Their modern stuff are really nice. The T55, Abrams and Leopard were very popular as was the Leclerc. I hate to say it but there are like 5 tigers out there too many shermans to count why not some modern stuff. It's not like i am asking for like a Lav III (one can wish).
Be happy with any thing we get in injection plastic. I don't see a whole heap of companies climbing over each other to produce AFV 1/48th injection
kits! Do you? So I suggest each and every one of you buy one of these Hummvee's. Show some support. Because if we do, we might get lucky and get the things that we really want! Like it or not Tamiya is still the only player in the game!!!!!
So buy one, make it in a weekend and enjoy the build!
I don't normally do anything BUT WW2 stuff but frankly a change of pace, occasionally, would be quite nice. I'd build an Abrams in a minute if it came out. There are a few of the modern pieces of armor that are actually quite attractive. I would dearly love to see a Centurion and of course a T54/55...but, who am I kidding...in this century anyway. Chris Schwach
Be happy with any thing we get in injection plastic. I don't see a whole heap of companies climbing over each other to produce AFV 1/48th injection
kits! Do you? So I suggest each and every one of you buy one of these Hummvee's. Show some support. Because if we do, we might get lucky and get the things that we really want! Like it or not Tamiya is still the only player in the game!!!!!
So buy one, make it in a weekend and enjoy the build!
Happy modeling!!!!!
JohnO<<<<<<
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That's all well and good for those that have a lot of disposable income. Some of us have to pick and choose based on a limited hobby budget. I would love to be able to run out and purchase 137 kits that I'll never build just so I can show pictures and say "See what I've got in my stash?". I'd love to be able to spend $100 on AM pieces just to make a $30 Tamiya kit perfect enough for Gaston's tastes. It ain't gonna happen. I've got 5 kits in my stash, and since our Explorer needs tranny work that is all I'm gonna have for awhile.
I know what you mean about folks who simply throw money at their kits for the sake of utter perfection, but most of us cannot justify that kind of spending on a "hobby". Especially if the wife catches us.
It seems that "no kit" is acceptable these days unless the AM folks have a hand in it. We have critics coming out our ears for every new kit that arrives, and it seems that the critics thrive on hunting down minor features to complain about.
I totally agree with that! I am almost finished my first hummer. I have two more kits on order i'll get later in november. There are so may options here! Yes the hummer has a few issues but i found they can be worked around, fixed or just never seen. Which in my mind makes them non problems.
Tere are always critics. I've noticed most who spend their time complaining spend no tme building. AND, AM stuff is not always better. I use maybe half at best of a PE sheet. Sorry grab handles that are flat, no way. Or you cut off a perfectly good part to put on the PE but there is this huge glob of CA glue, hmmmm nice improvement.
Either live with the problems, fix em or just hide em but don't complain. I showed pictures of some of the pin marks on my earlier post. Well i fix em and most you do not see. Now i am almost done.
Well I can't argue with you there. I know what you mean as far as the budget goes and the cash flow that suddenly goes up in smoke!!! Then there is dealing with STSBO! Major problem!
Which isn't a great help when alot of us are caught up with the issues that are wrong with a kit and the need for AM parts to fix the problem.
Just inceases the need to spend more money. I have been truely amazed at what the high rollers in the hobby can spend on one kit and the number of kits in their stashes! You think that with all these high rollers around, that TOTS would be booming! Guys with lots of cash to drop on the newest and latest kits would be sucking up the kits as fast as the producers could put them out! Tamiya and others would be giving us a kit once a month to suck that money up!!!! But it looks like even the high rollers aren't dropping enough money!
Paul, I tottally agree with you. Pin marks are not a problem. Most are out of sight and out of mind with the Humvee. But with the ones that are I use Mr Surfacer 500. The other bugs can be fixed with some white plastic card, or do what I have seen Russian modelers do. Use plastic from various plastic food containers. I have seen some brilliant work done just with food container plastc!
As one of the former "high rollers", let me say.....
October 27 2009, 9:51 PM
that I agree with everyone - how's that for a definite answer..... With my major cut in income last spring, my wicked ways have had to change somewhat. Bret, I do understand where you are coming from: there was a time when I couldn't afford to buy model magazines or books and there are some major gaps in my desired library as a result of that "dry season." I am like Steve Zaloga in that I try to build a model using my own skills and not depending on the resin market (what am I saying? ) for every little change that comes up. As someone mentioned, most of the PE sets have dozens of parts that are very hard to use, and my experience in judging and looking at built models is that a LOT of the PE actually disappears under the paint and weathering. While I may seem to talk a good game of superdetailing, the fact is I want the models to look complete, but I'd rather build 10 pretty good models a year than one "Bruce Beamish masterwork."
