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Dragon: Zelda - New M113 from Dragon
Maki
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Croatia Hrvatska
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Posted: Monday, March 26, 2018 - 05:53 PM UTC


Dragon announced new M113 kit in 1/35 scale. Check it out!

Read the Full News Story

If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!
SgtRam
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AEROSCALE
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Ontario, Canada
Joined: March 06, 2011
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Posted: Monday, March 26, 2018 - 05:57 PM UTC
Very interesting looking. Neo track? that is new for Dragon, I think. Hopefully a sign they are doing away with DS track.
Vodnik
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Warszawa, Poland
Joined: March 26, 2003
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Posted: Monday, March 26, 2018 - 06:08 PM UTC
If those CADs are any representation of the actual model, it will be absolutely the worst 1/35 M113 kit ever released, including the ancient Tamiya ones...
All details are either ridiculously bad in those images, or missing altogether (fuel filler cap, anyone?...). And the interior looks like a bad copy of very simplified Italeri M113 one - and is wrong for IDF Zelda...
Vodnik
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Warszawa, Poland
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Posted: Monday, March 26, 2018 - 06:11 PM UTC

Quoted Text

Neo track? that is new for Dragon, I think.

Nothing new, they already used them in their M752 and probably also M727 kits.
Maki
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Croatia Hrvatska
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Posted: Monday, March 26, 2018 - 06:32 PM UTC
I did notice the interior being completely off for IDF vehicles and several other issues on CAD images. Sloppy work from Dragon.

Mario
philhendry
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United Kingdom
Joined: December 26, 2009
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Posted: Monday, March 26, 2018 - 06:34 PM UTC
I think I'll stick with the old Academy kit - it's much more like a Zelda...

And rumour has it that Academy are re-releasing it, with upgraded parts, including some etched brass.
Roast
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Noord-Holland, Netherlands
Joined: December 08, 2004
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Posted: Monday, March 26, 2018 - 06:38 PM UTC
Hmm, no need for this kit I think. With an excellent M113 from AFV Club, I prefer some good aftermarket sets to make a Zelda or any other version, based on the new AFV Club kit.
Removed by original poster on 03/27/18 - 14:14:14 (GMT).
HeavyArty
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Florida, United States
Joined: May 16, 2002
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Posted: Monday, March 26, 2018 - 07:13 PM UTC
The AFV Club kit isn't perfect either. It is missing some key parts on the interior. You can see what is missing here. Most of it is in the driver's area and crew compartment. Specifically, no shift lever or ramp control lever on the right bulkhead; no mount for the driver's IR periscope, missing the power distribution box and power conditioner on left side in driver's area; no details at all on the inner front glacis, no heater in the back, no intercom boxes at all, etc.. Much (if not all) of these were included in Academy's M113A2 kit from 1993, 25 years ago. Academy's also had very nice indi-link track as an option, where AFV Club still uses rubber band tracks that are really too loose. Granted, AFV Club's molding and exterior details are better, but they missed the mark on the interior in my opinion.

For Dragon's version, I will wait and see how it is, but it doesn't look too good.
Vodnik
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Warszawa, Poland
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Posted: Monday, March 26, 2018 - 07:31 PM UTC

Quoted Text

Academy's also had very nice indi-link track

I beg to differ. Those tracks had significantly undersized rubber pads and were much too thick. Just because they were indy links doesn't mean that they were good.

I agree that the AFV Club kit isn't perfect and the Academy one had some parts, that AFV Club's one doesn't, but overall the AFV Club kit is still much better.
Petition2God
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Colorado, United States
Joined: February 06, 2002
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Posted: Monday, March 26, 2018 - 08:32 PM UTC

Quoted Text

I think I'll stick with the old Academy kit - it's much more like a Zelda...

And rumour has it that Academy are re-releasing it, with upgraded parts, including some etched brass.


Wooo. I guess I'll wait for this Academy one and forget the Dragon junk. I wonder Dragon will ever get anything right with their new releases. Haha
Cantstopbuyingkits
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European Union
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Posted: Monday, March 26, 2018 - 11:07 PM UTC
What a piece of crap.
Taeuss
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Manitoba, Canada
Joined: January 03, 2016
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Posted: Tuesday, March 27, 2018 - 03:50 AM UTC
Not really my area but if I was planning on building one I'd look long and hard at the Academy re-release. How could Dragon drop the ball on this one so badly? Fuel filler caps are kind of a nice touch...
Roast
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Noord-Holland, Netherlands
Joined: December 08, 2004
KitMaker: 56 posts
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Posted: Tuesday, March 27, 2018 - 03:58 AM UTC

Quoted Text

The AFV Club kit isn't perfect either. It is missing some key parts on the interior. You can see what is missing here. Most of it is in the driver's area and crew compartment. Specifically, no shift lever or ramp control lever on the right bulkhead; no mount for the driver's IR periscope, missing the power distribution box and power conditioner on left side in driver's area; no details at all on the inner front glacis, no heater in the back, no intercom boxes at all, etc.. Much (if not all) of these were included in Academy's M113A2 kit from 1993, 25 years ago. Academy's also had very nice indi-link track as an option, where AFV Club still uses rubber band tracks that are really too loose. Granted, AFV Club's molding and exterior details are better, but they missed the mark on the interior in my opinion.

For Dragon's version, I will wait and see how it is, but it doesn't look too good.


