New modern russian kits.

Thanks for the review. Keep us posted when you strart building the models.
mark956

Yeah, I'm looking forward to hearing more about these. Are they Plastic injection molds or resin? (Sound like resin with the high price)

I'd like to know if they are comparable to or better than ACE.

The kits are plastic and 1/35th scale. The quality isn't Tamiya or DML, they are probably closer in quality to Italeri. I haven't built an ACE kit, so I couldn't compare the two companies.

Its always good to hear reviews on Russian kits. I am building a Tamiya 1/35 scale T-55A presently.

I'm building the Skif BMP-3 right now, which has gotten me more interested in modern Russian armor.
I've never built an Eastern Express kit, but I hope they're easier builds than this Skif!

My experience with Eastern Express is the PT-76B light amphibious tank. It came molded in white, medium and light gray. Decent enough kit, far superior to the old Ringo/ITC/Glencoe PT-76 but not up to the same quality as modern kits of even Italeri's caliber.

I also have the Eastern Express BRDM-1U. Inside was the same exact kit as the Arsenal BRDM-1. The only difference was the color of the plastic, medium gray vs. light gray. Both kits came with the exact same markings; however, one of them came with a set of Egyptian markings as well. Don't recall which boxing had the Egyptian markings though. Very crude, but nice kit. I found the Eduard PE set for it and would go as far as to say it's use would be mandatory to produce an acceptable model (or a lot of scratchbuilding).

QUOTE: Originally posted by J-Hulk I'm building the Skif BMP-3 right now, which has gotten me more interested in modern Russian armor. I've never built an Eastern Express kit, but I hope they're easier builds than this Skif!

I know what you mean about Skif kits. I'm working on the Skif 2s1 and it has been a challenge so far. Building the lower hull and getting it lined up properly took a couple of days. I bought the Eduard set and a Modelpoint barrel for this kit and they vastly improve the basic kit. I have a link to a several good reference pictures for the 2s1. I'm thinking of painting it in Syrian colors. As for the EE kits, I think they provide a good base with which to build into a good model. I do like their KV series. How is the BMP-3 going? I have it, but haven't started building it yet.

Sounds like I might have to expand my Russian armor with an Eastern Express kit or two!

The BMP-3 is almost ready for paint. As Rob mentioned about the EE kit above, the Eduard PE set is just about a necessity to make an accurate BMP-3 with the Skif kit. Most of the detail is way overscale, and some of it is just plain wrong, according to the tons of ref pix I used. Which are absolutely necessary, as the instructions are extremely vague as to the location and positioning of many parts. Fit varies from great to rotten.

Be prepared for LOTS of cleaning, which basically translates into re-sculpting each and every piece. The sprue attachment points are huge, often extending onto the face of the parts themselves, and are very poorly planned out.

Then there are the myriad sinkholes and ejector pin marks that have to be filled. Right smack-dab in the middle of outward-facing pieces!
Seriously, it's almost as if they intentionally engineered the kit to require the absolute maximum amount of clean-up. Bless their hearts...

Having done all that grousing, I'm actually enjoying the build! It's taking a tremendous amount of work, but it's all coming together and is going to be a good representation of a BMP-3 when it's all said and done.

The kits seem to be a little crude but they build up to be very accurate models usually. Their WWII Russian tanks are better than the Tamiya kits in terms of accuracy. There's a little more to clean up, but that doesn't detract from the kits. Armour modelers got it easy. The sink holes are nothing like the number of ejection pin marks that need to be cleaned from new Trumpeter aircraft kits. And people are putting Trumpeter in the same league as Tamigawa!