On Sturmtiger kits

Modeling Subjects Armor
1

I know of at least 4 Sturmtiger kits out there:

AFV

Tamiya

Italeri

Revell.

I know the AFV is the standard these days (new moulding and all that) but how are the other kits? Specifically, are the Italeri and Revell re-boxes of others?

Anyone else I neglected to mention make a Sturmtiger in 1/35 scale?

(edited for grammar)

2

The Revell is the Italeri reboxed, and the one I dislike. The engine deck vents are poor.

3

The Revell kit is, indeed the Italeri kit re-boxed. The Italeri kit, though inaccurate in important respects, has the advantages i) of having link&length tracks and ii) being cheap. It’s a good choice if you want something to practice modelling techniques.

There’s no good reason for choosing the Revell kit, because it’s only £2.00 cheaper than the vastly superior AFV Club offering. The Taimya kit, though generally not as good as the AFV Club kit, does have the advantage of indy link tracks, and is only £1.00 more expensive. There is an argument for buying the Italeri kit as a detail add-on for the AFV Club kit. It provides interior detail and link&length tracks, for much less than the interior detail kit that AFV Club has recently released.

Cheers,

Chris.

4

I bought the Tamiya kit about a year ago and spent another $30-$40 bucks on the Eduard “Big Ed” PE kit (Interior and Exterior) with zimmeritt and fancy wheel masks. I quickly found out that it was well beyond my abilities at the time. So, it still sits on my top shelf to this day. I’ll get around to it one day. It looks like a well made kit.

SST

5

Cool-

Thanks gang. I was looking on ebay for one, and the Italeri kits are cheap, whereas the Revell ones are not (go figure). Tamiya is priced higher than the AFV ones…so go figure (or don’t, you’re head may explode)

Of course, this may all be wishfuul thinking currently, as I have enough on the shelf that needs doing, but you guys know how that goes…

6

The various UK MRPs may help to explain this:

Italeri (OOP at the moment, but when it was last available): £11

Revell (which is Italeri re-boxed, remember): £20

AFV Club: £22

Tamya (big name, plus Japanese labour costs): £23

Cheers,

Chris.

7

I built the Italeri version. It’s a decent kit, comes with so-so molded zimmerit. I added PE grills though. The AFV kit is by far the best of the lot for accuracy and detail, but the Italeri is a decent offering at a fair price.