Yeah, I do agree - it's a continued trend of not making the identification of spare or replacement parts easy, which has me a little wary. I wish it felt like there was an easier way to give feedback to Hooben, and that they listened a little better. I genuinely want them to succeed, and all vendors/manufacturers in this space to succeed - it's a niche hobby with not a lot of players in it, and each one has value! That being said

Tremendous thanks for that T-55 parts link! That's exactly the part I was looking for, among several others. Relieved to know it's still something I can find, because I was convinced I was just straight out of luck. Even better is to see that there's a whole-tub stiffening system that looks like it'll add a hefty chunk of weight alongside really making that thing rigid, if not even more difficult to fit everything inside (but hey, who doesn't like a good challenge?). I wish my German wasn't so rusty at this point, I would probably have had an easier time browsing Christin's site and finding those parts already...

Deleted the picture just to save some room but - yeah! That's what my setup is like. I actually looked back last night and only one of my remaining suspension arms is still exhibiting issues. I gave that some metal epoxy, but the threads are so stripped that I couldn't remove the torsion bar chuck/holder from the suspension arm.... so I had to mix up some metal epoxy, then use some hobby knives to press the epoxy goo into the joint as best as I could. I'm letting it cure for 24 hours before putting any weight on it, but I am not confident it'll hold. I think for the 2 others I also had exhibiting this behavior I was able to remove the chuck from the arm, exposing the threads - I then applied metal epoxy to those threads, quickly screwed things back together, and then aligned them properly so the suspension had the right amount of "lift". Those seem to be holding quite well still, which makes sense given that getting epoxy on the threads means a LOT of surface area to grab on (and it's proper metal epoxy, so it'll hold well assuming it's applied right and fully cured).

on the original topic - might try my luck with my work's reimbursement policy on hobby expenses (a yearly account of a set amount) and see if I can't throw a Hooben vehicle on backorder. problem is that I plan to move soon, so I'll have to find someone with a more permanent residence that I can have things shipped to. worst case scenario it takes a number of months or over a year to ship things, but it's much less of an issue for me when my job is effectively footing the bill, lol. otherwise I was just about to start using that account to try and buy more spare and upgrade parts! the hardest part now is deciding which of these 3 new ones is most worth it. the Merkava and Cromwell would both be fun, and getting the Cromwell would mean I could have a nice lineup of British vehicles if we include the Haya Chieftain and incoming Haya Centurion...