Gino, thank you for the link to the review. Indeed a bit of a let-down that the interior isn't perfect, but judging from the photos, luckily only some parts are lacking, as opposed to dimensions being totally off and such.
So far, this looks manageable or something a small a/m set can take care off.
panamadan
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Minnesota, United States
Joined: July 20, 2004
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Posted: Tuesday, March 27, 2018 - 04:05 AM UTC
Dragon Haters-UNITE!
Vodnik
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Warszawa, Poland
Joined: March 26, 2003
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Posted: Tuesday, March 27, 2018 - 09:28 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Dragon Haters-UNITE!

I don't hate Dragon. I worked with them as a consultant for ten years and there is a lot of older Dragon kits I like (building one now as a matter of fact). I just hate when anyone shows something as utterly crappy as that thing in CAD images, tells us it's great and asks a lot of money for it... It's not my fault that Dragon repeat that with every new release now
I may be very disappointed and annoyed by them, but I don't hate them...
yakovkraus
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Israel
Joined: May 04, 2016
KitMaker: 10 posts
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Posted: Tuesday, March 27, 2018 - 11:38 AM UTC
it said Yom Kipur war its seem to be a nice kit
I don't understand all the crying
and it is number 01 of a new series Yom Kipur war what will be number 2?
ReluctantRenegade
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Wien, Austria
Joined: March 09, 2016
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Posted: Tuesday, March 27, 2018 - 12:32 PM UTC

Quoted Text

it is number 01 of a new series Yom Kipur war what will be number 2?


Take that with a grain of salt. I wouldn't be surprised if they issued a Merkava as part of their 'Yom Kipur' series. Their Magach 3 w/ERA is labelled as '50th Anniversary - Six Day War'. Yeah, right...



Maki
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Croatia Hrvatska
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Posted: Tuesday, March 27, 2018 - 12:32 PM UTC

Quoted Text

I don't understand all the crying


It is a matter of what you want from a model kit... If you'd like something that looks like M113, then go with it. If you strive for accuracy then this is obviously not something to add to your stash.

So, I guess all the crying is because the company failed to produce an accurate M113 kit which builds into a realistic replica of the real thing.

Mario
RobinNilsson
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Stockholm, Sweden
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Posted: Tuesday, March 27, 2018 - 01:22 PM UTC

Quoted Text


Quoted Text

I don't understand all the crying


It is a matter of what you want from a model kit... If you'd like something that looks like M113, then go with it. If you strive for accuracy then this is obviously not something to add to your stash.

So, I guess all the crying is because the company failed to produce an accurate M113 kit which builds into a realistic replica of the real thing.

Mario


Maybe some of the crying could be caused by the disappointment when a company which used to produce great kits now have started to make mistakes, big maistakes and completely unnecessary mistakes which is the worst part of it.
Look at their M60, trying to cut costs by reusing too much from the M48. Never mind their M103, joy over the new kit turns into bitter disappointment followed by resentment.
Trying to charge premium prices for kits that have so many issues adds to the insult.
It has gone so far that when I read about a new Dragon kit I think to myself: "OK, so what have they managed to mess up this time?"
Maybe they could have got away with this stupidity 15-20 years ago but not now when there are so many other kits around. I'm not buying it anymore .....
I have plenty of their German armour kits in the stash so I can build only Dragon kits for quite a number of years if I want to
/ Robin
Vodnik
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Warszawa, Poland
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Posted: Tuesday, March 27, 2018 - 05:46 PM UTC

Quoted Text

its seem to be a nice kit

Could you please point out to specific things in those CAD images that make you call it "nice"? What are your criteria to consider a kit "nice"?
Me109G10
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Baden-Württemberg, Germany
Joined: November 24, 2013
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Posted: Wednesday, March 28, 2018 - 08:25 PM UTC
I also loved dragon. I think most of my kits are Dragon and they are in my view the best. I started to dislike their policies when they started wanting to get twice the money for less inside the box. Also they totally lost me on german armor when they added DS tracks. the only recent kit I own from them is the M48A3 Nam... everything else is older and top notch, still. I hope they might fix the issues with this kit and release a M113 Nam version. I would like to build it. Somehow Dragon was the best in my view for a looong time... I dont understand why they are not even able to at least stay on the quality they were at about 5 years ago. How come they went down like a drug addict that lost reality... I am glad that Airfix and Tamiya stepped up and new companys also come to the market. I feel like Dragon is an old Tiger that had its best years and now just pretends like it got something when in fact its just totally overpriced inaccurate stuff.. sad
Bravo1102
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New Jersey, United States
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Posted: Wednesday, March 28, 2018 - 08:38 PM UTC
Hopefully the CAD is a pre-production concept design with details to be added because right now it is very toy like. The detail is nonexistent and wouldn't be sufficient for a 1/72 kit let alone 1/35.

Maybe they're going to put it on a spring base as a M113 Zelda bobble head?
Cantstopbuyingkits
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European Union
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Posted: Friday, March 30, 2018 - 12:52 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Hopefully the CAD is a pre-production concept design with details to be added because right now it is very toy like. The detail is nonexistent and wouldn't be sufficient for a 1/72 kit let alone 1/35.

Maybe they're going to put it on a spring base as a M113 Zelda bobble head?


But... but.. muh “All exterior and interior details are fully replicated“!
Bravo1102
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New Jersey, United States
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Posted: Friday, March 30, 2018 - 01:51 AM UTC

Quoted Text


Quoted Text

Hopefully the CAD is a pre-production concept design with details to be added because right now it is very toy like. The detail is nonexistent and wouldn't be sufficient for a 1/72 kit let alone 1/35.

Maybe they're going to put it on a spring base as a M113 Zelda bobble head?


But... but.. muh “All exterior and interior details are fully replicated“!

It's akin to showing a CAD of a stick figure and saying "all figure facial and clothing details fully represented"
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