ORIGINAL: YHR
ORIGINAL: BiggTony
ORIGINAL: yellowshaker
Like I said...it may not be the best plan.
Just to clarify....you're about to drop another $500-$600 into a Heng Long Tiger......
Why not just get the Tam Tiger?Or just run with this special plan I've come up with, just for you![img][/img][img][/img]
This is where it gets tricky. I tricked out $600 Heng Long with El Mod will in some ways be superior to an out of the box Tamiya, and yet in others still be inferior. So it all boils down to what the end user enjoys. Quite frankly an enjoyable part of this hobby(I know you will understand this point very well) is buying parts and waitng for them to show up in the mail.!!!!!! However if you are going to buy a Heng Long and then turn around and make it equivilent to an OTB Tamiya, you might just want to start with the Tamiya in the first place. However if metal upgrades are your game , with road wheels, suspension pieces and then El-MOD, you are going to end up with 3/4 off your Tamiya sitting in the box. This reply is not intended to start another flaming debate between the two. It is more to demonstrate that with all the third party add ons availble, it is not so much about cost as it is builder preferences to what makes them happy. Some are satisfied with building the finely engineered Tamiya's, others get their enjoyment, by shopping around and going the upgrade route. So it really is a personal modeling choice, and not a financial one.
I certainly agree with the aspects of every joyful part of the hobby and don't disagree with what you've said. Money isn't everything and as long as one doesn't mind the amount of investment one puts into a particular tank, then more power to them. I love both HL and Tamiya, maybe HL more because I can get more for my money and can treat them as starter kits. But it seems that most of our aim is to have aTamiyaequivalent. Which it is my personal opinion that even with an Asiatam hull added to my PIII, and if I were to get an elmod for it, still wouldn't beequivalent. There's so much that goes into a Tamiya kit to provide the quality and durability thatimprovementof sounds and adding asiatam upgrades, still doesn't compare to a Tamiya tank....on the surface it does. I've broken down my asiatam hull down to the washers and it still doesn't compare the complexity of a Tamiya hull and road wheels. ....I sound like a Tamiya convert, don't I? lol
Anyway, I do understand that people have various desires and saving money isn't always at the top of the list, but I often think people forget that on their journey they've set on to make their tanks rival a Tamiya, they don't consider the money they will lose when thinking they are going the best route. Unfortuanely there aren't many vendors out there that will offer you a built HL with what you wanted and offer a discount for parts they've kept. Even if you were to hire one of the vendors to build you a tank to specs, they get to keep the RX-18, airsoft unit, stock lower, etc....and you don't see the savings of it....because it's a waste either way.
I don't know, for me....If I anticipate my HL tanks going higher than $500 (which includes the tank) it's time to open up to another avenue. As metal in this scale isn't impressive once it's painted and doesn't improve the functionality of the tank that I've noticed in my PIII. If anything, it's highly taxing to my electronics and power source.
Regardless, this isn't a HL, tamiya bash for anyone thinking this is anopportunityto chime in, cause I'll defend them both.
It's simply about logic and sensibility.