Italeri M24 Chaffee reivews

Perth's is the first site I normally direct folks to for reviews*. The kit you mention is a re-tool (back dates the original kit from a post war to WW2 version). I've built the original a few times; it's been on the market since the mid 80s, but not the re-tool.

http://www.perthmilitarymodelling.com/reviews/vehicles/italeri/it6431.htm

*Everyone thinks "their" site is the best place for reviews. I like his site because he has a set standard. Terry does the reviews and he does them to a certain quality. Many other sites have multiple reviewers. A review written by me may not be as good as a review written by you or vice versa. Terry is a known quantity.

So it was re-tooled. How better is it from the original?

Only marginally better.  The only difference I recall was the inclusion of the nasty Italeri vinyl tracks which represent the metal tracks, commonly seen during WW2 and the removal of the mounting slabs on the front and rear hull, again -- these were more common on later M24s.

Overall, the kit is rather soft in its molding and engineering.  The tracks are a mess and of course, you get that terrible Italeri M2 Browning .50 cal. MG.

Rob Gronovius

Perth's is the first site I normally direct folks to for reviews*. The kit you mention is a re-tool (back dates the original kit from a post war to WW2 version). I've built the original a few times; it's been on the market since the mid 80s, but not the re-tool.

http://www.perthmilitarymodelling.com/reviews/vehicles/italeri/it6431.htm

*Everyone thinks "their" site is the best place for reviews. I like his site because he has a set standard. Terry does the reviews and he does them to a certain quality. Many other sites have multiple reviewers. A review written by me may not be as good as a review written by you or vice versa. Terry is a known quantity.

It says at the top that it isnt reviewed by Terry Ashley

There's plenty of aftermarket upgrade sets for this Chaffee kit to bring significant improvements like I did to mine I built recently.  I agree with the guys... a replacement to its .50 cal MG and vinyl tracks are a must.  Either Fruiltracks and Modelkasten offer better tracks now. 

If you want to make the old kit even better, buy one of those brass PE update sets.  I brought a set from Verlinden and it was OK but its instructions was terrible and difficult to follow.  As shown in the picture below, brass PE and yellow resin from Verlinden upgrade set.  I replaced mine with aluminum barrel from RB too for only $6. 

You might want to replace .30 Browning MGs too... you can see how bad & ugly the kit MGs are.

If you want to see more of this... just visit my WIP posted in Korea War GB.  Hope this helps...

The kit is over 25 years old and its tooling has been surpassed by the modern toolings we are accustomed to today. Having said that, it is still a highly sought after kit and either variant usually goes for a lot more than its original retail price on eBay.

Rob Gronovius

The kit is over 25 years old and its tooling has been surpassed by the modern toolings we are accustomed to today. Having said that, it is still a highly sought after kit and either variant usually goes for a lot more than its original retail price on eBay.

I think what we need now is a new kit of this model. AFV came out with the M41 Bulldog. Should we not see a Chafee with Telly Savalas and his black market stuff?

Of course a new one would be greatly appreciated. AFV does very nice light armor. Kits like the Wiesel, Scorpion/Scimitar, Bulldog, Stuart, have all been well received.

Is that the Italeri kit? And if it is give me a list of all photo etch please.

If you click this link and then select the "Related Items" tab, you should get a list of some of the AM stuff available. Since the Italeri kit(s) is the only thing going, all AM will be made for it; either the original or the retool.

http://www.greatmodels.com/~smartcart/cgi/display.cgi?item_num=ITA6431

The kit is worth the time and money, although the age of the kit speaks for itself I bought one not long ago and am in the process of adding details to it. I did add the Academy US Machine Gun set .50 and .30 cal MGs to it which dressed it up considerably.

If you like, I have a complete gallery on Amazon of many of my models and the M24 is amongst them.

Best wishes

johncpo

I brought most of my aftermarket stuff via eBay... got them real cheap because vendors had too many of those.  Give it a try...

If I were in your shoes, I would have gone for Royal Model upgrade set instead of Verlinden...found one on eBay but it was the only one.  I recall seeing it being sold for much less by other sellers. 

http://cgi.ebay.com/Royal-Model-1-35-M24-Chaffee-Update-Set-170-Italeri-/170469832548?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27b0cb3764

Hope this helps... good luck!

Deafpanzer,is that the Italeri kit

Oh yes it is an Italeri kit... re-boxed by Testors in the 80's.