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Deanej10

King Or Knight Hauler

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I am looking to get a truck and cannot decide between the two, I was going to the Knight but after a trip to the USA recently it swung me towards the King as many of the older style rigs looked awesome over there.

As the King was the first is the Knight designed more for the MFU (ie more lights etc) and the Knight has an overal 'big rig' look to me from photos.

The rig in the photo looks kinda in between the two.

Would be interesting to hear from someone who has both.

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I have the Knight Hauler full options but given my time again I would definatly buy the King Hauler it looks better than the Knight Hauler rugged looks an old world charm .

The current King Hauler kits are blister packs as well (no meaning if you are going to build) I regret getting the Knight Hauler but thats just me .

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I am swinging towards the King Hauler,I am new to 4 channel - does anyone have the HF49/40 Hitec Zebra 4 Channel 40Mhz Radio and will this work the MFU? I understand trims etc control some of the functions.

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Both look very good but to be honest out of all the trucks the Knight Hauler I think is the best. I have heard all and my other half has the Knight Hauler, Aeromax, 470 Scania and Globe all with MFU's (she is really addicted to Tamiya Lorries)

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I personally prefer the King as I have one myself, not exactly a fair recommendation... I prefer the King because of the classic looks, period. It may not have as much room for electronics as with the Knight, but I did manage to fit all the electronics in. Mind you is not with the new MFU? system so you may want to check with your LHS to see if if will fit the new MFU. fyi, the old system has all the sound but does not have the shake when starting up, but is good enough for me. Also I think you loose the 3rd gear with the electronics all fitted in. And if you are going for the auto retract legs for the fifth wheel, the hook up is tricky and maybe I am all thumbs, but at time I cannot hook or unhook the fifth wheel from radio control, bummer. If you do go with the King add the optional roof spoiler for the finishing touch and the fifth wheel should be the box trailer, the SS tanker is nice but the box trailer gives it a better scale. The King is still the best in my opinion, old school. :blink:

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I have bought a Globe for my own reasons but if I was to buy another truck it would be the Aeromax - I think its the best looking of the "modern" rigs

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Thanks for the advice, I almost ordered a King last night but realised last minute the radio gear will be a lot more than I first though. Can anyone recommend a 4 channel system that will work the MFU but at a reasonable price?

I may go for the King with just lights for the moemnt and at a later date buy the Knight along with the MFU, trouble is I want a Scania too!

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Thanks for the advice, I almost ordered a King last night but realised last minute the radio gear will be a lot more than I first though. Can anyone recommend a 4 channel system that will work the MFU but at a reasonable price?

I may go for the King with just lights for the moemnt and at a later date buy the Knight along with the MFU, trouble is I want a Scania too!

Hi, i live in holland but as far as i know the CONRAD shop sell worldwide and the good news is that they sell 4 ch. radio's for a little over 60 euro's, you get one (1) servo with it and extra servo's start at 4,99 euro each !!

And it will fit "plug and play" to the MFU with the JR connectors.

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I have both but if I could only have one it would be the king

and try this, Planet T5 Radio Set - 2.4GHz Transmitter (5-Ch, Mode 2) with 6-Channel Receiver. £35.99 http://www.brchobbies.co.uk/?page=shop&item=608

I just got one and it works fine with the MFU

Now that looks good Value but none in stock :-(

As for the Truck I loved building my Knight Hauler, but I like to build one of each so the next would be the King Hauler or Globe Liner :-)

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Now that looks good Value but none in stock :-(

As for the Truck I loved building my Knight Hauler, but I like to build one of each so the next would be the King Hauler or Globe Liner :-)

Hi Folks,

Have built a King Hauler with the lights only, two Knights both with the MFU's and one Globeliner with the MFU. Personal opinion: the Globe was a bear to retrofit the MFU to but then I didn't just slop parts into the Globe I engineered a eloquent electronics suite and made sure that screws (from under the truck) were accessible at a future maintenance points. It required about 15 hours of engineering time to develop an eloquent solution but turned out quite well. If you folks would like to see my fleet, e-mail me at jgordon20011@comcast.net.

Both the Knights were relatively easy to build with the MFU's because those trucks are manufactured with the MFU in mind.

Cheers,

Jim

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hi

go for the king hauler,,more real then the other,look nicer with trailer,,,had mine for over 3yrs and enjoyed every mint!!! carnt say i got the same felling with the other(merc,scania,aeromax)

but its all up to you in which one u wont to drive!!!

nic tt

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Well tonight I have ordered the...........................King Hauler.

