italeri has a

Mmmm.. Check this...

http://pmms.webace.com.au/reviews/vehicles/italeri/it6427.htm

hmmm...looks like it'll stay on the shelf. still, it's not like it's lindbergs version. the lee version seems better that either, which i have

Yes, looks like it's best on the shelves. Pity, bacause I truly applaud Italeri's decision to re-issue the old (but good!) 1/72 AFV ESCI range...

I have the original ESCI kit, not the greatest, but not bad either. Definitely not anything to compare to the new tamiya, if you're building OOB, but can be detailed quite easily, and builds fairly nicely

The review says that the only good thing about the Italeri/Esci kit (when compared to the excellent Tamiya kit) is the price, but at a list price of $30 USD, it ain't that much cheaper than the Tamiya kit, is it? The Tamiya kit lists for 3,300 yen here in Japan, right at $30 USD. Not sure what it sells for overseas.
I guess you do get the decent link 'n' length trax with the Italeri/Esci kit, though.

Just as an aside, I found a bunch of old Esci (well, 3 or 4, anyway!) T-55 kits at a local shop, going for less than $10 each.

When Esci released the T-55/55A/Ti-67 in the mid 80s, they were the best modern Soviet kits on the market. Until the recent Tamiya T-55, they were argueably the best T-55 kit around.

I do find it strange that as recently as 1999-2000, the old Esci/AMT T-55 kits could be found in Odd Lots clearance stores for around $4.99-2.99 a piece along with the old Esci M60 Blazer. No one was buying them! Four to five years later, the same kit in an Italeri box gets a $25-30 price tag and they become the talk of the town.

I'm glad I paid less than $5 for mine, they are nice kits and I feel I got a bargin. I'm doubtful I'll fork over $30 for the same kit though.

Okay the M-60 blazer i bought at Big Lots [the name Odd Lots goes by around here] about 10 or so years ago must be that version. First armor I ever baought and the last until recently. Those Indy tracks were a bear for me at the time. I want another one of those M-60s. I sure i could work wonders with it now.

Here's an ESCI M60 Blazer I did years ago but was one of the best tanks kits I have ever built:



Dan

Nice! Very inspiring! I only hope mine comes out as good!lol

Wow, Dan! Excellent job!

Has anyone try building Esci's T-72?. My modeler found out that its tracks not only won't glue together but also unpaintable!. So my Esci's T-72 was shown on my site without tracks. It still looks good but I can't remember what page.
If interested, please try locating it from my list of contents :

[url]http://www.geocities.com/~falconbbs/modelcnt.htm

boybuddho, nice tank you built there. You should be proud of it!.