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REVIEW
Swedish ''S'' Tank
JPTRR
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RAILROAD MODELING
#051
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Posted: Wednesday, May 11, 2016 - 10:22 AM UTC
Enjoy this nostalgic look at one of Aurora''s finest from the early days of plastic armor - Swedish "S" Tank.

Link to Item

If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!
Removed by original poster on 05/12/16 - 10:44:05 (GMT).
JClapp
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Posted: Wednesday, May 11, 2016 - 03:46 PM UTC
I love those square box Aurora kits when I was a kid.
I still think the box art is dynamite.
PantherF
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Posted: Wednesday, May 11, 2016 - 05:15 PM UTC
Nice work there Frederick, certainly a nostalgic moment in modeling history. I cut my teeth on them, especially the armor kits and then some horror & Sci-Fi kits of theirs as well.

They had their issues with inaccuracies and such but the cost compared to Tamiya at the time was a no brainer to choose AURORA. If I remember right in the mid 70's they were under 2 bucks while a 1/35th Tamiya was just under 7.

I like seeing reviews like these and hope there are more on other kits in the earlier days.





Jeff
JClapp
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Posted: Wednesday, May 11, 2016 - 06:43 PM UTC
haha, just remembered having to staple the ends of the tracks together, one end had a rivet that inserted into a hole on the other end that had to be melted over with a hot knife...challenging for a fourth grader!

I would add that fabulous vacu-formed dio base to the plusses
JPTRR
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RAILROAD MODELING
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Posted: Wednesday, May 11, 2016 - 06:57 PM UTC
Hi Jeff, Jonathan,

Thanks guys. Yes, I think the box art of these old kits is great. I've kept the art off some kits that I've built. (I even have the box art from my Tamiya Tiger I I built in the mid-1970s.) The art is so popular that there are websites dedicated to it. Al at oldmodelkits.com knows a lot about the artists, Jo Kotula, Jack Leynnwood, Ray Gaedke, et al., and I get my knowledge from him. He even has articles about some of them on his site.

Jeff, I think you've seen the other Aurora reviews before but in case you just found this one, here's the page with 20 URLs of Aurora reviews I've made: Aurora reviews

There are more on the way! When I get the Okay from Al, who kindly allowed me to photograph many of his old Aurora kits for review, I will be posting reviews of more tanks as well as Aurora's complete series of 1/48 helicopters.
JPTRR
Staff MemberManaging Editor
RAILROAD MODELING
#051
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Posted: Wednesday, May 11, 2016 - 07:02 PM UTC

Quoted Text

I would add that fabulous vacu-formed dio base to the plusses


Jonathan,

Those tracks are still a challenge for me TODAY!

I love the bases. Here's one tricked out with static grass and other foilage(more are forthcoming):



PantherF
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Posted: Wednesday, May 11, 2016 - 08:36 PM UTC

Quoted Text

Hi Jeff, Jonathan,

Thanks guys. Yes, I think the box art of these old kits is great. I've kept the art off some kits that I've built. (I even have the box art from my Tamiya Tiger I I built in the mid-1970s.) The art is so popular that there are websites dedicated to it. Al at oldmodelkits.com knows a lot about the artists, Jo Kotula, Jack Leynnwood, Ray Gaedke, et al., and I get my knowledge from him. He even has articles about some of them on his site.

Jeff, I think you've seen the other Aurora reviews before but in case you just found this one, here's the page with 20 URLs of Aurora reviews I've made: Aurora reviews

There are more on the way! When I get the Okay from Al, who kindly allowed me to photograph many of his old Aurora kits for review, I will be posting reviews of more tanks as well as Aurora's complete series of 1/48 helicopters.



I will check them out soon!

Speaking of the bases, I liked the decal sheet had the name tag of the vehicle and it's nations flag next to it as well.

It really set them apart from other kits.




Jeff
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Posted: Thursday, May 12, 2016 - 02:13 AM UTC
i have one in trumpeter 1/72nd scale.
IPLawyer
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Posted: Thursday, May 12, 2016 - 04:01 AM UTC

Quoted Text

I love those square box Aurora kits when I was a kid.
I still think the box art is dynamite.


I totally agree.

The vibrant backgrounds on some of the boxes, such as the "S" tank's box, even make it look like World War 3 is happening in the background. For other examples of what I refer to as the "apocalyptic look" see the boxes for the

Stalin tank:

http://www.oldmodelkits.com/jpegs/Aurora%20323-150%20StalinExc.JPG

an MBT-70:

http://www.oldmodelkits.com/jpegs/Aurora%20318-150%20MBT-70.jpg

IPLawyer
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Posted: Thursday, May 12, 2016 - 04:08 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Enjoy this nostalgic look at one of Aurora''s finest from the early days of plastic armor - Swedish "S" Tank.

Link to Item

If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!


Thank you so much for posting this. I was actually trying, without success, to find pictures of the Aurora S Tank last month.

This kit was one of the favorite builds of one of my friends as a kid. He remembered that the suspension was at least semi-workable to allow the gun to be raised and lowered. Can you confirm this is the case?

JClapp
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Posted: Thursday, May 12, 2016 - 04:27 AM UTC

Quoted Text

...
at least semi-workable to allow the gun to be raised and lowered. Can you confirm this is the case?


he described that feature in the "gee-whiz!" portion of the review.
IPLawyer
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Posted: Thursday, May 12, 2016 - 04:37 AM UTC

Quoted Text


Quoted Text

...
at least semi-workable to allow the gun to be raised and lowered. Can you confirm this is the case?


he described that feature in the "gee-whiz!" portion of the review.


Thanks, I missed that paragraph scrolling through.
JPTRR
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RAILROAD MODELING
#051
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Posted: Thursday, May 12, 2016 - 10:27 AM UTC
If any one you would like it, I can scan the box top and post it. It is not mint, but it is in good shape. I'll also post photos of the instructions when I find them.
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