In 1/48, we have a tremendous advantage in our smaller models where a lot of tiny details can be suggested by simple shapes, or even ignored. Yes, I do think Tamiya let us down on the lack of basic correct details on many of their models, but it all can be fixed or ignored. And yes, John, there are some kits that are far enough off they do need AM parts to correct them. I've seen nice HB Shermans built, but the hull errors do stick out for me. Fact is, the resin hulls offered so far by Steve Faxon and ID were very reasonable in price, and should not have been a financial drain on anyone who could afford the original kits. On the other hand, I am perfectly willing to go with what Tamiya has provided in most cases, and mod the stuff I don't like. For those who want to build out of the box, PLEASE do so; the goals I have in modeling are not likely your goals. Build the way you want,and don't let others criticize that. This is supposedly a hobby we do for fun; sometimes you'd never know it.
One of the things we have tried to do here at T48 is keep a laid-back, open and friendly atmosphere for all the folks who come here. In the main, we've done that pretty well. We do have the occasional detail kerfluffle, and we all know where most of those start. Suffice to say that it doesn't happen all that often. I would encourage you who don't have the budget for a lot of aftermarket stuff to learn the simple steps in doing a lot of the changes and detailing yourself. It's NOT hard; some of it may be tedious, but it's not hard. Sheet plastic and rod/strip stock is cheap, and you can work miracles with the stuff. Steve Zaloga builds some of the most impressive and evocative models I know, yet he refuses to spend months superdetailing his models. He models an impression, using the kits, largely scratchbuilt details and assemblies, paint, weathering, figures, a base, and often photography. In an old thread I talked about one of the most effective modelers most of us in the '60s knew: John Sandars. His stuff by today's standards was hopelessly crude: balsa, plastic, cardboard, pins for rivets, cobbled up tracks and details. And yet, posed in their miniature sand dioramas, his simple models brought back the war in North Africa as none I have seen since. His models, you see, may not have had the details we all demand; they had heart.....
I think most of us have felt the pinch on the economic times. I am just stingy. My son like apple sauce cups and the tops are made of a thin aluminum type cover that when washed make great straps. The plastic container becomes a mixing bowel for mud etc. There are so many ways to save mony.
Many years ago a fella come to a club meeting with the, at the time, newest 1/35 Tamyia Sherman M4, about a 45$ kit, at the time. So he explained what he did to the kit, which included replacing the upper hull, turret, tracks, barrel, etc etc. When we did the math it was like 100s of $ spent on a 45$ kit. And he still did a lowsy job putting it together.
I have come to the conclusion the art of scrath building is slowly dying. Now you look at some of the work people here have done like the jagdtiger and the art is not lost there. I find often a few minutes with some plastic and voila you have made it better.
Sometimes, "perfect" is the enemy of "good enough"....
October 28 2009, 11:50 AM
The more aftermarket you use, the more chances to screw things up. Many times, the impression of making a well-detailed model is more important than actually working weeks to add all those details. Steve Zaloga does not waste time detailing areas that cannot be seen once the model is assembled. Sometimes, just thinning some of the plastic details on a kit can replace the PE; a good example would be sanding down the tool brackets on the Tamiya Panther G to maybe half their original thickness. Makes them look like the PE, and all you have to do is be careful not to take off too much.
As for PE, there are places where you probably do need it, like those air intake grill screens on German heavy tanks. Hauler sells just the grills for the Tamiya Panther G and the Tiger IIB kits. Hauler also makes what I think are the most reasonable PE and resin sets for our 1/48 models: enough of the critical PE to replace clunky plastic that can't be molded thinner (Sherman brush guards, etc.), but only the necessary details, not hundreds of tiny pieces that most of us will never use ('cause we can't afford living in the home). Some kits don't need any PE, others just a touch, and still others really do need the AM parts/PE, because they have serious problems plastic can't cure. It is ultimately your choice.
Turned barrels? If your model has a badly done barrel, yes. If the barrel on the kit is good in shape, glue the halves together. When the joint is COMPLETELY dry, take two medium-fine sanding sticks, chuck the barrel in a slow-turning Dremel tool, and gently run the sanding sticks up and down the length of the barrel until it is smooth. You'll even have the turning marks in the plastic just like the metal barrels you can buy. But it's free, for about 5 minutes' work. There is NO reason why good detail HAS to cost a lot of money, but the aftermarket people have to eat too, so their stuff does cost, and they deserve to be paid for their work. Basically it all boils down to what you want out of your modeling. And that is entirely up to you.
