I found a few zwelda or zwezka? kits in a shop, and was woundering what you guys/gals thought about these manufactures?
The kits are:
a command type tank based of the italian light tanks?
and a panzer of some sort?
most of it is in russian with very little german or english on the box?
the zwezka? or what ever the box type said was all in russian texy so I don’t even think I got the spelling correct?[%-)]
Zvezda is the common spelling. I’ve yet to meet someone who has built an AFV from Zvezda’s range and who hasn’t had some sort of problems. Fit is apparently the weak point of those kits. Detail-wise, I think they are good.
IIRC, Zvezda also carries a few reboxed Italeri kits. The Italian command tank may be one of those.
The Zvezda kits I have seem to be okay. The fit is a little shaky and the plastic is a tad soft, but the detail is adequate.
Redleg,
Sherm is right the Italeri command tank is a reboxed Zvezda kit. I just finished a coat of paint on the one I’m doing. It’s a cute little tank. It’s not big. It’s like doing a 1/72 only the tools are bigger. Cookie Sewell likes it in his review. ( It will be uner Italeri)
http://www.amps-armor.org/Reviews/AmpsReviews2.asp
Here’s a finished one I came across
http://www.missing-lynx.com/articles/german/dpbefels/dpbefels.htm
Spamicus is right as well. The plastic is soft - almost like little green army men soft. Only thing is it glues well. The glue really softens and bonds the pieces.
Their Ruusian tank destoyer series is suppose to be very good ( again, according to Cookie) Only problems as mentioned above - as far as fit and clean up of sprues. I just started Italeri’s SU-152 ( it’s a re-box of the Zvezda ) and they are right. The suspesion arms are terribly molded and there is some snot on the pieces but it’s shaping up into a nice model.
I think it’s very similiar to Italeri’s kits - I think they are worth the effort.
Hey, it sounds ok, I might give one of those Zvezda kits a try. I’ll get back to you guys if I ever do.
Avoid the Zvezda T-60 WW2 Russian light tank, thought to be the worst tank kit in 1/35 scale. Their T-34 series tanks are very nice though, superior to the Tamiya T-34 kits.
Oh yeah, the modern Soviet armor Zvezda has on the market (T-72, BMP, BTR-70) are reboxed DML kits.
Zvezda is ok…Just steer clear of the Maquette kits. I tried to build the Bison and it was terrible, I was basically a Zvezda kit reboxed with some resin pieces.
Which wouldn’t have been too bad if the resin wasn’t paper thin, had holes in it and was warped [xx(]
Yeah, I’ve heard similarly mixed reviews about the Zvezda and Maquette kits here as well. A couple of my club buds have built them, and said they have their problems but make nice models if you put a little work into 'em.
Thanks for the heads up, I might just pick both the kits up and do a blown off the trail dio or something? The prices are right, around 12 euro each, that’s not to bad.