There seems to be a wee gap in modern armor

[nitflegal]

OK, with Hobby Boss now tooling up to release the Type 98 series from China, let's see what's available in 1/35 plastic, shall we?

 

US M1A1 and -A2 done beautifully by Dragon

UK Challenger 2 by Tamiya

German Leopard 2A5/6 by Tamiya, multiple off-shoots like the STRV 122 by other companies

French LeClerc by Tamiya

Italy's Ariete from Trumpeter

Israel's Merkava IV (to be fair, you need to buy Legend's stuff if you want a good Merk III)

Korea's K1A1 from Academy

Japan's Type 90 from Tamiya

China's STZ 99 series from Hobby Boss

 

I'm trying to think, what's missing from the list?

 

Sure Zvezda announced a T-90 last year but I expect to see an Arjun before I see the kit from them. For anyone who wants to do Russian armor you either buy the lousy Skif T-80 kits and graft SP designs resin to them or you buy $200 worth of resin to turn Tamiya's T-72 into a T-90. I just continue to not understand why there is no good modern Russian armor out there, it's not like 0 years ago when reference was spotty.

 

Matt

[Corinthian]

Sure Zvezda announced a T-90 last year but I expect to see an Arjun before I see the kit from them. For anyone who wants to do Russian armor you either buy the lousy Skif T-80 kits and graft SP designs resin to them or you buy $200 worth of resin to turn Tamiya's T-72 into a T-90. I just continue to not understand why there is no good modern Russian armor out there, it's not like 0 years ago when reference was spotty.

 

Matt

 

So true. I guess these companies see that modern Soviet/Russian stuff won't sell as much compared to the rest. The PLA stuff comes out thanks largely to the fact that HB and Trump are in China. Seems that the only way we could have a very decent modern Russian/Soviet tank kit (i.e., T-64 to current T-xx series) would be if HB, Trump, Tamiya, et. al. setup a factory in Russia.

 

Tamiya has the T-55 though (which from what I've read is an excellent kit). The best T-72 OOTB is by Tamiya as well, but I've heard there are still problems, particularly the turret. Other than that....

 

Trump will be coming out with two T-62s, hopefully they'll be nice. And hopefully it'll sell well for the company to finally come out with more modern Soviet/Russian stuff.

Edited June 29, 2009 by TomasCTT

[Corinthian]

Modern Russian/Soviet also do not do well in competition it seems (at least over here). German WW2 still dominates, followed by any-other-country WW2, then Israeli. Modern US, British, German, etc get lower marks whereas French gets the tail end (complete with the comments similar to "cheese-eating surrender monkeys" yep, now you know the kind of "crowd" of modelers we have here )

[ShotMagnet]

There is a resin replacement for the Tamiya T-72 turret, though it's not cheap.

 

Some of the Zvesda kits are supposed to be very good, and they have either a T-62 or a -64, can't remember which.

 

I'd like to see a new tooling of a T-72 myself, or a T-80.

 

You're right, Matt. Modern Russian armor seems pretty thin on the ground. At a guess, I'd say that at least part of the reason is that modern Russian armor is both commonplace, and was never on the winning side of a modern tank battle.

 

German WWII stuff continues to sell like crack because there's so very much to model, and because the Germans turned out some ass-kicking armor. Regardless of their other flaws, German armor did inspire a lot of fear/respect. They may have lost the war, but they exacted a price for it.

 

MRA, on the other hand, has not. There were no tank battles on the central plains of Germany featuring hoardes of T-72s and -80s bashing themselves against NATO lines. The masses of Soviet Cold War-era tanks never fought a war, and so never generated the same incentive to model as a bit of 3D history tanks which did fight (such as the Abrams, and the Challenger). You can't look at a T-72 and say 'Yeah, this tank slammed into NATO defenses and dueled with the Abrams', whereas you can take an Abrams and tart it up to look like something which participated in OIF, DS, etc. I believe Tomas and friends did just that, in fact.

 

 

Shot

[dejawolf]

there's a T-72B from revell, but its horrible..

[Corinthian]

Dejawolf: IIRC, Jacques said it's a reboxed Dragon kit, hence the quality.

