HG P801 Oshkosh HEMTT Project

The small, obscure Wisconsin town of Oshkosh, only a few hours from where I grew up, is the home of Oshkosh Defense Corporation which makes some incredible military trucks.  Among them is the HEMTT (Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck), an 8x8 behemoth of a tractor truck.  The truck has been in production since 1982 in one form or another.  The RC model from HG (Heng Guan) comes in two varieties.  The P801 in olive drab represents the M977 version which is a cargo truck with a 20 foot bed.  The bed is fixed to the chassis, but a motorized lift system for the bed is rumored to be coming soon.  The P802 in desert tan represents the M983 version which is a tractor truck designed to pull a MIM-104 Patriot missile mobile launcher.  A picture of such a trailer is shown in the instructions but is not yet available.  There is also an electro-mechanical crane which can be mounted to the P802 in place of the fifth wheel.  I have the green P801.

This is a serious scale model.  The chassis is a metal ladder frame with four solid drive axles.  Each axle pair is supported by a set of leaf springs and connected with a walking beam.  Each metal axle has an open gear differential.  Drive shafts are steel and connect to a central transfer case with selectable high and low range.  Eight beadlock wheels with scale hubs are included along with a full size spare.  Under the engine cover is a fully detailed scale 15.2 liter diesel inline six cylinder engine.  The air filter, turbo, exhaust, heat shield, battery box, and oil can are all represented.  The two person cabin is fully detailed as well and includes an instrument panel, steering wheel, pedals, mirrors, and wipers.  The rear bed has a metal floor and all the side and rear panels can be hinged open.  The electronics are complicated as well.  The motor is (probably) a 27 turn 550 sized brushed unit which drives a fan at the front end.  The ESC is claimed to be 320A, though there is no way that is true.  Steering of the front two axles uses a pair of 15kg-cm servos connected with cables and powered by an external 15A BEC.  The included twin stick ratio has 16 channels although the receiver in the model has only 8.  The model is available with a full light and sound kit which I was naturally too stupid to buy so I had to add those items myself later.

Although the model comes Ready to Run, it also includes a full build manual.  My only significant change is the replacement of the 8-channel receiver with a 5-channel from Spektrum so I can use my normal radio.  There's nothing wrong with the stock radio, but I'm not a fan of twin stick and it is not programmable.

The included motor is not for crawling.  Although the exact details of the motor are not known, it appears to be a 27 turn motor which makes the model quite fast, especially in high gear.  The manual says to only use 2s (7.4V), but I didn't read that until I'd already run it on 3s which seemed to work fine.  The open differentials make for limited off road traction, but both can be locked manually by inserting a set screw.  The included servos and speed controller were adequate so I did not replace them.  I did add the lights and sound.  The sound is not great, but the lights include turn signals, brake lights, and reverse lights.  The light bar above the windshield has various flashing modes and the roller on the roof alternates red and blue.

I love this thing.  It looks and performs so well and, although it is not exactly cheap, it is very reasonably priced for what you get.  I'd have no qualms about recommending it to anyone.  The only thing I may come to regret is getting the cargo version instead of the tractor version if that Patriot trailer ever becomes available.

I eventually sold this when I ran out of space for my multi-axle military vehicles and decided to keep those I had built rather than RTRs.