iambrb
Well-known member
Ok let me preface this by saying I tossed around some ideas as to where to put this, as I AM SAVING IT FOR THE INAUGURAL/BUILD WHAT YOU WANT BUILD.
I have tortured MP enough :gogo with asking when is it going to start, so while this is going in to it as my entry, I thought it would be neat to show what's in the box, as it is very new, and just got to me about a week + ago.
So anyhow here is the box and the MANY (!!) manuals and color guide:
This is really thorough, it appears that Academy is really trying to 'up' thier game. To that end, what made me choose this particular version? Well, it is for the same reason that I see this model falling into. To my way of thinking as to the versions of M1A2 that are currently out there, this falls in the "middle of the pack" Why you say? Well, if you get the Tamiya, it is very good of course, but the hull & turret lack the anti-skid coating on this generation of tanks, plus it has the usual PITA two-piece barrel that requires alot of sanding to remove the seam. (or additonal expense to procure aftermarket) The Academy has the anti-skid coating, as I tried to show here:
Appears I did not get a chance to take some pics of the unique method they use to mold thier multi-piece barrel, when I get to assembly I will show it though.
Not as nice as the Meng, though, is that this kit does not mold the lower hull as one-piece, and the tracks are the vinyl one-piece type:
This is a minor issue to me, with so much of the track run and the lower covered in the final model, but still something to consider.
Lastly I tried to show a few pics of the .50 cal MG's. Although a bit better molded than the the Tamiya (IMHO), they are still one-piece molded to thier cradles, so their position will wind up fixed:
So based on this, I think it falls smack-dab in the middle of the offerings from Tamiya, Academy, & Meng (I have not seen the Rye offering as yet). A nice caveat to this is that I bought mine for $37 dee-livered from Korea via Ebay. This is a few bucks less than tamiya, and a bit more $20 less than Meng.
So this is it at the moment, until the build starts. When it does I will likely ask/beg the mods to move this thread (after showing that I have not started it, only opened as shown here). In the meantime I am going to try and clear other stuff off the bench, just waiting for the theo whole shin-dig to kick off!
'Tanks' Fer-Lookin'!!!
I have tortured MP enough :gogo with asking when is it going to start, so while this is going in to it as my entry, I thought it would be neat to show what's in the box, as it is very new, and just got to me about a week + ago.
So anyhow here is the box and the MANY (!!) manuals and color guide:
This is really thorough, it appears that Academy is really trying to 'up' thier game. To that end, what made me choose this particular version? Well, it is for the same reason that I see this model falling into. To my way of thinking as to the versions of M1A2 that are currently out there, this falls in the "middle of the pack" Why you say? Well, if you get the Tamiya, it is very good of course, but the hull & turret lack the anti-skid coating on this generation of tanks, plus it has the usual PITA two-piece barrel that requires alot of sanding to remove the seam. (or additonal expense to procure aftermarket) The Academy has the anti-skid coating, as I tried to show here:
Appears I did not get a chance to take some pics of the unique method they use to mold thier multi-piece barrel, when I get to assembly I will show it though.
Not as nice as the Meng, though, is that this kit does not mold the lower hull as one-piece, and the tracks are the vinyl one-piece type:
This is a minor issue to me, with so much of the track run and the lower covered in the final model, but still something to consider.
Lastly I tried to show a few pics of the .50 cal MG's. Although a bit better molded than the the Tamiya (IMHO), they are still one-piece molded to thier cradles, so their position will wind up fixed:
So based on this, I think it falls smack-dab in the middle of the offerings from Tamiya, Academy, & Meng (I have not seen the Rye offering as yet). A nice caveat to this is that I bought mine for $37 dee-livered from Korea via Ebay. This is a few bucks less than tamiya, and a bit more $20 less than Meng.
So this is it at the moment, until the build starts. When it does I will likely ask/beg the mods to move this thread (after showing that I have not started it, only opened as shown here). In the meantime I am going to try and clear other stuff off the bench, just waiting for the theo whole shin-dig to kick off!
'Tanks' Fer-Lookin'!!!
