Trumpeter question

atlrus

and now I don't know what to expect... Any input?

Well you must expect to do some extra work. These chinese companies are coming with tons of great subjects and great prices that Tamiya just won't touch.....its like we guys have no one else to turn, its sad but true. Who knows what the future brings, but now we have to put up a little. Be patient in your work and when you wake up to your models on the shelf each day you'll forget the rest and just say "Now ain't that look badass!!"

buff

Some of Trumpeter's older kits apparently had a reputation for being made of a really brittle styrene that would not work with regular modeling cement, but I thought they were past that now.  I guess not.

OTOH, their KV range have a reputation for going together well,  being fairly accurate, and being really good value for the money.

I remember those kits; their T-55 based kits were made of a hard green styrene that required JB ProWeld to glue, and even then it was iffy. Some of their newer kits are light years ahead. I've got the FMTV, but have not built it yet (Hobby Lobby 40% off coupon impulse buy).

my experience with trumpeter has been somewhat limited, but the kit was decent enough. hobbyboss on the other hand has beautiful armor, with a great series of 1/48 tanks. do not let the high parts count of the dragon kits scare you. they are very nice kits.

Some of Trumpeter's older kits apparently had a reputation for being made of a really brittle styrene that would not work with regular modeling cement, but I thought they were past that now.  I guess not.

OTOH, their KV range have a reputation for going together well,  being fairly accurate, and being really good value for the money.

You are dealing with Russians on those Zvezdas.

Being in the tire business for 15+ years, I would never buy a Chinese built tire, never. Cheap, unsafe junk. Japanese and South Korean tires are great, but never Chinese. But they make really good models.

Never mind - I just opened a Zvezda kit and not only there was no plastic wrap on the parts and a few were broken off the sprue, but I also found hair in the box :) Zvezda is by far the worst company ever!

Depends where in China it is manufactured. Most of the computer you are using, the screen you are watching of the car your are driving is made in China. It is the last place to get cheap labor. It is also the reason why they own so much of our debit.

Nope - my car is made in USA, my screens are made in S. Korea, while most of my computer parts are from Thailand :) I am by no means a biggot, just yet to be amazed by the quality of a product from a Chinese company, not outsorced one. My point is that if an assembly is outsorced to China by an American company, the U.S. company will have the final quality control, Nike for example, they still make the longest lasting shoes I've ever worn. On the opposite side, you can check this out: http://shanghaiist.com/2010/10/27/chinese_car_safety_we_kill_you_fast.php

Anyhow, I just wanted to see if this is a common thing with Trumpeter, I hate spending so much money and getting nothing in return.

atlrus

redleg12:

hummm.....First almost all the major styrene manufacturers are either in China or Korea so that should not be an issue

 

I didn't mean it as poisonous plastic, but that Chinese products usually lack quality control.

Depends where in China it is manufactured. Most of the computer you are using, the screen you are watching of the car your are driving is made in China. It is the last place to get cheap labor. It is also the reason why they own so much of our debit..

atlrus

redleg12:

As far as the plastic, what are you using for glue, I have never seen that problem with styrene before.

 

I use Extreme Power Medium, which is a generic super glue from HobbyLobby. I have some other ones on order, but this one has been working just fine with my Tamiya models (and fingers). With the Trumpeter kit I had to use plastic cement, but I prefer to use instant glue, especially when working around small parts. With cement I found out I would often bump my fingers onto small parts and offset them because it takes a bit for the cement to set.

CA glue is a surface set. The plastic cement welds the two pieces together by chemically attacking the surface. If you like instant set, you can use Testors liquid styrene glue or others like Tenex. There also may be some mold relses or something on the surface causing a problem with the CA glue. You could clean all the sprues with a good clear but it is just as easy to just use liquid styrene cement.

atlrus

redleg12:

Cut and file....everyone uses a "slightly" different mix....Trump tends to need a bit more sanding as it appears to be slightly stiffer than some others.

In general every manufacture has "something" imperfect....Dragon directions inhale, Italeri is king of the sink marks and ejector pin marks.....no manufacturer is perfect.

It's up to the modeler to make the perfect model

 

True, but when I pay $60 for a model not worth the box it was packed in, while for $30 Tamiya gives me a great fit... At that point I may as well scratch-build :) I hope I just got a bad batch, though.

Yep....I know how you feel....you are trading some detail and accuracy for fit and quality of manufacture.

Trump, Hobby Boss and Dragon make kits with much finer details

Tamiya is like a Chevy....not all the frills but a nice car.

Some people like the frills.....some just want to be comfortable!!

Rounds Complete!!

atlrus

P.S. I though Dragon was U.S. company?

