best 1/72 scale armor

Modeling Subjects Armor
1

Who do you guys think makes the best 1/72 scale armor kits?

2

Revell of Germany is tops overall, but there are several very good kits among just about all 1/72 scale manufacturers. Revell does have a dog or two (StuG IV, M4A1 Sherman) but their kits are generally very good.

3

I liked ESCI but not sure if you can find them these days.

Regards, Dan

4

ESCI is available from Italeri now. Not everything but enough to keep you busy all summer. I just saw a M48 in my local hobby shop for under $10.

5

[#ditto]
I personally like the new Revell stuff and the old ESCI (Italeri) kits for detail, good fit, etc.
Hasagawa also has some good stuff but most of the new stuff is German. There are also several companies from Check, Russia, etc bringing out some great kits. These are sometimes a little thicker in detail but still build up nice, ACE, PST, Rodan for some.
A great site to see reviews of 72 stuff is http://www.ontheway.us/default.htm
but you won’t find any 76th stuff as he focuses just on 72. He also has some great links to other small scale armor, definitely worth adding to the bookmarks.

6

Revell Germany for sure, although I’m ready to bet that Trumpeter 1/72 AFV kits will be good! If you want to foray into garage manufacturers, MMS of England (metal) and Millicast of Scotland (resin) are best, often even better than Revell!

7

Rev AG tops all I’ve seen, Dragon makes a really cool mini RC Tiger so I suspect their static kits are pretty good.

8

Ausf,

actually, Dragon’s little AFV are a mixed lot really… They still have some features of the toys they are derived from but some details can be as good or better than Revells. Their tracks are very nicely detailled for instance, but are in a plastic that refuses to let itself be glued. Altogether, Revell and Italeri’s track link/section system is better.

9

I haven’t build much (and by much, I mean like 3 models) in 1/72 scale, but two of the three are Revell, and I liked them well enough.

10

I was disappointed with Dragon’s 1/72 scale armor line. While the tracks looked very nice, they were a bear to work with and the Elefant tracks were way too long to fit the vehicle properly, even when the tracks were tied down for sag.

I was very disappointed in their M1A1 and M1A2. Both were based on motorized vehicles and it made the model look poor.

The Panther has this diecast upper and lower hull that don’t fit too well together. Also dealing with the diecast cased my 10 yr old to have to work with super glue verses the normal styrene cement.

I do have the Rodan JS3 Stalin tank. It is very nice, but the tracks were rather wavy. They only make this tank and two different SdKfz armored cars. My Stalin had short shot sprockets but Squadron.com replaced them for me. Detail was soft, but I used an ExtraTech photo etch set to improve the kit and added an aluminum barrel by Armo.

I also have the ExtraTech M-36 Jackson tank destroyer. Another nice kit, but this one is in the $25 price range. On the plus side, it includes photoetch and resin parts. The plastic tracks and suspension are some of the best I’ve seen for a Sherman chassised vehicle in 1/72 scale.

The two Trumpeter 1/72 scale kits I have are nicely done as well. I have the ZIL-157 cargo and fuel truck. I recommend either of them or the Chinese variant (CA-30? same kit different cab). The ExtraTech photoetch set adds some missing detail like headlight guards and wiper blades.

Still for overall quality and selection, Revell is tops.

11

i’d always liked ESCI, except fot the T34 vinyl silver tracks

12

They’re not quite 1/72, but the most recent 1/76 Fujimi kits are some of the best models I’ve ever built, any scale, period. Excellent detail and fit, with beautiful link-and-length tracks. The JS-2 and JS-2M are absolutely incredible. The Tiger I Late and the JGSDF Type 61, 74, and 90 MBTs are all excellent kits as well.

Beware of Fujimi’s older kits, though. They’re not terrible by any means, but they’re just old, and not up to the current standards as exemplified by the above-mentioned kits. Fujimi did try to improve some of their older kits by re-releasing them with fairly decent link-and-length tracks to replace the entirely silly detail-free rubberband tracks that are supplied with their older stuff.

13

I’ve got a bunch of the Revell AG kits, most of the Dragon kits, and a few others by different manufacturers.

