Bargain of the Year on ebay

[general]

In my opinion thats what you should be paying for a new price for a tiger
I bought second hand boxer van for work 2006 ,80,000 on the clock ,electric window, all the mod cons for £ 2150 in good condiction
by the way what do you think of the field of armour tanks ?

[Johnf]

Have never seen one in person.
It would be nice if you could pick up Armorteks a bit cheaper. Problem is scale of production. I think the amount of machining and low numbers of kits produced justifies the hogh cost. It does make it a very expensive hobby.

[Earwig]

In my opinion thats what you should be paying for a new price for a tiger
I bought second hand boxer van for work 2006 ,80,000 on the clock ,electric window, all the mod cons for £ 2150 in good condiction
by the way what do you think of the field of armour tanks ?

But the difference between your Boxer Van and a 1/6th Tank is...in 5/10 years time your Boxer will probably be re-cycled into a thousands of bean cans ..or ..maybe even an all metal tank..whereas an Armortek will still be going ..as for the Field of Armour models...well, the early ones were made of 6mm ABS and the wheels were polycarbonate, the track links were made of industrial grade nylon,...and for the money they were very good...see Saxondog,s link in this column about a Field of Armor...and my post and pics of an early Field of Armor that had 2 x 350w mobility scooter motors with integral clutch and gearbox, it ran either 12v or 24v and would pull your Boxer on flat ground....which is not bad going for a "plastic" tank.

[Johnf]

Weather or not the Tiger on ebay wss a bargain depends on the release date. It looks like a mid or early kit. If it is the mid tiger produced in 2010 it really is a bargain price. These had good quality tracks. Machined wheels and suspension and a good kit of aftermarket parts. If its the 2003 release not such a bargain. Lots of work needed on these. No aftermarket parts supplied. Cast wheels. Cast turret. Very heavy model. If looking at the very early model i would pay no more than £1400 for a pristine kit.

[Earwig]

That armortek that was sold the other day was either a Mid or a Late...as it had the slide over cupola hatch,...and...getting something like that..which is effectively a blank canvas...you would,nt need to spend oodles of cash on good quality motors as ..the ones that were used in my mates Field of Armor came out of a mobility scooter and if you look at the pics of the motors ..you,ll see how well made they were,....and,...those motors were rated to run at 4mph which is the same as a 1/6th tiger, and their power to weight ratio was the same if not better than the Armortek motors...as these mobility scooter motors could carry the weight of the scooter and a 20st man sitting on it.....now to the cost of the motors my mate bought...he,a crash damaged mobility scooter on ebay for £65...and got the 2 x motors, 2 x 12v 35amp batteries, and the whole wiring loom....and the great thing about those motors is..when the battery ran out, he could move a lever on each motor, and was able to push the tank along, as these levers disengaged the gearbox...

[Johnf]

Pretty sure it's the old release mid Tiger. Steel turret roof cast cupola with periscopes as part of casting. The suspension, tracks and wheels were not same quality of latter releases. Costs a lot to upgrade to later speck but still vastly superior to Mark 1. Not such a bargain though. I agree that there are some alternative methods pf motorization but I would not have the expertise to do this myself. Secondhand armortek motion pack probably available as many older kits were upgraded.

[Earwig]

compared to a Mark-1..getting a complete Armortek hull turret wheels suspension and track...is still a bargain in my eye,...ok..there,s still a lot of work to do..but,...at least you know that you don,t have to whack the suspension arms with a 10lb hammer to get them off...Mark-1 tanks remind me of the old Russian Lada,s...they looked nice when you saw them from the outside...but when you looked under the bonnet.... it was Aargh!!...what have i bought....its the same with the tanks....all nice and Tiger looking on the outside...but on the inside....well....i,ve seen better metal in an old meccano set....

[Johnf]

Agree fully. Just do not compare the old armortek release to the 5000 price tags.
I have seen some of ghe older tigers with expert paint jobs and every upgrade part available for arount the £3500 mark. Enem if just a display model they are very impressive and woth every penny. I used to have a love of cars. Changed every two years. Now cars are just a tool to carry tanks. If you are lucky enough to get a bargain it will hold its value better than a car.

[Earwig]

Agree fully. Just do not compare the old armortek release to the 5000 price tags.
I have seen some of ghe older tigers with expert paint jobs and every upgrade part available for arount the £3500 mark. Enem if just a display model they are very impressive and woth every penny. I used to have a love of cars. Changed every two years. Now cars are just a tool to carry tanks. If you are lucky enough to get a bargain it will hold its value better than a car.

...and a 2006 Boxer van....but having said that....an Armortek, won,t hold all yer tools and get you to your work....on time...

[Johnf]

Still rather have an armortek tiger 1 than a boxer van.