While at one of my hobby shop huants, I noticed a stack of armor kits off to one side of the counter. A German Bison II caught my eye, a rare find. Then I saw the price, $15.00. This is a Mom and Pop shop, so I asked dad what gives are these on sale or you tring to reduce stock. Nope. he answered I found these kits from my supplier. They are from a company called Aian out of St Peterburg Russia. I picked up four kits. The Bison, a panzer II C, A panzer IF, a Zis 5 truck and a maurader II. I openned the bison not expecting much, but lord and behold it looks like a great kit, including photo echted grills, ammo boxes, shells, tools, even a tea kettle with cups. well this kit is going to be bumped up on my schedule. the reason he is able to sell these kits so cheap is because of the dollar exchange. So keep a look out for these kits. They look like a good bang for the buck. I will let you all know how it works out,[:D]
I have never built any Alan models, but they seem to have some interesting subjects. I would like to hear back on the quality. As for the price, $15 is a great price. The Bison is listed at greatmodels for $27!
I’ve got an SU-76M by Alan, I haven’t built it yet. It looks okay, but the super structure armor is way to thick, so I’m not expecting too much from it. It’s a great subject though and I don’t think anyone else makes it in 1/35. A great base kit for a project.
I have an Alan Marder II. Looks decent, but like Spamicus said I too am not expecting much from it. Oops I forgot to mention that I picked up that kit on Ebay for 10 dollars, but after S&H it was about 15 dollars too.
Glad to hear that you got a good price. The owner of my LHS doesn’t seem to believe in the conversion rate, as the prices he charges for Alan kits are stronomical.
Both hobby shops near me don’t carry any Alan, just Tamiya, Some Italeri, and even less Dragon. Around us RC is a big thing so not much model selection and the ones they do have are expensive!
Tamiya is nice, but then remember scer- there is always the internet. I love technology- it allows me to spend more money on models than ever before.
Wish my wife would let me spend all the money I wanted to.
The wife is all part of Checks and Balances. She keeps me in line, most of the time[;)]
So do you write the checks and she keeps the balance? [:o)]
Beware of the Su-76. The molds for this kit have been passed around between several companies and all of the kits have been beasts. Most of the reviews of this kit recommend extensive scratchbuilding or finding the rare aftermarket improvement kits. OTOH, I have the Alan Bison II and it looks good in the box. I think I will probably replace the tracks and use a p/e set to improve some of the details.