Jeeves
Well-known member
Recently picked this one up from Great Models during their New Year's 50% off sale. It is apparently a rebox of the old Italeri kit, which had some inaccuracies (any advice on what sort of things are wrong would be much appreciated!) Took a few minutes to look it over and here's what I found...
First off-- the included Dragon Iwo Jima USMC figures are pretty sweet...the set may be older, but they'll fit into any Pacific diorama quite nicely. Four figures in various poses are included...
and they include a nice selection of loadout choices-- including a flamethrower, bazooka, Thompson machine gun, BAR, and M1 rifle.
The kit parts are nice in their own right. There is some flash in certain spots and sink marks are present in some tricky places, but the details are crisp. The wood grain in the planks for the flooring are especially nice...although details for the driver's compartment seem a bit scarce...
The diamond tread floor plate detail, as well as that for the top side of the hull is very nice as well...
The side sponsons are apparently part of the inaccuracies inherent in the kit-- but included on the sprue with them are some nicely detailed machine guns (you'll have to drill out the barrels unlike the current Dragon guns), boarding pikes, and running gear.
Finally- the lower hull detail is sparse-- but for my little knowledge of the LVT, that might be accurate. The tracks are one piece elastic-- four of the same length-- assembling them will be interesting. Decals choices are minimal, but the register, especially on the yellow markings, seems very nice.
Overall-- it seems like a nice kit...but in looking over the sprue shots of the AFV Club version of the LVT, I can with all honesty say that the Cyber Hobby kit no where nearly matches the quality of the detail in the AFV Club kit. It looks for all appearances that this was just rushed out to compete with the newer kit...and it shows...but at less than half the price. For $20-- it's a nice little kit...but if I were going for accuracy and quality and had the money to spare, I would spring for the $50+ AFV Club kit...
First off-- the included Dragon Iwo Jima USMC figures are pretty sweet...the set may be older, but they'll fit into any Pacific diorama quite nicely. Four figures in various poses are included...
and they include a nice selection of loadout choices-- including a flamethrower, bazooka, Thompson machine gun, BAR, and M1 rifle.
The kit parts are nice in their own right. There is some flash in certain spots and sink marks are present in some tricky places, but the details are crisp. The wood grain in the planks for the flooring are especially nice...although details for the driver's compartment seem a bit scarce...
The diamond tread floor plate detail, as well as that for the top side of the hull is very nice as well...
The side sponsons are apparently part of the inaccuracies inherent in the kit-- but included on the sprue with them are some nicely detailed machine guns (you'll have to drill out the barrels unlike the current Dragon guns), boarding pikes, and running gear.
Finally- the lower hull detail is sparse-- but for my little knowledge of the LVT, that might be accurate. The tracks are one piece elastic-- four of the same length-- assembling them will be interesting. Decals choices are minimal, but the register, especially on the yellow markings, seems very nice.
Overall-- it seems like a nice kit...but in looking over the sprue shots of the AFV Club version of the LVT, I can with all honesty say that the Cyber Hobby kit no where nearly matches the quality of the detail in the AFV Club kit. It looks for all appearances that this was just rushed out to compete with the newer kit...and it shows...but at less than half the price. For $20-- it's a nice little kit...but if I were going for accuracy and quality and had the money to spare, I would spring for the $50+ AFV Club kit...
