I am diving into my first Trumpeter kit, the IS-3M, and I find the plastic much softer than I am used to with Tamiya or Dragon kits. Is this the norm? Any special tips to share?

Man, I am really having to adjust how I clean up all the mold lines on the smaller parts. It has already taken me twice as long as I had planned to clean up some of the smaller suspension parts. I am already planning for all of the grab handles I will have to replace thanks to my ham-handedness.

Anyway, I hope this does not taint my experience with Trumpeter kits. They have quite a few subjects I hope to tackle in the future.

I am not sure if all the kits are soft but I am building the M1A1A for the M-1 campaign and I am having a heck of a time with it. The plastic in this kit is also softer than other brands. The clean up is very time consuming. I hope that their newer kits are better quality. I have my eye on the Faun transporter and a few of their trucks kits.

That depends.

Sometimes they have plastic so hard that you can't sand with sandpaper, you need a Dremel.

The M1A1HA i am currently building also is having this problem. The plastic not only is much softer but also is kind of flexible and giving a very hard time to clean up. There are not many mold lines i have to say BUT all smaller parts swim in a sea of surrounding plastic and i ve spended hours and hours of cleaning and trimming and this has erased my intentions on superdetailing and all this..so i think it will go as an OOB build with few improvements (tow cables stowage...). I also have the Challenger unbuilt which seems to be the same style...I am expecting to see the Mil Mi 24 Hind that is said to be hell of a kit, and then i ll decide how to go on Trumps. I hope they improve and keep good prices ..we ll see

Trumpeters early kits aren't that great. I made the 'Osorio' and wasn't impressed. The AS90 however is up to Tamiya standards, and even has three attachment points where the track ends join so that the correct tension is achieved!

They might be just like Italeri older models like this old truck, it had Italeri stamped under the steps on the truck, and also made in Italy, and it doesn't have that on the newer ones and the hood and fenders are just as soft as the tracks were on the Marder 3, but the newer models with higher numbers, are like most models, good and hard, I'm like you, I don't care for that soft rubber feeling plastic, makes it real hard to clean seams.

Howdy fellas,

The subject of 'softness' in the moulded materials used by some manufacturers was a real 'pet peeve' of mine for quite sometime. I used to be in the front rank of complainers about it. And I still agree that it is a real pain in the behind!
In fact the first company I complained about was Italeri. Since I tend to do a lot of my cleanup with a #11 Xacto, the way the plastic responded compared to the Tammy material was irritating.
I kind of agree with Yorkie, it seems like each kit is a little different. My Trump Ti-67 (one of the early 'motorized' kits) is quite soft. The M1A1 is a tad bit harder, but not by much. And, (I just now checked for you animal ), the Trump 'Faun ' transporter is IMHO, made of a harder plastic. I pulled out an axle housing and tried to clean it up and it cooperated! More along the lines of Italeri still (and I know you have experience with Italeri Dave). But, unless I'm just getting used to it, it cleaned up with no problems.
Of course the Faun kit is a pretty 'clean' moulding.

Tread.

Thanks Tread I have wanted to build the Faun since it first came on the market.

Hmmm. I'm building the M1 right now and the plastic doesn't seem soft. I'm not having any problems with sanding it. I guess it's less brittle than some manufacturers, but I actually prefer that as it makes it easier to get plastic to ooze from the seam when gluing it.