Which is the better M18 kit?

Modeling Subjects Armor
1

hi all i was wondering if you could help me. My dad wants me to make him a model of a Hellcat for him. Now he flies blackhawks for the Army but he used to fly Cobras and the way he looks at it is that the M10s, M18s were the first gen. of what he did in helicopters. so which do you guys think is better the AFV or Academy? i have heard ups and downs for both but i want to know what you all think. thanks

2

The AFV kit is generally more accurate and better detailed, but the fit of the suspension is terrible. The details of the Academy kit are largely imagination on the part of the designers, but the fit is better. The best thing to do is to combine parts from both kits, but you probably don’t want to do that. Fit issues aside I’d say the AFV kit is going to look better at the end of the day.

3

Afv Club review: http://www.perthmilitarymodelling.com/reviews/vehicles/afvclub/afv35015.htm
Academy review: http://www.perthmilitarymodelling.com/reviews/vehicles/academy/acd35002.htm (this is a newer version with the M36 turret, but should give you the right idea.)

I had both at one time and traded away the Academy kit because I thought the AFV Club kit looked better. I did not build either one, it just looked better in the box to me.

4

thanks guys, i read the perth reviews and that’s why i posted here to see what everyone thought

5

I have the academy kit, it comes with link and length or vinyl tracks. Full interior. I haven’t started work on it yet. I can’t comment about the AFV club kit. The tracks in the academy kit, personally I would use the vinyl they actually are a bit better detailed unless you want to spend ALOT of time with a pin vise, drill bit, and exacto. Or just get some good AM tracks for it. Alot of the accuracy issues with the detailing could be easily solved with some styrene and good reference I am sure. I know the academy kit can be had fairly cheap. I paid very little for mine from another member of this forum. The engraving appears to be crisp and the detailing is pretty decent overall, if a bit simplified on some places in the interior, but it’s in a way to be easily replaced by AM or scratchbuilt parts if you prefer.

6

I have built the AFV Club version. The fit was good. I have pictures of it in the Liberation of Western Europe GB. The suspenison was a little fiddly, but not bad. It probably helped that I used Fruils on it which fit perfectly.

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Mike T.

7

thanks guys, i think go with the AFV one