I read some of your posts about Dragon armour, some good some bad. I’d have to say that the kits I built I thought were good. I built the Challenger II offerings both, the Operation Telic version(Iraq) and the KFOR version. The details, I thought were good compared to Airfix, Hasegawa, and even Revell Germany. The tracks fit tight against the running gear, and hatches aren’t positionable but for the money and subject they are good kits. Comparing them to my 1/35 Trumpeter Challenger II, I’d say Dragon did alright.
I have several Dragon kits a swell. I haven’t built any yet, but looking at the parts; they have great detail and crisp molding. I can’t wait to get started on one.
I built the Tiger 1 with the molded in zim, and by and large it was ok. A bunch of us did for the Mad Tiger Day GB, and I think just about all of us had the same problem: the rear idler wheels would not fit between the last set of roadwheels. Other than that, they seem to be getting good press.
I think the bad rap (at least in my case) given to the Dragon 1/72 is based on the diecast hull kits. The straight plastic ones are fine but there’s little you can do with the diecast hulls. They are more toyish that model kits in my opinion.
I completely agree with Ausf. Those metal hulls are a complete pain. I’m not keen on Dragon’s tracks either. I much prefer the Revell Germany system of indi track links and sections.
I am building the Dragon Tiger with molded on Zim. However I am kit bashing it with an extra Revell Tiger 1 Ausf E I had in the stash.
The Dragon kit is pretty good but it it has some weak areas.
Some of the Dragon details arn’t that great so I am replacing some parts with the Revell ones.
So far I have used the gun barrel, sprockets (which are awful on the dragon kit), I shaved off the Dragon Cupola and used the revell one with mg ring. There are a few other minor things I may use still as I am not done.
Hopefully the Revell tracks will work on it but I am not there yet.
Its been a good experience kit bashing of which I havn’t done much. I could have just put Zim on the Revell kit which is excellent but…
A I don’t have any experience with doing Zim yet.
B. I don’t like buying AM parts unless I can help it.