I came to the forum some time back to get ideas for an armor model. I had been modeling aircraft for sometime and wanted a change. The majority of forum folks told me to start out with the Tamiya M4A1 sherman tank. Let me tell you it was a great build. Loads of enjoyment. Now my next question what other armor models have a similar type build. I mean the fit was great, the detail was great, and building it was pretty easy. So my question to the form is what would be a good second , third, and fourth model to build. I await suggestions from the knowledgeable people who attend this forum. Thanks in advance. Can’t wait to hear some answers
You’re bound to get many answers. Until you feel comfortable attempting indie-tracks and PE, crank out a few more Tamiya offerings. I loved their Wespe, Panzer III L, and Marder III M. You might give Trumpeter’s KV I or II a shot. Fit was pretty good, but it does come with link-and-lengths. There is almost an entire top-run with sag already!
Is there any nationality, time period, types, regions, etc. that you like more than others? Do you want to compliment your aircraft with reguards to the above or try somthing new?
Grizz
Tamiya’s Tiger I is very easy to build, and has good detail as well. I just finished one and it was enjoyable the entire time. Youd want to go for the Early tiger and not the late, unless you want to try applying your own zimmerit paste with putty. Other good vehicles would be Tamiya’s sdkfz 222, Tamiyas T34s, their M8 greyhound or M20 armored cars are also good. Most tamiya vehicles tend to have good detail and excellent fit. Also some of the more recent trumpeter kits are also very good, like their KV series.
Can’t go wrong with any of their (Tamiya’s) Russian offerings for simplicity and great fit.
must agree with the Trumpeters KV series, cheap and fairly straight forward and look great finished.
Hi CJ,
Glad the Sherman turned out everything you were hoping for – I really must fish out mine and finish it! For something new at a similar level…
Okay, here are a few picks: Tamiya’s Abrams are a great build, they almost fall together, with only the bustle racks proving fiddly at all. Vinyl tracks, so no messing around, and they usually fit well on later issues. I second the motion on their Tigers. Their StuG III should be a sweet build at the same complexity level, though there you’ll be looking at zimmerit (try Cavalier, www.cavaliermodels.com/Zimmerit.html, they have a set specifically for this kit – wafer-thin resin sheets that look great on the model). What else? I’ve been very impressed with Trumpeter’s offerings lately. I’ve not completed one yet so I can’t vouch for fit, but as the photos on this forum indicate they can be built into stunning replicas. At a component level, parts count is always higher than Tamiya, but the assembly logic is usually straightforward. While their later kits are pretty ambitious (their Sturer Emil looks a bit of a handful, with a great many very impressive parts in the box), their earlier kits are somewhat less complex. Try a Chinese Type 83 Howitzer, or their M1A1HA – rugged parts and plenty of detail. Dragon – very fine kits, can be complex, so you might think about their new line of simplified models: the same mega-detail but more streamlined assembly.
Happy building,
TB379
Hmm. I am not really much of a WWII guy. However, as far as Polish armor I know that there were Independent Polish forces that were armed with the Russian T-34. Now if you have to choose between Dragon and Tamyia you have to weight some pros and cons. Dragon is more accurate but much much more complicated. Tamyia is much easier to build but is less accurate. However, if you buy even a simple after market update set for Tamyia (like an Eduard Zoom kit) you can build a nice looking T-34. I have built Tamyia’s T-35/85 and the T-35/76 1942 version. The 1942 version I did not buy any after market items, however I did add lots of extra details with scratch building. I have also built Cyberhobby’s (Dragon’s) STZ 1942 (?). It has a major fit problem but once I got past that it was somthing else. I believe that some of the decals in the Tamiya kits are for the Polish army. If not I know that there are companies that do make them.
As far as German armor. I really don’t have much. I have started on building a Bergepanzer III from Dragon’s Panzer III Ausf J. I will tell that there are a lot of pieces in it. But, it is a really nice looking kit.
Grizz
I just went thru this exercise, attempting my first armor. I choose couple 1:72 scale modern tanks in mono-color (no camo lines), would have been a good choice if the kits were any good… next I will do a russian AT and german SPG, also no camo schemes and BOTH TAMIYAs! Will try couple different ways of painting the vinyl threads, some preshading and some moderate weathering. I can then “graduate” to camo Tamiyas, some detailing, etc. Once Im a rising sophmore I can attempt the Dragon-kind. PE? LOL that has to wait until my Junior year 
Other choices and suggestions I found searching around (all “older” Tamiyas and with good reviews):
M41 Walker Bulldog, PzIV Ausf D, Marder III, Matilda, KV1b, M4A3E2 Jumbo
Once I do a few of the above, I will try some of the larger German WW2 with camo…
Then I can try and pick one of the Dragon premium kits I have in my stash 
Not sure if this is a good idea, but sounds good to me! Cheers, james
If you want to try some 70’s/80’s era, I’ve always enjoyed Tamiya’s M113, M48 Patton and M60A3. I’ve built each several times, both straight out of the box and to use as the base vehicle for a conversion.
Pretty much any Tamiya model you pick out you can’t go wrong. I’ve always liked those, myself. Anyway whatever you decide on have fun building it.[tup][#offtopic]So are you into Mopars?