I'm assembling my first tank model, the Tamiya M48A3 Patton. I got a few questions for ya though. Is there an R/C accessory set for this thing? On the bottom half, on the inside there's symbols and places for 2 C batteries, but the instructions say nothing about it. Would that go to the huge spotlight, or what? Also, who makes accessory sets and separate tread sets for this? I'm not too happy with the treads that Tamiya included. Who has some good link pages with colored ref. photos on them for this? Just if anyone's curious, I plan on making a Tet Offensive dio with this thing as the central vehicle.

Almost all of Tamiya's early kits were motorized. Some just had a simple gearbox and on/off switch that would allow the tank to just go forward at one speed. Others had a wired remote that lead to a two-motor gearbox so you could make the tank go left/right/forward/backward. The last type was the original M1 Abrams that had a 3-motor setup with the third motor turning the turret left and right. Most of us still have the old gearboxes from our older kits. If you notice on your instructions, the top of the hull uses two poly caps to affix the front of the upper hull and a little tab to keep down the rear of the upper hull. This is so you could replace the batteries.

Several of the kits have been reissued with motorization (M41 and M42 come to mind). There are also several kits that now come with full radio remote control like the M1A1 and several of the higher end Tiger and King Tiger tanks. All in 1/35 scale, I have the 1/35 scale M1A1 in R/C mode as well as the original 3-motor wired M1 Abrams. This was my first M1 kit.

I believe the kit, when originally produced, was motorized (not R/C). They simply never upgraded the hull mold. Now the re-releases exclude the motor (etc all).

I think AFV does a link replacement kit.

http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/afv/
http://www.armorinaction.com/
http://www.kithobbyist.com/AFVInteriors/fullmetal/armphoto.html
[url]http://www.geocities.com/vietnammodeling2nl/TRACKED1.html[url]

Here are few links to get you started.