 

German WWII stuff continues to sell like crack because there's so very much to model, and because the Germans turned out some ass-kicking armor. Regardless of their other flaws, German armor did inspire a lot of fear/respect.

 

I reckon there are more T-72 and T-80 upgrade variants than versions of the Tiger and Panther. And the T-72 and -80 are more ass-kicking armour compared to the usual German WW2 fluff. As for inspiring fear/respect, hell, if thousands upon thousands of -72s and -80s doesn't alone inspire fear, I dunno what will.

 

MRA, on the other hand, has not. There were no tank battles on the central plains of Germany featuring hoardes of T-72s and -80s bashing themselves against NATO lines. The masses of Soviet Cold War-era tanks never fought a war, and so never generated the same incentive to model as a bit of 3D history tanks which did fight (such as the Abrams, and the Challenger). You can't look at a T-72 and say 'Yeah, this tank slammed into NATO defenses and dueled with the Abrams'

 

If only the Cold War turned hot, there'd be more modern Sov/Russ subjects for us irradiated modelers with five arms, fifteen fingers, and three eyes.

 

As for bashing, one can always do the Chechen wars or say "this T-72 kicked Georgian ass!"

[nitflegal]

Dejawolf: IIRC, Jacques said it's a reboxed Dragon kit, hence the quality.

I reckon there are more T-72 and T-80 upgrade variants than versions of the Tiger and Panther. And the T-72 and -80 are more ass-kicking armour compared to the usual German WW2 fluff. As for inspiring fear/respect, hell, if thousands upon thousands of -72s and -80s doesn't alone inspire fear, I dunno what will.

If only the Cold War turned hot, there'd be more modern Sov/Russ subjects for us irradiated modelers with five arms, fifteen fingers, and three eyes.

 

As for bashing, one can always do the Chechen wars or say "this T-72 kicked Georgian ass!"

 

I buy that to an extent and I can understand some national pride from the model companies leading to taking on their own tanks. However, when we have an Ariete and a K1a1 without a Soviet/Russian modern tank something seems screwy. I've got to think that if a new tool Ariete sells enough to be profitable then a T-90 would as well. Besides, I remember conventional wisdom being that there was no use to a new Sherman kit because nobody would buy them. Now, there's a new Sherman kit a quarter because, amazingly enough, people buy them! Supposedly, the Minarm T-90 sets are hot sellers and that requires a $50 kit AND $200 of resin to make the final model. I don't buy that a $60 plastic kit wouldn't be profitable.

 

I realize that the manufacturers are waiting until I buy the Miniarm stuff but I shan't be their patsy this time!

 

Matt

 

Matt

[bad-dice]

Matt,

 

Not you preferred scale I suppose but there are some lovely 1/144 scale models available.

 

 

http://www.miniaturefigurines.co.uk/Catalo...ubCategoryID=18

[nitflegal]

Matt,

 

Not you preferred scale I suppose but there are some lovely 1/144 scale models available.

http://www.miniaturefigurines.co.uk/Catalo...ubCategoryID=18

 

Yeah, now if they could pantograph them up to 1/35. . .

 

Seriously, it just bugs me, obviously. It's either just an aversion to their stuff or mistaken beliefs on appeal. I remember when Shermans, Allied armor, Japanese carriers, etc were all considered to risky to produce because nobody would buy them. Lo and behold, people seem to be buying them.

 

Matt

Edited July 1, 2009 by nitflegal

[Manic Moran]

Yeah, now if they could pantograph them up to 1/35. . .

 

Seriously, it just bugs me, obviously. It's either just an aversion to their stuff or mistaken beliefs on appeal. I remember when Shermans, Allied armor, Japanese carriers, etc were all considered to risky to produce because nobody would buy them. Lo and behold, people seem to be buying them.

 

Matt

 

I recall building a T-72 by Esci which at least looked like a T-72. Not entirely sure about the accuracy, but it seemed a good base. (They also did a T-55)

 

The odd thing is that it's not as if Russian 1/35 is ignored. There are BRDMs, BTRs, SA-6s, Shilkas, Gaskins, BMPs, even tank transporters. Just no proper tanks.

