Hi all.

I was just wondering,if you could single out only one kit that you've built as the "best kit I've ever built", what would it be?

Not being very experienced with building armour (I switched over from years of aircraft modelling),I don't feel sufficiently qualified to give an opinion but would be fascinated to hear from the more experienced armour builders.

Cheers!

Tough to decide. I have been modeling for about 50 years and I have won some contests but the best ... I was in middle school and I saw an artical on how to convert a monogram 1/32 Pzkfw iv into a Brumbar. You had to use a pattern to cut the superstructure out of card stock. You used a ping pong ball and an ink pen for the gun and mantlet. Most all the parts on the superstructure had to be hand made. Then you had to zimm the tank. I plowed through and the final product looked good even by my standards today. It gave me the confidence to convert Tamiya's old Panther A into a Panther G (No one made a G back then). Heck after that I would be willing to convert a jeep into a spitfire.

For me that is an easy pick. This is my LVT2 with all the AM I could my grubby little paws on to represent a vehicle of the 3rd Landing Vehicle Tractor Battalion on Iwo Jima in Feb ’45.

It has full interior, all molded cab bolts were removed and replaced with flush screw heads, track is AFV Club workable tracks, weapons are resin, brass & PE, engine deck molded bolts removed and replaced with PE bolt heads, PE engine grilles, PE deck plates, resin ammo crates & sandbags, PE gun shields and resin side armor. There is probably more to that list; I built her couple of years ago.

This is what my next 1/35 LVT or AAV build will be measured against.

Hi there!

This is also a bit difficult for me as I have a double Number 1. But at least each one is in another category:

As for tanks I would opt for my Fiat L6/40 tank diorama "the hunter and his prey". Its a resin kit with complete painted interior. It was a lovely build and I enjoyed the painting. I did the scene after a single picture I found inside a Book "Panzers of the Ostfront" from Steven Zaloga as I was still a very young boy.





As for the "second" number one built kits - this one is in the "ships" category (you never mentioned you mean only tanks ):
It ist U-3 Typ IIA U-Boot. The boat hat a small career during WESERÜBUNG, after this it spend the whole wartime in school service and in the very closing days it transported german refugees westward to germany until it was finally scrapped. This one is Special Hobbies kit with a PE-Set from Australia to improve and correct all the issues this kit had. In the end I was very happy about the result and every visitor in my hobby room gets first attracted by this boat.








Cheers

Thomas

Do you mean the most accurate/authentic or the kit that went together easiest? Or the one that I most enjoyed building or am most proud of?

Either way, I will have to consider that. Just off the top of my head, the funnest tank I have ever built is the old Monogram Wirbelwind. The tank I am most proud of is an Italeri Elephant which I completely zimmerited (around all those knobby rivets) - apparently someone else appreciated it, too, because it was stolen from the display case of the LHS. (It and a Hanomag crewed with figures modified with Zeltbahn made of putty and foil.)

In regard to your question, both of those kits are old; neither would probably pass the standard expected today, yet both were fun and built to an enjoyable model. And old Italeri kits can be acquired for few $$$ today.

Thomas,

Both (and especially the L6/40) are wonderful!

One of the best that I have a photo of is my 1/48 old Bandai 8-Rad:

These would be my "best" two ever.

The Bronco Buffalo done late last year:




And the AFV Club Engineer Stryker from early last year


Really am quite proud of both compared to my normal simple builds.

For me it was the DML Flak 88. That model is just a piece of art.

Well I have narrowed it down to two,

My Leopard C2 MEXAS;






And my ISAF Coyote;







cheers

The two I'm most proud of (though not necessarily my best).

My DML Panzer III Ausf G. (for my first attempt to put a painted figure with a kit)



My tamiya Matilda Mk. IV converted to a BEF Mk.I (my first attempt at a significant kit conversion).

This is quite a neat idea for a thread, and it makes a change to have a thread that isn't kit/manufacturer/superdetailer/casual builder bashing ....

Here's probably my best effort in that I spent the most time adding and changing details whereas I normally build OOB.

