Apologies in advance but I just had to post this picture. Haven't been this stoked by a new release in like - well forever! Merry Christmas to all

Nice haul!

Yeah, I'd be stoked too! I hope they release a Chieftain AVLB version.

Ahhhh. Only wish I could afford to buy them all, but I'd settle for just 1. Congratulations and enjoy.

Very nice. Just curious how long does it take to get to your location via "slow boat" ? Thanks.

KoSprueOne - AVLB would be awesome. There's always Accurate Armour I suppose .

dvsand - hang in there! I've been working for years which is why I could. Different when I started - I remember having to save pocket money for a whole year to buy British and American Tanks of World War II by Chamberlain and Ellis.

Thanh Huynh - That would be 11 weeks! (I took advantage of LuckyModel's promotion of $2 shipping!)

How would you compare Takom to another company? Such as quality and ease of build? Are they similar to Tamiya, Dragon, MENG?

I'm actually almost a geezer. Just operating on a tight budget. But like you said I save my pocket change for the plastic fund. Takes a while but I eventually get there.

Well I've only just got 'em so I have first impressions only. Moldings are crisp as you would expect from a new kit. More detail than the Tamiya kit so the build will not be as easy. On the Tamiya Chieftain all the wheels have poly caps - rather horrible external ones on the Chief! But that with the vinyl tracks does mean you can paint then easily assemble. With the individual track links you have to figure out whether to assemble then paint (like I am currently doing with a Type 97) or what sub-assemblies can be pre-painted. All the rubber pads on the tracks are separate, so I'm hoping to paint those first before attaching. The barrel is in two parts so care is needed there, but the Tamiya Chieftain barrel was also and I think that came out OK. The one negative I see is you have to cut some details off the driver's hatch area for the later versions. I wish that was handled by adding the parts on for the earlier versions! Also the turret has a carve off depending on whether you building a Mk 10 or 11. The 3 versions are mostly the same sprues. I think that was smart marketing on Takom's part to do 3 versions! To be honest, first impressions on opening the box reminded me of recent Trumpeter kits.

Ah OK. Hope I didn't sound condescending! I'm definitely in geezervilleland myself, though I don't feel it inside! I got annoyed when trying to find Star Wars Rebels episodes to watch 'on demand' and couldn't find them - until I clicked on 'Kids' category...