Andrew Leeth reviews and builds the 1/35th scale Meng Model M1A2 Meng Tusk 1/Tusk2 and shares his thoughts on the product as he progresses.

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I dunno, I still like my DRAGON M1s best, judging from the review. The prices of the DRAGON M1s have come down in recent months, so I think they're still a very viable choice- But, that's just my opinion...

Oh, good, then I'm not a horrible modeler because I can't handle those tracks at all! Just made a total dog's breakfast out of them.

That's a lot of plastic... MENG should up the game on Rubber Bands... Tamiya new bands are very nice... Dragon DS rubber bands (when intact) are very nice as well... This addition would not break the bank if they included both to give the modeller a choice ! That Track Jig was terrible indeed !

Good overall build review ! its quite the kit to Start your MENG journey with !!! Hope you get to paint her soon !

the hong-kong-based tiger company produce one in 1/72nd.

That's good for the modellers that build in 1/72nd scale. There may be some 1/72nd builders that weren't aware of that...

I believe Tiger Model is either owned or a subsidiary of Rye Field Model.

I think so too..Dragon is the best choice. Now if only we can incorporate the details of TUSK I and II onto the Dragon kit. That would be nice.

I'm in the midst of building the Meng Tusk kit now and have the chasis almost done. I liked the kit supplied tracks and didn't have any issues with them, other than the parts being small. It was my first workable tracks, so the novelty level was high for me. The kit supplied jig worked fine. What helped, for me at least, was applying a small amount of Tamiya thin cement in the two small holes on the pads so that the pads stayed together. I just had to make sure that the glue didn't get on the "stick" portion of the tracks so that the track was workable.

Most of my kits are Tamiya, so I'm more use to the rubber band types. It would have been nice if Meng had supplied two sets of tracks (workable and rubber band). I have a Trumpeter M1 Panther II kit and that kit comes with both types of tracks.

Overall, I like the Meng kit very much. I was very disappointed with my Dragon M1A2 SEP V2 kit. Yes, it has a lot of details, but mine came with a warped hull. I have read comments from other people who received a warped hull like I did, AFTER I purchased my kit. I used some evergreen plastic to make it as straight as possible, but it still had a bit of a wobble. I bought the Dragon kit at a LHS for about $90 and I feel ripped off (by Dragon). I'm almost finished with that model and while I am very pleased with the level of detail, the warped hull really put me off.

That was your first mistake. You can find Dragon, and pretty much any other manufacturer, for about half that from Asian and on-line vendors. Local hobby shops are great for supplies, but crazy on their kit prices. I never buy kits at them unless they are on deep discount sales. I want to support them, but not at crazy prices like that.

As to the Meng kit, it is pretty nice. I prefer indi-link track over rubber bands myself, so I like that aspect of it. I think indi-links give a better impression of actual tracks since the blocks themselves don't bend like rubber band tracks do. Indi-links are usually much better detailed as well.

I'm like you to Gino about spending that much on my kits. I guess I am one of the lucky ones that my LHS gives a "MILITARY" discount. If it wasn't for the discount, a majority of my kits would be bought on line.

As for Bill buying the Dragon SEP V2 kit for $90, I would have opted for the Academy kit. It is as detailed as the Dragon kit, comes with rubber band tracks and is almost half the price.

I got mine at one of the local modelling shows in the Netherlands discounted for 50 Euro. That was the only reason I got this one.

On the tracks: The jig works for me. Perhaps I had enough practice with the one for the Leopard 1 as that uses the same system. I think making the complete tracks is going to take about 10 hours in total but I do like the detail on these and it takes my mind of work (I'm building this one in my lunch break).