Why PE?

A better scale look.
Pieces like headlight guards and handles are to small to mold in plastic and still keep them in scale while also keeping them from breaking when you touch them.
If you have never tried PE try it and you see what I mean. Just remember you don't have to use ever piece of PE that comes in the package.

Yup, PE offers better scale effect. Some plastic bits in the kits are just too thick, which PE can fix. It doesn't have anything to do with painting.

Conversely, some PE parts can be too thin, so you have to decide which way you want to go.

I usually use 70-80% of a PE set.
Unless it's Aber, and then I use only about half of it!

PE also offers gives parts/detail that may not be offered in the basic kit. I'm finding this to be very true while building the Skif 2s1. This kit needs a lot of help to improve the detail and PE is making it look better each time I work on it.

Geez, yeah! I forgot about that, even as I'm using Eduard's fine PE set on Skif's BMP-3.
Plenty of detail not included in the kit that is in the PE set, plus a lot of corrections for just plain wrong detail.

.......i'm sold.......i'm going right to their site.for a look around...eduard.com?.....jeffl

.......cant find....please....jeffl.

QUOTE: Originally posted by jeffl .......cant find....please....jeffl.

Any of the mail order houses will have it.

Many LHS's stock it.
But many LHS's keep it under lock and key. Too many 5 finger discounts.

well, I ordered my first PE set. Eduard's for tamiya's SAS landrover. it should be in any time here. I can hardly wait to use it.

QUOTE: Originally posted by J-Hulk [ I usually use 70-80% of a PE set. Unless it's Aber, and then I use only about half of it!

Wha..? But.. but.. I just ordered 30 bucks worth of Aber for my Tiger 1...

Oh, eh, Chris.. From my own experiances with Land Rovers, PE is hardly neccesary, because the squaddies put sooooo much paint on them that plastic parts are in scale.. Under about 2 coats of (brushed!) NATO green there's at least 2 camo schemes and a solid green. Underneath all that is my car.

A good choice for a first PE set would be the deck screen for various German Armor kits (Panther and Tiger I in particular are good choices).

These are easy to put on. Are usually fairly large, so they don't get tweezer-launched, and add a great deal of scale effect. That way you can see exactly what the PE really does add. They also don't cost a tremendous amount of money.

Once you get started using PE, it's hard to stop.

I'm totally sold on getting pe grilles for any future tank that needs them. Just really makes a world of difference. I have yet to dabble in much else. Some of those parts are darn tiny, they scare me off. LOL

........i should have known...i walked into a LHS ( l did buy some paint ) the place had a few armor plastic sets on their lowest shelf...waist level had ships & planes...eye level had tons of cars...the rest of the store was railroad stuff...i asked the lady...excuse me ma'am have you any photo etched hdwr for a armor freak like me...and she told me...we did when she was a little girl.....so i offered to buy the store......jeffl

Photo-etched parts add a level of realism hard to reproduce in injection-moulding.

M7y first "real" photo-etched attempt was on the Dragon Nashorn (not the new release). I got a set of photo-etched frets and cannot believe how they make a model look so much better and so much more professional.

Plus, the really nice part of using PE fenders and so forth is that you can get some great bends into the material, making weathering and damage that much easier ot model.

I too am hooked on PE, and that is a BAD thing, especially on my modeling budget...

Now add the turned-aluminum barrels and the Fruisil-thingy metal tracks and even that old low-two-digit-model-number-Tamiya-kit can look like a museum piece of you get it right!

[Remember, though, that photo-etched parts need to have a good primer on them before they will hold a good final finish, in a lot of cases.]

One thing about PE is it has to be bent (most of the time) and to do this you need to get some kind of pliers or an expensive (just why are those tools so expensive??) PE Tool. When searching for pliers check to make sure the "nose" does not have any ridges or notches. These will scratch up your PE. I am doing my first PE on my M7 Priest and finding it to be a challange, but well worth it.

QUOTE: Originally posted by Michaelvk QUOTE: Originally posted by J-Hulk [ I usually use 70-80% of a PE set. Unless it's Aber, and then I use only about half of it! Wha..? But.. but.. I just ordered 30 bucks worth of Aber for my Tiger 1...

Sorry, didn't mean to frighten anybody!
This has been mentioned in other threads, but the Aber stuff is undoubtedly the most detailed and perhaps most accurate PE out there, but is also perhaps the most frustrating to assemble (particularly all that workable stuff!), and in may cases wholly unnecessary (in my opinion, anyway!).
So, I just choose the PE bits that I judge will improve the look or accuracy of the model. In my opinion, a lot of what Aber chooses to PE-ize just doesn't improve on some kit parts.
But, for the parts that I end up using, I still think Aber is worth the price, so no need to feel bad about ordering the Aber!

I have used the following PE sets: Aber, Eduard and Lion Roar. All are very good quality but, the most bang-for-your-buck is definately Aber!

Yup, it's good to have choices, and Aber certainly gives you that!