Originally Posted by sassgrunt

I'm glad that they finally posted it on Ebay, (which means they probably have it in stock). I ordered one last year from their website and it took six months of excuses before they finally sent it. (I think they were busy with their 1/10 tanks, and weren't ready to make this one yet).

What I like about it is that they made the side turret vision ports the right height, which is lower than the later Tiger I has. That saves you from trying to modify the standard-height holes, as you'd have to do on a Tamiya or Heng Long turret. They also have better gearboxes than on their older Elefant kits - these have bearings and support the drive sprockets a lot better. (Of course, they use the same turret for their Tiger I, which then has the vision ports too low).

What I DON'T like is their turret-to-hull connection. They glue a plastic ring on the upper hull (stands about 1/8" high), and there is also some standoff under the turret. That raises the turret to have an unacceptable gap underneath, (you can see that in their photos). I have two of these kits. On the first one, I used Tamiya turret, and cut away the turret floor and raised it so that it would fit down over this ring. It left much less room inside the turret for any electronics, but I couldn't figure a better way to go about it. This tank will be the "003" one that saw combat for two months in 1944. On the second one, I used a Ryobi electric chisel to remove the ring, and am using the Hooben turret. This one will be the very early turret with the raised center section on the roof, and I am building it as a Girls und Panzer version. (Yeah, I know that's stupid, but I'm doing it anyway).

The other thing I don't care for is the way they join the hull roof to the sides. They include brass standoffs that are attached to the floor and require you to remove six countersunk screws to get the top off. What I did was to cut the sides away and glue them to the hull top. Once you attach the fenders to the lower hull, then the top/sides piece can "key" down onto the part that you cut it away from. Magnets hold the hull top & turret down onto the lower hull.

Henntec does not make a replacement idler setup; nor does ETO make a replacement gearbox for it. I Mickey-Moused my own idler reinforcement, and am satisfied with the improve Hooben gearbox. The plastic tracks are okay, but Kenny Kong sells replacement metal ones. -Mike