? about Hobby Craft kits

Never built any of their tanks before, but have build several of their aicraft.  If the tanks are anything like the aircraft they make, than they are very basic, and sometimes get details wrong.  Having said that, they are a great place to do a lot of scratchbuilding.  Dont know how muhc this relates to their armor, but hope that it helps.

  Most of the Hobbycraft kits are Trumpeter reboxes.  Trumpeter/Hobbycraft basically took anything they could pass as an Iraqi vehicle and put some "Iraqi" decals with it (really just Arabic numbers and graffiti) and pushed them out just after OIF began. 

Their "Iraqi Technical" is the Trumpter Chinese BJ212 "jeep" with Recoilless Rifle.  It was never used by Iraq and is incorrect to put in Iraqi markings, etc.  It is a great little kit though, full of detail. 

The BMP-1 is a rather poor copy of the DML or Esci BMP-1 and marketed by Trump as the Chinese WZ501.  It has lots of accuracy issues (as does the DML version).  Still looks close to a BMP-1 though.  It is correct for an Iraqi vehicle.  There were lots of BMP's in Iraq, till 3ID and USMC showed up.  

Reviews of the BJ212 w/RR from PMMS.

Bad quality kits IMHO. THe T-55 series of kits is a copy of the trumpeter ones, which can be built up into decent models. The BMP is just bad.

 I did the T72 which had inaccuracies, but turned out nice. The Challenger2 had fit problems and I was not satisfied. The AS90 came out pretty good. Kind of hit and miss with Hobbycraft, but the prices were good and I enjoyed the builds overall. I'll still buy them, but I know what to expect now.

                                                                                                            -60

 You are correct, zokissima. And now Trumpeter is getting better and better. Looking forward to more from them.

                                                                                                                        -60

aren't they reboxes of early trump stuff

i have some early trump stuff and i hate them

DURR wrote:

aren't they reboxes of early trump stuff i have some early trump stuff and i hate them

Not necessarily, some are older, some are their newer ones as well, like the AS-90 and BJ212.

The BJ212 tires are VERY poor. They melt with the plastic. Trakz made a good set of aftermarket wheels (resin).
Otherwise, the BJ is a good kit with a lot of nice details.

Take care

Pato

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