They make very good kits....just say "yes"...

I've always had good luck with AFV Club kits. They're much like Dragon in having about fifty zillion little parts instead of fewer big parts like a Tamiya kit. But the ones I've built everything seems to fit pretty well. Some like the Churchill have really complex workable running gear but you can just glue everything in place if you don't want to fool with it.

I built their Achilles 17-pdr and I won't lie - it was rough. The entire exterior surface of the hull, turret pieces and turret counterweight were pocked with raised ejector marks. Perfect little circles that ALL had to be chiseled off. Several pieces were unnecessarily fussy - the flat sides of the turret with absolutely no positive location of any kind (I have to image slide molding could have created the sides and back of the turret in one piece - Dragon does it all the time). Little parts with no locating pins or anything else, and the saddest instructions in terms of placement and painting. Rubber band tracks that were a link too small (had to stretch the stuffing out of them...snapped one). Sprocket wouldn't accomodate friul tracks (saving them for something else).

In the end, it came out alright...

And I have to say, despite my less-than-great experience with the Achilles, I very much want to take on one of their T-34s and maybe a Churchill.

Some of their earlier kits are mix and match though. The M48H is a Korean copy of the M60 hull with with a Korean M48 turret and a few of their own parts tossed in. Likewise their HMMWV and M113 FSV are Academy kits with additional parts added.

On the whole though, they are very good, although the plastic is often soft. Look at it to hard and it'll mar.

I built the 1/48 AFV Tiger,very nice kit,went together well,came with some screens and molded on zimm.I would say better then the Tamiya 1/48 Tigers

Tojo72

I built the 1/48 AFV Tiger,very nice kit,went together well,came with some screens and molded on zimm.I would say better then the Tamiya 1/48 Tigers

That's the Skybow kit AFV Club obtained when Skybow went under.

If you're looking to do a Sherman variant, why don't you go Tasca instead?  IMHO, they set the standard for great engineered, little fuss modeling.  They aren't more complex to build than any standard AFV Club model.

T26E4

If you're looking to do a Sherman variant, why don't you go Tasca instead?  IMHO, they set the standard for great engineered, little fuss modeling.  They aren't more complex to build than any standard AFV Club model.

And I've built the Academy M36 which is a really nice kit, if you're not set on the AFV Club M10 I'm sure the Academy M10 would be a good choice too. I like my AFV Club kits but the Academy one was nicely detailed with fewer parts and less filling and sanding.

My only experience thus far showed an over-engineered kit with fussy and inaccurate directions. I wasn't overly impressed.That being said, I built an arty piece.

Rob Gronovius

Some of their earlier kits are mix and match though. The M48H is a Korean copy of the M60 hull with with a Korean M48 turret and a few of their own parts tossed in. Likewise their HMMWV and M113 FSV are Academy kits with additional parts added.

On the whole though, they are very good, although the plastic is often soft. Look at it to hard and it'll mar.

I've gotta agree with Rob here.  I really like their Stryker kits though.  My only complaint on the Stryker MGS kit was with the headlight assemblies.  They're really fussy and complicated.

I will join with everyone else. Great kits, on the order of Dragon only with better instructions. Lots of details and small parts. Usually well made.Their artillery kits are good, the new M2A1 and variants is a gold standard for the 105mm howitzer which puts the Dragon kit to shame.

Rounds Complete!!

I've built their 1/48 Tiger I (originally kitted by Skybow) and it was a great kit. I am currently building their M3A3 Stuart and am finding it to have great detail and according to those who are much more knowledgeable than I on the subject, it may be the most accurate Stuart on the market today.

I am with the rest of the jury on this. Good kits with lots of little parts bordering on over engineered. Some fitting/sanding maybe needed here and there, but fabulous looking kits when completed. I have not built any of their Sherman based vehicles ( I don't think AFV Club makes any Shermans per se, just variants such as the M10/M36) but I have built their M4 suspension which I used on a MB Models M4A4 hull (anybody remember those?) A very nice articulating M4 VVSS suspension.

Thanks for all the help guys! im definetly not up for a big pain in the butt project at the moment, so i think i will skip the AFV Club m10... T26E4 i have heard about tascas Shermans and i hear they are great kits... but i have always wanted to build an M10 in 1/35 scale (i've build Tamiyas 1/48 one a few times, but its a fairly simple kit with less detail since it is smaller, but still definetly a nice kit.

Great looking Achilles, Doogs!

I agree that the engineering of these kits is ot the best; their plastic is really soft--like stale soap; and their details a little chunky. I tend not to spend my money on them.

I've only built their M5A1 early and I found the plastic was really soft and easy to melt with Testors liquid glue. It had a higher parts count than it needed, but it wasn't any worse than a Dragon kit in that regard. The fit was so so, but after some fiddling around with it, it turned out okay.