I bought Academy's Tiger I early production w/ full interior on the day my local hobby shop received it, which was probably 1997. It has sat on my shelf ever since then. Now I'm finally ready to make what I hope will be a great diorama with a fries crane removing the turret assembly from the hull, the engine compartments open, etc.

But after I started poking around about this topic, I found a lot of alarming comments about the quality and accuracy of this kit. My intention is to show off as much of the interior as possible. It sounds like this one has a lot of flaws. Am I better off ditching the Academy kit and getting something else instead? If so, what's the best way to go? I really, really want to avoid resin if at all possible. I've always hated that stuff.

Its an ok kit, search my name and look for a tiger 1 build log, I use elements of it in my still to be completed build.

The interior is fine, its the exterior thats crappy and does not live up to modern dragon kits

Thanks for the info. Any chance the Academy interior can be dropped into a newer Dragon kit?

Check out David Byrden's site. He has information about kit deficiencies. Some of them can be fixed with AM resin upgrades from people like Tank Workshop and others.

Yes but you will require some experience with scratch building as it might need some modification

Why don't you do the AFV Club T34/85 kit instead???? Its new with full interior.
It all depends on what type of build your looking at . I did the Academy kit I was fine with it. If you want more then it offers then your going to have to do your own research because no one knows what you like but "you".
Some of the fellow modellers did their own scratch build with amazing results...are you willing to put that much time into it?
Eduard makes a photoetch set for the Academy kit.
http://www.eduard.com/store/Eduard/Photo-etched-parts/Photo-etched-set/AFV/1-35/Tiger-I-Mid-Production-interior-1-35.html
CMK produces interior parts for Dragon
http://www.cmkkits.com/en/detail-sets-accessories/tiger-i-interior-set-1-35-for-dragon-kit/
Do your research.