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Merit 1/18 88mm

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  • Member since
    December 2002
  • From: Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England
Merit 1/18 88mm
Posted by Bish on Saturday, August 10, 2013 12:36 PM

Just came across this kit on the weekly e-mail from Hannants.

 http://www.hannants.co.uk/product/MM61701

I've never herad of this company, but I did find a site with a selection of their other kits, all large scale. But I can't find reviews on any of them and no other info.

Has anyone come across this or any of their other kits, the company name is JSI International.

The 88 seems a good price, but maybe there's a reason for that.

Tags: Merit 88mm

I am a Norfolk man and i glory in being so

 

On the bench: Airfix 1/72nd Harrier GR.3/Fujimi 1/72nd Ju 87D-3

  • Member since
    March 2003
  • From: Western North Carolina
Posted by Tojo72 on Saturday, August 10, 2013 2:04 PM

They also make 1/200 ship models which are supposed to be decent,here is the upcomiing USS Hornet,too big for me,but that 88 probably builds into an impressive kit

www.freetimehobbies.com/1-200-merit-international-uss-hornet-cv-8-model-kit

  • Member since
    December 2002
  • From: Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England
Posted by Bish on Saturday, August 10, 2013 2:29 PM

That's looks big. I see they also do 1/18th jets. At the price of that gun, it might be worth the risk.

I am a Norfolk man and i glory in being so

 

On the bench: Airfix 1/72nd Harrier GR.3/Fujimi 1/72nd Ju 87D-3

  • Member since
    November 2005
Posted by T26E4 on Saturday, August 10, 2013 2:40 PM

I saw a display build up at the April AMPS International Show in Atlanta.  It looks pretty good and the MSRP wasn't bad.  Perhaps the details not as crisp as the 1/35 DML 8.8cm Flaks but sharper than the old Tamiya Flak.  Out of the box, it'll look nice.  I suspect someone will come with a large PE set.  It would be amazing with full PE treatment, IMHO.

Roy Chow 

Join AMPS!

http://www.amps-armor.org

 

 

  • Member since
    December 2002
  • From: Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England
Posted by Bish on Saturday, August 10, 2013 2:49 PM

Sound promising, thanks. I'm sure it won't be long before the AM follows.

I am a Norfolk man and i glory in being so

 

On the bench: Airfix 1/72nd Harrier GR.3/Fujimi 1/72nd Ju 87D-3

  • Member since
    December 2002
  • From: Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England
Posted by Bish on Friday, September 27, 2013 4:15 PM

Hannants have just got this kit back in stock. And despite not being able to find any reviews or new info on the kit or the company, I decided to take the plunge and order it.

I am going to build it for the Duck Hunter GB, but will also do a WiP thread, which I will do here. It should arrive by Tues or Wed next week, so I will get some initial pics up then.

I am a Norfolk man and i glory in being so

 

On the bench: Airfix 1/72nd Harrier GR.3/Fujimi 1/72nd Ju 87D-3

  • Member since
    July 2004
  • From: Texas
Posted by wbill76 on Friday, September 27, 2013 8:28 PM

Bish,

Merit works with Trumpeter to produce the molds, so that should give you some indication of what to expect in relation to the parts quality if that helps. Like Roy, I had a chance to see a built-up version at AMPS and it was impressive for the scale.

  • Member since
    December 2002
  • From: Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England
Posted by Bish on Saturday, September 28, 2013 3:59 AM

I had heard about the Trumpeter connection. Merit's website gives an address in California. So I am guessing they are a separate company that works closely with Trumpeter.

I have never done anything at this scale before, so have no idea what to expect.

I am a Norfolk man and i glory in being so

 

On the bench: Airfix 1/72nd Harrier GR.3/Fujimi 1/72nd Ju 87D-3

  • Member since
    January 2007
Posted by the doog on Saturday, September 28, 2013 9:36 AM

Good decision to share it here, too, BIsh. This is an unfamiliar kit and manufacturer, and I know that I for one would like to see your progress on it.

  • Member since
    January 2013
Posted by jibber on Saturday, September 28, 2013 9:42 AM

What a find, that 88 should build up great. Can't wait

  • Member since
    December 2002
  • From: Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England
Posted by Bish on Saturday, September 28, 2013 10:00 AM

the doog

Good decision to share it here, too, BIsh. This is an unfamiliar kit and manufacturer, and I know that I for one would like to see your progress on it.

I have felt for a while that there was a lack of WiP threads, hence why I started the He 111Z thread. And your comments on the Group Builds thread made me realise just how much people don't get to see. So I figured what the hell, there's nothing saying it can't be in a GB and a WiP, especially for something a bit different.

It's just been posted this afternoon, Hannants don't hang around these days. So I will do a quick in box review when it arrives, should be Tues or wed, and then make a start as soon as I can. I don't think I have ever looked forward to the arrival of a kit so much as this.

I am a Norfolk man and i glory in being so

 

On the bench: Airfix 1/72nd Harrier GR.3/Fujimi 1/72nd Ju 87D-3

  • Member since
    January 2007
Posted by the doog on Sunday, September 29, 2013 6:03 PM

Glad you took all of that into consideration, Bish! Lookin forward to seeing this monster come to life!

  • Member since
    December 2002
  • From: Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England
Posted by Bish on Thursday, October 3, 2013 1:56 PM

Finally got my hands on the kit today. I'm not going to do a full in box review, just a brief idea of the kit. I dug out my Dragon 35th Flak 37 just to do a little comparison, I have never done anything bigger than 35th, so I wanted some idea of what to expect.

So here's the box.

And with the Dragon kit, the Merit box isn't as big as I thought it might be

Detail wise, the kit looks very good. It has a one piece plastic barrel. It perhaps not as engineered as the Dragon kit, which as we know can often give you 5 parts when 2 would be good enough. But given the price difference, the Merit kit is approx. £7 less than the Dragon kit on Hannants, I would say the Merit is damn good value.

And this gives a good idea of the size difference.

  

And as you can see, the Merit kit doesn't give you the option of an open view slot. I have only opened the one bag, but from what I can see there are a few sink marks, but these all seem to be in areas that won't be seen anyway.

Only one real negative, and its not a biggy. The decal sheet comes with several sets of markings for a few units. But the paint guide only gives you one option.

This is from the Merit site.

 

I could be wrong, but that looks like Pz Grey.  But the paint guide says RLM 02 which it doesn't look like and doesn't make sense for armour, even in the Luftwaffe.

But other than that, I see no issues and those will be fun. There is no AM on the market for this kit, and to be honest, I don't think it would improve it that much anyway (can't believe I actually just said that.)

Hopefully I can get started on this at the end of the month.

 

I am a Norfolk man and i glory in being so

 

On the bench: Airfix 1/72nd Harrier GR.3/Fujimi 1/72nd Ju 87D-3

  • Member since
    July 2004
  • From: Texas
Posted by wbill76 on Thursday, October 3, 2013 8:17 PM

Looking forward to seeing what you do with this one Bish. Wink

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