Academy kit quality

As stated, Zvezda can be hit and miss. Their T-60 WW2 Russian light tank is usually singled out as the worst tank kit in 1/35. They also re-box older Italeri kits, some of which are old Peerless Max kits which are now around 40 years old.

That being said, they do make some of the best T-34 series tank kist. Far superior to Tamiya's T-34s (any of them) and only recently surpassed by the newest DML T-34s.

They also started re-boxing older DML modern Soviet armor like the BTR-70, T-72 and BMPs. These kits were great for the time but are showing their age after only 10 years.

QUOTE: Originally posted by Larry_Dunn Guys, does the Academy Tiger have the correct turret shape? I know that one is a real bone of contention with the Tiger nuts.

I think they have the symmetrical turret. The Tiger's assymmetrical turret was only recently discovered. I think there is a resin replacement (Azimuth?).

I really enjoy these FSM forums. Full of information from helpful modelers. Thanks everybody.

Guys, does the Academy Tiger have the correct turret shape? I know that one is a real bone of contention with the Tiger nuts.

I have the Acadamy Achilles, Warrior MCV and Stuart 'Honey'. The Achilles is building up nice, but has a few problems:

1) One interior fits all! The Achilles is based on their M10 kit and has incorrect internal ammunition stowage - ie the M10's tubes not the exposed 17 pdr shells (I'm procrastinating with casting from the 5 shells you get with the kit), lacks some of the sten gun racks, etc
2) Nasty ejection pin holes on the interior of the turret components and some of the other parts
3) Hull top is slightly warped but I expect it will glue down okay.
4) Rear hull tool stowage is for M10, not the British Achilles, and the outline guide for placement of tools needed to be sanded off. Fire extinguishers need to be sourced elsewhere too.
5) Muzzle brake is too small in shape and needs to be replaced.

That said, you get some really nice extras with the kit:
1) Two full sets of roadwheels (spoked or solid) as well as a couple of late war pattern 'flat' type for spares, two different idler and drive sprockets and two different track guides. (Spoked road wheels are great to replace the old Tamiya M3, etc)
2) Choice of 2 transmission housings (although one looks to be shaped a little incorrect)
3) A series of numbers, letters, buckles, wing nuts that can be shaved off 'sprue' extensions. These are for casting numbers, etc.
4) Track blocks, spare links, radio, etc meant for American vehicles ie M10
5) And given the above, a whole set of M10 round containers

The Warrior comes with a choice of building with or without add on armour. If you do fit it, it needs some work to improve (drill out access hole for external fire extinquisher, etc. The layout of the rear hull tools also needs to be corrected when checked with references.

The Honey has the same 'one interior fits all' problems and needs a fair bit of work to correct to the British version. If you are going to put a figure in it, or leave the hatch closed, this kit is (apparently) quite good externally.

Also be warned, some of Acadamy's kits are old Tamiya mouldings and not new kits at all. Despite all this, I feel the kits are superior to Italeri and roghly comparable to Dragon (DML), but not as good as the more recent Tamiya offerings.

Zvezda is hit and miss in quality, usually simplistic and a little unrefined. Think early 70's standard of kits and you will know what I mean - thick plastic, sometimes a bit 'greasy' or brittle, heavy detail, flash. Just remember, you get what you pay for.

I haven't built any trumpeter kits myself, but a few guys in my club have -(Swedish S-tank, Challenger, Sam 2). They all say that the quality is good for the price, but be prepared to do extra work if you want an accurate and detailed result. They too, as WIPW (Bill) has stated, recommend care in cutting the brittle plastic.

Eric, shhhh, I won't tell anyone if you won't!!

The interior on the Academy kits is supposedly closer for the early than the mid, but still not perfect. But it does look a lot nicer than an empty hull. Also, Eduard makes both an exterior and an interior pe set for them. They should help a lot.

Trumpeter's plastic seems harder and a lot more brittle to me than Tamiya or DML. More like Tamiya's old stuff. It makes removing parting lines much harder, imo.

I feel that Dragons newer kits are superb, but since they don't have a Tiger out, I didn't mention them before.

Bill

I prefer the Academy kits over Tamiya. For one thing the Tamiya kits plastic is usually too thick for the scale. The newer Academy kits like the M-151 is a better detailed although neither of the kits(Tamiya or Academy) are correct, the Academy comes the closest. If I can have a choice in the kits I would go for the Academy one first.

The quality of the Academy kit depends on the kit. Their Stuart is better than Tamiya's and is newer. As far as Tigers go, I've owned the Tamiya Late, Tamiya Afrika and Academy Mid w/interior. The Academy kit was nice, but after reviewing online articles I found that Academy used the "one interior fits all Tigers" philosophy. So I guess the interior was accurate for one of their kits, but made the others inaccurate.

Also the Tamiya Tigers looked nicer and of better quality in the box. The only kit I kept of the three Tigers was the Afrika Korps version. It looked the best to me and I didn't have to mess with zimmerit like I would on the later variants.

I truly didn't see anything wrong with the Academy Tiger though. It still looked like a high quality kit, just not as nice as the Tamiya kits.

Bill, did you sneak into my hobbyroom and take my Trumpeter M1A2? LOL Thank you.

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

Howdy Normie 1. I'm only going from my experiences. Some may disagree. I've heard Academy's Tiger I is among the best, partly because it comes with interior detail. I have built Tamiya's late model Tiger I and really liked the kit. It even comes with indy tracks, which for Tamiya, is a bonus. I have one Trumpeter kit and am not too thrilled with the fit and quality. I don't know much about Zvezda, but being from the old East Bloc, I'd be wary of quality. I do have the Academy Hellcat and think its of good quality though I don't know enough about its accurracy. Tamiya has always been at the top in quality and fit to me. I do think Dragon has more bang for the buck anymore. Nice to have you in the forum.

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

I like the newer Academy kits. The ones with full interior are really neat, although they're not terribly accurate if you're a nuts and bolts counter. Tamiya probably makes the nicest Tiger I's. The only Trumpter armor kit I have is an M1A2 Abrams, and I feel it's got a lot of problems.

Welcome to the forum.

Bill