hobbimaster

I have been looking at maybe getting a Tamiya king tiger to build. I've looked at places like ultimate hobbies and of course tower. Are there any other places you have come across that is not a total rip off on these tanks? I know from time to time tower will have coupons like $50 off a $500 purchase ect, but they seem to be pretty high there. Ultimate is cheaper and offers free shipping........Ebay scares me, and some come from overseas hobby shops charging $100+ shipping, any thoughts?

digger1976

About a year and a half ago, I purchase one of my Tamiya tanks from www.dave4what.com. He was real nice and threw in a free battery and knocked of 25 dollars from my purchase. His site has been down for about a year now. His message on his site says that it is 'down for maintenance' but it's been a year. I would like to say "see his site," but I have no idea what he has been doing. I know that this does not help you now, but maybe in a bit, his site will be back up. I had purchase from him a full option 1/16 king tiger w/ 4 channel radio w/ receiver and a 2200 Nimah battery for a total of 550.00. That included shipping! Lets hope he is an avid reader of this forum.

hobbimaster

Wow, $550 for a F.O. King with radio! I hope he frequents this board as well!

digger1976

I want to say at the time he was selling the FO King at 475 plus 50 for the radio and receiver and 25 shipping.

What you may be able to do is if you have a hobby store near by, you could see if they will match or beat a price you saw on the internet. I did this with my 2nd Tamiya FO Persing tank. I had used www.dave4what.com's price and asked my local hobby store if they would match or beat his price. They matched his price, and they did not charge me for shipping, which was nice. You could try that route.

hobbimaster

All of the hobby shops around base their prices on, you guess it, Towers internet pricing. It would be hard to get them to come down, I've even talked to a Tower customer service agent and they told me there policy was that they would match any published price, meaning an ad in a R/C magazine, and the page/issue number so they could verify it.

Amuro

If tower said that, then they should honor price listings on ebay. Every listing is essentially "published" business prices in the ebay community and is a legal business transaction between all parties. It is also a bit of a catch 22. First, they know they are a major contributor to the decline of the local hobby shop, forcing you to do more business with them. Second, as the reason stated above that most hobby shops use tower pricing. They could easily verify the price by going to the ebay listing. How practical this is I don't know. But, I am going by specifics in the language they are using.

Don't get me wrong Tower has some great deals and I never had a problem with them. They are particularly good at the low end package deals. If someone wants to get into electric or nitor R/C, their RTR packages are pretty hard to beat for the price. What they do that I don't fully understand is why they don't have better prices of the more expensive cars and tanks? For example, someone in this forum said that in Japan the Leo 2 is around $650 US dollars. Why then does tower turn around and sell it for $900? Surely they pay import tax. But, how much is that really, especially when they buy in bulk at a lower unit price. I smell Monopoly.

I don't want this to turn into a hate Tower thread. For the most part Tower is great and I'm just pointing out some stuff that is all.

Panther F

I've purchased most of my Tamiya tanks from [link=http://www.backyardarmor.com/]BACKYARD ARMOR[/link].


Check 'em out!


Jeff

hobbimaster

No, I don't want to start a hate Tower thread either, I do order most of my large items from them, radios, engines, ect. The Hobby shops around me are all nitro monster truck, and airplane stuff. I do purchase from the LHS: fuel, glow plugs, props, tires, paint, ect. I give them plenty of my business.
I don't know why Tower is so out of touch with the bigger $$$ items, it was that way with Kyosho too. Now that Kyosho learned its lesson, and started distributing there stuff themselves, it seems they are not as high in prices. Don't know why Tamiya doesn't take the same road as kyosho. I know I've had to order from Tamiya USA because Tower only has the basic Tamiya stuff.

hobbimaster

Anyone have those "gold member" savings codes? I had an email from tower about a month ago, but deleted it could use it now, $50 off 0f $500 in particular.

Tankhobby

I purchased from Dave4what but he no longer carries RC tank stuff. He couldn't compete with the overseas ebay prices. That's too bad he is a great person to do business with. My first purchase was the Pershing through 'stellamodels' a couple years ago. Yes the shipping is a lot but the overall price is good. Use PayPal or credit card, do not use Western Union or similar service! Very easy to get ripped off.

