Artful69

Me too on those reports, Kev ... Got to flicking through the kits late yesterday ... Good news is the parts count is WAY down on the Dragon kits, instructions are very clear and everything looks super detailed and crisply moulded ... Bad news is the Ausf.G (Kit BT-001 - so the first kit produced) is missing the metal barrel mentioned on the instructions. Thankfully each of the other kits has it in there. Fortunately the kits - other than the short barrelled (L/24) F-1 (BT-003) - have both L/43 and L/48 barrels as a single piece injection mould on the sprues, while the metal barrel supplied in the kits is only the more common L/48. Since I planned on using the shorter L/43 in the Ausf.F-2/G Kit (BT-004) anyway ... I'll just pinch the L/48 barrel from this kit for the Ausf.G. If that's the only hiccup I'm very impressed so far. Rog

(Insert Grace Randolph meme here) Soooooo ... Package number 4 arrived today - Yeppers that's Sunday here in WA ... BNA Modelworld have this weird obsession with using couriers for interstate shipping. I have no idea why since on their e-Bay web page they advertised Australia Post ... Consequently, instead of arriving inside the usual week and a half this package took 3 weeks. Note to fellow Aussies ... avoid using Aramex/Fastway (or Sloway as I prefer to refer to them). Ok ... I'm impressed with Border Model ... I like their style ... Some may not and that's ok ... but I decided I'd like to get into their kits of the back of a really good look at their in box reviews ... (Insert G.R. "Soooooo") I grabbed these 5 ... Out of all 5 ... This is the likely first build ... as it would be for the Kursk setup I'm looking at. Ironically it's also kit number 1 in their lineup. For some odd reason they skipped a Pz.IV release for kit number 2 and went for a modern Leopard ... I skipped that one and went for kit number 3 ... and earlier model short barrelled F.1 ... I don't know whether the idea for the Leopard was a pre production aberration or theirs ... but pretty much everything since that kit (including their up coming 1/35 aircraft) has followed the WWII line ... and kit number 4 follows a more logical sequence - An F.2 / (early) G ... The next of Border's kit releases (number 5) looks at the peak of up gunning / up armouring / up spec-ing of the Pz.IV - the Ausf.H ... with 4 bonus "chaps" included in this kit ... And the final version of the Pz.IV which was partly an attempt at lightening the vehicle to give it more speed and agility - the Ausf.J ... Once the Border Tiger.I kit hits the shelves here along with the Mk.III Crusader ... I'll snaffle another purchase ... meanwhile I'll halt here and start working out a dio template ... Rog

But the question remains - are there any of the much needed corrections available to purchase?? Rog

Sorry for the delayed response Kev ... Funny thing is Carl has already responded below now - and from my hazy memories it was him who I asked for info before looking them up myself ... My thoughts are: Dragon level of detail and accuracy with about 50%+ Less PIA!! ... Don't get me wrong - Dragon kits are still very awesome but someone in the marketing/design team had a brain explosion some time ago when they started with the whole DS Track thing - they are rubbish ... Magic Tack was the bomb - and the perfect "realistic" non AM solution ... BUT these link and length assemblies in the modern kits (Dragon are copying with their "Neo" Smart kits) are the ultimate for mine ... Fun Fact - Tamiya was the first to introduce them - in their newer tooled early Pz.II and I thought it was a pretty decent idea when I saw it then. Thanks to newer folding/casting technologies, there is a lot of included detail on parts that is the Dragon level of "Crisp" and in some cases - probably superior! ... Therefore there is a much less part count and less sub-assemblies - right up my alley when theres a big project in the making! Nice Carl! ... The Jagdtiger (along with a Ferdinand) ... is about the only kit I haven't built yet (of any brand) ... I think the Takom kit comes with a 2-in-1 choice for early or late types so I could pick whichever one suits a Dio for it - options are always good so it's the ideal choice. Const of the Pz.III M/N kits is around 50-55 Aussie pesos - dunno what the Jagd-kitty comes to? Rog

