ORIGINAL: ksoc
Reb,
No problem with your post. I was sincere when I said the more the merrier.
What get me is that while BOTH HL & Tamiya are EARLY Tigers, he can spend about $1,300 upgrading to a LATE Tiger, while the Tamiya will cost over $1,600 to get to the same level - What the ???? Once again, if you are going to replace/upgrade the stock Tamiya parts (gear boxes, tracks, etc..) you need to factor in that you can regain some of the cost by reselling the stock parts. Tamiya tanks have a 'fearsome' enough reputation without people getting the idea that to get one running and looking right it will cost over $2K!
There is a cheaper way to make steel wheels - assuming the parts are available - using the metal road wheels (x1) and plastic parts (x6) from the Tamiya King Tiger. A quick calc says the parts should be less than $100.
(Courtesy of FRAG)
http://www.fragarmor.org/Advanced%20Hints%204.htm
Using King Tiger wheels almost gets the look, but not quite. The problem is it looks like a Tiger I with King Tiger wheels on it. The Late Tiger I center caps sit flush with the wheel (on the outer 4 wheels). The KT center caps protrude past the wheel and are shaped a little differently on their ends. The inner wheel center caps are also shorter on the Late Tiger I and do not stick out as far as they do on the KT.
If you take a look at several photos of real Late Tiger I tanks and KTs you will notice what I am talking about.