I just picked up this new kit yesterday at my local hobby shop. Huge box! At first sight I thought, this is an exspensive kit. I hope I'm not just paying for the large box!
But I broke the seal last night and was pleasantly serprised, the kit looks like a treat!
The box was stuffed full of lovely parts on sprues. So many parts that if I had another hull and carriage I could almost build two kits from the box! Lots of versions can be made here!
Exspensive yes, but well woth it. Academy has been good to us , equiping us with all these extra parts and detail items.
Then there is the interior, mindbogling! Yes I like it, just wish I had some pic's to show you guys!

Regards,
Garry

I personally think the kit is way over priced...I saw it on VLS for $45 bucks and IIRC the M10 and Achilles listed for only $32 bucks last year. There isnt all that much new on it compaired to the M10 its based of off. Its a nice kit and I have two of them, but I got them from MPK for less then $20 bucks each.

Excuse my ignorance SEDimmick but what is MPK? The least I've found the M36 is about $33 at Hobby Link Japan.

I got mine through HobbyLink Japan when they first came out. It is a beauty of a kit and I would recommend that you check out the Perth Military Modeling Society website for an excellent review of the kit.
DJ

I got mine locally for around $34... Luckily it was at 25% off of the normal $47 price tag... Geez, I thoought MSRP for a new turck was bad.
John

MPK:

http://www.ebusiness.com.tw/cgi-bin/mpk/shopping.pl

I have the email address at home, thats what I usally do...email them my order.

Scott,
how do you work your way round the site and were is the company based ROC or
China tried to work round it but lost also weres the prices
cheers
mike

Well I think the kit is worth the price!!!!! The only thing I found lacking was Academies research saying the turret cover was Korea only. There are pics of WW2 Jacksons with the turret cover, but this is my only gripe on the kit so far. The only thing i'd have liked ot have seen were parts for the Jacksons that were captured in Bosnia '98. but i guess parts for three different variants are enough in one kit. STUG

Stugiiif, the only problem with Academy's turret roof is it's one from a "production" version which were not built until the Korean War. In WWII they made "field expedients" ones.

Ken, I only got one reference for all my WWII TD's.... Squadron'd US TDs in Action. And the kit part looks close enough for government work to me. The hinges are even in the right spot for WW2 version. I think i'll use it on mine, but it all depends on how my interior turns out!!!!! STUG

Got my M36 and M10 "Duckbill" on Monday. The M36 was $35.19 atmy local hobbyshop. That's one big box stuffed with sprues :-) . Lots of parts for the spares drawers. I'm going to have to buy another organizer just for parts from the Academy kits.

Sadly, fiting the M36 turret to a Tamiya M4A3 hull to kit bash a M36B1 would require some major surgery and rebuild

hi SEDimmick
I'm just curious you said you paid 20 for the kit and how much did you pay for shipping.
here in Toronto, Canada the kit goes for 50 to 60 Canadian plus 15% taxes. maybe that is something I should look at if the kit plus shipping is cheaper than here, do they give quotes.
cheers
mech

Wow! 15% tax!

Mech,

I got mine at North Star Hobby (no connection) at 15% discount just after christmas and like the other academy M-10s there are so many extras in the kit that I didn't mind paying the price.

Darryl

Stug, I just got mine today and the roof only needs a little cutting with a razor saw. The ones used in WWII (at least all the ones I've seen) had three rear panels. The pics I have show the left and right ones usually lifted up while the middle one stayed closed. On the rear panel, it needs to be cut into three separate panels instead of the one large one. Just make a cut between the 2nd and 3rd and the 4th and 5th hinges.

What I don't get about the M-36 ($45) and the M-10 Duckbill ($35) is the biggest difference is the turret (obviously) the M-36 uses the whole lower hull, running gear etc. from the M-10 kit (says so on the sprues) but the the Duckbill has a full engine compartment w/ engine (so the box says, whether every thing is there or not, I do not know) so why is the Jackson priced higher...go figure, that's the modeling industry for ya right......Reboxed Tamiya stuff going for 2x what it did the first time it came out but this time they added a figure sprue or something, oh well as long as demand > supply we get to keep paying stupid prices!

Jason, I totally agree. It's all part of the retail industry.
Take for example the cost of CDs vs. Cassettes. It costs the manufactures more than double to make a cassette as it does to make a CD, yet CDs sell for more. Go figure.