Starter kit of newbie?

Italeri's M4 Sherman would be a good place to start..

Hi there..

I myself am new to armour and I just finished my first 2 kits.. Gonna post the pics tomorrow.. or in the near future.. So as the rest say.. Welcome to the Dark side(I still wonder what that means..) I started off with the Airfix 1/72 (1/76)Panther.. But my suggestion is to stay away from this brand!! The tracks are too short and the fit is lousy.. Revell seems to make good models.. Also depends on what scale you want.. Academy makes nice models in the 1/35 scale and so does Tamiya... But again one colour schemes are difficult to find so if you have a good airbrush and masking material you can try the dual camo sheme... But see what other experts have to say..

All the best and enjoy building.. It fun...

Cheers,
Nandakumar

Your question is very broad. The kit you choose to build should be predicated on what you like.
Do you like German armor? Tigers, Panthers, Panzer IIIs and IVs (and their variants) can all be painted single colors. Tamiya's 1/35 Marder III is a simple build that will give you great detail right out of the box. Likewise, Russian armor is also a good way to go. The T-34s, JS-3s and KV-1s are good, simple kits that can be painted single colors. Matter of fact, FSM just did an article a couple issues ago on building a Tamiya 1/35 T-34 as a weekend project. You should check it out.
I agree with nandman83: Kits from Tamiya or Academy would be a great place to start. I haven't built one yet, but I understand the new Academy Stuarts are sweet kits, also.

The best advice I can give you is to go shopping. Look around. Find something you like that sparks your interest and fits your budget. Then buy it, take it home and have fun building it. That's what this hobby is all about anyway. Oh, and just because the box art shows it painted in a multicolor scheme doesn't mean you can't paint it whatever color you like.

Gip Winecoff

ninja!

I would agree with what's been said above. However, the T-34 kit is no longer in production. So you may have a hard time finding one. For fit and clarity of instructions, you can't beat Tamiya. But they are very pricey. You can often find a good buy on e-bay. I've gotten a few kits for about half of retail. Another good choice is Tamiya's Pzkw II F/G. It is an old kit and needs a lot of work to make it close to being accurate, but can still be built into a nice model, and it's in the $10 range.

Good luck with you choice, and remember everyone here is more than willing to help you with any questions you may have.

I agree with styrene
You asked a very broad question. I've had fun with ALL of my armor kits (well almost all). The most important thing is to find a kit that you LIKE. Maybe you could start by narrowing down your choices to either an Allied or German or Soviet tank. From there, look at the most predominant tanks of the groups, ie, Sherman, Tiger, T-34, respectively. There are literally hundreds of different ones, so just find one that you like the look of.
Scale is another good point. For me personally, I've never liked to build 1/72 as I've found it far too small. 1/48 offers many good kits, at very reasonable prices, and nice detail. Academy makes a bunch of these. You've probably noticed their new line of motorized 1/48 scale armour.
1/35 is probably the most common armour scale, but here you get into many more parts, but also much more detail.
Again, most important is just to find a kit that you'll like the look of when done

Ninja-san...

Recently someone here asked a similar question, and the answers will probably make you smile, as they hit all your bases for ya.

One was the Tamiya Panzer II -- a small but important tank. These little fellows would be all dark-grey, or all desert yellow if in North Africa. I remember building this kit as a teen (haven't build it in years), and it goes together well and quickly. A satisfying little project.

The other one recommended was the Walker Bulldog by Tamiya. I've never built it, but it got raves as a simple and cool-looking tank that is also easy to paint. Check it out. It's even in a Vietnam movie -- watch Full Metal Jacket. They didn't fight with the Marines during Tet, AFAIK, but it's still great to see them.

Both kits are cheap and readily available. Heck, build them both!

Welcome to the world of big, dirty, very scary vehicles. Or modeling them anyway.

Hi ninjamaster,
First off, welcome. You'll find many good and knowledable people here that are willing and eager to help you with about any questions you may have. I'm no expert, but my suggestion would be the Tamiya M4A3 Sherman #35122. It is currently out of production, but can be found rather easily. Easy build and nice kit when finished. Sort of a "get your feet wet" kind of kit.
Regards,
Joe

Welcome ninjamaster. The above kits mentioned are the most popular. Another one that isn't too hard would be an Italeri Chaffee. Single color to boot. Perhaps a German armored car SDKFZ 222 made by Tamiya.

Thanks guys. I would prefer to get a German, Panzer II or Panzer 4. If I can't get it, my secound choice would be a Russian T-34 series. Thanks again for the help. I am off to hunting a good kit, wish me luck.

ninja,

FSM did an article about 2 years ago on fixing up the Pz II. It's what got me started back in armor, as a matter of fact. I went a bit overboard on mine, but it came out pretty well, I think. They use an Eduard PE set in the article that isn't available anymore, but Eduard has done a more extensive set, which is what I used. It's a nice platform to just build, do some basic acurization on, or with which to do a full blown detailing project.

Good luck with it, and welcome again.

Bill

I would choose either T-34 or M4 Sherman. They do sometimes feature camo. scheme. As for starter select the one without camo.(uses single color).