It's my representation of a "what if" USMC M1A1 based on the 1/48th Gasoline models resin M1A2 Abrams.

cheers
Brent

Probably a kit where I won 3rd place in a model contest held by the local hobby shop: Hobby Hut in Lodi, California. It was a Monogram 1/48 P-39 Airacobra in Soviet markings. I was quite fearless back then. It was painted with rattle-can Pactra paints, except for the small pieces. I used a black wash to bring out the panel lines and to add exhaust stains and stains from the gun ejection ports. I no longer have it but that's the one I am most proud of.

I guess ESCI/Italeri 1/35 7.5cm leIG 18 is the armor kit I am most proud of because when things went wrong (so wrong that my mouth dropped open), I laughed. In the old days (as a teen), I would have had a fit. I just picked up the pieces and continued with the build.

it's hard to choose. i had build a good n bad kit before... but the most proud kit i ever build goes to Trumpeter German 12.8cm Kanone 43 Bzw. (KRUPP)



and of course my fav all time is this 1/48 Tamiya Hetzer. The first ever successful handpainted model by me.



Sil

It was my Tamiya T-55A.

I bought it in 2002 and finally finished it last year but it dragged me back into modeling when I was at a point where I couldn't decide to box up the collection and sell it off or to get my butt to the bench and build.

It was box stock and went together like a dream, I didn't do much weathering and I concentrated on remembering my basic building skills and even a year later I look at it and I realize that I have nothing to be ashamed of, it looks great on my shelf.

Let me join the fun with a 1/35 Tamiya Jagdpanzer 38:





Spent long nights cutting masks for the disk camo.

Nice work guys!

WITHOUT A DOUBT the best kit I built I was given. It was in 2009, I was stationed at Camp Liberty, Bagdhad. There was suppose to be a pretty big hobby club there but try as I might I couldnt find it. So I reached out to some people through the IPMS and was lucky enough to have a couple people send me some kits and glue and very basic acrylic paints. My only build the year I was there ( and it was done in the last two months I was there ) was a 1/72 scale CH-47 Chinook. Appropriate because the damn things had kept me awake at night (actually daytime was my sleep time) for the better part of that year. I didnt ship it home with me, I left it at the MWR on base and hoped someone enjoyed it as much as I did building it. It was also memorable because the tools I had were very basic...which made it even more enjoyable!

This was also the best - and latest - kit I ever built. It went together like a dream and, while I'm not that skilled, the paint job and basic weathering look pretty awesome! I'm on a break from building because I'm training my new Golden Retriever puppy for upland hunting!

as far as the best work I have done. my Mk IV male has turned out fairly well. (I still have to do a couple of small things)





as far as the best kit I have ever built, like some others the Tamiya T-55 was one of the most enjoyable builds. I found a cheap aftermarket barrel, but other than that it is OOB. I built it over a 4 day weekend.

I had my best build and worst disaster all in one build. The M88A1 I did with the full interior and super detailed engine bay was something I'm extremely proud of. And THEN because I believed in the Squadron reference publication rather than double check the color references in the TM, I proceeded to copy the NATO 3 color camo scheme per the book, only to discover that it was totally wrong, patterns were correct, but each color was in the wrong place. (Check twice, paint once.)

http://armorama.com/forums/230652#1943044

With all the fragile detail and with it assembled it's almost impossible to take it apart, re-mask and repaint it. Over a year later it's still sitting on a shelf down in the basement.

tough to choose; I'd have to say either the Tamiya Marder III with two crew figures (#35248) or, strange as it might seem, the old Emhar Mark IV Male; came out looking pretty good after some weathering

The kit I'm most proud is my Pegasus 1/72 Phonix D.1. A multimedia (plastic and metal castings) limited run that needed a lot of work. I learned a lot from building this little kit, in particular using oil paints to replicate wood grain.

There's some really nice builds in this thread, guys. Nice work.

I've got two favorites that I'm really happy with. Chronologically, first is the Dragon Henschel Jagdtiger.



Second is a Dragon Jagdpanther with ATAK Zimmerit


Both went together well and I'm happy with how they turned out.

Really nice to see. I build that too as a kid but yours are miles away! I actually looks like a contemporary model.

Great work!