Hey,
I’m wondering if Trumpeter’s 1/35 Challenger II’s are any good. I found the Iraq 2003 and KFOR versions for twenty bucks at ScaleHobbyist.com (GREAT prices) and I’m wondering if those kits are nice. Any related responses are welcome, and I’m also wondering if one will fit onto Verlinden’s 1/35 Brick Road Section for a little display.
-Jake Edison
Have their (Trumpeters) M1A1 Abrams 3000 miles away. Looked it over and it seems like a good kit. Expect no interior or crew members. I do like their approach to providing the essentials for a buttoned up tank without all the variant options. Besides anyone serious on interiors or engine compartments chooses AM resin anyways.
Value for money [Y]
Finesse on detail [Y]
Fit issues? Never built my kit so no comment.[^o)]
Also mine had 'rubber band style tracks… nice detail but many prefer link & length, indi tracks or scale track cast in lead (white metal) With all the skirt armor I would be happy painting the kit supplied tracks.
Verlinden’s Brick road should work, just realize modern armor is larger than WWII tanks, accept the big German cats. Your Challenger is aprox. 2X the size of a WWII Sherman. Use that figure to gauge the size of the suitable road scene.
I do believe that the early kits were copies of Tamiya and others. I built the Abrams, but wasn’t impressed wit the fit and thought some pieces lacked detail. I recall the plastic was hard and difficult to work with.
Their original Chally 2 (kit #00308) was so-so and had some issues such as the road wheels being out of register and lacking details. Some of the turret details were off too. They were not copies of the Tamiya kit though.
Trumpeter came out with their updated Challenger2 kits; OIF and KFOR (kit #s 00320 and 00345) a few years later. These kits corrected the problems of the older one and added some more. These kits are quite good. Here is a review of them at PMMS. I highly recommend them.