You da man, Tankman. I also caught the Tamiya motorized bug, in 1980. Most of the motorized stuff was still on the market. I created a wargame using these kits. I played the German side, with Grossdeutchland stuff, and my opponent played the American side.
There were fireworks and pellet guns involved, but a tank had to be moving to be considered a legit target. We attached fish line to a customized switch, and the other end to a stake in the ground. The line was 15' long, so when the tank had gone 15', the line grew taught and turned off the motor. It was really hard to find terrain suitable for such vehicles. Our final battle was fought in a dried up prehistoric lake bed near Barstow CA. We spent a lot of money getting there, shipping the models, etc.
Ultimately, my GD kampfgruppe had some 50 motorized models, including about 8 Pz IV, 6 Stug III, 5 Tigers and 10 Panthers. I even had some Pz II in the armored recon unit. I had 2 Prime movers to tow the 88s, but these never made it into a game. Later, I converted the Stugs into Pz III from DAK, along with 3 Pz II.
The most difficult was the Pz IV, because Tamiya mounted the drive nuts, which fit into the drive sprockets on the model, about one or two mm too far outboard. This is what made this particular model throw its tracks. Once I figured out the problem, performance improved greatly. Pz IV, Pz III and Pz II all suffered from narrow tracks. The wide tracked Panthers and Tigers were no sweat. All the American stuff, also with wide tracks, ran great. It's a good thing, too, because my American counterpart had no patience for fiddly stuff in the field.
Eventually, we got two more friends into it, one went British and the other Russian. The Russians needed no more than the fantastic T-34, tho the KV also came in a motorized version. The Brit had bigger problems. Only the Matilda came motorized, but this resourceful player did take a motorized system off a Sherman and fitted it into a crockodile. Very innovative, and it ran great.
Ultimately, since I didn't have any place to display the models, I gave them to a guy who was wargaming in Oregon. Not using the motorized systems, but at least there was somebody getting some use out of the tanks, instead of them rotting in boxes.
I do miss those days.