Beautiful work mate. That's what I'm talken bout!. So all in all it sounds like the Tamiya line is the way to go then.
So the Tiger kit has a few issues compared to others out of the box? How bout the Panther line which I noticed is very similar in tracks and road wheels as the Tiger?  I don't have to have a Tiger but I do tend to like appearance since this is a first impression so to speak.

Here's the ones I like:  Panther, Bulldog, Tiger 1, king T, M-26 and the KV-1  any of these would sit well with me as long as I don't get one and find stuff about it making me think I should of got the *other one*.

After looking at a few at AAF let me ask, do these all come with metal tracks and 380 motors? I haven't gotten into the descriptions yet but if one is better then the other please point them out to me. 

Man this is really tough to decide on but I know the toughest thing in the world no matter what it is (planes trains or automobiles) and that's the fact of choosing your color scheme and pattern design... but being an artist and painting some of the most awesome planes and helis around this wont be a prob for me.

Thanks fellas!
~A~