Nope....mainland China

There are no major model manufacturers in the US. Some like Revell have a US headquarters but everything is maufactured overseas.

Rounds Complete!!

redleg12

hummm.....First almost all the major styrene manufacturers are either in China or Korea so that should not be an issue

I didn't mean it as poisonous plastic, but that Chinese products usually lack quality control.

redleg12

As far as the plastic, what are you using for glue, I have never seen that problem with styrene before.

I use Extreme Power Medium, which is a generic super glue from HobbyLobby. I have some other ones on order, but this one has been working just fine with my Tamiya models (and fingers). With the Trumpeter kit I had to use plastic cement, but I prefer to use instant glue, especially when working around small parts. With cement I found out I would often bump my fingers onto small parts and offset them because it takes a bit for the cement to set.

redleg12

Cut and file....everyone uses a "slightly" different mix....Trump tends to need a bit more sanding as it appears to be slightly stiffer than some others.

In general every manufacture has "something" imperfect....Dragon directions inhale, Italeri is king of the sink marks and ejector pin marks.....no manufacturer is perfect.

It's up to the modeler to make the perfect model

True, but when I pay $60 for a model not worth the box it was packed in, while for $30 Tamiya gives me a great fit... At that point I may as well scratch-build :) I hope I just got a bad batch, though.

I am glad to hear that HobbyBoss arent that bad (maybe the two companies are like nissan and acura?)- I have two really cool HB kits I'm looking forward to - the German Land-Wasser Schlepper and an M4 Sherman.

The LMTV is now back in the box awaiting some really, really rainy days for another shot - some holes were not wide enough, a lot of parts failed to macth, the final straw being the linkage on the suspension not matching to the chassi...I will probably build it one day just so my nephews have fun blowing it up :)

The bad news is that the M1132 Stryker with Mine Sweeper kit I ordered last week was also a Trumpeter. I hope I strike some luck with that one :( Can't beat Tamiya though, for the ~10 1:48 kits of theirs I've build - never had a part that did not match perfectly, and those are all some very tiny parts, compared with 1:35 models.

P.S. I though Dragon was U.S. company?

hummm.....First almost all the major styrene manufacturers are either in China or Korea so that should not be an issue

As far as the plastic, what are you using for glue, I have never seen that problem with styrene before.

Cut and file....everyone uses a "slightly" different mix....Trump tends to need a bit more sanding as it appears to be slightly stiffer than some others.

In general every manufacture has "something" imperfect....Dragon directions inhale, Italeri is king of the sink marks and ejector pin marks.....no manufacturer is perfect.

It's up to the modeler to make the perfect model

Rounds Complete!!

Hobby boss is not too bad of a company, along the same lines as trumpeter and just need a little TLC to build. Their leopard kits on the other hand are a real pain in the butt, just alot of mold issues with them. I have built 2 of their kits and a third one I got for christmas. I've built their ZLC-2000 and the kit was a shake and bake kit and was a real gem to build. I've also biuilt their canadian leo and this was a not the best kit out there. I also have their ztz 99 waiting to be built and have test fitted some of the major parts and no real issues yet. Granit HB and trumpeter are not on the same line as dragon or tamiya, their still worth build as they have some off the wall kits that are not the main stream as per a sherman or tiger. As far as your LMTV kit goes, I have not ran into any problems with assembling the chassis or anyother parts. Mold lines just need to be cleaned up for everything to fit just right. Their first kits release many years ago were just junk and they have improved alot since then. Just keep in mind that both HB and trumpeter are new companies and still making improvements in their molding and are starting to catch up with dragon and tamiya who have been around alot longer.

I don't have that kit, but I've built one Trumpeter kit and have a couple more in my stash. My kit (M1A1) had some fit issues, but I didn't have any trouble with the plastic itself. I use mostly Testor's liquid glue and didn't have any trouble with it. I personally don't care what color the plastic is, most of the kits today are being molded in light gray or light tan because they're nuetral colors and paint will cover them easily.

It's my understanding that Dragon/DML is also a Chinese company. Their kits aren't bad; I've had some fit issues with them, but they make a nice looking kit when finished. The high parts count is mostly do to many of their kits having indy link tracks which adds between two and three hundred parts. Once you've built a couple they aren't that scary.

The only Hobby Boss kit I have is a battleship and I haven't noticed anything grossly wrong with it; although I've only dry fit a few major parts and done an in box inspection of it.

I've only thrown one kit out without finishing it; an ESCI BMP-1, and I think I just got frustrated, the kit wasn't really that bad. So, I suggest you take a deep breath and try to work your way through the issues, most of the time you'll get a good result and invaluable experience. If you get stuck on something post a specific question and you'll get plenty of help from the guys here.  Good Luck.