Hi. I've been noticing that my local hobby store has been expanding it's selection 1/72 scale armor here lately. They stock Revell, Italeri and Hasegawa kits of many different types of vehicles of several different time periods and nationalities. They also have a couple of Karl kits in this scale by Hasegawa as well. So while I was picking up a couple of small items I also bought the Hasegawa kit of the Panzer V Ausf. F in 1/72, just to try

On opening the box the parts look pretty good for this size. Crisply molded and pretty well detailed.

As or does anybody else out there do this scale? And what do you think of it? Since the price of some of the model kits today, esp. in 1/35, are starting to sort of sky-rocket to a degree I thought it might be kind of interesting to switch scales here and there and go for the cheaper priced items just for something different to do

Does anybody out there konw if there is PE work available for this scale, intake screeens and such? And what would a person use to make antennas out of? Just curious.

Thanks for any answers and take care, sgirty

i've build only one armor and it was in 1:72. I liked it and i had no problems, maybe with painting but that was because of me. I don't know about the PE but u can find figures. It is harder with the crews but if u search u can find anything. antenas can be made from the sprue with a match. anyway hope it helps

I've been doing a lot of 1/72 & 1/76 scale lately, mainly because of the cost - there are nearly as many subjects as in 1/35, and more softskins. Even the old Airfix emergency set etc at £3.99 gbp can be converted into all sorts of different trucks!

Many of the kits have as many parts as 1/35, and almost as much detail.

I build a fair amount of kits in this scale. I've built in 1/76-1/72 ever since Matchbox had their range of multi-colored kits and MPC boxed old Airfix armor kits. They were real cheap and in my small hometown, they were the only armor kits available in any scale.

I became more "serious" when I built the Esci modern armor when I was stationed in Germany during the late 80s and early 90s. Again, it was cheap and readily available.

Newer Revell of Germany kits have raised the bar on 1/72 scale kits. Their M2A2/M3A2 Bradley, M1A1 Abrams, Marder 1A2 and Fuchs are top-notch modern armor kits. I also have their Tunisian Tiger Ausf. H and StuG 40 Ausf. G late. Both kits show superb detailing for this scale.

As far as PE, Eduard, Part and ExtraTech make PE sets for this scale. I've got several sets for my kits. Armo also makes turned barrels. I've got one for my Esci T-62 and Roden JS3 Stalin kits. Trumpeter als makes some nice wheeled Soviet/Chinese trucks like the ZIL-57

Here are a couple of useful links for the small scale builder: http://smallscaleafv.web3.cz/ANG/index1.html; http://www.tracks-n-troops.com/.

Hi. Thanks guys for the postings. Sabot. I posted those two web sites on my favorites list. Some really great things there. I can't believe all the detail stuff out for this scale! Floored me.

I sat down yesterday out in the garage and started on this little 'baby panzer' (like I need another model and more parts scattered all over the workbench) and built about half of it in one day. Really nice kit. And the kit also gave me a complete turret for either an Ausf. A or Ausf. G model and a complete set of extra road wheels as well! Plus two figures.

Now if the painting goes as well as the model building itself....... Well, the painting is always the hard part on any model.

One really nice thing about working a bit with the 1/72 scale models is that when you happen to go back and do a little work on the 1/35 scale items, you feel you are truly working with some gargantuan parts.

Even ' she who must be obeyed' was kind of taken by the size of this 'baby panzer' model. At least she didn't do the eye roll thing when looking at it. There is hope in the world, maybe.....Ha!

Take care, sgirty

If you see the Revell of Germany PzKpfw IV, it is leaps and bounds beyond the older Hasegawa PzKpfw IV. I had one but traded it away. It was really nice and I should have kept it. I just use the stretched sprue method to make antennas.

There was a manufacturer who sold decals that included numerous decal options for a variety of kits. They were called AFV-Decals and the set I bought (AFV-7201) included all the decals you needed to build 29 DAK vehicles (32 different types). I visited their site and unfortunately, they are no longer producing decals. They do say that there may be some for sale still in hobby shops. If you run across a set, grab it. Mine was under $10 and will keep me supplied with high quality Afrika Korps decals for a long while.

