I have been hearing alot about all these new top of the line armor kits made by Dragon. I have only built a Dragon 251/1, and it was okay, but the 1/35 scale individual links were a pain to put together, and the axels for the tank tread portion was very hard to attach straight. All this hype about the Dragon kits has aroused my attention and I might get one soon. Wut is the scoop on some of these new kits, and are they any good? if so, which ones?
there Panther A late is a great kit so are there Tiger 2s ive got there 251/22 thats the half track with 75mm gun and it looks great and the Russian sherman M4A2 and that comes with a nice alum barrel, PE, and one peice track (its better that way than the old track links on there fireflys)
All the hype surrounds the newer releases with so many extra goods, it’s just sick. Who needs AM when you can get 3-in-1 kits with aluminum barrels and pe? Just so much bang for the buck with Dragon.
Yep, the three in ones are the way to go. I got the Tiger one, which has aluminum barrel, 110 pieces of PE, a preformed bucket, figures, brass ammo, brass towing shackles for $25
Hopefully Dragon wants to take over the armor modeling world. $25 for a Tiger with all those goods, whom can compete with that?
DML Rocks[:D][:D]
Please tell us all your thoughts leading you to that decision. I cannot fully accept your assesment without full documentation
Yep, they will take the armor modeling world and once they got it they will either start raising the prices or start chraging extra for some bits. Count on it. [;)]
Tamiya charges what, $30 for theirs? And you dont get all the extra goodies
Ya, you gotta love it when you build a kit and there are so many goodies left over.But it’s late and I don’thave the time to list references!![}:)]
Yes, Tamiya charges more but once they are gone as a major players you can expect the others to up their prices or their packaging.
They would be stupid not to do so. Add to that labour costs are expected to go up drastically in china over the next few years as the economy picks up further and in lets say 4~5 yrs Dragon will struggle to maintain the current low prices.
Weve now got an excuse for our large collections[:D]
start stockpiling
yes, all that said about what they include in the kits. But here is what is missing, good instructions. I am working on the Gulf war 03 Abrams and in my opinion it is a nightmare. Tamiya, you can look at the directions and build the darn thing.
I am in the process of building the 251/7 from DML and it is awesome with all the goods and such that I wanted in order to start building a parts box. But I agree, I miss the explicit instructions and some of the vehicle history that Tamiya offers.
Also, I started modelling in the early 70’s and back then it was all Italeri, Revell and Monogram in the military stuff, then Tamiya came in with inexpensive, great kits!!! Then Tamiya cornered the market and the prices rose. I got out of modeling for about 20 years and am just now starting back and I’ll tell you COMPETITION BETWEEN VENDORS IS GOOD!!! And each have their strong points, so go out there and buy!!! [:-,]
I think most of the hype from the recent slew of Dragon kits is the fact that they come in boxes that are very full. I caved and bought one of their 251 3-in-1 kits, and I can most definitely say that you get your money’s worth. The boxes are FULL of parts and bonuses. You’ll get an amazing model out of the box, and a very happy spares box as well.
Ive only built a couple of Dragon kits, first one was the T-34 mod 1941. all I can say is it was one of the funnest kits Ive ever built. it has absolutely no problems with fit or anything like that, and Im not an expert but it looks right to me. also has a metal barrel, photoetch, wire cables, and clear headlight parts. and yes, seperate track links as well, but they were very easy, and, dare I say, sort of fun to put together, paint and get the sag just right. After I built that one, Ive been picking up a lot of the ‘39-45 series’ kits, which for the most part have the extra stuff in there with them.
The second one Im building is the 7.5 cm PaK 40 with gun crew. Again, awesome detail, fit together well. the only thing I have left is finishing the soldiers and the ammo, and then putting it on a base and weathering. I think it took about 3 evenings work to finish the gun, and its taken me about a month of chipping away at to get to where I am now. figures just take me forever. but anyway, based on these 2 kits, Im looking forward to building some more of these. I hear that some of the ‘imperial series’ kits are hit and miss, as well as some of the modern arrmor, but I havent tried any of these so cant really say.
Great kit + good puzzel = Dragon kit
Dragon figures are top of the line, and the newer models are just awesome. I don’t get into resin items, but I think Dragon has a great foothold on the plastic world.
Cheers!
Mike
Sounds good to me, mind if YOU tell my wife. [;)]
Perhaps a form letter we could all use? On FSM letterhead?