If China has T-80Us, why hasn't Trumpeter made one yet? Korea has them as well, surely there's a Korean model manufacturer?

 

NTM

Edited July 17, 2009 by Manic Moran

[ShotMagnet]

The really funny part is that South Korea uses (or used, at any rate) T-80s. Why that fact hasn't inspired a new tooling from, say, Academy is a question for the ages.

 

 

I reckon there are more T-72 and T-80 upgrade variants than versions of the Tiger and Panther.

You're probably correct, but that's not quite what I meant, and I could point out as well that there were probably more variants of the Pz II, -III, and -IV, individually, than there are of the T-72 or the T-80. Same for the Sdkfz 250, and the -251.

 

 

Shot

[Corinthian]

New model of a Chieftain. Its actually quite good for its age, but some elements could do with cleaning up. It would be nice to have alternate spues available to build modded iranian ones for example.

 

But only after I finish mine, please. I'll probably lose my mind if Trumpeter or Hobby Boss announces they'll make a 1/35 Chieftain Mk11 with dozer blade. The amount of money and tender-loving-care (not to mention spit and blood - spit for the Milliput, blood from the knife wounds ) has put the build's cost in the five figures of pesos already. Sure, I might've done better using Accurate Armour's conversion kit, but I'm a hard headed fool who insists on doing a full interior, so there.

 

Accurate Armour's Conqueror and Chieftain AVLB are soooooooooooooooooo tempting. I do wish that some company makes a plastic Conqueror even if quality won't be at par with that of Accurate Armour's resin kit.

[Jacques]

T-54: Trumpeter (poor), Tamiya T-55 and Tank Workshop (tank maker) conversion

T-55: Tamiya

T-62: Tamiya (poor), SP Designs conversions for Tamiya kit, SOON Trumpeter kit

T-64: SKIF, SP Designs Conversions, Miniarm Conversions

T-72: Tamiya Kit (good, kit represents a ACCURATE rare E.German tank). Lots of conversions.

T-80: -B from DML(poor). -UD from DML and SKIF (poor). SP Designs Conversion for-U and -UD on SKIF kits.

T-84: Nothing

T-90: Conversion from Miniart for Tamiy T-72.

[Corinthian]

Trump's 1/35 T-62 has finally arrived at our shores. Haven't checked the price though. Any evals on the product?

[ShotMagnet]

IIRC there are actually two distinct boxings. Both look interesting, with the expected chrome and trim. One has the DshK, one does not.

 

 

Shot

[Corinthian]

Jacques or anyone, is the Unimodel T-55AD1 based on the Esci or Trump or other older pre-Tamiya T-55 kits? Or is it their own mold, and if so how does it stack up with Tamiya? It sports an interior (more or less) and Drozd APS. I'm sorta interested in it, although chucking out main kit and retaining the interior and APS stuff for a Tamiya kit sounds like a not-so-cost-effective solution.

Edited September 25, 2009 by TomasCTT

[Jacques]

Stay away, it is the SKIF T-55 base kit. Worse than the Trumpeter and Esci kits. That is why it has some interior detail.

 

Pass. Build that T-62.

[Corinthian]

Thanks for the tip!

[TonyE]

Thomas, Perth Military Modelling Site has a preview of the forthcoming Trumpeter T-62 : http://www.perthmilitarymodelling.com/revi...r00376prev.html

 

It looks quite good.

[Guest Razorclaw]

Here's a Miniarm conversion of Tamiya T-72 done by Anton Melnikov:

 

 

 

http://kr.armorama.com/modules.php?op=modl...&artid=2593

 

Simply awesome. I can't wait for the Zvezda T-90 kit.

[nitflegal]

Here's a Miniarm conversion of Tamiya T-72 done by Anton Melnikov:

 

http://kr.armorama.com/modules.php?op=modl...&artid=2593

 

Simply awesome. I can't wait for the Zvezda T-90 kit.

 

Yeh, the Miniarm stuff does build up into a lovely kit. I hope Zvezda does pull through with the kit, their recent kits have been a real leap forward in quality.

 

Matt