Now I have deceide what colour to paint it! and whether to invest in the MFU.

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Well tonight I have ordered the...........................King Hauler.

Now I have deceide what colour to paint it! and whether to invest in the MFU.

Good choice. Love that truck. It is one of the Tamiya's I'd like to have someday. I do -however- have my hands full with the ones I have right now, he he. But anyway, yeah, you made the best choice. The looks and performance of the King Hauler are truly awesome!

Hope you can get some pictures of your truck when you finish it! :blink:

Best regards,

EB

--

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Well tonight I have ordered the...........................King Hauler.

Now I have deceide what colour to paint it! and whether to invest in the MFU.

An excellent choice. How can anything else beat Royality!

I only think inside the box, the red is nice. Pick a bright sharp red like a Ferrari red.

Since the King is like the real thing, might as well go for broke and get the MFU. You'll have audio to go with the visual.

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Yeah I am not tempted and get the MFU and abandon the idea of the Knight now. I am not sure whether to paint red, metallic red, light metallic blue or a very dark blue. Ordered a roof spoiler already, are there any 3rd party aftermarket parts available for these trucks?

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There are aftermarket supplier for the big rigs, but don't recall the site. Some other TC member should know. For your paint color, keep in mind the color of the decals that comes with it, unless you plan not to add the decals. Also paint the roof spoiler same as the body, don't leave it black. You may want to add a bull bar front bumper. It doesn't cost too much. It took me a while to get all the options I wanted as I just can't drop a large sum of money all at once.

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...Also I think you loose the 3rd gear with the electronics all fitted in. And if you are going for the auto retract legs for the fifth wheel, the hook up is tricky and maybe I am all thumbs, but at time I cannot hook or unhook the fifth wheel from radio control, bummer...

I would really like to know how and why fitting "the electronics" steals one gear? This is the first I have heard of it - and I do have a friend with that combo.

I have a MFU-equipped Knight Hauler myself (unpainted chrome edition with the tanker trailer for full bling!)and must really say that the only time the fifth wheel lets me down, is when I do not align the truck and trailer properly when I hook up the trailer. The fifth wheel itself has never caused any problems. I attend hobby fairs on a regular base and demonstrate my truck together with friens that have Tamiya Scanias, Volvos and a Mercedes and King Hauler. Even though we live in Volvo/Scania Country, the US trucks do make lasting impressions. If I get another truck it will either be the Globeliner or the King Hauler. I will most probably end ut with one of each...

Get the MFU! The only reason for not getting the MFU is that you are such a scale freak that you simply will not accept the US truck engine sound on your Euro rig. If that applies to you, get Servonaut's truck sound module where you can choose between US V8, V6 turbo and Euro-V8. Servonaut and robbe also make excellent electronics that may appear to cost an arm and a leg, but actually only cost an arm... Both feature IR instead of a cable for transfering the light input signals from the truck to the trailer. Servonaut has option parts that could do that for a Tamiya MFU. Apart from IR-protocols robbe and Servonaut have other features that are highly attractive.

Regarding radios, do consider a proper transmitter. I really do not see the point in spending an arm and a leg on a beautiful scale model only to then get the crappiest piece of plastic on the market to control it with. I am not saying everyone should spend a fortune on the transmitter, only to get a decent one. A good transmitter need not be expensive. Have a look at the used market.

When I first got my Knight Hauler I used my ancient JR AM 27 MHz transmitter that came with my Hilux when new in the early 80s. A cheap transmitter but still made with a quality feel none of today's cheap transmitters can even begin to compare with. Robbe F14 is a transmitter that has been around since the Dark Ages and is stil beeing manufactured. Look for a used one, as well as any Aitronics/Sanwa, robbe/Futaba, JR/Graupner, Hitec/Multiplex that has at least four channels, analogue trim levers and is on a frequency band legal for ground use in your country. Search and you will find! And yes, since most people write them off as old junk here is an opportunity for a bargain. I currently control my truck with a old robbe/Futaba transmitter, which is an 8 channel transmitter that has loads of nifty features. It can even be expanded to 22 proprtional channels if a model so requires! Now is where you should start using your creativity! Still, in stock form, it can do wonders straight out of the box! Without customisation, it allows me to run the truck like normal on channels 1-4, flick a switch and change the model memory in use so I can operate another model with the same sticks! This means the truck is still controlled by channels 1-4, but by using another model memory I can relocate channels 1-4 to other sliders/swithes and knobs on my transmitter and move channels 5-8 to the two main control sticks. Why would I want to do that? Well, because I can then run my mates robbe Linde H-50 forklift with the two main sticks! The forklift has an eight channel receiver and uses channels 5-8. I turn it on when I turn on the transmitter. I then leave it doing nothing when I drive my truck. When I stop the truck, I flick a switch and then start running the forklift while the truck keeps idling! This is really impressive and an example of what you can do with a more advanced transmitter. I do admit such a transmitter costs more than two of the cheap ones linked to in an earlier post. It has enough channels to operate auxiliary functions if I decide to get a hydraulic crane or something else to really spice up a truck, like say a hydraulic digger from Leimbrach Modellbau on a lowloader trailer!

