Years ago when I bought Zvezda items, they were poorly detailed and full of flash. But two figure sets I bought lately are of far better quality. I remember reading that Zvezda was originally a company that bought molds from other manufacturers to sell under their name. So how have things changed?

I remember my first sets of Soviet infantry from Zvezda were from a penpal from Russia ( some of you older guys remember the ads in back of fine scale modeler or military modeler magazines for modeling penpals before the iron curtain fell? trade hard to get western kits for stuff from Russia or the Ukraine..etc)
But then they were of horrible quality, but since they have had to improve to compete with the rest of the manufacturers and some of their latest stuff has been pretty decent.

This past spring I finished my first Zvezda kit, their 1/144 Tupolev Tu-154 airliner. Absolutely, a beautiful kit with some of the best fit and finest panel line engraving I've ever encountered. Good quality plastic, too. It was a real pleasure to build.

In contrast, I'm currently working on their 1/35 BT-5 light tank. Wow...what a dog of a kit it is. I had read it was horribly engineered, so I wasn't a bit surprised when I got started on it and found out how bad it really was compared to more current kits. The kit has "1992" molded with the Zvezda logo, but it feel more like a late '70s kit. The plastic feels recycled. The Eduard PE set is a must for this one. At some point I'll have to build a more recent Zvezda tank for comparison.

One thing about Zvezda kits that doesn't seem to have changed is the questionable quality of the decals. The BT-5 decals look incredibly thick, but I won't be using them anyway sine it will be a Spanish Civil War tank. The print quality of the decals on the Tu-154 were really bad, with lots of rough edges on the cheat lines and lettering. I went with aftermarket decals from Draw. I have a Zvezda Tu-134 in my stash and that kit itself seems to be the same high quality as the Tu-154, but the decals are just as bad...and they've already started to yellow. Mind you, they issued the Tu-134 last year...and the decals come pre-yellowed! More aftermarket decals for that kit.

Regardless of all that, it's a real joy to see any company progress and achieve higher levels of quality in their products. If that company just happens to produce Soviet era tanks and aircraft I've wanted models of since I was a teenager, so much the better!

build their old work, lot's of do it yo self and elbowgrease, but the T90 was decent enough for the money it's going, and if you overlook some of the issues,heard their big german truck are also good,figs are imprved, like dragon figs ,slightly sharper,(duska set, adn german panzercrew)


greetz

Some of their kits need a lot of TLC and kit bashing / scratch building skills . I find them much more fun to build than the 700 / 800 piece assembly kits .

I can't talk to how much they've changed or improved, but when I was looking for an inexpensive kit to replicate in scale a real live T-72 that I had the chance to play with I found a Zvezda 1/35th offering and was quite pleased with it. It needed a little extra work here and there and probably wouldn't win any contests, but it looks good on the shelf in my cubicle at work and garners compliments from my non-model building coworkers.

I'm sure there are plenty of similar Zvezda stories out there.

Keith

When I got into the hobby 3 or so years ago, I picked up a few Zvezda kits because they were cheap and I didn't know any better. BTR-70/80 and they were not that great, but I also build thier KV-1 and it was very good in comparison. I gladly jumped at the chance to get their T-90 and it's waaaay better than the older kits I've tired.

yes, I too am working on the Zvezda BT-5 and it's gonna take a lot of work.....

Hi Tom,
it seems that most of Zvezdas' armor kits, at least post war, are from early DML molds with the only differences being box art and possibly different decals.
I don't know if they ever marketed any of DMLs figure sets ,but I recently picked up their " Soviet Paratroopers, Afghanistan " which feature very sharp detail throughout and even double weapons for every figure, one with hands molded on and one without.

Sean

Having built older and newer Zvevda figures and armor, I can say they are 100x better lately, especially their newer molds.

The previous post was correct about Zvevda post-war armour; I have built Zvezda's BTR-70 and it is from DML molds. I also have their OT-26 light tank, and it came with parts that were not fully realized in the mold, ie: stunted suspension parts. Finally, the late war tank troop set is not too bad. Good dynamic poses, but detail isn't great.

In contrast I've also built the Vympel Spetznaz twice. Out of the box they have a lot of potential, and adding a few DML AKs to the team really brings them up to date. Likewise, their German Pioneer team is really amazing too. I am a big fan of having their weapons/tools molded to the hands.

I am looking forward to getting their T-90 in the near future as well.

I remember opening some older Zvezda kits and noticing that the parts had an "orange peel" like finish on them. Fresh out of the box, they already had a rough surface and that was on some airplane kits that don't have non skid all over the entire body.

To me, Zvezda has come a long way. The T-90 is a great kit!

I remember getting their Russian Tank Crew wa-ay back in the day (the one that is to fit their BT kits) and was mildly impressed with the modling for the day. Of course newer manufacturers do it better, but for what I was expecting in the era of Italeri, Tamiya, and early generation Dragon figures, they were pretty good...

I recently aquired a kit of their IS-2, and it's pretty meh compared to current kits. I plan to soldier on with a lot of aftermarket. It'll be comparable to current kits of this type, but I like the challenge of taking an old kit and making it better...

On the subject of BT tanks, I picked up an Eastern Express BT-7 with the conical turret, and I don't think any 2 pieces fit together correctly. Had decent detail, but took some doing to assemble. It still sits in the box, awaiting completion...

Damon.

Zvezda has increased its molding quality. Unfortunately, their research is not up to the standard, yet. Their t-90 has too many issues, in my opinion it is still way too expensive for what you get in the box. The kit has serious geometrical issues, but is quite nice in terms of details.

Hi, All! Of course ZVEZDA's T-90 has some issues- what kit doesn't? At least it's better than A LOT of their older stuff. Speaking of old, I've got a ZVEZDA BT-5 and an ancient COMMANDER MODELS US Army T-3 Christie Conversion that I'm kit-bashing/converting on one of my work benches. I'd like to see a T-3 done by someone daring enough to market one in plastic. Also some of the other earlier, pre-war US Tanks and Combat Cars- I don't understand WHY the kit manufacturers insist on doing so many German "Paper Panzers" that never even saw the light of day, and single-unit built "one-offs"- They're just a bunch of "Pipe Dreams"...

Is there a "to go by" date, for their better kits? I've build a couple of Zvezda kits oob and can say "you get what you pay for".

The difference is night and day after around 1997. Where Zvezda really stared to show what they're capable of was in their figure sets, which from their Soviet Tank crew were better than anything at the time not in resin. They only made a few for the first few years, as they were expanding into the 1/72 scale historical/gaming market, but if you check their web site you'll find they are quite good indeed. Zvezda has worked with Italeri in the past, so their kits have a similar feel. Their WWII soviet tank kits from the late 90s early 2000s are reasonably accurate but require aftermarket. Their later kits have been a mixed bag in armour, their T-90 which I have is extremely complex but good once some of the kinks have been worked out, and their Tiger I is problematic. Zvezda aircraft I have no opinion on, but their ship kits can be outstanding. Overall, they're now a good company on a par with Italeri or Revell Germany, but they do rebox their dogs so be carefull.

Kevin: Thank you for the insight. I'll keep it in mind.

@Tom/Kevin,
I couldn't find anything that looked like a year on my T-72 instruction sheet, but I'm guessing it came out after '97? It's not a bad kit and quite nicely filled my desire to build a scale replica of a real T-72 that I got to play with.











Anyone else care to share their Zvezda builds?

Keith