I swore I'd never get involved in these threads again, because generally the initial advice is ignored, then the purchase ends up being a disappointment, then the original posters is asking for more advice on how to upgrade only to end up where he was originally told to go, but with a pile of watsed parts and time in their wake.
That said, here it goes...
You asked Tamiya or Taigen Tiger I.
Tamiya is a scale model kit engineered for RC with the backing of one of the industry largest companies.
Taigen is a RTR copy of HL with better paint and customer service.
Based of your experience both in RC and modeling, you will not be happy with a toy grade product, especially if you want to battle IR.
The Tamiya Tiger I is in my opinion the best engineered RC tank kit so far offered by any company and better than most of their own releases. I have one in all original condition that is still battling strong after 12 hard years, which included rolling down concrete steps amongst other mishaps that would destroy another model.
Dan is spot on with his advice. The Tammy Tiger will set you down the path that will give you a background in tank construction that will serve you well with more frustrating manufacturers, instead of having your first experience be bad.