_GOTOBOTTOM
Armor/AFV
For discussions on tanks, artillery, jeeps, etc.
NEWS
Voyager Models - It is an Enigma
SgtRam
Staff MemberContributing Writer
AEROSCALE
#197
Visit this Community
Ontario, Canada
Joined: March 06, 2011
KitMaker: 3,971 posts
Armorama: 2,859 posts
Posted: Tuesday, February 14, 2012 - 09:56 AM UTC
Hot on heels of the announcement of an upcoming Enigma, Voyager Models has something to take that Enigma a few steps forward.

Link to Item



If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!
sauceman
Visit this Community
Ontario, Canada
Joined: September 28, 2006
KitMaker: 2,672 posts
Armorama: 2,475 posts
Posted: Tuesday, February 14, 2012 - 10:09 AM UTC
Nice.

By the looks of things all you need it the Tamiya T-55A and this set makes it an Enigma.


cheers
SgtRam
Staff MemberContributing Writer
AEROSCALE
#197
Visit this Community
Ontario, Canada
Joined: March 06, 2011
KitMaker: 3,971 posts
Armorama: 2,859 posts
Posted: Tuesday, February 14, 2012 - 11:15 AM UTC
The set is listed for the Tamiya T-55 Enigma. There are no details on this yet, other then the pictures provided. Hopefully we will have more details from Voyager soon, as I believe the Tamiya kit is due out soon.
chefchris
Visit this Community
North Carolina, United States
Joined: February 06, 2006
KitMaker: 1,544 posts
Armorama: 1,464 posts
Posted: Tuesday, February 14, 2012 - 12:48 PM UTC
Hey Voyager Model........ What a great looking set, but why not come out with T55 Engine deck sets with the accurate set ups for Polish/ Russian or Czech tanks???? I know youd sell them

Chris
marcb
Visit this Community
Overijssel, Netherlands
Joined: March 25, 2006
KitMaker: 1,244 posts
Armorama: 1,226 posts
Posted: Tuesday, February 14, 2012 - 06:48 PM UTC
Looks good,
Is it missing the cover for the main IR light?
Spiderfrommars
Visit this Community
Milano, Italy
Joined: July 13, 2010
KitMaker: 3,845 posts
Armorama: 3,543 posts
Posted: Tuesday, February 14, 2012 - 08:03 PM UTC

Quoted Text

Hey Voyager Model........ What a great looking set, but why not come out with T55 Engine deck sets with the accurate set ups for Polish/ Russian or Czech tanks???? I know youd sell them

Chris



Chris, I totally agree with you. I wonder why they haven't done it yet

Set as usual looks great and incredibly complex. I might be wrong but as Richard said it seems that the set is conceived for a Tamiya t-55A kit. There are all the parts that you need to build a T-55 Enigma, why would it be needful to buy an Enigma kit? Probably they had designed the set before they knew about the latest Tamiya release, so they changed the name to their product

Cheers
Maki
Staff MemberSenior Editor
ARMORAMA
Visit this Community
Croatia Hrvatska
Joined: February 13, 2002
KitMaker: 5,579 posts
Armorama: 2,988 posts
Posted: Tuesday, February 14, 2012 - 08:40 PM UTC

Quoted Text

Probably they had designed the set before they knew about the latest Tamiya release, so they changed the name to their product



Exactly what I was thinking.

Mario
ChrisDM
Visit this Community
England - South West, United Kingdom
Joined: January 01, 2010
KitMaker: 717 posts
Armorama: 697 posts
Posted: Tuesday, February 14, 2012 - 08:47 PM UTC
Not to be too picky, but according to the captions this is three sets together if you want to make whats in the picture. Looks like Voyager are up to their usual shennanigans regarding unclear product release pictures

Any indication what is included in each of the three sets Kevin?
bison126
Visit this Community
Correze, France
Joined: June 10, 2004
KitMaker: 5,329 posts
Armorama: 5,204 posts
Posted: Tuesday, February 14, 2012 - 08:49 PM UTC
From the pictures, I guess this set won't be useful as it will cost you an arm while you can get a full Enigma in the Tamiya kit without having some bad time struggling with all these PE parts.
Voyager should have better issued a simple set with the Russian engine deck rail and mesh for the grilles or a Polish/Czech engine deck. But their choice was different!
I'm not too fond of Voyager's offerings. They are generally far too complex.
Just my 2 cents
Olivier
SgtRam
Staff MemberContributing Writer
AEROSCALE
#197
Visit this Community
Ontario, Canada
Joined: March 06, 2011
KitMaker: 3,971 posts
Armorama: 2,859 posts
Posted: Tuesday, February 14, 2012 - 11:52 PM UTC

Quoted Text

Not to be too picky, but according to the captions this is three sets together if you want to make whats in the picture. Looks like Voyager are up to their usual shennanigans regarding unclear product release pictures

Any indication what is included in each of the three sets Kevin?



