1/72 armor

General Discussion FSM Ready Room
1

How small are the part on 1/72 armor are they really tiny

2

Depends,Tigers,Panthers,Modern stuff should be reasonable,but Panzer I or II ,Japanese tanks gotta be pretty small.

3

Everything is going to be about 1/2 the size of a 1/35, so figure 3-4 inches long, tops. Have tweezers handy for the small stuff, and brush up on the language skills, preferably from an old retired 30 year Master Chief from the 50’s-60’s.

4

I am an avid 1/72 scale armor builder and have been building small scale stuff for over 40 years. Although my eyes aren’t as good so I have been building bigger stuff recently. Some kits are miniscule, and when you add PE, it gets darn right tiny.

But there are some newer kits often marketed as “quick build” or for wargaming. These tend to have fewer parts, have molded together subassemblies (like one piece track/suspension parts) to allow for the wargamer to build quickly and have a more robust kit that will be handled more frequently during table top war games.

Here are some photos of some average 1/72 scale kits I’ve built. The HMMWV is slightly larger than a Matchbox car, which tend to be 1/64 scale.

5

Rob thanks for the pictures nice looking models. I’ve never built 1/72 anything so I ordered a 1/72 tiger kit we will see how it goes I would like to get into building them they don’ take up much space and there cheaply price compared to 1/35 we will see what happens.

Thanks again

6

I typed a long response, but the forum crapped out when I hit “submit your reply” and it all vanished. Bottom line is to visit a couple of sites before spending any good money on 1/72 scale armor. Some are better than others, and some are best left on the shelf.

For general kits see the site http://www.onthewaymodels.com/

and for Shermans see http://www.172shermans.com/

Kits made by Revell and Italeri have very old Matchbox and Esci kits inside some of the boxes. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t any good. Some of the best kits are inside too. You just need to see a review to determine it for yourself. Avoid any Dragon 1/72 scale kit that has a diecast hull; many of them have a problem with the metal crumbling over time. I’ve got a couple that have and a couple that haven’t.

7

Good to see you are interested in 1/72. What Tiger kit did you end up ordering.

8

The Wittman tiger but I chicken out.

9

Rob thanks for the heads up on review sites very helpful

Thanks again

10

I’m a little confused, do you mean you cancelled the order?

11

Exactly it was a dragon model check review not that great thinking about going with revell tiger ll 03138. Not sure yet.

12

Would you mind posting the review . I would like to check it out.

Thanks.

13

Back up to Robs post there a link there that says on your way home it’ a review site for all kinds of 1/72 kits.

14

I actually built that one in the mid 2000s with the Eduard PE zimmerit. I thought it was a pretty good kit, but my paint job was poor and the kit sits in a box with the turret off. I bought a second kit with more PE but haven’t gotten around to it.

15

Like Rob, I love 1/72 armor. I haven’t build nearly as many as he has but have been very inpressed with the quality of the kits.

Revell T-72

Hobby Boss Merkava IV

Trumpeter Sturmtiger. With the wrong air cleaners but I didn’t know at the time.

Dragon Ha Go w/ the Merk

16

Oh yeah, I forgot these two.

Revell Sdkfz 7

Hasegawa Kublewagon

17

MC great looking models I’m going to try the revell tiger ll and see how I like it .there awful small but neat looking.I have a 1/48 or suppose to be m4a3 Sherman I don’t think it’ 1/48 the hole model fits in the palm of my hand I’ve hand a ot of fun with it.I enjoyed it more than the 1/35.

18

M.C, Nice builds

19

Thank you, 1/72 is almost all I do in armor anymore. They are supper fun, small, easy to store, relatively inexpensive and so CUTE.

Steve