Kit Reviews (Online and In Print)

One of the best sites to get a quick and honest review from is Terry Ashley's Perth Military Modeling Site: http://www.perthmilitarymodelling.com/

Other places like Armorama (good reviews depending on the author) and Missing Lynx (rarely have photographs) are good sources. There are dozens of online sources.

http://www.armorama.com/
http://www.missing-lynx.com/

Print magazines do have good reviews, but many times online reviews have authors who are online and active members of forums. It is easy to contact an author and ask about a specific issue or question you may have. Additionally, an online review author normally has the ability to update a review based on new information or changes to a newly released kit.

This has been discussed before, but is always worth bringing up periodically as there may be new review sites popping up here and there that few of us are aware of.

The problem with reviews online (or anywhere else, for that matter) is that you don't always know the standards being used to judge various aspects of the kit - if the reviewer is a nitpicker over instruction details ,f or example, but doesn't mind too much about using some putty to make imperfect seams meet; they usually focus on a few aspects of the kit and don't necessarily shed any light on other aspects that you might find important.  That's unfortunate but true, given human nature.  At any rate, here are a few review sites I refer to now and then:

http://www.hyperscale.com/     armor, aircraft, ships

http://modelingmadness.com/    armor, aircraft, ships, figures, cars

http://www.steelnavy.com/     navy, eh?  an unbelievable online resource for ship modelers

Rob Gronovius wrote:

One of the best sites to get a quick and honest review from is Terry Ashley's Perth Military Modeling Site: http://www.perthmilitarymodelling.com/

This is also my #1 choice for honest, comprehensive reviews. The only time I go elsewhere is when the kit or product simply hasn't been reviewed on PMMS.

I enjoy Hyperscale, Aircraft Resource Center, Aeroscale, and Modeling Madness. I've thrown my hat in the ring also with a few build reports & previews, though nothing on the scale of those sites.

I'm a "forgiving" modeler.... by that I mean I don't mind weaknesses in a kit, I look for more fun in the build or the subject matter. Some sites bury a decent little kit in criticism, while others make you wonder if they actually opened the box. I like Hyperscale the bst. I say that because I've found that their review style fits my preferences. If the kit sounds good on Hyperscale, for my tastes I'm probably going to like it when I open the box.

And of course, I like my own reviews.  

Thanks guys,

Some of your recommended sites have gotten to my favorites list.  I did some browsing through them, and I see some useful info. 

These reviews are most useful in getting the quick facts like part counts and decal information.  However, it's nice to know where the tricky assemblies are.  The big Red Flag for me is the phrase "Severe Fit Problems."  Luckily for me, I think most of us are on the same page when it comes to that one.

Semper Fi,

Chris 

This is one reason that I like to watch the in progress builds, on different sites, of kits that I am interested in. They usually have pictures and show the problem areas and how they fixed them.

There are a few that I have multiple "in progress" reports on. My reasoning here is that what one thinks is a minor glitch. Another might think it's gonna take major surgery, with a ball peen hammer thrown in the mix somewhere, to fix.

Okay, I'll go back to my little corner of the world and be quiet now. 

Rob Gronovius wrote:

One of the best sites to get a quick and honest review from is Terry Ashley's Perth Military Modeling Site: http://www.perthmilitarymodelling.com/ Other places like Armorama (good reviews depending on the author) and Missing Lynx (rarely have photographs) are good sources. There are dozens of online sources. http://www.armorama.com/ http://www.missing-lynx.com/ Print magazines do have good reviews, but many times online reviews have authors who are online and active members of forums. It is easy to contact an author and ask about a specific issue or question you may have. Additionally, an online review author normally has the ability to update a review based on new information or changes to a newly released kit.

http://www.cybermodeler.com/ also is a nice site for review.

 And don't forget SMAKR,  it's good for older kits, but it has a lot of pop ups.

http://www.fortunecity.com/meltingpot/portland/971/home.htm

I forgot one: http://www.internetmodeler.com/  also is a good site.

I often read several reviews to a read different views on 1 kit.

all those are good sources .

now it begs to be asked   how good are in box reviews

                  in my opinion many( not all) are a waste of time. i can tell if  it is a waste by one phrase  that many in box reviews have.  the phrase will include two words FIT PROBLEMS   as in" detail is great and i don't see any FIT PROBLEMS"  in a build review it can,is, ans must be stated  how can ANYONE say by looking at the contents of a box that you won't need 8 lbs of filler

In box reviews can be very helpful IF they include photos of all the sprues. A lot of times with my 1/700 ships, the devil is in the small details, and I like to know ahead of time if I'm going to have to buy a ton of aftermarket stuff to make the model look the way I want it to.

Without photos of the sprues, in box reviews are largely valueless, in my opinion.