Here is another small scale link that I forgot to add: On The Way.

You'll notice that build-speed and display space are a nice bonus for working in braille. Eduard used to make PE for 1/72nd ESCI, they may offer it again since Italeri began re-squirting the old ECSI line. Just note that working with PE in that scale adds new meaning to the word "braille".

Sgirty, if you are like me you may now be hooked!

I am in the final stages of weathering an Italeri Merkava 1 and absolutely LOVE it! Usually, I would never buy an large scale Italeri kit when I could get Tamiya or DML but this is really an amazing little thing. The level of detail is great and with a bit of care you can get a great representation.

What's so neat is that the have PE for these kits now (often at 3x the cost of the kit itself!) and I would love to do one of Revell's Panthers with PE Zimmerit.

Actually, I'm about to order a few more kits and have some fun.

I started on my Merkava Thursday night and as of last night it was 95% fininshed. Considering it takes me a few months or more in large scale, this give me much more time for the part I love most, painting/weathering.

I'm trying to find out as much as I can about what kits are real dogs and what are nice. Have heard that it can be hit or miss and all manufactures have both in their lines. But, there is a nice selection to choose from...

Steve

Steve, All of the Italeri 1/72 scale armor kits are ex-Esci kits. They also were issued in Ertl boxes and most of the modern armor kits in AMT/Ertl boxes. If you search for reviews on these older kits, they will apply to the new Italeri kits. As far as the former Esci modern armor goes, I owned/built all of them except for the West German Leopard series and Merkava tanks. They were very good kits except for the M1A1, it was highly inaccurate.

Hi guys. Yes, sniper, this little 'baby panzer' has made quite a hit with me. I started on it Saturday afternoon and finished it up Sunday evening. Did make a couple mistakes, but now I know kind of what to watch out for in this scale. It's not quite a forgiving as 1/35 in certain areas.

One of the things I'm not too pleased about is making the stretched spure antennas for it. Already broken this one off and will wait till later to replace it, after painting. Been using some .015" or .020" really strong wire I picked up at the hobby shop--think it's for the RC airplanes kits or something, and it has really spoiled me as far as creating antennas goes. I'm going to have to do some snooping around for something similar that will fit the sacle of 1/72. I think this will be kind of tough, but you just never know what you can find and where you may happen to find it at. Sometimes modeling items or tools suitable for this hobby can turn up in th darnest places.

My real big hurdle is in the painting. Since I don't like the air brush, most all my painting is done with just a brush and good old Polly S paints. And this may or may nor be a problem in this small a scale. But so far I've applied a couple of very thin dry-brush types of coats to this little 'baby panzer' and it looks pretty good. Needs about one more to cover the primer and then it will be to DETAIL painting, which should be a real joy in itself.

But so far everything is A-okay with it. And at $8 ot $10 a kit this isn't bad. My real reason for thinking of the 1/72 scale in the first place was that my local dealer has a couple different Karl mortar kits in the store --one with the munitions carrier and the other on the R.R. system-- and I was thinking it would be kind of nice to build one or both of these. And they are only $18 or $19 a kit, which isn't too bad. ( I would hate to imagine what one of these kits in 1/35 would cost, well over $150, to be sure.) So I thought I would sort of get my feet wet on a couple of the AFV kits just to see what it's all about. And all in all, I must say I'm pretty pleased with it.

If I can just get the basic painting thing and 'washes' to come out pretty close to the 1/35 scale stuff I'll say it's a go.

Like you, when I do a 1/35 scale AFV it usualy takes at least a couple months to do, and I seem to have developed a real bad habit of not sticking to just one kit till it's done. And by the looks of my work area this is a habit that is starting to get a tad out of control. Too many going at one time. (Going to have to make some changes.) And doing a 1/72 scale in just a couple days is sort of a pleasant surprise in this hobby. Just for the change.

One thing's for sure. Once a person does one or more of these little babies, they get a whole new meaning to the bigger stuff that they thought was to small to have to work with before going to the 1/72. Ha!

Think I may try the British Sherman Firefly next time around. Just to keep the sides even.

Can't imagine PE for this scale!!! Talk about crossed eyes!

