RGronovius

Got the email. I think I have some of the old Airfix bagged kits with the cardboard header as well. I will include the ones I have too.

I've got some of their 1/32 scale tank kits like the M3 Lee, M3 Grant and the Crusader kits. I also have some of their 1/76 scale tank kits, some of which are the blister pack type. The 1/32 scale armor are probably too big for my scanner, but I could photograph the boxtop. They should be original issues from 1976.

You need to put your perception into perspective. We're not talking world peace, feeding the hungry, curing cancer, etc. What really matters is what matters to you when you build this kit. Is this a subject matter of which you want to build the most accurate version? If so, then your perception needs to be as abstute as your desire for perfection. Like Ed, this isn't my genre. I probably haven't built a Corsair since I made that Monogram one in the 1970s, folding wings and all (probably no paint on the blue plastic). If I were to build a Corsair, I'd look for a fairly accurate one that built up easily and wasn't too expensive. True accuracy wouldn't matter to me. I would just build it for enjoyment (not saying that those of you who need to fully accurize are not enjoying it), a simple OOB build to me. Conversely, if I were to build a modern US armor kit, I'd like to find the most accurate one or at least one that I could live with the errors or could fix them myself. When I open a kit box, I like to see crisp detailed and flash-free parts that hopefully assemble without much ado.

Nice kit, I scored one a while back as well as a couple others from that series, the Semovente (huge, double barrelled tank) and the Cyclops (sci-fi Hummer/Jeep sort of staff car).

The kit pictured in my Hobby Fan/AFV Club catalog looks like the Tamiya M1025 (tires, mirrors, seats).

Will do. This was a kit that I had always wanted when I saw a built one belonging to a friend's older brother. Back in the day, big kids got to build the Renwal kits with their high speed moving parts. Little kids got the Aurora kits, if available, or most likely the old rubber band powered Lindberg tank kits. In 1982 when I first saw the reissue, it was already an ancient kit, but I was glad to have one. I remember it being like $4.99. I'm grateful for the new Academy kit, but do have a desire to see this kit reassembled once again. It's been in pieces for literally a decade plus.

I bought & built the Revell reissue of the old Renwal M50 Ontos back in 1982. I rescued it from my parents' house last decade. It was relatively intact but missing many pieces with several remaining parts broken. A friend gave me a partially built glue bomb Renwal kit that he picked up at a swap meet. The original Renwal kit is from the 1960s. I was going to fully accurize it and rebuild it, but the recent release of the Academy negated my desire to accurize the old Revell/Renwal kit. I've now decided to just reassemble it using the better parts of each kit. Prior to the Academy kit, these Revell and Renwal Ontos kits could go for $25-50 depending on the boxing on eBay. Even built kits went for $20 or so depending on condition and completeness. Here's a photo of what I am starting with, on the left is the Revell lower hull and the engine grill cut from that kit's upper hull. The Revell parts are OD green colored and the original Renwal issue parts are a dark green color. The Renwal upper hull is on the right with it's engine grill removed and a few items from the spare parts box added. A close up of the Renwal upper hull after some minor surgery. This kit had not been completed or painted. I was fortunate that the entire recoilless rifle assemble was untouched and unbuilt. It is interesting to note that the original issue parts had plenty of sink holes while the Revell reissue had a much better quality injection molding. Close up of the Revell lower hull after disassembly and clean up. Here is the running gear, mainly from the Revell kit due to the sink holes in the outer halves of the Renwal kit wheels. I modified those outer halves to replace the inner halves of kit that were molded solid. I had to use a pair of the solid inner road wheel halves because I dontated a pair of outer road wheel halves to a fellow modeler who was doing the same type of project. I'll probably stick them in the #3 road wheel position. It is a very interesting vehicle. I had always wanted the Renwal kit as a kid and when I saw the reissue in 1982, I grabbed it quickly for around $5 at an old Kay Bee Toy & Hobby Shop.

