As I posted in the “Christmas/Santa” gift threads, I got a little extra money this year, so I thought that instead of more kits, which I have a decent stash of right now, I’d get some extras that I ordinarily wouldn’t get. Anyway, my question is this;
Besides AEF Designs, are there other companies out there with conversion kits for the 1/35 Tamiya M3A2 halftrack? In particular, I’m looking for anti-tank guns or tank destroyer versions.
Also, how quick does AEF Designs fill orders? Quality of product? Problems?
Big old can o’ worms here. Some folks swear by them, always rushing to defend AEF Designs during posts like these at Missing Links. The majority will chime in regarding lack of quality control, long wait times for orders, missing pieces in conversion sets, poor molding, etc.
My personal experience was some incomplete poured pieces, some accessory parts that were just resin cast kit pieces, and the like. I did buy a T-72 turret off of eBay once and it was superb.
I think this is as good a time as any to begin your downward spiral into scratchbuilding. You may as well as get fitted for a straightjacket like the rest of us inmates…besides, the rewards are better.
Did you check with Squadron to see if they have anything al la verlinden, azimut, etc?
Yeah, I think that’s going to be the case. More and more the things I’m wanting to do aren’t available in kits or AM sets. I’ve just been holding out from taking that last step into the deep end of scratch building.
I have purchased from AEF Designs once. Took about 3 weeks to get here. I got a watercan set (resin), a watercan rack set (photoetched), and a Tiran 5 conversion. The watercan set had numerous pieces that weren’t poured very well, but they weren’t hard to fix either. I just used a little zap-a-gap and voila! problem fixed. The photoetched set was actually great. Pieces seperated from the tree nicely and folded well. Haven’t used the Tiran set yet, but it looks great in the bag and box.
However, I highly recommend you go with the scratchbuild. Lots more bragging rights to go along with that method you know…
Scratchbuilding is a slippery slope sort of activity. Eventually you’ll turn into some kind of neurotic, Doc Brown cutting styrene and sculpting putty in a corner in the basement, marveling at your own greatness as you admire the ventilator you just made.[:)]
Didn’t KMC make some of these coversions also. I believe they are out of business now, but Trakz or another company accquired the molds if I remember right…
Wow! I didn’t even remember starting this post. Thanks for all the help, though. This whole idea went to the back burner as I got caught up in some other builds, then they went on hold as work interfered with my hobby time.
I’ll eventually get back around to this idea, since I’ve always been a big fan of the halftracks and their variants…
