Zvezda kits?

smeagol the vile wrote:

and I refuse to buy something I cant see (box art does not help)

 

  I agree whole-heartedly!  I believe that if the company cannot find/hire a modeler to build their stuff and make it look good enough to photograph for the side of the box....it's probably not worth buying or building.  But, I have taken a chance on some kits and they turned out fairly well without TOO much extra work.

I have been wondering about Zveda kits myself...so I'm anxious to see any replies as well!

 

They just make so many things that are out of the ordinary for other makers.  Alot of polish slavic russian stuff.  I was trying to find some pics of their wwii mounted russian cossacks when I posted this.

My opinion of Zvezda:

Avoid anything that is not one of their most recent releases, unless you are prepared to make do with a different 'vintage' of kit.  Not that they are bad, but some of these will absorb your time and all your skill; their newer offerings I've heard are very well done; but I don't know about their figs. 

There are some reviews of zvezda figure kits here- http://www.cybermodeler.com/mainmenu.shtml

 

There wasn't the kit you were looking for, but there were a few others. HTH

 

I have built several of their figure sets andone originaltank, T-34/76 model 1943, of theirs so far. Many Zvezda tank kits are old Italeri molds. Their figures have improved since their earliest releases.

This is their T-34

Tamiya T-34/76 w/Zvezda crew figures

 Hey smeagol,

 I built the Zvezda 1/35 Gaz-AA for the "Service and Supply" GB and IMHO the kit was an easy and fun build. Nicely molded details with little flash, few ejector pin marks, and a pretty good wood grain detail. Here's a link to the Zvezda home page.

 http://www.zvezda.org.ru/?lng=eng

 HTH

 Mobious

 

Oh yeah, I built their BT-5 about 15 years ago too. First kit of their's that I recall buying and building. A simple build that I was really suprised at how nice it turned out. I have also built their T-34/85, 122mm Howitzer, and 120mm mortar with crew.

Here are a few more Zvezda figure sets posed with their T-34/76-please forgive the faces-my weak area on figures-I still need lotsof work there.

Kit 3544 Soviet Tank Infantry- my favorite set of theirs I have yet built

Soviet Naval Infantry-not listed currently on their site- those Sailor uniforms are a bear to paint!

And Soviet Assault Troops-I really like the "amoeba" pattern camo coveralls worn

Overall for their figures I must say that I like the poses and weapons. The weakest area is the facial moldings. The plasitic is not overly hard and moldline cleanup is easy. While not up to Dragon or Tamiya level of current molding, they are not far behind. Many of their sets are the only things out there until very recently. Pick up a kit or set and see for yourself.

Yea, the faces are saddly sub par, they make so many kits that noone else does.

Some AM replacement Soviet heads will help out majorly. But otherwise, their figure kits keep improving with each release. The Tank Troops (Desantnik) I built alongside the older Dragon/DML set for a comparison. The Zvezda set, to me, was just as good, (even the faces) with slightly crisper detail, and better weapons. I really liked the two l eaping figures for the sense of motion/action added. I just looked on their site and they have some good newstuff due out that I will buy. For the price, I have no complaints. And like I said earlier my face painting on figures needs work. Their face moldings aren't any worse than old Tamiya or early Dragon/DML.

just got the mounted cossacks not built but I like what I see so far.

Hi, you could find reviews of their figure kits here http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/ManufacturerList.aspx?id=26

 You could find some built models here http://www.zvezda.org.ru/?lng=eng&nav=1&p=5

 

Cheers!