Today box number 2 arrived ... I had forgotten exactly what I ordered apart from these ... Because I wanted to depict a platoon on the march I needed a few of the same sort and as stated previously these "Blitz" kits seem to be the right kits for the job ... Decal variation for the tank numbers will be provided via a Dragon kit of the same ilk with an oversupply!! ... I need a Tiger for that Kursk dio (and a Pz.Kfpw.IV Ausf.G) ... But this one is not it ... The markings in THIS box are for Whittmans tiger (options are for both at Kursk and later) ... after seeing the Tiger kit Border is about to release in the not-too-distant future ... AND with the markings for 2 Kursk vehicles in the right unit (S.Pz.Abt 505) - the decision to hold on the Tiger acquisition FOR THE DIO was made ... This Tiger is a Rye Field Model kit that was on sale with a decent discount. As you can see ... The box is fairly chunky ... This is because the kit contains a full interior AND alternative clear parts for the upper hull and turret ... It will make a great solo display piece ... although without using the markings ... *** Interlude: I've never felt uncomfortable building or displaying German arms for WWII (or Japanese for that matter) ... even with the crooked black cross thing on the tailplane of aircraft or on flags draped across tanks for IFF. A military arm or weapon is just that - regardless of the regime. However I draw a line at assembling and displaying anything SS related - the politically fanatical wing of the military ... which is why this tank will be displayed without Whittmans makings when it is done. *** I feel that you can never have enough figurines laying about for Panzer crew or auxiliaries ... so I grabbed a couple of boxes that caught my eye. The Tamiya one has 4 complete figures and 4 torso only Rog

I'm really hoping that the time they've invested in the Bf.109G-6 pays off and we get the definitive version in 1/32 ... Wondering where the follow up Hs.129's have gotten to? 17x 1/32 kits in a 10 year period isn't a bad release schedule for a small privateer company - especially when you throw in the smatterings of other scales at the same time. And with the remaining Hs.129's, Fw.190's, Ar.234 and Bf.109G-6 in the pipeline besides anything as yet unannounced I think the ZM brand will be solid for years to come ... Rog

Very interesting!! ... I think the idea that makes the most sense is that that Revell must have contracted someone in China to re-pop the plastic using their own various QC/QA methods including plastic to be used (probably had the instructions, decals and boxes done there by different contractors also) ... That way the moulds don't travel too far from the owners and - lets face it ... most cheap mass produced stuff these days is coming out of China ... Revell have re-poped a few kits lately originating from other companies - it seems to be a change in their MO ... I haven't bought the Revell version of the Special Hobby Tempest yet ... but when I do I'll have a quick plastic comparison on that one also ... Interesting discussion Thierry ... Thanks for sharing your insight ... Rog

Well ... I had to put in a few orders with local suppliers .... and one of them happened to have stock of the Revell kit ... Since it was on the "kits to buy" hit list I pulled the trigger and bought it. Yesterday afternoon (12/03) the kit arrived ... This morning I decided to do an unboxing-style look at the kit contents ... The Revell box is made out of the same flimsy cardboard material as usual - and the box is big enough to fit two kits in there - although the box is a base and lid set-up as opposed to the usual end opener so .... progress! Anyway ... The plastic looked lighter in colour to me ... and the consistency of the plastic seemed more like the softer Revell stuff to the harder Dragon casting that I'm used to ... So ... I grabbed the latest Dragon casting out of the stash (The Trop 'E' boxing) to compare - my suspicions were confirmed. Then I grabbed one of my Revell Ju-88 kits and I can definitely confirm the the Revell boxing IS Revell: ... box, plastic, instructions, decals etc ... Now ... I don't know WHERE the plastic was cast ... Do Revell have a factory based in China? ... did Revell specify the style of mix in the plastic for Dragon to cast? While not doubting your previous insights into "boxing-another-companies-plastic-under-licence", what I know for certain here now is that the plastic in the Revell boxing is in undoubtedly Revell. Rog