I also bought from Backyard armor, it was shipped from overseas but I got the tank (T1) within a week and a half.

So Dave4what, Stellmodels and Backyard Armor are where I got my Tamiya tanks. Unfortunatley as I mentioned above Dave4what no longer handles tanks.

tomzag

My Feedback: (-1)

let me know what you need, i may help you. pm me.

barra733

I used Stella Models on e-bay. For a Tamiya Tiger 1 full option with metal tracks, 2 batteries, a metal barrel and a fast charger was $790 with shipping to the UK. (I think shipping to the US was the same price). I asked for, and was given a DHL shipping number. I could track my tank on the DHL web-site and my tank was with me in 5 days (including a weekend). This guy is a genuine dealer and will answer any e-mails very quickly.

TANKDUEL

I agree Stellamodels is the best, lots of my club members buy tanks from them and I send all 'new recruits' there.

purplebrad

My Feedback: (1)

I trust ebay, I have purchased many a tank from ebay. Just make sure that the seller has a number of positive feedbacks ( you might be a little carefull if they have only purchased or sold several cheap thingsas). Of course paypal is ideal. As far as price goes, ebay cannot be beat.

edoubleaz

My Feedback: (1)

Don't lose faith in the local hobby shop. My "old reliable" source managed to get me both my Sherman and Pershing for a reasonable amount of money. My Pershing with Futaba radio, Battle unit, and battery was $750. Sherman was $650 minus the battery. He even secured me a Trumpeter T-34 for $60 to be the base of my R/C T34/76. They had the Spektum radio that I bought too. I will spend the extra few dollars with these people to make their shops work. Occasionally I would build my kits there to drum up interest in the R/C club.

There are other chain stores that ruin this hobby by charging way above reality. One shop had a KT FO they would gladly part with for $999 and I said wouldn't get a better price in town. He later offered to knock of $50, but you get the idea. Local hobby shops that know your name are the way to go.

Ethan

P.S. My hobby dealer has also promised to GIVE ME his old Leopard 1A4! What a guy.

Panther F

I forgot about Stellamodels! I got my Pershing from them. Very fast shipping!


Jeff

Planedev

I got mine from hobbyasia, they had a combo for the tanks with the battle unit that is cheaper than buying the tank kit itself. It was ard $470 with battle unit without shipping, just that after I bought form them, their tank stock is currently unavailable.

roadblock23434

hows this for a first post.....

i looked up the dave guys site and got his mailing addy and a phone # for yall


Dave4What's Hobby

3850 Walnut Brook Drive
rochester hills, MI 48309
US
2488442158

haddad, david [email protected]

might wanna ask wassup with his site???

WhiteWolf McBride

My Feedback: (3)

Um, sorry guys:

According to the guys from Danville, Dave4What got out of the Tank business die to his inability to compete with Asian discount prices (mainly eBay) A few of them bought out his stock, and that was that. I'd not call him unless you want a spiel that he's been out of the RC tank market for months, and not interested in bring 'em in.

As for his site... wouldn't know, aint been there since he bailed on RC tanks.

heavyaslead

Looks like he is trying the RC tank store on evilbay.

Not too bad prices either!

FFR2608

+1 Stella models. Shipped to California in 3 days....Overall price was competitive. High shipping along with low tank price is used to reduce sellers Ebay fees. Make sure you see the final price before hitting the purchase button.





DH

manchu9inf

you could also try the AAF tank museum, they stock Tamiya Tank kits and for being in the states are very reasonably priced and your money stays in the states helping out the museum. they are very friendly and easy to do business with. I have bought a couple tanks from them and never had a probelm.

Pzjgr

I ordered my KV-1 from Dave4what, bought it on ebay for $689 and only $26 shipping....just a little cheaper than AAF Museum ($700+52 shipping). It's going to be delivered to my house today!

heavyaslead

Good News!

I would like to be able to recommend Dave again as I got my first Tiger from his store some 9 years ago.

karel47

dave4what is now a ebayseller - shop he have nice prices but no one can beat axels modelbaushop they are the cheapest for europe
i will s
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