Hey everyone,

I am a wargaming miniature painter/modeler (Warmachine, Warhammer, etc), but I'd like to build and paint a WWII model for my dad, who is a huge WWII buff. The trouble is, I am very unfamiliar with the various WWII vehicles and the various military scale model options. I've tried to do a little research, but it's kind of overwhelming! I was hoping this community could help point me in the right direction.

I am looking for a very nicely detailed vehicle in 1/35 or 1/16 scale (could be Axis, could be Allies -- doesn't really matter). I am thinking a tank would be cool, but I'm definitely open to any sort of large model. I would like a nice, quality kit that will look good as a display piece. I'm a pretty solid painter/airbrusher, and I am confident with assembling/converting miniatures ... but I have very little experience with military model kits. It would be nice to have something that's not in 300 pieces, but, as this is a gift for my dad, I'm willing to put in as much time as is necessary to get a nice quality product.

As far as price range goes, I usually expect to spend around $100 - $150 MSRP on vehicles and large models for tabletop gaming, so I imagine that's probably the same in this hobby?

So, in short:

Looking for WWII vehicle (tank, boat, plane, jeep, whatever) in 1/35 or 1/16 with very nice detailing that will look great as a display piece.

Thank you all for your help!!

Thank you guys so much!!

Hi

take a look at the Shermans produced by Tasca. superb engineering, not too many pieces and unless your Dad is into Axis armour he'll probably prefer a tank etc. fighting on the US side of the war.

Alan

Welcome to this side of things. Given your parameters, may I recommend the following? I've chosen them for their relative iconic status (not obscure rarities), decent accuracy, availability and relative ease of build for you.

Tamiya M4A3 75 Sherman (standard US WW2 medium tank, kit 35250)
Tamiya M4A3 105 Sherman (different figs 35251)
Tamiya Tiger I, early (Iconic German tank, right? 35216)
DML Panther ausf D (kit 6164)
Tamiya Soviet T34/76 (classic USSR medium tank, various offerings)
or
DML Soviet T34/76 (various offerings)
Trumpeter KV-1 or KV-2 series (early war heavy Soviet tank, various kit nos.)
Tamiya Matilda II (35300, British early war and desert tank)
Tamiya Churchill tank(heavy British tank, various kit nos.)
Tamiya Char B1 bis (35282, French pre and early war medium)

These can run between $15 and $50. Check ebay or your local hobby shop. All are 1/35 scale.

I'd steer you away from the Tasca shermans for now. I love them (I've built 4 already) but they are clearly "boutique" and the detail and complicated assembly are probably not required for your dad's display model.

If you want suggestions of tank destroyers, tank hunters, assault guns, or armored cars, half tracks, softskins -- there are plenty to choose from.

Gosh, this one will get the reply rate way up there!

Stick with 1/35th to 1/25th kits, like a Tamiya for example. Pretty easy to build and understand the instructions as well.

I build 1/16th kits and the parts count is high and the build can be very complicated. Also, most Tamiya tank/armor kits have vinyl tracks and if you haven't built anything like this lately, the track construction of the other kits can be intimidating and frustrating, even to a seasoned builder.

AND, they will pretty much stay in your outlined price range too. The 1/25 kits are around $100.00 or less, might not be as detailed as a 1/35th kit is but is large enough to enjoy it after it's completed.

Hope this helped some.








~ Jeff

This entire writing assumes that you've never fooled about with the larger scale kits. If I am wrong sorry if not here's my take. You might think of a Tamiya kit in 1/35th. While they are not the last word in detail they are well engineered and go together as flawlessly as possible. Dragon makes a fine kit with excellent detail but they can be a bit overwhelming with the number of parts and less than clear instructions. 1/16th scale is awfully big; kind of requires a different paradigm for assembly and painting. This scale may not be your best choice. The recent 1/35th scale Tamiya M26 Pershing is a very decent kit, has an articulatable suspension and is pretty well detailed. The only flaw I recall in building it was having to clean up the seam on the turret halves. Good luck with your project.

I did this as my first kit coming back to the hobby a year and a half ago and cannot recommend it enough. It's not the most accurate Sherman, but it looks good and really does fall together. With some looking you can usually find it at LHS or eBay for around $25.

However you should probably ask your Dad where his interest lie if you don't know.

Cheers

Jeff

Wow, thank you guys so much! I didn't expect such fast, detailed responses! This is a great community.

Thank you all for the words of caution on the various scale kits. Most of the tabletop miniature pieces come in under 20 pieces. I think something that has 300+ pieces may overwhelm me.

