What kit to buy?

Weeeell, if I were you, first, I'd ask myself what vehicles I'm interested in. Then, I'd ask around and see what the best kits of those two vehicles are.

Then I'd ask my lovely wife to get me those kits for Christmas!

But if ya want a quick answer, here ya go:

Tamiya Tiger I Early Production
Tamiya T-55A

Why? They are both excellent, well-detailed, easy to build kits of historically very important vehicles.
And all you would need to kick either one of them up a notch is a set of aftermarket trax or a simple (that is, NOT Aber!) photo-etch set.

There ya go!

J-Hulk. I'm more inquisitive to what you guys would want and why, than me just picking something "off the shelf". I'm an armour-freak (not to steal your thunder Shermie) but I am not aligned to any specific camp - that's why I left the thread a little open.

I am finishing off an old Tamiya LVTP7A I have superdetailed without any aftermarket (has taken forever!), am half way through the Acadamy Achilles (procrastinating around casting main gun rounds to replace the kit's incorrect stowage) and have the Tamiya Marder 3M and M8 Greyhound begging to be built. See something for everyone!

By the way, hear you on the ABER! I go to a club once a month, and a couple of traders come along. I've seen how far overboard ABER goes with some of their PE! They would use a lot less brass if they cut out the stuff no sane man would use - might save us some "brass" too

Thanks for your input

Happy Modelling Peter

Hi, Peter!

I gotcha. That's why I tossed a coupla good choices your way!

If I had to add one more, I'd say Tamiya's Pershing, too. Right out of the box, it's an amazing kit. I only got aftermarket trax (AFV Club) for that one because I like the later T84E1 trax.

Yeah, I appreciate the effort Aber makes, but in my opinion, so much of it is pure unnecessary overkill! I bought their monster set for the 1/16 Tiger I, and after careful study, have determined that I'll use about half of it. Oh well...

Tamiya makes a simple grills-only set for their Tiger Is, and I believe Eduard makes a fairly simple set as well, with grills and other obvious pieces that benefit from the PE treatment.

Good luck with whatever you decide on!.

petbat,
Welcome back to the modeling scene!
I will ditto J-Hulk's suggestions and add a couple I've built, or yet to build, but I know will turn out real well OOB. I find they are quite accurate with lots of detail out of the box; and fit is usually excellent:
Academy Merkava II (with or without mine plow)
Tamiya T-72
Tamiya Marder III and IIIM
Tamiya Wespe
Academy Warrior MCV
AFV Club M-18 Hellcat
AFV Club Walker Bulldog
AFV Club FV-107 Scimitar
Tamiya Quad Gun Tractor, 6-pounder and limber set
Tamiya StugIIIG
Tamiya PantherG, including steel wheel version
Tamiya PZkpw IV Mobelwagen
Tamiya Leopard 2A5
Tamiya Japanese Type 90
Tamiya M1A1 Abrams with mine plow
Tamiya Jagdpanther
And since it Christmas you might as well go for broke: 1. Tamiya Famo or Famor with trailer. There are also 4 Aber sets for this thing with resin add-ons in addtion to the brass stuff. I got the Famo with trailer when I graduated from college; now I'm after the Aber parts, and I'll start building.
2. Tamiya M26 (?) tank transporter with or without trailer. Shermanfreak has pictures of his build of this thing in another armor post. This is a great kit.
This should get you started, along with what all the other posters have offered or will offer.
Gip Winecoff

I know exactly what kit to ask for Xmas.
The Trumpeter K-5 railgun Leopold in 1/35th scale. Man o man is it a cool kit!
Hundereds of parts just waiting to be assembled - AH AH -lots of detail - AH AH-
great fit -AHHHHH!!! I'm sorry, just lost it there, but the kit is fantastic and is sooo impressive when finished. Now I'm going to build the Dragon kit. AH AH....
Mark

If I was asking for Chrismtas gifts, I would ask for these kits:
Tamiya T-55
Tamiya T-72
Tamiya PV IV J
Dragaon Panther D
RoG Marder 1a3
and all of the Trumpeter SA-2's

If I asked for 2 (and am recommending these because I have built them) I would say Tamiya's Tiger 1 Early Production and Tamiya's M1A1 Abrams.

Both kits look great out of the box, especially the Tiger. The Abrams also looks really nice out of the box but, gives you a chance to add on some simple things like packs, gas cans and such

The one kit that stuck out when I first read this post has already been mentioned a couple of times. Tamiya’s Early Tiger 1 is the best kit that I have seen yet. Admittedly, I haven’t come close to building as many kits as some on this forum, but I was VERY impressed when I opened the box for the first time. It is quite easy to have a very accurate kit out of the box, but I would suggest getting the grills for it though.

As for the other kit, I would go with something from a different manufacturer, and perhaps an allied tank to mix things up a bit. I think you need to ask yourself if you are looking for an older kit that can be fixed up without too much of a headache? Or are you looking for the most accurate kit out of the box possible? Personally I think fixing up an old kit can be very fun.

hope this helps
edog

Hi Peter, I echo some of the before mentioned kits. However, I built and immensley ejoyed Tamiyas Tiger I Late. One advantage, you don't have to paint rubber tires! Another kit(almost for the same reason) is DMLs Josef Stalin II. For me it was an easy build and nice results. Should mention both kits contain the love them or hate them indy tracks. Another kit would be Tamiyas Wespe and it has the vinyl tracks. Easy build.

"It is well that war is so terrible, lest we grow too fond of it."-R.E.Lee

Why wait for Christmas? He-he-he-he.

