Trumpeter T 62mod 72 1/72nd a warning

[Old pro]

Aargh just bought the above kit which is on its way, just looked at the sprues and noticed that the wading covers for the engine deck are moulded over the radiator grills, highly unusual way of having them if not fording a river, what were they thinking? Still it's the only game in town but extra work none the less.

[Sgt.Squarehead]

 

The hull extension for the turret ring is what put me off this one (the tracks go without saying, but I can replace those easily), it needs the undercut adding and then you have to restore the fender and replace the stowage.....Utterly half hearted attempt by Trumpeter which I won't be buying on the grounds that they're getting far too like Dragon for their own good. 

 

If Modelcollect ever cheapskate a kit we must utterly blank it and thoroughly pan it in reviews (getting it wrong is OK, not even trying isn't).....We cannot afford to let another quality Braille manufacturer (Remember Trumpeter's Ferdinand & FAMO etc.) begin to slide into Quick-Build mediocrity, especially at over £15 a kit! 

 

/

 

Looking forward to seeing what you do with it. 

 

PS - I massively regret praising the (really very well done) QB track option in Trumpeter's IS-3s, back in the day, over on ML Braille! 

 

[Old pro]

It seems like no kits get panned in reviews anymore! Yes the hull extensions are a pain but at least the basic model is accurate ish, the engine deck is just an added pain to do on the model 72, oddly as I am writing this the kit has turned up, 3 days from Germany not bad going! It comes with the Rmsh type of track and although not perfect, not the worst I've seen, if it wasn't for the missing detail on the inside they would be acceptable, but I have seen worse L&L. That said it is the only game in town, unless you want the excellent Italeri kit😂😂 and I am not wholly confident that if ever Modelcollect release theirs, that it is going to be any better, in certain areas yes but overall? As Modelcollect have found out, there is not a whole lot of Money in small scale Russian, hence them recuperating their costs in Fist of war series and 46 tanks, Trumpeter on the other hand have reduced costs by simplicity of moulds, yes they can recuperate their costs better because of their vast range of models in all scales, but they are a business, why waste money in an area where you are not liable to get your money back?

Don't  worry you weren't the only one liking the IS 3 tracks, my review at OTW also was in favour of them, before they turned to that horrible "glueable " rubber track, Trumpeter kits (except for the first few releases) have always been a mixture of good and bad, so nothing has changed really and compared to other single track units, they are some of the better ones.

If you look how much Alex Clark has to rebuild Modelcollect to get them accurate, there are always going to be compromises somewhere, seems like only Flyhawk, T models and OKB can come up with decent kits, none of which I have so I can't comment, but reviews are good, just as they are for most models although it seems like the main criteria are how many parts, how nice it looks and ease of build, over accuracy and details, or reviews by people who don't have a clue what they are talking about, but the kit from X manufacturer must be good because it's them! And sometimes it doesn't even look like a duck!😂😂

 

OK rant over, too many models to correct😜

[alexclark]

56 minutes ago, Old pro said:

seems like only Flyhawk, T models and OKB can come up with decent kits, none of which I have so I can't comment, but reviews are good, just as they are for most models although it seems like the main criteria are how many parts, how nice it looks and ease of build, over accuracy and details, or reviews by people who don't have a clue what they are talking about

I know what you mean Simon, 95% don't really cover accuracy, unless it's something very glaring (but even then it doesn't always get mentioned!) I rarely read any these days - if it's something I want to build I'll buy it, check it myself and then do whatever I need to do to make it acceptable in my own eyes!

[Old pro]

11 minutes ago, alexclark said:

I know what you mean Simon, 95% don't really cover accuracy, unless it's something very glaring (but even then it doesn't always get mentioned!) I rarely read any these days - if it's something I want to build I'll buy it, check it myself and then do whatever I need to do to make it acceptable in my own eyes!

That's it, how bad do I want it? If it's the only thing on the market I tend to buy it and make the changes necessary ( or die trying😂) I read mainly to get a look at the sprues, although that doesn't tell you everything, then I let you build it and take my ideas from there 😂😂

[Sgt.Squarehead]

4 hours ago, Old pro said:

That's it, how bad do I want it?

Many a monstrous stash gets built that way!