I am looking particularly at the Tasca Sherman, Tamiya Tiger I, and the Tamiya M26 Pershing. All those look very doable. I'm looking for something that can be painted in camouflage (or at least multiple colors). I see some of the kits that look like they are solid colors (with minor highlights and shades) and that is a little boring looking. I know very little about WWII (sorry!) -- am I correct in assuming that some tanks would be painted in camouflage while others of the same model type were not?

Thanks again!
Andrew

I know he's particularly interested in WWII as his father fought in Europe. I don't know if we can narrow it down this way, but he was in the 95th infantry in Europe. He was on the way to the Ardennes forest when he was injured in a small German town (I believe it was called Saarbrucken?) So I'll probably model the tank with snow. Is there any way to know what kind of tank might have been used in that region at that time?

Thanks!
andrew

Andrew,

I'm on the other side of this discussion, in that I dabble in WH40K but primarily build 1/35 scale historical subjects. I enjoy the WH40K models as "decompression" projects where there are no constraints or limitations based on accuracy, etc.

So, I'm pretty familiar with the kits and figgies associated with the war-gaming side of things, and I think that you're probably a more experienced than some of the other posters might give you credit for. In that regard, I think you're probably capable of building pretty much any contemporary all-plastic kit from any of the major manufacturers - scale immaterial.

Trust me, there's not much size difference in a Baneblade or Shadow Sword and a 1/25 scale Tamiya Centurion, and most 1/35 scale AFV's are only slightly larger than your average Leman Russ and many are smaller. The main difference is in parts count, but an injection molded part is an injection molded part. So, this just means that you have more parts to clean up, but no big deal really. It might take you longer to build a 1/35 scale kit, but aside form the volume of the work, not much mor it is actually more difficult.

The one thing that might give you some issues is photo-etched parts, but very few WWII suject kits have large amounts of PE included in the boxes, and the ones that do prominently advertise that feature on the box. So, when you're shopping, you can sort out those kits.

Even the kits that do include PE, it's mostly just flat parts that require little to no folding, just clean up. And most of those parts are optional and there are injection molded replacement parts for them. I only include PE as a cautio because it isn't one of the materials that's included with war-gaming figures or kits. On the other hand, a turned metal gun barrel, also included in some "premium" 1/35 scale kits, shouldn't give you any trouble.

Finishing a 1/35 scale kit is really no different than any war-gaming kit, same materials and same techniques. So, you should have no troubles here either.

Tamiya kits are probably most similar to the average Games Workshop kit in "fiddly-ness." Tamiya are pretty simple and well engineered. The parts counts are about as low as main-stream 1/35 scale kits get, and the instructions are uniformly good. However, with careful attention, you should be able to decipher even DML instructions. DML is notorius for their poor instructions which often require supplemental reference study to sort out optional parts (if absolute accuracy is a concern).

The Tasca sherman tanks are actually great kits that go together very well.

The list that Roy has given is a pretty good start. I'd say let your own estimate of your skills be your guide, but if you've built an armor-heavy Imperial Guard or Chaos Space Marine army or two, then there's nothing in 1/35 scale that should intimidate you!

A quick google of "Saarbrucken ww2" pulled up this image.




Looks like

http://www.missing-lynx.com/reviews/usa/tasca35020reviewbg_1.html

or

http://www.missing-lynx.com/reviews/usa/dml6183reviewcs_1.html

Would work just fine.

Cheers


Jeff

I'm afraid Allied armour could be especially boring towards the end of the war. If you're lucky the vehicle you depict might have overpainted the olive drab with some broad black swaths. Not terribly exciting.

If you want to build something colourful, the Axis vehicles of the period were almost always camouflaged in 2 or 3 colours and in very intricate patterns (there are many, many books dedicated to the subject, but we could walk you through the basics relatively easily). If yo uwold prefer to keep to Allied subjects you can pick the Italian campaign which featured proportionately more Allied vehicles in contarasting camouflage, or the Desert or Sicilian campaigns which were more colourful still.

Japanese and French vehicles were also very colourful and the Tamiya model of the French Char B1 bis easily builds into a very striking and eye-catching model.

US vehicles it he Pacific also sported interesting colour schemes and should be considered.



Yes, that is true, but it definitely depends upon which units and exactly where and when you are talking about. SOm earmies encouraged individual commanders to camouflage their vehicles however they liked, some battalions and divisions ordered entire units to be painted in specific patterns and some larger formatins even forbade any camouflage. As with any subject this large, the answer is usually going to be "it depends".

As you've seen, if you can provide us some criteria, we'd be glad to suggest models and paint options that will please you and your Dad.

Keep asking questions, you'll find no shortage of opinions here!

Paul