Take care, sgirty

talking of 1/72 has any one seen the revell german bridge layer looks like a really sweet kit
and will not be too far behind a 1/35 scale kit once done. but if you want a good selection of british armour then it has to be 1/72 scale I'm afraid

Just put an order in with Squadron. Picking up 4 small kits that I want to do. The Revell Panther A/D and Bradley were praised by many people I asked and I also got the Revell Merkava 3 because I love Merkava's and the Italeri T-62. I'll let you know how they look...

To be honest, I may sell a few of my big scale kits because I have really run out of room and just don't have that kind of time. At least I may get rid of the duplicates I have.

I hear you on the price factor. I really don't like to pay $35 for a Tamiya Humvee (even though I'm sure it's awesome and I want one) and if I can have as much fun and enjoy the results as much, why not try some small stuff.

Steve

I'm building the Revell Panther A/D right now, it is a nice kit, good detail and almost no flash.

Hi, Okay guys, I finally found the proverbial 'bug-bear' of 1/72 scale models! Rubber band tracks, right? Nasty little buggers. Nasty! Tried to install them tonight and tore one of them in half. Then broke off the drive sproket on the other side trying to put that unit on.

Very luckily I just happened to spy a finishing nail laying on the bench and appeared to be basically the same size as the hole in the drive sprocket and was able to cut off the plastic knob on the model on both sides and drill through the plastic and run this cut down nail clear through here and super glue both drive sprockets on to the ends. No harm done. Vehicle saved. Sturdy little thing. Guess that super glue I used for reinforcing certain areas paid off.

Something, somewhere was definitley looking out for me, or maybe my brain is starting to learn to try to figure out things logically when something breaks in the hobby.

Anyway, I was looking through some of the sites that sabot had metioned and also on the missing lynx, braille scale discussion section and stumbled upon PE tracks for 1/72 scale. What a delightful surprise! I sure had hoped what with all the other items that are out there for this particular scale that somebody, somewhere can come up with a better solution to these d----- rubber band tracks. A saving grace if there ever was one, I hope.

Has anybody out there tried these yet for this scale? Just curious, as it seems the only logical way to go for half-way decent tracks here. If you haven't heard of these the discussion on this site is #129. There's also a real fine article connected with this that shows how to do it as well.

Been thinking of calling my friends out to R and J Products in Washington State anyway to place an order anyway, so I'll see if they can get any of these sets and save the day for my poor little 'baby panzer'. Ha, ha!

Take care, sgirty

Try and find some of the kits that come with the length and link tracks. These are much better than the rubber bands, but may be a bit lacking in detail compared to 1/35.

Steve

I have just finished the "old" Esci Leo1A4, for which the only drawback I found was the roadwheels being molded as one piece with no separation of the roadwheels. I Chucked each wheel in the dremel and scribed a separating line in the middle of each set. I have fully assembled the Revell Challenger I and was very impressed with it's engineering and detail. Will paint it next and post photos soon.
My next ones will be the Revell M1A1 and Bradley with the kit supplied 3d ACR Desert Storm markings, with a few "scouts" and a 3d ACR crest on the display base. The Revell kits, in my opinion, surpass the other manufacturer's kits.

Small scale AFVs are basically all I built, for several reasons that other people have alluded to: money, speed, detail, availability, storage space, etc. I'm happy to see some other people on Armorama feel the same. Usually I have to get my dose of 1:72 armor at On the Way or Missing Lynx's discussion group.

I haven't seen it mentioned, so I thought I would chip in that reissues and new molds are really hard to discern in this scale from the box, since there is a degree of interbreeding that I find a little easier to avoid in other subjects. The Italeri stuff is old, but sometimes quite good. I just built the Elefant and it came together fairly well. I also just finished building up the Hasegawa Ostwind, and the difference in quality is startling. From the Panzer IVD onward in the Hawegawa list are all new molds, with fantastic detail and easy builds. The common denominator is the Panzer IV chassis for most of them.

