Top quality Dragon models

dragon are doing it for me right now!

Yes, they make a wide variety....of WWII German subjects.

Regarding the Abrams, DML/Dragon's offering is reportedly the worst of those available. A few months ago I read an exhaustive article comparing Abram kits from Tamiya, Italeri, Trumpeter, DML, and....Academy? I've lost the URL, so I can't point you to it, but I remember the DML/Dragon kit scored dead last with both poor fit and major accuracy problems. Tamiya's had the best fit and easiest assembly, but had some big inaccuracies, especially on the turret. Italeri came closest for accuracy (overdone non-skid surface notwithstanding).

All the companies produce both great kits and skunks, and in my (admittedly limited) experience, you just can't depend on the name alone. You can't trust newer kits over older, either. Look at Tamiya's "new" Desert Version M113A2.

My advice: Us the internet to find kit reviews. Places like http://www.missing-lynx.com/, www.ww2modelmaker.com, and http://www.perthmilitarymodelling.com/ review kits, and failing that go to www.google.com and search using the keyword review, along with the name of the subject or specific kit you're interested in. I've generally been able to find reviews of most kits, including obscure resin kits and conversions, with only a little effort.


M.

you can analyze and dissect to your heart's content on the pro's and con's of each dragon kit, ( love that leopold, by the way ) but for me, it has been variety that makes dragon what they are.

I have the Dragon Sd. Kfz. 251 Ausf. D 3 in 1 kit. It is part of the '39-'45 series. Talk about high quality!!! Aluminum barrel, brass ammo, lots of extra accessories, photo etch and the new EZ Track. Every link is completely separate. And of course the ability to build an armored troop carrier, Night Vision 'Falke' and a 7.5 cm KwK (L/24). Total parts count is 903! Sounds like a Trumpeter kit!!! This one is tops. It also has 4 bonus Nachtjager figures and a driver. Which is great because they usually do not include any figures.

Thanks a lot to all!

From the little experience that I have right now about Dragon kits I can say that the King Tiger/Porsche is excellent; the Panther F is very good; Panzer III M/N good: my only criticism comes with the ensamble hull/suspension-arms moulded together and not so detailed and accurate... I decided to avoid all models wich have that feature...

Thanks again,
Luciano B.

The best kits by Timiya out there are the T-34 1940 and the 1941!!!
There you have it!

I just received, yesterday, Dragon's Normandy 60th Anniversary kit for the Jagdpanther early. I haven't started it, but from first looks it is a great kit. It comes with an aluminum barrel, PE engine deck screens, a metal tow cable w/ plastic ends, indy tracks (as usual), and four full sets of numbers for decals. Now I think that is an awesome buy for 25 bucks. The one thing I don't like about Dragon so far is that they don't include any figures. I am not one to spend $15-$20 on a single resin figure, but I have purchased a number of Dragon's figure sets and I love them. I think their figures are much better than Tamiya's, but Tamiya always gives at least one in each armor kit.

I can't speak to their 1/35 scale kits but have built a couple of their 1/72 scale vehicles (a Tiger I for Mad Tiger Day and just completed an Iraqi Freedom Bradley) and found both to be quite good overall. The biggest issue I had were the weak instructions that were occaisionaly mis-leading. However the parts themselves are crisply molded, free of flash, and fairly detailed for the scale. Generally the kits fit together well, although the Tiger's idler wheel didn't really fit the tracks properly without modification and the interleaved wheels caused much fretting and fuming. The Bradley went together mostly without trouble, although it seemed as though each of the nine thousand armor plates that go onto the faceted turret needed a bit of tweaking to get a proper fit. Nothing major, but it was a bit time consuming.

All in all, based on these two 1/72 kits, I don't think that I would hesitate to buy other Dragon kits in the future

I think you will find most Dragon releases to be fairly high quality kits. However, there are exceptions. One worth noting is the MAZ-543 TEL SCUD launcher vehicle. It's one of the worst fits in a kit that I have ever seen.

I personally like Dragon, warts and all, and look to see if they have an offering first before turning to Tamiya or other manufacturers. On the whole, I've had a positive experience with them and their customer service is first rate. They do keep you on your toes though with the occasional screwball diagram instruction or part mis-numbering, but that's all part of the fun/headaches of building scale models. If it were too easy, then everyone could do it, right?

I think sometimes that bad kits just add to the challenge...mind you I am a 1:72 freak and pay a fraction for my models that a 1:35 guy would pay...if I am spending big bucks I would expect good kits

That's dissapointing. I picked up the Marine M1 a while back and was looking foward to doing it soon.

don't know if youre into modern stuff but the M1A1 is a rough build especially the turret nothing seems to go together real easy.

I've been working on the T34/76 mod 41 and found it to be a really great kit, no problems building whatsoever. no flash or fit problems, but like Erik said, it does need a fair bit of cleanup on those atttachment points. I just tried to cut stuff very close and it wasnt too much work.

Sorry claymore- Yes I was refering to the G. The A is so bad, I have tried to block it from memory. (Although my old A is still currently in service as a test bed for techniques- i.e. zimmerit, battle damage, etc.)

The Dragon Stug IV and Panzer IV nearly drove me to build wingie thingies. Since then I have built several DML kits (their T-34/76 mod41 being the latest) and haven't had any major problems. The one thing that Dragon does that really drives me nuts is having several pour plugs on almost every part. The excessive amount of plugs on the T-34 was insane and required a needlessly high amount of cleanup before the kit could be assembled. Overall, I think DML has improved their quality although they have a long way to go before achieving zen like Tamiya quality.

QUOTE: Originally posted by ridleusmc I can tell you that the T34-85 is NOT one of those top quality kits. I hated it

I think the thing that seperates Dragon from Tamiya is the ocassional " blooper kit ", the one that has warped hull , flash up the ying yang and that type stuff , I like tamiya right now with Dragon a close second , ( and I mean close here ) . Try Italeri sometime , or if you are real adventurous try a full resin kit ! After that you will praise these 2 manufacturers to no end ! Some of these have instructions in a language you may not understand , totally warped parts and that kind of fun ! I am not a fan of Italeri myself ! Because of their warped hull problems , I have done 3 of thier kits with similar results maybe just bad luck , maybe not !

QUOTE: Originally posted by JWest21 Their Panther A is very nice, but not as good as Tamiya offering (Tamiya's is just fantastic). Their Pz I made me put swear words together in new and interesting combos, but overall is a pretty decent kit. lots of really small, fragile parts and an odd assembly that can leave some difficult seams. I also have their T34-76 1941, which looks like a nice kit.

You must be refering to the Panther G, Tamiya's A is a nightmare. Tamiya's turret is all wrong (too tall, too wide on top, wrong angles), the mantlet/gun mount is 6mm too wide, The hull is too deep and it's missing 8 road wheels!

I like their Panzer III series of kits. They're pretty good IMO. I've got their Panthers A and D, but haven't built them yet. They look very nice. I haven't seen their King Tiger (P), but I've got Tamyia's and it's very nice.

Their Panther A is very nice, but not as good as Tamiya's G offering (Tamiya's is just fantastic). Their Pz I made me put swear words together in new and interesting combos, but overall is a pretty decent kit. lots of really small, fragile parts and an odd assembly that can leave some difficult seams. I also have their T34-76 1941, which looks like a nice kit.

Interresting, I thought their T34-85 was a great kit. No problems at all with it. It is supposed to be the best T34 kit out there.

I can tell you that the T34-85 is NOT one of those top quality kits. I hated it