Temp:

My KT was one of the first produced by RC Armory in 1997. I bought it last year for $2300 shipped, which included the metal track, but it needed some work -- wiring mostly. Also, the previous owner had engineered a .22 cal (blank cartridge) device that I had disabled for now. I might re-build it over the winter. Otherwise, it's got all the functionality -- turret slew, barrel lift, etc.

You can get a new kit from RC Armory -- see their web site for current prices. Generally, you're looking at about $2500 for the KT full functionality, shipped within the US. Mike Deiter supplies the new ones with metal track as part of the base price. These are really well-engineered tanks, in my opinion.

I haven't done very much with the M5. I cut off the armored skirts to make it look more authentic to the ones used in the Pacific. There's a very good site to visit that shows some pretty cool mods but I don't have the link off hand. Bay Area Tankers (BAT) has a list of suppliers for 1/6 scalers and I think you'll find it there. Harq gives a link to the real M5 Stuart cult. There are lots of links for all kinds of possible modifications. It's a fun tank but fairly limited in how much abuse it will take without serious mods.

Here are a couple of pics of my M5 plus a couple more of the KT. I'm 6'1" and 210 lbs -- that's my hand in the photo, to give you an idea of the KT's size. It weighs somewhere in the range of 65lbs. It operates much more realistically than the smaller 1/16th scale tanks, especially clawing its way over bushes, dirt, through snow, etc. I decided it was worth the investment and it's paid off.

Cheers...