Well thinking of adding the M-36 Jackson and M-18 Hellcat to the Pig pile.

Anybody try to build the New Jackson from Academy?

Plus any hints on the Hellcat Academy or AFV Club which is better?

Thanks

Academy hellcat is much better and is more realistic so pick that one and i really enjoy building mine

Funny thing I thought the Academy kit to be nothing more than scrap plastic and ended up with the AFV club kit anyway. Better fit and alot more and better detail than the Academy offering. I have the Jackson as well but havn't tried to build it yet. wanting to finish my other projects first. but it looks great. STUG

there is a rewiew of the m36 right here .

I have the Academy M10 Duckbill waitning to be built - inbox: nice mouldings og nice details. looks to be a very nice kit.

Sorry - can't agree with you about the "superiority" of the Academy Hell Cat TD kit over the AFV Club kit. I too chose the AFV Club kit after looking at both models and climbing all over a real Hell Cat in a private collection. Both kits have an equal number of opportunities to make them better, but the AFV Club kit is better overall.

Gunnie

I built both kits and I would go with the AFV kit. It went together smoothly and has a lot more detail.

Still trying to descide which Hellcat to buy but I must admit I'm leaning towards the AFV Club kit ...As for the Jackson I do have the Academy kit ....Now if I were you I might think about waiting till the AFV Club kit comes out . What they have done is give you an M10a1 with a M36 turret and even there there seems to be some question as to the storage of the ready rounds ...you still get the M10 ammo for the hull and I heard there is quite a difference in size of the 90mm ammo tubes making the way they were stowed quite different ...Does it look like a M36........ yes ..Will the AFV kit be better?? who knows ...also a strange choice for the tracks in this kit ..rubber blocks...hmm??

Rick

Rick - I've been wondering about an AFV Club version too. It would be nice to see more than one. The Academy M36 is a nice-looking kit in the box...

Gunnie

IMHO the academy hellcat is pretty crap, ive never seen the AFV club one so cant offer a comparison.

it reminds me of a tamiya kit from the 70's, poor detail, very toy like in appearence, and according to steve zalogas article in a military modelling issue i have inaccurate also.

look at the hull ammo stowage for proof, its half of the rounds molded to the hull sides!

never seen the M36 but by all accounts its pretty good

cheers

joe

AFV Club is the way to go with M18. Built both and agree with the others about the Academy offering.
The M36 is a very nice kit with quite a few build options. Early and late and post war versions can be done with this kit.

Thanks for replies on M-18 and M-36
So it is AFV on the Hellcat
Academy on the Jackson!
Everybody knows that the Hellcat was Americas only TD built as Such (++)

I've had both the Academy M18 and the AFV Club M18 and they both suck IMHO. The AFVC M18 has a crappy looking barrel and is lacking some detail and the Academy M18 has some problems that people touched on before, but its only postive is that it has some aftermarket support from Verilden, which might be a good or bad thing

When it comes to M10's...I perfer the Academy kit over the AFV Club M10. I just didnt like the way the AFV Club M10 looked and it was lacking some detail to it. A problem with the Academy kit is that rear hull angle isnt quite right to my eye, but otherwise it "looks" more like a M10 vs the AFV Club kit.

Rodger that. She was conceived, designed and built from the ground up as a TD... well sort of, after quite a few proto-types had been tested and upgraded. One of the more interesting vehicles of which the M18 has roots in is the T56. The T56 was an M5 chassis with a 3 inch gun mounted on the rear. It looked similar to the German Marder design. She was also the first U.S. tank to use the Christie type suspension, and could reach speeds upwards of +50mph, making it the fastest tank of WWII.

Thanks for the Info Ken great thing those M-18s.

Actually I have been thinking about buying one of the M-18 and by looking into both kits, I agree to Sedimmick that both are crapy.

AFV Club sprue looks detailed, but the dimension is way off, and the barrel is non-usable, as well as giving you poor road wheels. Academy is not up to their recent issues' standard, but the deminsion is dead on, while the hull rear and engine grille are not accurate.

I will buy the Academy one probably, and get some AM to correct it. Not an easy job I guess, but Academy at least provides indy tracks and the mantlet cover.

in a few weeks iam adding the m-18 to my pile also lol.
be fore it gets built it will be months lol.