Tamiya King Tiger (Porsche Turret) - Assembly kit - 56007
(Radio Controlled Model Review)

  Released by Tamiya on June 22, 1999, the German King Tiger (Porsche Turret) (#56007) is an Assembly kit version, requiring a battery, charger, 4-channel radio system, paint and glue to complete.

  A front-mounted double gearbox, with two electric motors, operate together or individually to produce forward/reverse running and pivot turning. Metal torsion bars and suspension arms combine with the wide tracks to smoothly absorb bumps and dips in the terrain and provide high manoeuvrability. In addition, realistic engine sounds accompany the tank as it starts up, drives and stops to idle. The main gun can be elevated, depressed and swung to the left and right.

  The German King Tiger tank first appeared towards the end of the 2nd World War in 1944. The heavy armored design has 150 mm front plates and 80 mm side plates, with 700 horsepower Maybach HL 230 - P 30 engine. The first 50 prototypes came with a turret designed by Porsche, but the mass production type came equipped with an improved turret designed by Henschel and a powerful gun which can penetrate 150 mm thick armor plate at 2000 m. Approximately 440 King Tiger tanks were produced from the summer of 1944 to March 1945. The German army intensively used it in the battle of the Ardennes in December 1944 and it was a major threat to the advancing Allied Army towards the end of the war.

  This model comes with metal bushings, that after a short while, when dust and grit get into them, can actually wear into the metal drive shafts that spin in them - we recommend these should be replaced by a full set of steel shielded ball bearings ASAP.

Rating: 4 RCScrapyard

Getting into RC

   When I first got into racing RC, all I had was a three year old clapped out Tamiya Boomerang, a silver can stock motor, three step mechanical speed controller, two 1400Mah stick batteries and basic Acoms stick transmitter.

   I was the newbie and most of the guys I was racing against had all the latest models, modified motors, matched batteries and top spec radio equipment, but I was still beating them easily. Why? The answer is simple:

Ride Height

   To allow the suspension on any RC model to do its work properly, it needs to ride in a position where it is able to react to any bumps and holes it may encounter on the track. Therefore, it needs to be adjusted to somewhere in-between those limits. That position is commonly termed "ground clearance" or "ride height" and is generally measured as the distance between the underside of the chassis and the ground, with the motor and battery etc installed.

   Simply speaking, determining the optimum ride height is dependent on the specific track conditions and "droop" setting (see my previous article). For Off Road models the rule is simple, the bigger the bumps and the deeper the holes, the higher the ride height. And for On Road, the lower the ride height, the better.