links included to provide a more realistic slack & sag to the track once installed. Performance is MUCH better, expecially on inclines - not sure if I can climb the walls now as Erwin suggested :wink: - but I can assure you my downstairs neighbor was wondering what in the hell all that noise was last night when I was running it around on the living room wood floor. Indoors, I got a run time of just under 20 minutes last night on a full charge & will let you know my impression once I get it outdoors in the dirt.

All I can say is that the track is well worth the price of admission if you plan to buy one of the new Pz IIIs. Now its time to paint & detail this puppy to make it look less the toy that it is!

For those of you interested in the new Pz III, I've heard that shipments have yet been made to North America & that no matter what some say, the delay is not due to any requested design changes to relocate the frequency switch. It sounds as though the Germans have taken 90% of production. If you want one now, your only choice is to buy from offshore.

For more information on the HL Pz III, you can read my earlier review at:

http://www.rctankhq.com/henglongpanzerIII.htm

Should anyone have any questions, please feel free to post here or send me a PM. I'll post more photos & links to video once I get this beast outside for a real test drive!


Chuck

Themadtanker

Does it never stop! Independent my XXX ! I saw on THQ they caught that Erwin guy pretending to be a customer/independant reviewer, just like you are doing![>:]

pattoncommander

Very impressive write-up and exceptional photos, thanks. I'm still waiting for mine, as per pre-order, but reading your article, I'd also like a set of metal tracks. Are they immediately available?

Since you are there and have direct contact with HL, is anything being done to correct past errors in design? ie; missing coax MG hole in the M-26 mantlet, backwards mantlet on the Tiger 1., missing gun travel lock and upward looking driver's periscopes on the M-41. How about the Mickey Mouse mg ammo box stowage on open track guards (fenders) on the Pershing?

Seems by now someone would have read all the negative feedback and done something to improve the tanks. Of course, a better RC system would be a tremendous improvement.

Thanks again for the news on the new Pz III.

Bill

purplebrad

My Feedback: (1)

Thanks for the info. I will eventually buy a panzer III and these metal tracks. It appears that Erwin did some lying but I think it is good to assume anyone is legit until shown otherwise.

Richard L.

My Feedback: (24)

These are very nice metal tracks. Lighter is always better. However, to the casual reader, they are difficult to get a hold of. They don't show up on eBay when doing a search for them, and the buyer has to go through the inconvenient of wiring money to some bank account instead of using PayPal. I hope some North American distributors will carry these tracks to make them more accessible to most people.

swathdiver

They look nice, aren't they about double the price of Torro tracks though?

herrmill

Sir,

For your information, IMPACT's owner lives in Singapore, the account holder THQ claims is a pretender is an actual US citizen who does business in Asia &, if you'd take time to notice, was posting on various subjects months before IMPACT started selling their track last month. As for me, my invitation is open for you to visit me whenever you happen to visit Shanghai. I also happen to be the one who wrote the Pz III "independent review" based on, for your information, was on a a pre-production model that I purchased directly from HL during the Shanghai Toy Fair last October.

As the old adage goes, some folks will believe anything. Sorry, but I don't play games nor do I care to be accused of such. Life's just too damn short for that.

Chuck

briz

The guy tries to help us all out.......and gets jumped on for it.In America ,you are supposedly innocent until proven guilty,so I will reserve judgement until given a reason to think otherwise.
Thank you for your review
Wish they would hurry and send me my friggin tank!!!!

uhu

You sure he tries to help us?
Suddenly appeared a lot of threads in tanks forums talking about these "wonder tracks". At least it is a bit suspicious to me....
BTW Asiatam announces the release of the new metal tracks (early and Ostketten) for the PzIII:
http://www.asiatam.de/product_info.p...7c6aa6642d1d1c
Oh! I'm just a consumer of Asiatam.....
Regards
Jose

tanktrack

Try this link ... http://cgi.ebay.com.sg/1-16-German-P...QQcmdZViewItem
sell for S$ 228 which is just over £80 or US$ 150 ... also says
Axel's Modelbau is a european distributor....
Nice tracks but too expensive for my blood

herrmill

Jose, if you bother to read a few of the forums, you'll find postings from me going back quite a way with kudos to HL, WSN & others.

