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Modeling in General
General discussions about modeling topics.
Hosted by Jim Starkweather
Help with 1/72 kit manufacturers
ron_harris
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Manitoba, Canada
Member Since: February 10, 2002
entire network: 32 Posts
KitMaker Network: 10 Posts
Posted: Thursday, July 19, 2007 - 07:08 AM UTC
Hi;
I am thinking about getting a couple of 1/72 armor kits to try and was wondering if there is one manufacturer that is superior?
I realize that this might be opening a can of worms but, I am not looking to start arguments amongst fellow builders just trying to get some info before buying the wrong kits.
Thanks in advance for the help.

Regards:

Ron

PS. The kits must be available in Canada.
Snowhand
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Zuid-Holland, Netherlands
Member Since: January 08, 2005
entire network: 1,066 Posts
KitMaker Network: 324 Posts
Posted: Thursday, July 19, 2007 - 08:32 AM UTC
Depends basically on what you are looking for, but some of the best are:

Revell of Germany
Dragon
Academy
Trumpeter

Italeri has some nice kits aswell.. some are reruns of old Esci/ Ertl kits, but others are new tool.

Normally I'd link you to http://www.ontheway.org.uk but it's owner has gone through some personal problems lately, and it's not up to date, and may even lead to a dead link at the moment, but don't worry: it will be back.

Other than that: have fun building smallscale, and keep us posted
slodder
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North Carolina, United States
Member Since: February 22, 2002
entire network: 11,718 Posts
KitMaker Network: 2,584 Posts
Posted: Thursday, July 19, 2007 - 09:39 AM UTC
I have to second Richards comments. From experience, I echo the list.

The some Hasegawas are re-runs too. Their detail can be a bit soft, but nice enough.
Sabot
Member Since: December 18, 2001
entire network: 12,596 Posts
KitMaker Network: 2,557 Posts
Posted: Thursday, July 19, 2007 - 09:44 AM UTC
Some of the early Revell kits are reboxes of Hasegawa and sometimes Matchbox kits. Not all Dragon kits are created equal, so it is advised to check online reviews before purchasing kits.
Kuba-B
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Wroclaw, Poland
Member Since: July 19, 2007
entire network: 10 Posts
KitMaker Network: 0 Posts
Posted: Tuesday, July 24, 2007 - 09:18 AM UTC
Revell - don't buy StuG IV, it's worst revell's kit(old matchbox), people says that T-34/85 is great work;

Dragon - I've read that dragon's kits aren't accurate, but they're easy to make;

Academy - how many 1/72 models does academy make? Not many, I guess.

Sabot
Member Since: December 18, 2001
entire network: 12,596 Posts
KitMaker Network: 2,557 Posts
Posted: Wednesday, July 25, 2007 - 03:09 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Revell - don't buy StuG IV, it's worst revell's kit(old matchbox)...

The Revell StuG IV is an original Revell kit that they just released in a Matchbox packaging after Matchbox had folded as a manufacturer. Revell also released the same kit in a Monogram box. Revell of Germany did not have an established 1/72 scale armor line and hoped to use the Matchbox label to help with sales.

Many of the last series of Matchbox kits were really the first series of Revell 1/72 scale kits. True Matchbox kits were 1/76 scale and came with a small diorama base.

The "Matchbox" kits that were really Revell kits were the M1 Abrams, T-80, StuG IV, M4A1 (76) Sherman and Revell also released a Leopard 2A4 as part of the same line, but I am not sure if it ever was released as a Matchbox kit.

The last true Matchbox armor kit was the British Challenger 1 in 1/76 scale.
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