I have an M48A5, T-72M and PzKpfw III flammpanzer.

Any in particular? I still have a few on hand, but have noticed that I may be needing reading glasses soon and have started building 1/35 scale kits instead of 1/72 once again.

Tamiya's M113 kit. I like to build it; it's easy to assemble and looks like the standard Papa Chuck it's supposed to be. Edit: I forgot to add the 1/72 scale Fine Molds Tie Fighter. One of the first non-MPC Star Wars vehicles I built, it took sci-fi modeling to a whole 'nother level for me.

Kev, I'm the type that if I think the kit's even remotely collectable, I'll throw it up on ebay and earn some money. I'd rather earn $50 on an old kit and use that money to buy a more updated kit than build it myself.

One of the worst kits I ever put glue on was the Trumpeter M60A3 kit. It was a poor copy of the Tamiya kit that looked like someone made into a wax duplicate. I used copied Tamiya instructions and even showed the original Tamiya parts placement for items Trumpeter had molded already in place. The plastic was rather slick and nearly impervious to glue. I gave up trying to use Testors bottle cement and switched to Tamiya Extra Thin which worked. The kit became my spray paint target. One of the nicer kits I remember building was the Skybow M41A3 Walker Bulldog. I grabbed one in late 2002 or early 2003 and was impressed. It was my first Skybow kit. I really liked it.

Looking through my stash, I found an old Heller 1/35 scale figure set that includes French Foreign Legion troops on camels. Interesting subject matter.

Do a forum search on the vendor. He's been mentioned quite frequently in modeling forums. Sounds like a justification for his high prices.

The tank he's building isn't a Panzer 1. It is a captured Soviet KV-1 tank pressed into German service and given a German name "Pzkfw KV-1". The KV-1 is one of the heavier Soviet tanks of WW2, definitely not light.

You've mixed up your German armor phrases. The word Panzerkampfwagen literally translates to Armored Combat Vehicle which is just German for the word "tank". It is abbreviated in several ways but normally Pzkfw or some variation. Because of limitations imposed by the Treaty of Versailles, Germany produced military vehicles under the guise of the code name Sonderkraftfahrzeug. Sonderkraftfahrzeug translates literally into Special Motor Vehicle. It is often abbreviated Sd.Kfz. That's why many WW2 German military vehicles have two names, the Sd.Kfz nomenclature and the Pzkfw nomenclature. For instance, the Pzkfw IV was also the Sd.Kfz 161.

No, this version never entered into service. Italeri did cut corners when making a model of the truck. On the actual vehicle, the tailgate is removed and the back doors are full length, split down the center and open to the right and left.

These two kits (Tamiya Bushmaster and Italeri Desert Patrol) are so close that it is just one sprue different (the hard top, weapon system). The door, chassis, wheels, suspension, glass are all the exact same model parts.

FYI, the old Tamiya Bushmaster kit is the Italeri HMMWV (like the one modeled above) with a different hardtop sprue.

I've had a couple of the old Heller 1/72 scale kits, like the Bi-Tubes AAA kit. The tracks were virtually useless and it was not a very good kit. I believe I sold it on ML's Braille scale forum.

The K-7 was my first Star Trek model. I remember playing with the small Enterprise that came with that kit. I bought one on eBay many, many years ago but never got around to building it. I'm glad it may see the light of day again.

Thanks, I thought it was a B similar to what would have been a Doolittle Raider, but wasn't sure if this was just some composite made up of different variants of the B-25. I suspected the national insignia and shark mouth were off as well.

I bought this to introduce my son to modeling and was curious as to the markings. Fictional to this model?

What's up? I didn't see a single German armor expert say that the muzzle brake was wrong on that gun tube. Must be a sign of the apocalypse. Very nicely done.

I am just trying to point out that here is a picture of a tank with fairly clean (not mud or rust covered) tracks. Ten of us could look at it and each call it a slightly different shade of whatever and use a mixture to come up with what each one of us sees.