I've only ever built 1/35 scale and am curious about trying 1/72. I've kind of shied away from it till now because of the small size, but now figure that if I can handle miniscule pieces of PE, maybe I'm missing out on something by not trying Braille scale.

So what decent kits are out there? I'm mostly interested in WW II German and Allied tanks and softskins.

go to the Squardron on line catalog and have a look. There are many. Some people even can do the PE that is coming available(NOT ME!!!!!!!!!) for the 1/72 scale. Have fun!
capnjock

Real good kit is Dragon's new StuG IV. Other good kits are their Armor Pro Jadgpanther early, Maus, E-100, Bergetiger, and King Tigers.

Most of Revell's German armor is pretty good, avoid their StuG IV and M4A1 though. The StuG III, Tiger, Pz IV, Pz III, King Tigers are really great kits.

Some Revell kits labeled as 1/76 scale are old Matchbox kits so beware of the T-34/76, M24 Chaffee, Puma, Firefly and a few others.

Trumpeter's new Famo is a superb looking kit. Pegasus's Maus is a great kit as well.

Right now Eduard and ExtraTech are the kits to get for Sherman variants.

I'm building my first 1/72 scale Tiger now, almost completed and I've really enjoyed it. It's a nice change of pace from 1/35 scale and you can complete them pretty quickly. I've just been behind on building otherwise mine would have been done a couple of weeks ago.

One recommendation is if you get a chance to go to a show, do so and look for 1/72 scale kits. I went to a show a month or so ago around here and walked away with about 6 1/72 scale kits for like $25 or so. Some of them are very basic kits, some are nice and even have some PE. Either way for about $5 a pop, ya can't beat it for a nice small, quick build.

Trumpeter's Elefant and Ferdinand are also very nice kits (with photo-etch available from Part).

Revell-Germany's Tiger I kits are lovely. There are several p/e sets, and MIG Productions makes a nice resin set.

There are some minor shape/angle problems with some of the Eduard/Extratech Shermans, according to Steve Zaloga. But UM is promising some new Shermans upcoming. Most of their kits have been very nice (with a few glitches here and there). Also, on Hyperscale recently was a review of UM's SdKfz 140/1 recon vehicle on the 38t chassis.

Randy

There are indeed a lot of good kits around for 1/72, and a lot more coming too

RIght now, both pegasus and trumpeter are working on 1/72 Pershings. Italeri is releasing old esci kits, and throws in some good kits of their own for good measure.

Dragon's new leo 2A4 hopefully sets a new standard for things to come, allied, axis and/ or modern.

Oh, and may I point you towards Mirage, who has the best Lee/ Grant around at this moment.

And best of all.. it costs a lot less, and takes up less pace.

For more info, you can check
http://www.ontheway.us
http://www.smallscaleafv.com
http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com

I did forget to mention Trumpeter's Elefant/Ferdinand kit, thanks for the pick up there Randy.

Airfix just released a couple of true 1/72 scale kits (the vast majority of their kits are ancient 1/76 scale kits labeled as 1/72). They did a GMC 2½ ton truck and a LCVP landing craft. These two are new, modern tooled kits.

A couple of Italeri's new kits (non-Esci reissues) are the DUKW amphibious 2½ ton truck and the M8 Greyhound scout car. These two are designed for the modeler and wargamer. They have an optional simplified construction sequence to make them sturdier for the wargamer and have real detail parts for the serious modeler. Italeri's M6 GMC 37mm anti-tank truck is one of Esci's better kits that they've reissued and still holds up well today.

Cary,
I was hesitant to try 1/72 thinkink they look to toy like, however after reviewing DML's Maus and Stug, I was dumbstruck as to the level of detail on these kits. Most noticeably was the Maus which came with pe and a crew. If I could recommend this kit to you to start with it is a fairly large kit even in 1/72nd so much so that it is almost the same size as a 1/35 scale pzI or II. Have fun.
regards,
Robert

Thanks for all the replies. I checked out many of the ones mentioned over at Squadron's site. I ordered Dragon's Maus, Jagdpanther Early, Stug IV, and Airfix's GMC truck. (I couldn't make up my mind! ) I figure if I don't like them, I'll just hold onto them for a couple years until the grandson gets old enough.

Thanks again.