I really like the Revell kits. The Tigers are especially nice and the PzKpw IV is not bad either. The weakest part (literally) of that kit are the shurtzen brackets. Their older kits leave a bit to a lot to be desired.

My biggest complaint of the Dragon kits is that the instructions always seem to have errors in them. Sometimes it’s no big deal, but on others, it can cause some real problems. I had to pull out my 1/35 Elefant and my 1/35 Abrams for reference while doing the 1/72 versions. (The Abrams is a really weak kit, in my opinion!) Like Maj. Rob said, the Elefant tracks were way too long. I wound up trimming off 4 links from each side. Not as easy as it might seem as the end two links from each end of the run overlap each other and need to be shaved in half! But I didn’t have any trouble superglueing them together. Here’s a picture of it.

[image]http://rongeorge.com/albums/armor/elefant72Right.jpg[/image]

I’ve also got an ESCI, a Hasagawa, and an Italeri kit. The ESCI is a mess, the Has tracks are really poor, and the Italeri doesn’t seem to be too bad, but the detail isn’t as good as on the Revell’s.

I understand the Trumpeter kits that have just been released have PE mesh for the engine grills. But I haven’t read anything more about them.

Sometimes, it’s a matter of buying what you can find. i.e. I don’t think anyone but Dragon has a 1/72 Sturmtiger out.

Good luck.

14

Trumpeter has released 1/72 scale Armor? Man! I’m behind the times! Anyone have the link?

I myself have built over 390 tanks and vehicles in 1/72 scale, most of which were the ESCI kits either under that name, or Italeri. I have never had a problem with them, except fot the rubber band tracks that sometimes caused problems. My favorite kits for ease of build and best detail are Revell/Germany and PST in that order. ACE kits build into beautiful models, but it’s a bit of a fight to get them there with all the modifications you sometimes have to do, and all the flash you need to remove. Still, ACE is the place to get all your modern Soviet Armor in this scale.

15

Duke, The only 1/72 Trumpeter I’ve seen so far are the Elefant and Ferdinand. (Check out greatmodels.com and search for tp7204 and tp7205.) They run about $14 retail compared to about $9 for the DML’s. I had one in my hand a couple of weeks ago, but didn’t get it. More are promised, and if I remember, some are subjects I haven’t seen before in 1/72. I remember seeing a Bergepanther (or Bergetiger??) announced, but don’t remember if it was Trumpeter or DML. keep your eyes out!

390?? Wow, that’s an impressive build! Did you do them for wargamming or display?

16

With all the good remarks about Revell, I am going to have to try some kits. I have a PzkpW Mk.III from Revell but haven’t built it yet. I am not familiar with PST…Russian?

Dan

17

PST is Belorussian company I believe, but I’m not positive. It’s defintely Eastern European. I’ve ordered a couple of their kits from the KV-1 and IS-2 series and was very impressed. The plastic is a little soft so you need to be careful assembling them, but the detail is very good. They’ve got a very nice line of variations on both the KV and IS families of vehicles, and a few soft vehicles and towed arty pieces. I’ve heard that they’re now working on the T-34 family but haven’t seen anything official yet.

18

Wow. Thanks for the replies guys. I am looking at synchronizing all my model building to 1/72 scale, mainly because I really enjoy small details and detail painting with my airbrush(can’t get tired of the airbrush!![^][8D]).

Thanks for the link philp. it’s just what i’ve been looking for. a good review site w/ no bs![:D][8D]

Anyone have any recommendations for what 1/72 WWII tank to build? there are lots of choices, and i’d like some of your opinions.[:D] thanks a bunch to all of you.

19

My favourite WWII kits have usually been German vehicles, mainly because there’s more room to do fun things with camo schemes. In the 1/72 scale world there’s also the advantage that there are a lot more (or at least it seems that way) kits for German vehicles, so you’ve got more to chose from…which may or may not be a good thing [;)]

20

There are planty of typical, classic and obscure answers to this, but my suggestion is,
pick a good brand,(as above) and then buy the one you like the colour of, or the look of. Then read about it, and by association read about some others and go from there!

Matt