Ive been looking at these small scale kits lately I must admit I havent looked at one since the early 80's Im impressed by the detail and quality, i baught Revells Challenger 1 to try them out, anyone into these and know who puts out the best kits. :-)

I think 1/72 has come a long way recently
Sometimes a booger to work on such small stuff
but very rewarding.

Less aftermarket goodies for that scale, but still very slick nonetheless.
Glad to see I'm not the only one impresses with the more recent offerings.
Cheers!

I really like the Revell kits, I have finished the Chally and have a Warrior, another CHally, A Leo2 , M1A1 and Bradley. Well detailed for 72s.

Overall, Revell makes the best 1/72 scale armor kits. PST, Roden and Italeri (ex-Esci) all have some good kits as well. I'm working on a PST KV-1E and Revell PzHbt2000 right now.

Ive seen some kits by Hasewaga? I know they have a name for aircraft,one more question do any companies do crew figures in 1/72. thanks for the replies :-)

Hasegawa's armor was not bad, but it has since been bypassed technologically.
About the best source I've seen for small-scal crewmen was from Preiser, the German company that makes railroading stuff. Their catalog does include small scale tank crews.

I basically only work on 1/72 because I have no room for the bigger stuff at this time. But, I have basically worked on kits from the majority of the makers who are into this scale. Revell makes some really good stuff, as does PST.

PST main problem was their roadwheels, but recently they have started to correct that. Some of the other russian makers are lacking, badly, one example is ACE. ACE has some great ideas, but thier molding is for another forum, UGH !!!. Their decals also seem to be allergic to water, lol. With ACE though, if you put some work into it, alot of work, you will get a nice kit. But for the price, its not worth the heartache, unless your into inflicting self pain. Recommend to those with alot of experience. Im personally going to try them again and see if thier molding is any better, but from I hear/see, it has not.

Roden, SKIF, are pretty good, but you just dont know what to expect from one box to the next. MW, same experience as with all above, except for REVELL.

But,,,BUT!!! Thier is one company from Russia that is starting to be the TRUMPETER of small scale. Thier name is "UM", crisp molding, brass etching, and depending on the kit, rubber tires (thier early 1940 t-34 comes with them !!!) Beautiful kits overall, and they run for $17 to $20. A lil steep for that size, but you get your moneys worth.

The ones I stay away from now because they just seem like toys or not alot of thought was put into them is ITALERI and HASEGAWA. I would build the ACE kits before either of those two. SAVE WATER, DRINK BEER !!

Go here for the best braille site...

http://www.ontheway.us/default.htm

lottsa kit reviews, pics, etc.

I just wanted to pass on the great service I received from Alanger. They market PST kits here in the US. I placed an order for the 1/72 S-300 PMU Grumble, PT-76B and BTR-50 on Saturday and I received them via UPS yesterday. Of course, I am in the same state as Alanger (Boston, Mass. area), but I have noticed one thing about the pricing. After I won some of their items on eBay, I was given a "personal discount" at their website. At first, my personal discount was 40%, after ordering, it rose to 42%. Right now they have a 50% sale, but my personal discount bumps it up to 54.2%. During last weekend, when I ordered, it dropped the prices of PST 1/72 scale kits down to $3.88, except the Grumble which was $13 and change. Really can't beat those prices, and I guess the more you order, the greater your discount becomes.

And their shipping is only $5 for the first item, 25¢ for each additional item (I assume in the US). No connection to the company, just a satisfied repeat customer. This past weekend they had a bigger sale and I jumped on it. They have secure web ordering and also take PayPal as well as regular credit card orders.

I can vouch for Sabot's comments re: Arlanger - I'm also a happy repeat customer... got a bunch of figure sets the first time around, and some 72nd kits this week to experiment with as I'm been intrigued by the braille scale commentaries of late, and have been impressed with the models displayed here :-)

I personally like the 1/72 Revell and Dragon line... The Dragon tanks are really nice.. The metal hulls have to be finessed a little, but as far as detail, you almost can't beat them.
The Hasegawa kits I have built are poor in accuracy and are more along the line of 1/76 scale..

I have been doing 1/72-1/76 scale kits forever and a year (30+ years)

Here is a run-down:
Airfix- in its glory days they were great, now the molds are tired and the kits fit every which they can, which means they don't.
Heller-Very over simplified, but some new ones on the horizon should be very nice indeed.
Revell Germany- Simply the standard, they are the best in small scale.
Dragon- Some have hard to work with white metal (its already primed, quityurbitchin') others are very nice, the soon to come Tigers should outshine the Revell ones, as the Panther does to the Revell Panthers.
Trumpeter-only a handful of kits but they are gorgeous and very highly detailed.
Hasegawa- not for the faint of heart. Many are overscale or poorly detailed. Some of the more recent kits are rather nice; Jagdpnzer IV and Sdkfz 251even have a personal love of their Brit armored cars.
Fujimi- difficult to assemble, difficult to find. However,Their Tiger I, JS-2 are gorgeous and they do JSGDF tanks too.
ACE- I love them. It is short run technology, so the molds are soft. You need a lot more skills before tackling one of these. But work slowly and carefully and think of all those 40 year old Airfix kits you built and how much you love putty. Seriously, a good set of needle files, file and sand and lots of dry-fitting and you'll be done in no time. For the decals, you might need to use Super sccale Clear Decal film over them. (Sounds like you have water with a high mineral content which destroys decals of certain manufactures, esp Eastern European)
ESCI- Some are poorly detailed, some fit horribly but I built so many!!!!!
Italeri- Re-issues of ESCI with much better decals, some new kits are coming too....