Yes i wouldn’t call the Zhengdefu 1/48 armours little “Tamiyas” either but they were still a great fun [not to mention cheap] build. i noticed that both my challenger and my Merkava seemed to have tha same generic road wheels but both kits have skirts and are painted differnent colors so it’s not actually noticable. they are motorized but it doesn’t effect how good they look though. But the key was a “fun simple build” and these fit. The details are nice. i love mine. trying to pick up the Beadley next. I planing to start me a 1/48 and maybe a 1/72 collection.[take up less space]
Try the Emhar 1/72 A7V German WW1 tank, if you can get it easily in the US (I believe that Squadron has it, sometimes on special offer). Easy to build, with one-piece tracks and bogies, lots of interesting colour schemes, unusual subject. Watch out for the off-register decals, though!
The panzer is a good choice. And like everybody else mentioned the T-34 is another good one. FSM just did a article on a T-34 weekend build.