I was thinking about trying a few in this scale for a change. I was looking for opinions on who makes the best kits as far as mold quality, accuracy, fit, etc.... Also, what brands use which type of tracks? Are they all vinyl type tracks? Who has the most WW2 subjects? Any opinions or info on 1/72 scale kits would be appreciated. Thanks!

Many answers to your very general question. Right now, Revell of Germany's new tool 1/72 scale armor is most likely the best. They use link & length on the RoG kits I've had.

Esci did some nice 1/72 scale kits. They initially used vinyl tracks, but went to link & length tracks in later reissues. Italeri now reissues the old Esci kits, but I don't know what type of track they may use.

I have built several Hasegawa tanks, and they've all used vinyl tracks. Same with Fujimi and Airfix.

A good source of info on all things 1/72 armour related can be found at the "On the Way" site. You'll find it here On the Way

Hey Private. i build primarily small scale 1/72nd and smaller. As Sabot indicated there are quite a few companies out there. Personally I like the Revell and Fujimi kits myself. The newer Fujimi kits have linked track as well as the Revell kits. Italieri has some nice kits as well. I built the Merkava 1 and just acquired the M1 Abrams. However, for nostaglia purposed I will build old Airfix and Ecsi kits adding details or scratchbuilding. Mainly because they have some models of vehicles that are hard to get. Some other sites for small scale are:
"The 72 and 76th Armor Museum -http://www.msu.edu/user/storto/afv.htm
"Miniature Zone small scale - http://members.lycos.co.uk/miniaturezone/
"Sandman and Overlord" - http://members.lycos.co.uk/miniaturezone/
the last site gives you examples of resin and plastic kits available from Europe.
I have a very large collection of 1/87th vehiles which are becoming more prevalent examples are Roco Minitanks, Paul Heiser Resin Kits, Armor in scale International Military Depot and Petner. Some of the kits are of resin and white metal and believe it or not will have in excess of 75 parts! I like the fact that they are a quicker build then 1/35th kits and don't take up the room. Again I am mostly a collector of representative models of the various vehicles. Therefore I am not a rivet counter and I am interested more in the history both of the vehicle and the campaigns they were involved in. I am not concerned with in- depth analysis of the construction of the vehicle - plus I like to detail the kits. Hope this helps.


Butch Cassidy Tanks46
Pig#3 Head Armorer
DSB


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Good to see someone else likes to work on the Braille Scale tanks. Currently I'm working on both the Italeri (ex-Esci) T-62 with Eduard PE and an Armo aluminum barrel, the Revell of Germany T-80 with Eduard PE and the Roden JS3 with Extratech PE and Armo barrel. I'm into a Russian MBT kick right now.

I have an Esci German half-track pioneer vehicle with no instructions. You wouldn't happen to have a set of Sd.Kfz.251/7 instructions that you could scan and send?