first armor model?

Here is the thread someone else recently started with the same question.
http://www.finescale.com/fsm/community/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=10627

The jeep is a fun little project. I built the M151A2 with TOW as one of my first armor adventures.

Tamiya make both the WWII Willys and a Viet Nam Ford MUTT which would be good choices. You could also do a German Kubelwagen (their jeep) or even one of the many half-tracks. Tamiya has several offerings under $20.00 although some of the older ones have some inaccuracies ranging from very minor to glaringly wrong.
Hobby Craft does a Fedayeen technical (armed civilian vehicle) but I don't know how good it is (I think it is reboxed Academy).

Tamiya's Kubelwagen is a nice little build. Very inexpensive also. it goes together nicely, with no problems.

You could get a Sherman tank and join the Sherman family group build starting on Jan 15, 2004.
mark956

If you buy Tamiya's Willys MB Jeep, kit #35219, you will be pleased. It is one of the finest Jeep kits produced to date. It runs about $15 or so and comes with a driver's figure. It is the tops in WW2 Jeeps.

There is a couple of older Tamiya Jeeps, one is the SAS Jeep with British soldiers in Bedouin gear and another that comes with a trailer. These are older kits and not as nice. It is best to avoid these as they are rather dated.

If you'd like to do a Korean War era Jeep, Skybow makes the M38A1 and M38A1C with recoilless rifle. Both of these kits are top notch and you will not be disappointed. AFV Club now reboxes the M38A1 Jeep.

If you like a Cold War Jeep, Tamiya's M151A2 series is decent. Academy makes exact copies of these Jeeps and have also released several of their own updated ones, both the Vietnam era M151A1 and the more modern M151A2 (we used these into the late 80s and I even saw National Guard units with them in 1992). The model manufacturers refer to these Jeeps as "MUTT"s (military utility tactical trucks), but we just called them Jeeps.

Any of the new tool Tamiya Jeep, Kubelwagens, and Schwimwagen would be a great first kit. The detailing and fit of these kits is top rate.

I wouldn't necessarily avoid the older offerings from Tamiya in their tank/armored car range. Some of these kits were quite good and many of the kits are the only ones available of these vehicles in plastic. They are some of the best beginner kits we have today. You will have to do some filling and the detail is not the best (and sometimes it is outright wrong), but they are priced reasonable and will give you a good way to strech your abilities and not break the bank.

Let me throw in a vote for the Italeri M7 Priest. This is essentially a howitzer on a Sherman chassis. The kit went together well and it was easy to paint. There is also quite a bit of info on the web about them.

My first armor was Revell Germany's 1/72 Vickers Challenger 1 tank.

I have no complaints about it, it practically fell together with very little adjustments to parts.

I had it together and painted in the space of a couple of weekends and am quite proud of it, it turned out much better than I ever could have hoped for my first model in a new subject field.

QUOTE: Originally posted by mark956 You could get a Sherman tank and join the Sherman family group build starting on Jan 15, 2004. mark956

What is the Sherman family group build? Pardon my ignorance, but I've never heard of it before.
Also, to everyone, thanks for the recommendations.

Starting Jan 15, 2004 a group of FSM armor forum members will start building a sherman tank any scale or variant of the M4 Sherman is allowed. You can look at the Sherman family group build thread at the top of the page. The group will build the Sherman variants for 2 months and during the time of the build every one can post progress pictures of the build of their tank(s) We will discuss any problems that group members have and try to help out . I believe it will be really fun. This will be my first group build. I do hope you join us DDRmainic122002. ShermanFreak is the head of the group build and He can give you more information on the build if you are interested.
mark956

My first armour kit was Tamiyas Panther A.
A bit inacurate by todays standard but builds into a descent looking tank, cheap too.
Good luck with whatever you build anyway.
Gotter.

I say build Tamiya's Panzer II F/G. It was my first armor kit and I really enjoyed it(in fact, it got me hooked! It runs about $10 on Ebay so it won't severely impact your wallet either.