Unfortunately at this time, there is little detail. My thought was to share that Voyager has announced the set, so those are interested in Tamiya kit will have an idea of its availability. As soon as we get more information, we will share it.

Thanks
Kevin
afv_rob
Visit this Community
England - East Anglia, United Kingdom
Joined: October 09, 2005
KitMaker: 2,556 posts
Armorama: 2,199 posts
Posted: Wednesday, February 15, 2012 - 12:10 AM UTC
From what I can gather looking at the news story pictures and the Voyager website, the Enigma is made of the following sets:

VBS0156- T-55 metal barrel
PEA140- T-55 stowage bin (fitted on the turret counterweight support arms)
PE35460- Enigma conversion parts (I guess the armour, fenders etc)

Sadly though, for me, both this conversion and indeed the Tamiya Enigma kit don't really capture the correct look of the Enigma armour. Its nothing major, but in reality the boxes are very crudely welded together and feature very rough and prominent weld lines on all of the edges. They aren't neat and smooth as depicted in either of these kits.
ChrisDM
Visit this Community
England - South West, United Kingdom
Joined: January 01, 2010
KitMaker: 717 posts
Armorama: 697 posts
Posted: Wednesday, February 15, 2012 - 04:03 AM UTC
Thats where I'm confused Rob, because don't voyager usually do the fender's as a seperate set?

I suspect those that have commented that this was designed before the tamiya announcement are correct. I really can't see any advantage in detail conferred by etched armour blocks at all

However, depending on how the sets break down there could be a good mix of Tamiya parts and Voyager without havng to buy all the sets

As for the weld seams, I guess it would be much easier to add these to the tamiya plastic parts than to mess around with the resin and etch in the voyager set

I'm sure it will all sell just fine to those that think just throwing all the etch you can get at a kit will atomatically lead to improvement. Don't get me wrong, it really can improve a kit, but as you say Rob, you have to give it the critical eye to see if its right and is an improvement before buying
afv_rob
Visit this Community
England - East Anglia, United Kingdom
Joined: October 09, 2005
KitMaker: 2,556 posts
Armorama: 2,199 posts
Posted: Wednesday, February 15, 2012 - 06:53 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Thats where I'm confused Rob, because don't voyager usually do the fender's as a seperate set?

I suspect those that have commented that this was designed before the tamiya announcement are correct. I really can't see any advantage in detail conferred by etched armour blocks at all

However, depending on how the sets break down there could be a good mix of Tamiya parts and Voyager without havng to buy all the sets

As for the weld seams, I guess it would be much easier to add these to the tamiya plastic parts than to mess around with the resin and etch in the voyager set

I'm sure it will all sell just fine to those that think just throwing all the etch you can get at a kit will atomatically lead to improvement. Don't get me wrong, it really can improve a kit, but as you say Rob, you have to give it the critical eye to see if its right and is an improvement before buying



I agree regarding the fenders. However because the Enigma actually uses different fenders to the basic T-55, with supports for the armour I assume Voyager saw little reason to release them as a separate set. The announcement of the Tamiya kit might of course lead Voyager to release some of these items separate.

I agree though that the detail work would be easier on the Tamiya kit than then etch. The only benefit of etch I can see is that one could dent it and bash it up a bit more easily.
awrc
Visit this Community
Wisconsin, United States
Joined: April 18, 2005
KitMaker: 281 posts
Armorama: 201 posts
Posted: Wednesday, February 15, 2012 - 07:45 AM UTC
This had been listed in Voyager's "Coming Soon" for a while - and for several weeks before Tamiya announced *their* Enigma. It's a full conversion for the Tamiya T-55A, rather than an enhancement for the Tamiya Enigma. Just unfortunate timing on the part of Voyager, I think - it might have sold reasonably well if there wasn't an OOTB Tamiya kit of the same subject announced less than a month later.

The "Coming Soon" on Voyager's site is useful as long as you check it often enough to figure out which items have been listed there *forever*. For example, looking at its current contents, everything from the Flakpanther V through the AFV Club T-34s has been there for ages, and I wouldn't recommend anybody holding their breath waiting for them. No idea why they announce stuff then never release it - nobody else has ever done PE for the Aufklarungspanzer 38(t) mit 75mm, I'd pick up both the sets immediately if they ever actually released them.
ChrisDM
Visit this Community
England - South West, United Kingdom
Joined: January 01, 2010
KitMaker: 717 posts
Armorama: 697 posts
Posted: Wednesday, February 15, 2012 - 11:26 AM UTC
To be fair, and speaking as someone who designs and releases PE, sometimes something looks emminently doable but ends up plagued with niggling problems that delay and delay it and sometimes stop you releasing it at all. Often 90% of it works, its just the last little bit

Its not so easy as it might look sometimes, the tolerances are infinitesmal on some parts and sometimes things do end up o the 'back burner' in favour of other projects, especially those aimed at recent releases

Of they might just be teases of course
Removed by original poster on 02/15/12 - 23:54:42 (GMT).
 _GOTOTOP