And when has Tamiya ever paid attention to the web forums?? Never from what little I know. They always have, and probably always will step to the beat of their own drum. As for using the wheels and tracks from the Leopard 2, nope, the tracks may be similiar but that's as far as it goes. The wheels are nothing alike. Mike

It says clearly in the original News report that it is to be for R/C. Echoing Mike's comments - Tamiya produce 1/35th & 1/48th Armor. That's it. They have no interest in Armorama (or anyone else) they sit up there dispensing perhaps 2-3 new kits a year and many fall over themselves to be grateful for the 'largesse'. Regarding the model itself - the detail on the hundred-buck R/C tanks is as good (if not better) - this is toy-like and will probably be in the $400+ price range, if not more...

Well, a "large scale platform for scratch builders to improve on" is how I see it. There's better detailing in some quarter-scale offerings. But not to beat that proverbial dead horse, Tamiya don't care 'bout what we say or think, they jess doooooo!

More like $750.00 plus like their latest have been.

Ouch!!! Bit ironic isn't it? People were saying how crazy the price of Trump's KT was (Scale, static model with full interior) and this Motorized toy is one and a half times the price? Oh, it's got incorrect rear-decking as well

Only if you're into R/C? This is curious, we publish a lot of News of some incredibly innovative work from a lot of manufacturers. This, which IMO, is interesting but not tremendously 'earth-shattering' is posted and gets almost 5000 page views in two days. Am I REALLY missing something?

Sadly a static version is unlikely, if you look at Tamiya's latest 1/16th scale releases, only the Tiger I and the Leopard 2A6 were made available as static versions, not the Pershing, not the Panther G, not the Jagdpanther and not the Panzer IV... On the other hand, I'm not condoning piracy but there's bound to be cheap Chinese copies (RC) soon, fully built and painted models that could be detailed somewhat with a bit of TLC, repainted, marked and weathered to a decent standard. I've seen at Trucks & Tracks 2009 a 1/16 StuG III G from a Chinese brand that had been reworked and detailed, with zimmerit added, etc... It looked very impressive! I got myself a couple of Chinese made 1/16th "Snow Leopards" (Pershings in fact),one bought cheap the other one was free, I'm planning on detailing them a bit. Anyway they're great fun to run as they are. Cheers, Christophe

Well, the static versions of these are nothing like the Trumpeter King Tiger, so if you want a Pershing, Panther G or even a Jagdpanther in that scale, BUY IT and then sell off the electronics and other hardware you don't need. It'll move very easily. I own 8 or 9 of these Tamiya R/C kits but that's what I like. I do once in a while build a 1/35th only if it strikes me, but I learned long ago that it's more rewarding to USE what you build, than watch it get dusty on a shelf. They are NOTHING like the cheap toys you see online or in the Hobby Stores.

I know, I bought the Tiger I static version. I would buy others if they were made available by Tamiya, don't understand why they wouldn't widen their range so easily, not to mention increase sales on high priced items? Cheers, Christophe