I personally know the guy who started IMPACT from earlier association regarding Clark's pending electronic system & am only assisting to get the word out for what is a very good product. I see folks here plugging MATO, Clark, Tamiya, Kenny Kong & others so, may I ask, what is the big deal? I posted a review on the Pz III several months before... does that make me an owner/distributor/salesman for Heng Long? Hardly! I'm not even selling the things, only letting others know what new product is now available WHICH makes it all the better for the RC tank community.

As we like to say in the South... "nuff said!

Chuck

Wozwasnt

Herrmill, the trouble is that someone else posted a "Independent review" of the Impact Tiger tracks and it came across as a direct sales pitch. That thread got quite heated and was deleted. So when you posted yours as an "Independent review" then some people think "here we go again".

Anyway thanks for the review, the tracks look great (though a bit too pricey for me).

Richard L.

My Feedback: (24)

We do have two other forums specifically for product announcements and product reviews:

* [link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/forumid_220/tt.htm]Product Announcements & Manufacturer News[/link]
* [link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/forumid_193/tt.htm]User Product Reviews[/link]

It would be OK to post sale pitch in the Product Announcements forum.

Tank4fun

Same goes for me, tanktrack, and I'am sure for many others. The tracks are excellent, but for the money they should be...and made for the moderately priced HL tank?... I feel it's a little over board. With the lower priced, and fairly accurate detailed metal tracks, they are acceptable for most of us who want that metal track simulation. They should target the Tamiya tank market...for those who accept nothing less, on accurate detail...

Richard L.

My Feedback: (24)

Reduce the price of these tracks by around $50 USD, and they will sell like hot cakes. Moving volume = more profit.

James S.

Question what is the metal content. .... any lead?

tesujin

well heard some info about this impact. seems like they bring any RC tank product to China and have it copied into metal parts and then sell it for that profitable amount. Hmmm, i wish i had contact in China too. Then i can start selling and make a fortune out of this (just joking). I am not sure if they should claim as their own design.

Couldnt find the thread you talk about in THQ site any link to provide. Would love to check what that guy says

Tank4fun

Richard L, You are so very correct! It's manufactures like HL, for example, that made it possible for a lot of people(and stiill growing) to get into rc tanks due to reasonable prices.

pattoncommander

Like to also put in my 2 cents...have to fully agree with what's being tossed around..and lots of good questions about the tracks and cost of making them in China corrrelating to the asking price. I picked up the HL tanks due to the price. Sure, I'm putting some money into upgrading them to run better, but I can't afford what Tamiya and others are asking. I'm hoping the HL puts out a nice Sherman soon. Love to have a couple of the huge 1;6 Tigers or Pz IVs in England, but can't sell my house to buy a toy. Yes, if they dropped the price to $50 or 60, I'd probably re-track all mine. I feel they would still make a nice profit based on volume alone. Maybe some one will read our concerns and do something about it.

Bill

Richard L.

My Feedback: (24)

Even if the price per set drops down to around $100, I would still order several sets for all of my tanks. $150 per set is more than twice the cost of an HL tank itself.

herrmill

Whatever your budget or preference, I would recommend getting a metal track set for the Pz III since it really dresses up the model.

BTW, that price at AsiaTam is pretty good at 0.00EU. At that price, I'll put in an order for 100 sets & sell them to the Chinese!

Chuck

swathdiver

The market will take care of the track prices. If people like the tracks and think they are a good value, they'll buy them at the current price. If they don't the sellers will either sit on them hoping people will still buy them or adjust the price downward. If people think they are a good value at the new price, they'll buy them.

IMO unless I was doing a highly accurate detail job on my tank the Torro tracks suit me just fine price and quality wise. I've had no problems or failures with them.