"Best plastic kit makers, WWII land targets." Topic

A friend asked me today what are the best – accuracy, detail, etc – WWII model kits made today? I used to collect Matchbox in 1/76, with their M3A1 "Honey" or Stuart, the easiest kit to assemble. I also liked the sdkfz251 German half-track, and the 222 light armored car. Fujimi also makd some good models – their 251 was odd when compared to the matchbox model, but great in its own units for a player to know which figures were his to use.

I gave up on WWII when folks switched to 1/72.

My friend remembered Monogram and Revell in larger scales.

Any opinions on 1/72, and larger?

GdeP

Plastic Soldier Company makes many vehicles in both 1/72 and 1/100 scales. They come with extra parts so you can build them in different configurations. Zvezda is also very good and even easier to assemble.

For easy to build it is hard to bear Armourfast

armourfast.com

The caveat being that their range is somewhat limited

If it is accuracy/detail, NOT Armourfast… they are basic gaming models and need some work to improve on basic. OK for their purpose. PSC can be pretty good and relatively cheap…also easy-build. But if 'accuracy and detailing is the requirement, there are hordes of Other manufacturers in 1/72…and also detailing/stowage sources. Not so much in 1/76…but some around. Larger scales…masses. Just have a poke around TMP .
Ask whether individual track links are what is wanted!!! lol

Fujimi, Hasegawa, etc (on expensive side), ESCI (if you can find them…)

Dragon are great but almost impossible to find. Listed on many a store with a nice picture, followed by "out of stock". (If you are lucky…some will take your money and after a few months offer a credit note). Heller, at their best, are as good. Academy if you can find them. Trumpeter not bad at all. UM, Russian company, much better than I had expected. OK, much filing and drilling to get things to fit, but end result……fine and a wide range.

Surprising how many excellent kit reviews you can find on line these days. Choose your subject (Sherman tank is a classic) and you will find comparisons of different makers, indeed everyone who ever had a bash!

try this;

link

Dragon are great but almost impossible to find.

Plenty of Dragon 1/72 armour kits currently listed on ebay. They often come at quite a price though. Back in the 'golden age' of Dragon kits I could buy a pre-painted Dragon model at my local shop for just £1.00 GBP more than the unmade and unpainted kit. Figure that one out. I bought them by the box load.

Pegasus Hobbies easy-build kits are also nice, but are mainly of Soviet subjects. In 1/72.

I don't get the impression that the switch to 1/72 resulted in any improvement in the models on offer; if anything the reverse, though I'm not up to speed with Dragon.

The quality of 1970s / 1980s Airfix, Nitto and Fujimi in 1/76, and of Esci and Hasegawa 1/72, does not seem to me to have been materially improved upon in the last 40 years. There are now 1/72 kits you can throw together and that cost you less money, certainly.

One reason 1/76 originally caught on was that your alternative back then was Roco 1/87, which were and still are astonishingly expensive.

An excellent resource for listings and reviews of 1/76 or 1/72 vehicles, etc:
henk.fox3000.com/index2.htm

The quality of 1970s / 1980s Airfix, Nitto and Fujimi in 1/76, and of Esci and Hasegawa 1/72, does not seem to me to have been materially improved upon in the last 40 years.

One material improvement offered by Revell and Esci is the 'link and length' system of building AFV tracks. Puts the old rubber band offerings in their place. Are you unaware of this change?

Henkofholland I had forgotten, even though I use it a lot!

It is my age. thanks.

People are doing amazing things with the "simple" and economical PSC kits. A good paint job and a bit of super-detailing, better result than anything from the 60s and 70s. People moan about the Airfix Tiger, but, compared to their German Armoured Car, it was a triumph of detail. What about the JS3 also?

You can even 'pimp' the Airfix SdKfz 234 a/c!
link
Not tried it but thinking!
You can get Turret Bins for the Airfix Tiger…but having now got more than I will ever need, I have lost the link, sorry! LOL

You can even 'pimp' the Airfix SdKfz 234 a/c!

I did just that over 40 years ago. Some plastic card over the incorrect double mudguards to make them look like a single large one, and the spare short 75mm gun from the Airfix Panzer IV to make a 234/3.

@ deephorse

I forgot about those, having never built one. I never really had an issue with tracks though. Some kits' tracks certainly were too thick – the Airfix Panzer IV springs to mind – but it wasn't a universal problem.

I was really thinking more of dimensions / proportions issues.

I took a 234 and panzer 2, swapped turret for gun and ended up with a 234/1 and Marder 2. The turret took more work than it was worth. Now with so many resin kits there are more efficient ways to do it.

More efficient, but not half as satisfying as working out the swaps and then actually doing the conversion yourself. The 234 is transformed with those new mudguards.

I never really had an issue with tracks though. Some kits' tracks certainly were too thick – the Airfix Panzer IV springs to mind – but it wasn't a universal problem.

Have you never had the rubber band tracks disintegrate with age? I've had that on a couple of Matchbox kits, and a friend has similar issues with the Airfix Sherman.

Not only could the tracks disintegrate with age, but they could melt the plastic of your model! I have opened a few kits in my day where the details were melted because of the garbage tracks used in those kits (matchbox & Airfix included). It occurred because the plasticizer leeched out of the tracks over time. This would not only make them brittle, but melt the styrene of the kit as well.

I strongly disagree that modern kits in this scale are not much better than Matchbox, Fujumi or Airfix from the day. I don;t do 1/72 anymore, but when I did, the Revell kits were leagues better than anything any of those old companies put out, by a long shot.

Damon.

All my 1/76 were stolen in a house move 25 years ago, so I have never had the luxury of owning any for long enough for the tracks to disintegrate.

The age of the moulds aside there does not appear to me to be much wrong with 1970s-era 1/76. At £6.00 GBP for an Airfix Sherman it looks good enough to me…