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Armor/AFV
For discussions on tanks, artillery, jeeps, etc.
Can anyone help me to start with armor again?
HunterCottage_JR
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Tajikistan
Joined: January 31, 2002
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Posted: Wednesday, January 30, 2002 - 11:14 PM UTC
I have built one armor in my hole life and it brock.
What is a good beginer armor that i can buy and start with?

Thanks in advanc

Daniel Kuehn
Västerhaninge Sweden :-)
Kencelot
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Joined: December 27, 2001
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Posted: Wednesday, January 30, 2002 - 11:22 PM UTC
Personally I would recommend Tamiya's M3 Lee or Grant. Quite simple in fitting together - only a little tricky in fitting the sponson-mount gun when putting the hull halves together.

Hmmm...now about that name.....
GunTruck
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Posted: Wednesday, January 30, 2002 - 11:38 PM UTC
Daniel,

After you take on the Tamiya M3 Lee / Grant Medium Tank, you might wanna try the Tamiya Sd.Kfz. 222 or 223 Armored Cars. Easy to build and nicely detailed - good to gain experience on.

Jim
San Jose, California
http://www.guntruck.com
Tin_Can
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Joined: January 26, 2002
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Posted: Thursday, January 31, 2002 - 12:17 AM UTC
Daniel, I also just started armor recently and my first kit was the 1/35 Academy Tiger I Early Version. It was an excellent kit that fit together perfectly with plenty of detail.
HunterCottage_JR
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Tajikistan
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Posted: Thursday, January 31, 2002 - 12:30 AM UTC
Thanks for the tips!
I maybe try one or two of the tanks you have said.
But the only thing i think is enoying is the small things like the front machinegun.

Thanks again!

Daniel Kuehn
Västerhaninge Sweden
GunTruck
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Posted: Thursday, January 31, 2002 - 01:36 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Daniel, I also just started armor recently and my first kit was the 1/35 Academy Tiger I Early Version. It was an excellent kit that fit together perfectly with plenty of detail.



Yeah Tin Can - Academy's Tiger I is a really cool model. Did you go how wild and buy the version with the interior?

Jim
San Jose, California
http://www.guntruck.com
Tin_Can
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Posted: Thursday, January 31, 2002 - 02:05 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Yeah Tin Can - Academy's Tiger I is a really cool model. Did you go how wild and buy the version with the interior?



Gun,
I didn't but think that I will. Someone told me that it's a good kit and I really liked the other one so I may give it a whirl.
Doppler
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Posted: Thursday, January 31, 2002 - 03:35 AM UTC
I recently put together the Tamiya M4A3 Sherman (TAM 35122) and am currently working on weathering and detailing.

It was one of the easier kits I have built lately and had no fit problems at all.
Sabot
Joined: December 18, 2001
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Posted: Thursday, January 31, 2002 - 05:50 AM UTC
Good beginner's armor model kit is the Tamiya M113 (or M106/M577/Fire Support Vehicle/ACAV). Good fit, not too petite detailing, and 3 of the 5 have an interior you can gain experience building. Big plus is that they are everywhere and relatively inexpensive (
GunTruck
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Posted: Thursday, January 31, 2002 - 06:48 AM UTC
:-) HunterCottage Jr - I just remembered, one of my favorite kits I had when just starting out was Tamiya's M3A2 Half-Track. Goes together well, lots of figures to practice on, and a bunch of gear. I had many a backyard war with that model on my summer vacation days...

Jim
TreadHead
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Joined: January 12, 2002
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Posted: Thursday, January 31, 2002 - 07:51 AM UTC
Hey Tin,

Just recently got the Academy Tiger I early version myself. Excellent quality kit, superb
detailing. Much better than their earlier stuff. How do you like the exhaust pieces? Had to
replace those tiny vertical supports on the exhaust vents though (plastic was too fragile
for my clumsy fingers I suppose). Want to replace the track with a Fruil metal track as soon
as I can get a good (read, inexpensive) supplier of that particular aftermarket product.

Tread.
E23C
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Ontario, Canada
Joined: January 23, 2002
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Posted: Thursday, January 31, 2002 - 12:42 PM UTC
The Tamiya T-34/76 and Sherman M4A3 are what I started with when I came back to armor modelling last December after a 12 year stint of building aircraft only!I also have the Academy Tiger I early version,looks great in the box
Kencelot
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Joined: December 27, 2001
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Posted: Thursday, January 31, 2002 - 05:23 PM UTC
I came back to armor modelling

Welcome home Mark! The brighter side of modeling! hehe :-)
ArmouredSprue
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South Australia, Australia
Joined: January 09, 2002
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Posted: Thursday, January 31, 2002 - 08:58 PM UTC
Just like Kencelot sais, Welcome aboard to the best part of hobby!
Cheers nd keep modelling
Tin_Can
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Joined: January 26, 2002
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Posted: Thursday, January 31, 2002 - 09:50 PM UTC

Quoted Text

Hey Tin,

Just recently got the Academy Tiger I early version myself. Excellent quality kit, superb
detailing. Much better than their earlier stuff. How do you like the exhaust pieces? Had to
replace those tiny vertical supports on the exhaust vents though (plastic was too fragile
for my clumsy fingers I suppose). Want to replace the track with a Fruil metal track as soon
as I can get a good (read, inexpensive) supplier of that particular aftermarket product.

Tread.



Tread,
Yeah, those exhaust pieces were small weren't they. That tank was my very first armor piece so I just left them off but now that I've done another one and experimented with some superdetailing using various pieces of wire and stuff i think I'll go back and install them using some wire supports instead of the plastic ones.

That's the second time I've heard about those fruil metal tracks. Are those things any good and does any body have a link to them?
GunTruck
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Joined: December 01, 2001
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Posted: Thursday, January 31, 2002 - 10:08 PM UTC
Tin,

Fruil track-links are very nice. Recent releases are slightly easier to use, as they come with lengths of wire that you actually insert to hold the links together. Drawback here is that you'll wind up drilling out nearly all of the links to make sure the wire slips in easy.

For some vehicles, like the M24 Chaffee I used them on, they also supply the Drive and Idler Sprockets too - which in the case of the Idlers was a big improvement over the basic kit parts.

Jim
tankbuster
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Wien, Austria
Joined: January 08, 2002
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Posted: Saturday, February 02, 2002 - 12:33 AM UTC
I would recommend one of the later Tamiya releases to start with, rather than an oldie. the newer Tamiya kits fall together and look rather pretty, even without superdetailling ( PE, individual parts ). They bring along big joy during
building ad I think thats what you need to re-enter in the hobby. You should see a progress in construction and not take much care on crosschecking with references and correcting faults or waste time with filling and sanding.
I do not know your interest, so I cannot recommend "that" beginners kit.
One of my favourites is Tamiyas M8 Greyhound.

regards, werner
HunterCottage_JR
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Tajikistan
Joined: January 31, 2002
KitMaker: 20 posts
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Posted: Saturday, February 02, 2002 - 04:22 AM UTC
Thanks guys!

I really appreciate the names of tanks your counting upp.I thing i'm going to start with something from tamiya.

Thanks again guys!

Daniel Kuehn
Västerhaninge sweden
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