Mckay wrote: |
east end fire wrote: | Mckay. the alf is a trumpeter kit and the othere truck is all resin kit |
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Thanks I have been thanking about picking up the Trumpter kit. What do you thank of it and is it worth the price? Mckay |
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The Trumpeter kit is very nice, but it does have some quirks to it. The rumor is the initial design of the kit was to have a ton of detail and lots of loose tools and equipment. However the expected cost was estimated at $200+, so it was simplified a bit to bring the cost down to something under $100.
As a result you have very good detail in some places and short cuts elsewhere. For example it has a nicely detailed pump that you will never see, but no motor. Where the motor should be there is just a big square box in the chassis. Since you can't see the motor that is fine but it is odd that they didn't at least makle a decently detailed oil pan and transmission molded into the chassis. It really looks like it was intended to have a motor and at the last minute it was deleted. The seats are designed for removable breathing apparatus, but they didn't include any, again it appears to me they intended to include some breathing apparatus but cut them at the last minute.
Overall it is a good kit so probably justifies its $85 price tag, particularly if you consider the AMT ALF pumper has a retail price around $50. Just be aware it will require some fabrication to really get the most out of it. The cab interior is quite visible with those big windows so it can really make detailing worthwhile. It is your only option for a modern fire engine and even built completely out of the box it is an impressive model.