If the used market is humbling, an easier option would be to look at what your local hobby shop might offer. The Futaba 4EX is a modern and current 4 channel FM radio that has MFU-friendly analogue trims, end point adjustment for the servos, comes with all the servos you need for a Tamiya truck, is available on a frequency legal for ground use on most markets. Add a memory for four models and all that for a price roughly twice of the cheapest solutions. If you look at the whole picture (tractor truck+MFU+trailer+motorised support legs+trailer lights) that is really not that much more money spent, but it is well spent! You get a so much nicer feeling of control, the sticks are not flimsy but precise. If you are on a budget, get a proper transmitter now and save the trailer lights or even the motorised support legs for later.

Gardentrucking.com has lots of option parts for the Tamiya tractor trucks. Just type in Tamiya truck in eBay's search window (make sure to include store inventory and worldwide in your settings), ignore the Tamiya monster trucks and hey presto - you have found loads of option parts!

Best of luck with your build!

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Got the kit, looks great although thought it would have more parts than it does, still its goingto be a very enjoyable build. Just waiting for the roof spoiler to arrive and order the multi function unit after pay day!

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One word of advice - dont build it until you have the MFU.

It is a lot easier to run the wires 'neatly' whilst installing the MFu as you go rather than trying to retro fit it

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I would really like to know how and why fitting "the electronics" steals one gear? This is the first I have heard of it - and I do have a friend with that combo.

My MFU is the older model or the 1st generation and if one reads the covering page around the middle where it mentions the horn function eliminates the top gear. Mind you I haven't taken her out to run thorough all the gears but I just the assume the instructions are correct....

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I have the King: fascinating build. I got the flatbed trailer at the same time and the powered legs and the roof spoiler and the animal guard too. I ended up adding about 6" into the trailer as it looks really short with such a long length tractor, but a lot of US rigs do. I'm not that impressed with the auto-legs. They're very clever but a real pain to get just right and if you have the trailer lights you have to manually plug/un-plug those anyway, so save yourself some dosh and stick with the manual trailer legs. Roof spoiler is OK if you are going to use the box trailer otherwise don't. The animal guard is surprisingly weak and feeble (or maybe I'm just ham-fisted!) and I'm in the process of making a new one all in aluminium.

I have the MFU and have no problem with it at all. In fact every time I take it for a spin I marvel at how clever it is and how well it works. One tip here: wire up the MFU with all the lights and speaker and everything on a piece of hardboard or similar and label up every lamp as per the instructions and then try the whole thing out just to check that Tamiya have put the right label on each wire etc. It is easy to mix things up as well and much easier to swap stuff around on a board than when you've bult it all in!

In fact, don't get the flatbed trailer: go for the pole trailer. I'm just starting to weather up my King and pole-trailer to use as a log hauler. Plenty of scope to add a headache rack, extra tie-downs and chains etc, scuff-up the exterior and so on. I also think they look cool with the pole trailer on the tractor's 5th wheel.

I really do think I chose a naff colour though! I liked it to begin with but I don't anymore!!!

Mike

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I have both but if I could only have one it would be the king

and try this, Planet T5 Radio Set - 2.4GHz Transmitter (5-Ch, Mode 2) with 6-Channel Receiver. £35.99 http://www.brchobbies.co.uk/?page=shop&item=608

I just got one and it works fine with the MFU

I use one of these sets in my Scania and it is a great radio to use, Also got one for my Leopard 2A6 and added the fire buttons to the top of the tx to make the main gun and machine gun fire

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