I just checked, Awesome Hobbies Australia and............theyre down. Idont know if I will be able to live without them....

Zack you have a lot of great vendors closer than you think.

http://www.etoarmour.com/

http://www.rctankwars.com/

http://supremerc.com/index.php

http://www.rc-tank-world.com/main.sc

http://www.rctank.de/index.php?language=en

http://www.welshdragonmodels.co.uk/index.asp

Yes, time to quit obsessing on them and stop paying those dang high shipping fees

Perry

I know, its just they have great customer service and really good custom tanks. I have been to mst of those websites, and there pretty good too.

Really good custom tanks are not worth the price usually asked. Look at what Tamiya wants for a pre- built box art painted Panther, almost 3 grand, for get about it. The Matorro KT's are not very good tanks to begin with , you need to practically rebuild them completely straight from the box.

About $1029.00 Delivered.

<b id="mainContent"><h1 class="vi-is1-titleH1" style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: normal; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS'; ">Tamiya OEMBUILT WWII German Jagdpanther, 1/16 Scale, Full Option,<b id="mainContent"><h1 class="vi-is1-titleH1" style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: normal; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS'; display: inline !important; "><b id="mainContent"><h1 class="vi-is1-titleH1" style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: normal; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS'; display: inline !important; ">#23660,</h1>[/b]</h1>[/b]<b id="mainContent"><h1 class="vi-is1-titleH1" style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: normal; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS'; display: inline !important; ">RTR, NIB:</h1>[/b]</h1>
[/b]Visit: http://cgi.ebay.com/Tamiya-23660-R-C...item19c057429a

&bull; Pretty good deal from Tamiya direct, actually, for the fellow who is a ready to run RC enthusiast, and now days most people seem to be.

&bull; Plus, a new person gets a good looking pro hobby model he/she can weather, add upgrade parts to, modify, repair, maintain and reverse engineer themselves into understanding how the model works, before ever attempting to build a kit or just skip the build thing all together. Plus the builtkit is supported with factory replacement parts and a bunch of after market parts.


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Yea, but who has the money to get a pre-built tamiya tank? Im only 14 years old and just getting this tank was a lot of money. I looked at getting a used Tamiya but they usually go for $500 to $800.

The 3 grand was the originally posted SRP. But you see what i meen.i dont think even Tamiya thought they could get 3 grand for a pre biult tank. <div> I just dont like to see guys get hooked into these "Custom tanks" that are only a fancy paint job and some proper corrections to make them run properly like they should have from the start. especially for the money they want. I'm a firm believer in buying it and building it your self. Granted, not everyone has the ability or time or pkysical condition to do it. there is no shame in that. But it just reminds me of the guys that walk into a Harley Dealership and add every piece of "Custom " junk on their brand new bike most of them dont even know how to ride yet and call them "Custom Fabricated Bikes" They spend an extra 2 to 3 thousand dollars on custom painted tin from the factory. Well if it cam from the factory it aint custom, because there is at least a thousand other guys out there with the exact same "Custom Bike" Another Burr in my saddle.</div>

Solid analysis - and that's pretty much exactly my mindset when I ordered one of these (the factory built Tamiya Panther G) a week ago from Axels Modellbau in Germany. Not cheap, but I saw it as a reasonably good value. YMMV.

I do plan on building one (a Sherman) within the next year, but having one on hand to reverse engineer as you say will be a big help to me in building my own. In the meantime, I'm also doing some modifications to my HL Panther G and KV-1, and learning how to paint and airbrush. I know that some will turn their nose up at this approach (the factory built Tamiya) but as someone who has had many diverse interests over the years, one thing I've learned is that there are many ways to enjoy a hobby - within reason no right and wrong ways - and those that are most beneficial to the given community are those that understand that basic principle.