Hello All

New Armor Builder here. What is a resonable price for these kits for a beginer to armor. And what would be the best SU-85,100 or 122 kit for a new guy. Thanks in advance.

1/35 Revell SU-100
1/35 Tamiya SU-85
1/35 Dragon SU-100

Generally Tamiya is the way to go for a first armor build, although I don't know if there are any accuracy issues with the SU-85. See if you can find one on ebay for less than $30. The Dragon SU-100 is a great kit, and you can get one on sale for around $33 plus shipping. Sprue Brothers is a good source for affordable Dragon kits in 1/35.

Hi Eugene,

About the prices I can't really help you, they are very different depending on the Hobby Shop, Online or Local, € 's or USD...

The Tamyia Su-85 should be the cheapest of the 3 , here I can get it from 10 to 18 €. The Revell Su-100 shouldn't be much higher too.
The Dragon version, I think you should get the Premium version, check Jacque's Build review on this forum.

Tamyia's version for the 85 & 122's are not new versions but pretty easy to build, not very expensive and quite fun to build.
The Dragon su-100 is the best version around, better than the Revell or Zvezda, I build the Zvezda version a few years ago and it was a good build minus the tracks.

I suggest one of the Tamiya kits for a first build. Easy to build, good instructions, very little fit problems. Some even have extras like crew figs and such.
And the prices aren't too bad, if you can find the earlier releases.

Thanks everyone

I think i will grab the SU-85 Tamiya and work my way up, Im a TD and SPG fan so those and the German stuff will be my choices, and maybe a JS-2 or 3 when I get better. any look for the Rookie Chronicles soon! Thanks again.

Eugene

Eugene,
Even though you're a new armor builder, you'll still probably want your kit to look as good as possible. The Tamiya SU-85 is a cool little kit. Some people might blather on about angles being wrong here or there, but honestly, those things are hard to notice without really knowing the vehicle. What you will notice is that the tracks on that kit, and other Tamiya T-34 based kits, are the worst ever made for an armor model.
Here's a photo of one:



Notice how the guy who built it (me) spent time on adding photo etched engine grills and wire tie downs. But he never bothered to finish it and weather it. Why? Becaus the tracks were crap! See how they're still missing? I've had to replace so many tracks it's not even funny. Fortunately a made a mass purchase of Maquette T-34s once at $5.00 a pop, because they didn't come in boxes, just bags. I used them for the tracks alone.
Unless you find a deal like that you'll be wanting to source other tracks from somewhere.
Best bet, get the Dragon SU-100. It already comes with the individual track links.

The Revell SU-100 is probably the Zvezda kit. $15 in the secondary market. The Zvezda SUs are dimensionally accurate and have good surface detail but suffer from a crude Christie suspension, throw the tracks away.
The Tamiya SU-85, good kit, about $10-15 in the secondary market. The SU-122 is also nice and well worth the extra effort to build or accurize, but a nice example can be built straight from the box, minus naturally, the tracks. I've compared these kits angles to the so-called 'accurate' Dragon kits, I'm wondering what the armchair expert was smoking at the time.
The Dragon SU-100, several versions, the earliest version is 6075 from 1998, it requires some work to the mantlet but is a superb kit otherwise, around $15 to $18 in the secondary market.

Dragon also did an excellent SU-85, it's unusual but can be had for $15-$25 depending on the vendor.

I didn´t bought one of these kits, but I can say, that Dragon and Revell sometimes "share" the moulds. (including Zvezda)
Dragon make the first kit, then follows Revell + Zvezda.
You can see this on the BMP-2, BRDM-2, BTR-70, T-72, T-80 and other kits.
These are the same using new decals. (but makes them available for all !)

That also means, that incorrect single parts or "complete sets" were reproduced.
So I also would think the same for the Su-100 kit.
But you should do a research for the kit, for "how easy to build" or something like that.
Also Tamiya has a better quality, but a higher price.

But I bought one of Tamiya´s M1 Abrams some years ago and with my limited skills at that time I had no problems.
So I would recommend the Su-85 kit.

greetings...
Soeren