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Armor/AFV
For discussions on tanks, artillery, jeeps, etc.
Hosted by Darren Baker, Mario Matijasic
Unknown Brand-quality concerns
Denimo
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British Columbia, Canada
Joined: August 29, 2017
KitMaker: 186 posts
Armorama: 173 posts
Posted: Monday, August 28, 2017 - 08:49 PM UTC
I have 3 armour kits fron MiniHobbyModels. I bought them years ago and have just got back into the hobby.

Any comments, input on these kits? There's aT72B, a Merkava and an M48. Both the latter have mine rollers.

I have other brands to build but would welcome input please.
Tojo72
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North Carolina, United States
Joined: June 06, 2006
KitMaker: 4,691 posts
Armorama: 3,509 posts
Posted: Monday, August 28, 2017 - 09:13 PM UTC
I just Googled the T-72,it says its a Trumpeter rebox,I read that their kits are all reboxes.

Check it out.
jimc101
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United Kingdom
Joined: October 31, 2011
KitMaker: 29 posts
Armorama: 27 posts
Posted: Monday, August 28, 2017 - 10:37 PM UTC
From the look of them, they are very early Trumpeter kit re-boxes, not upto todays standards, but as you have them, why not just build them and use them to try things, they can end up as a paint mule if nothing else.

For future brands to look at, generally if the kit is less than 10-15 years old, you can't go too far wrong, that said most manufactures (realistically all) have at least one failure, that's what reviews are for, plenty on Armorama.
Kevlar06
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Washington, United States
Joined: March 15, 2009
KitMaker: 3,670 posts
Armorama: 2,052 posts
Posted: Tuesday, August 29, 2017 - 12:08 AM UTC

Quoted Text

I have 3 armour kits fron MiniHobbyModels. I bought them years ago and have just got back into the hobby.

Any comments, input on these kits? There's aT72B, a Merkava and an M48. Both the latter have mine rollers.

I have other brands to build but would welcome input please.


MiniHobbyModels was a company that mostly specialized in knock-offs of other manufacturers work. They marketed a few armored vehicles, aircraft and many ship kits based on Trumpeter, Aoshima, Nichimo, Academy, Dragon and other Asian manufacturers kits. Thier work was pretty good, I'm not sure if they marketed kits under license or if the work was purely pirated-- but they had "no-frills" boxings, and thier molds seemed just a little less "crisp" than the originals, but thier price point was much less. I used to work in a LHS, and we would get thier kits from a wholesale distributor, so they were probably legit. Not sure if they are still in business. Their business model was not all bad- Hobbycraft also re-popped many Trumpeter kits in Hobbycraft boxings-- in partnership with Trumpeter, thier F4F and P40 being two of the more famous-- for a much lower price. Maybe MiniHobbyModels did the same.
VR, Russ
GeraldOwens
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Florida, United States
Joined: March 30, 2006
KitMaker: 3,736 posts
Armorama: 3,697 posts
Posted: Tuesday, August 29, 2017 - 03:53 AM UTC
I was under the impression that Minihobby and Wasan were subsidiary brands owned by Trumpeter. Early Trumpeter kits were motorized, and many were unlicensed knock-offs of older kits from other companies. Once Trumpeter had improved their own kits, the older products were offered under the less prestigious labels.

In some cases, the earliest kits were molded in ABS plastic rather than polystyrene, and could only be glued with Plastruct's cement (whose solvent works on ABS), or with superglue. You can test your cement on a piece of sprue to see if these kits are ABS or styrene.

Since you've already got the kits, I'd say they would worth trying out new painting techniques and such. I wouldn't seek them out, though.
Kevlar06
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Washington, United States
Joined: March 15, 2009
KitMaker: 3,670 posts
Armorama: 2,052 posts
Posted: Tuesday, August 29, 2017 - 06:25 AM UTC

Quoted Text

I was under the impression that Minihobby and Wasan were subsidiary brands owned by Trumpeter. Early Trumpeter kits were motorized, and many were unlicensed knock-offs of older kits from other companies. Once Trumpeter had improved their own kits, the older products were offered under the less prestigious labels.

In some cases, the earliest kits were molded in ABS plastic rather than polystyrene, and could only be glued with Plastruct's cement (whose solvent works on ABS), or with superglue. You can test your cement on a piece of sprue to see if these kits are ABS or styrene.

Since you've already got the kits, I'd say they would worth trying out new painting techniques and such. I wouldn't seek them out, though.


I forgot to mention they also made a copy of the 1/35 Bronco L5 Piper. It didn't have the extras of the Bronco kit, but it wasn't a bad model. I did a side by side comparison when I worked in a LHS, they looked almost the same, except the plastic was a different color, it was a very similar molding, but somehow a little different, which caused me to believe it might have been pirated, but I'm not positive about that. The Bronco kit came with a paratrooper M1 carbine to dress up the cabin, and a resin pilot. The MiniHobbyModel kit did not. MiniHobbyModel does use a "Trumpeter" like logo box, with "MiniHobbyModels" superimposed on three different colored slashes in the logo, but the printing and artwork are not up to Trumpeter standards.
VR, Russ
Denimo
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British Columbia, Canada
Joined: August 29, 2017
KitMaker: 186 posts
Armorama: 173 posts
Posted: Saturday, February 02, 2019 - 05:55 AM UTC
Thanks for all the feedback and comments. As things moved on i sold and traded them to a LHS. He seemed happy enough to take them and i scored a Trumpeter LAV R out of the deal.
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