Already on my wish list are:

DML M1A2
DML Panther A
DML M4A3 HVSS

Academy Merkava
Academy Tiger I Mid Prod Full Interiors

Tamiya Flak 88mm
Tamiya JS 3
Tamiya Cromwell
Tamiya Jadgpanzer 70
Tamiya Stug III G

Why these ones?

1.) These are the only ones available here.
2.) Haven;t build one of these yet.

Well since I was ready to purchase a Panzer IV F1 conversion..and it seemd Dragon has just released it's Panzer IV F1, F2, and G.. I would say go for those babies

AFV Club M3A3. Academy Tiger I with interior. David and Goliath. Both nice kits. (gotta make the driver's hatch pins from sprue on the M3A3 though, other than that, super kit.)

Ron.

Tamiya's Dragon Wagon.

What a fantastic kit.

I second the Academy 1/35 Tiger Full Interior. Very detailed straight OOB, and quite affordable. I also recommend the Tamiya M2 Full Interior, and based on shermanfreaks rave reviews, the Dragon Wagon. If you want to go for broke, the 1/16 Tiger R/C.

demono69

Peter,

The first kit I thought of (which has been recently mentioned on this thread) is the Academy Tiger I, Early, with full interior. The interior isn't totally accurate, but if you want to build it oob, that's a great way to go. There's also an article on Missing Links to accurize it, and Eduard has two pe sets for it (one interior and one exterior) if you want to go further.

If you want a really cool kit that has LOTS of parts (read that lots of small parts) that is not going to break the bank, take a look at the DML Kettenkradrad (sp?) with Pupchen. The Kettenkrad was a tracked motor cycle the Germans used to haul all kinds of things around (like planes and artillery). The completed model (in 1/35) is about the size of a 1/72 tank, but there are over 200 parts in it. (Yes, I said 200!). The Pupchen is a pretty cool artillery kit in it's own right. The indy links, being so small and numerous, might be a bit daunting. But I think it's going to be a fun oob challange. I haven't started mine yet, but the castings are superb.

I notice you have a Marder IIIM, if you like spg's you might give DML's new Nashorn's or Hummel a try. I've looked over the Hummel, and the quality of the castings looks great. I haven't seen either of the new Nashorns, but the reviews I've seen talk very highly about them. They do have the same problem as the Marder IIIM, though, in that they have ejector pin marks all over the inside of the shields.

Good luck, and let us all know what you (or Mrs. Santa) decide on.

Bill

Here's an update on the DML Kettenkradrad. It has 325 parts!!! and is in stock at Great Models for $16.00. If you would like to read a review by Cookie Sewell, check out hyperscale:

http://www.kitreview.com/reviews/kettenkraftradreviewcs_1.htm

Bill

QUOTE: Originally posted by kaleu Tamiya T-72

Since that's the second recommendation for that kit, I'll chime in (cool subject) and suggest one aftermarket piece for it -- it's a resin replacement turret, which corrects the very inaccurate shape of the kit turret. It's made by a finnish manufacturer, and sold over the net through a Finnish hobby store. For more on it, look here:

http://www.kitreview.com/reviews/t72turretreviewpg_1.htm

It's a great and very afforable part, which easily makes a kit with a huge flaw into a thing of beauty.

Anyway, my own suggestion would be the Tamiya T-55A. Oooohh ahhhh ....

Or, for sheer neatness of subject, the Italeri DUKW.

After waiting for a week to have my telephone fixed, maybe I should ask for a telecommunications technician that actually knows his job!

At least now I can log on and thank you all for your input.

Look's like the tiger is almost everyone's fav at this time. I'm thinking Tamiya early pro, as I was telling a few guys in my club about the "Group Build" in the forum's, and we are thinking we might do our own version

Would love the DW Sherm, but budget can't stretch (if you're gonna have it, you need to get the one with the trailer as well!)

Bill - 325 parts for the KKR! I built the Tamiya one years ago, how coud DML run up that many pieces? Sounds like it is almost Aber standard

Dwight & Styrene. Love the way you guys count; modellers after my own heart. Just the Mrs won't let "Santa" bring more than 2 kits. Then again, there's always keeping the list handy for Birthday, etc.

To everyone else, thanks for your ideas. I appreciate you all taking the time here - you've given me a much narrower list to deliberate from.

Happy modelling
Peter

Peter,

I got the Kettenkraft out over the weekend. The parts count (in part) is so high because of the indy links for the tracks. They are a BEAR. It's not for the weak of heart, or eyesight!! (I land in the 2nd group!) I put together 5 links of track and it took about 20 minutes. Definately not a beginners kit!

Good luck with the Tiger, I think you made a wise decision.

Bill

The first kit I built OOTB as a newbie modeler was Academy's Stuart "Honey" and it turned out great. Also the Tamiya Tiger 1, those would be my choices.

Bill

I read an article in an old mag the other day. It was about the DML KKR. The writer said that not only are the links separate, but so are the rubber blocks that are attached to them[:0].

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this kit only as long as your middle finger?

5 links in 20 mins - you are definately a braver man than me "Gunga Din". May I suggest a little anger therapy before said model is imbedded in the nearest wall

Happy (and sane) Modelling
Peter

Peter-san;

You are absolutely right, er your article was. Those are the little pads with the pins on the underside of them I was talking about. Understand, when I said 5 links in 20 mins, I was including a lot of cement set up time in there. What I found was that if I assembled some links (say 2 or 3) and got them all lined up purtty, if I didn't let them get a little hard, when I put the next link on, I would throw the whole thing out of alignment! Very frustrating! I"m not looking forward to getting them put together, aligned, and still having to have them flexible to go around the sprockets and idlers. This will be a S L O W build, I can tell you. But it's such a neat kit, I'd hate to have to put it through the wall!! LOL

Thanks for the encouragement, Peter.

Bill