As far as the models issued before the Panzer IVD, they vary in quality. Some of the molds are very old and have relatively poor detail or fit. This also applies to the older Revell kits, some of which are reissues of older Hasegawa molds. Although certainly nothing to scoff at (like the Zhengdefu crap, Kitech kits, and Academy's 1:48 series), if you are indifferent between models, get the newer stuff. Revell and Hasegawa's new molds are extremely nice and a real pleasure to build. On The Way has a great library of which models are from which molds in which generation, which is a great way to pick and choose the best models out there.

I am looking forward to the new releases from Trumperer and Dragon. Seems like it may be the start of a golden age of 1:72 armor modelling!

As far as the rubber band tracks are concerned, super glue, super glue, super glue. If you use anything else, it either won't stick or will melt the vinyl! The link and length tracks seem to divide the opinions of modellers in this scale. I actually don't mind the rubber band tracks given that I know to approach them with patience! A little trick that seems to help is to coat them with Future before painting to help the paint adhere. It seems to make a grittier surface for the super glue as well, which helps keep your sanity! The rubber band types are also more amenable to painting in stages than the link and length variety. This is particularly true when you have to deal with overhanging fenders.

Stephen

I only built a pair of armor kits in 1:72 but have friends who use to build in this scale. I don´t know if there are PE for them, but I guess so. I understand (and saw personally) that the Revell Germany armor kits are excellent, great quality kits.
Furthermore the price, for me the principal advantages of this scale are the room they need and that you can build dios with various elements in relativelly small space.

I don´t know how it is in USA but here in my country and in Europe there are lots of AC kits in this scale, guess perhaps more than in 1:48.

As I have no room problems I prefer 1:35 & 1:48 scales

Hi guys. Just started on the Braile Scale myself & I could say that it's a good scale to build. I usually do 1/35 & yes I know these scale really do cost & for $8-10 a 1/72 is good enough.

Hi everyone,

I'm a newbie at the site and was quite happy to see a braille scale group. Since Revell AG came out with their excellent 1/72nd scale models, I have concentated building in the scale. Most of all, the price and space saving qualities allow me to build more. I'm into modern AFV's but also into WW2 German AFV's. Once I get used to my digital camera, I will post some of my finished and unfinished kits.

Hope everyone had a nice Christmas!

I would also like to mention that I just bought a truckload of PST kits from www.alanger.us for extremely low prices. I just built up the ISU-152 and I think I may post some pics of it to my gallery shortly. Just wanted to mention these are really nice kits, a little soft on the detail in places, but really great looking when finished.

Stephen

The big advantage to my mind of smale scale is the huge number of subjects in my particular area of interest,PST offer a comprehensive range of ww2 Soviet armour,ACE of modern Soviet/Russian subjects,whilest Eastern Express have some interesting variations,a T34/85 with a mine roller for example.All these kits have pros and cons in terms of fit ,detail and sheer fustration value but for my self the availability and relative inexpense makes them a good way of developing biulding and painting skills, not forgetting of course the enjoyment/relaxation bit !

I bought a couple 1/72 PST Russian 122mm M-30 gun/ howitzers last year, and finally got both finished up. A nice addition is the inclusion of alternate 152mm D-18 gun barrels that are interchangeable, depending on how you want to build it. I built one with its trails spread, emplaced, and the other rigged for trail behind a 1/72 Hasagawa lend-lease deuce and a half. Nice little beasties, but the supports for the gun shields and the barrel armor scuttles gave me gray hairs!
I probably have about a hundred 1/72-1/76 armor and softskins in my inventory for building. I love the RG armor, and I got one kit on ebay---Fujimi Europe of a JagdTiger with complete interior---Yummy!

I'm just starting to have an appreciation for the other subjects produced by Eastern European manufacturers. I guess part of this was never seeing these kits in my LHS; the other being questions concerning the build quality and the sometimes high prices. Alanger's recent sales have taken care of the prices, and I'm happy to report that I'm quite pleased with their build quality. I'm looking forward to making my first Russian softskin after a few years of building various Hasegawa and Revell German tanks. I even bought one of their fire trucks to do as a present for my father.

Stephen

A little off topic, but MIG Productions has a small range of resin figures in 1/72nd....Here are some of the highlights....Jim

German Crews (back view)


German Crews (front view)



German Paras



;More German Tank Crew...



German MPs



Modern Bundeswehr Crew