The first package arrived in my Latest series of acquisitions ... I finally snaffled the Revel boxing of the Dragon Bf.110C ... There are some markings for a B.o.B bird (the main reason for the purchase of this kit) plus the added bonus of not having to constantly compare the Dragon instructions with the errata sheet i have on standby from the last effort. And then the first couple of a series of Takom kits For a "Kursk" project ... These "Blitz" kits should do the job nicely! ... Three more packages inbound ... 2 are modelling related Rog

Odd ... well ... it seems so to me ... I thought that these companies doing the re-pops had the moulds under licence (eg - Dragon moulds, Revell plastic) ... same with the re-popped Tempest (Special Hobby moulds, Revell plastic) ... otherwise Dragon would be selling injection moulded plastic rather expensively I would have thought ... If the moulds are supplied under a fixed lease, Revell can pop as much plastic as they'd like, yeah? ... Anyway ... just goes to show you learn something new every day ... I never would have thought that thats how it would operate. Rog

Ok so first up ... we've all been saying this for ages here ... nothing new - you're right on the money! Who ever it was at Dragon / Cyber Hobby that designed the Bf-109.E and Bf-110.C, D and E kits should have been retained by the company at all costs ... They are the number one "go to" kits of their type. Why they didn't proceed further, we'll never know ... Perhaps, even with all it's boxing variations, it didn't meet sales expectations ... who knows? It does seem that Dragon has reduced their output significantly in recent years ... along with a lot of other manufacturers ... as the global economy has contracted and we've seen no new 1/32 scale offerings from them. I can confirm though, that all posts above are correct ... Pastor John's AIMS conversion is as easy to work with as any non-injection amendment is likely to be - and an accurate representation ... He has produced ALL parts necessary to convert ANY of the Dragon boxings to an accurate G-2 or G-4 ... You just need to inform him while making the order as to which boxing you possess. The Revell kit is simply a re-pop of the Dragon C-7 kit with better instructions, different markings and a crappier box! ... I'm pretty sure it provides decals for a BOB bird so it's on my hit list for future purchases!! I agree with the "alternate sprue" theory given above - One (or two) nice big sprues, clear sprue and instructions would have done the job. One of the reasons that the D1 "Dackelbauch" kit seems to be on sale regularly is because of it's unpopularity compared to the others - it might have been better to invest the expense of that weird belly tank into a G variant instead ... Rog

Obviously a discussion I wasn't privy to, Ray ... and with no time to look through the treads at the time .... Thanks for the assist! Rog

Yo everyone ... is this a Special Hobby repop?!? Rog

Actually this was the thing that bugged me when I first got back into modelling. It would be nice if it was all one scale and not the other - either way! When I was a kid I didn't know - or care - what scales were ... as i glued together, painted and then ran around making engine and machine gun noises. For me it was sort of important to have my Bf.110 night fighter in the same scale as my Lancaster for my own visual experience in my playtime drama ... but other than that I didn't give a rats rear end. When I first got back into modelling I started with LS Panzers ... and then moved into aircraft ... at that stage I only had about 8 Panzers ... but it frustrated me that there was a scale difference. In the end I decided that the scale difference between a Pz.III.E and a Bf.109E was going to be minimal in that a figurine representing the same height would only be about 5mm different in either scale. My thought was meh - I'm not THAT picky. I suppose during the world economic boom years - when Dragon came into prominence (with their ridiculous 12 new 1/35 armour kits per month or something) - THAT would have been the perfect time for a scale reset moving from 1/35 to 1/32 ... they could have shifted everything with the sheer volume of kits coming out and then companies like Meng, Takom, Rye Field Model, Border etc probably would have followed suit. Sad that it hasn't happened ... but in the grand scheme of things I don't suppose it matters all that much. Rog

Now that IS a weird choice ... Is the this the start of the "Great scale Reset"??? Rog