Hi guys:

Does somebody knows if this brand (Maquette) makes good quality kits ?
They have very interesting russian items


Take a look:

In my limited experience with Marquette kits, they tend to be a little soft in detail, have a good deal of flash to clean up, and need to be cleaned thoroughly of mold release agent before painting. That being said, they are usually a reasonable value for their price, and like you say, offer some unique subjects.

I have their 38t kit and let me put it this way ...Do you remember Tamiya's kits from the 70's? Well they are better than this kit...It is going to take alot to bring it up to todays standards...One good thing about this kit is that they made it while other companies have decided to forget about some of these more obscure models. For the T34's Id go with the dragon kits ,but the others well they are probably the only game in town. Be ready for sink marks and lots of flash...soft details and not the best fit .

Rick

Definetly,

However, some of their Russian armor kits (especially the t-34) are very good for accuracy. Many kits come with plastic indy links.

The t-34 Egyptian (top one) is new this year and I believe the only kit on the market to build that version out of the box without a conversion.

they also do this,


ideal for the new dragon kits as well instead of using the printed cardboard section

The T-26-4 is a weak kit because of the turret which is resin the hull is from Zevzda and is pretty good my advice kitbash Zevzda's T-26 with Eastern Express BT-7 A and you will get better results if you really gota have this version of the T-26 I kit bashed on of the other BT-7 tanks with the T-26 and the results look great The PT-3 mine plow is a good kit if you invest the time to clean it up and stick it on some one elses T-34 you can get it from Arsanal without the tank and with better instructions too.

What we need is a Russian group build !

My dealings with Maquette kits echo as above. Weak on details and the directions. My biggest area of concern every time I buy one is the tracks. I often replace them with Fruli or Modelkasten. they often do make the only varient of a Soviet kit on the market. If you are willing to work a little the kits can produce a gem.

This is the Egyptian T-122 also by Maquette. I had no problems with it. "Q"

The T34-76 kits a re very hard to build !
You need to cut the hull here and there... and glue new parts in place... argh !
The T34-122 is full of errors, avoid it !
The T34 engine has little detail, but it's cheap.

The T34-100 is very expensive because it's the basic T34 hull + resin turret !

I've got the T34 model 1941 and I'll build it... someday... when I can gather the courage !

If you want some good WW2 russian item, check the T60 model by RPM !!!! It's great, inexpensive, rather easy to build (still not tamiya), comes with plenty of PE straight in the box ! Also you can get plastic indy links for it from TECHMOD (also cheap) !

This is why I love this site
Thank you all guys for your responses. I´m taking the advice and I think that after reading this I´ll buy some Dragon´s T34s. I have the 41 & I´m thinking in the 40 and the T34/85.

I agree with most of the above. Maquette kits are pretty crude compared to latest releases by Tamiya, Dragon, AFV, etc. Eastern Express and Alan are two other Russian manufacterors with unique models, modest prices, and fair to very good detailing, depending on the kit; ie: Toko re-releases from Eastern Express are generally better than other Eastern Express kits. Alan kits tend to be pretty good most of the time.

Most kits from Maquette are making use of old molds from other Eastern Bloc companies, then they add some new sprues and may be some resin.

To begin with, the old molds they're using are not very good, while the "newly added" sprues are of quality ranged from very bad to average.

The resin parts are no better. I have their Archer set, the resin parts are very poor. (if anyone wants to build it, send me 20 bucks and I will happily send the kit to you)

The AEC kit is of decent quality though.

They have done a nice try on their T-34 project. DML has delayed they releases for a few year. (how many years between DML release their first few T-34/85 and they release of T-34/76? From what I heard is that DML could do it many years ago, but somehow they went to hibernation) So that gave the Maquette T-34's a "grace period". Now with all those DML T34's around, there is no reason to buy or build a Maquette one.

If you have tried a DML T34, you will agree to me, that if you want a T34, it has to be DML, or converted from DML chassis.

Maquette has some other interesting subjects though. If you don't mind a bit of work, they are worth a try.

I built the Dragon T-34/85 model 1944 UTZ. A couple of minor fit problems, no big deal. You have to grind off the bumps on the left side of the turret and replace the front mud guards with the later versions in the kit. I am only an average modeler and I was very happy with the way it came out. I used Friul tracks and a Jordi Rubio gun barrel along with some PE grilles. Give it a try and I think that you will like it.

cheers,

Ken

I also built the Dragon T-34/85 UTZ and it was a nice build.
Having built the Zvezda/Italeri BT-5 I cant imagine the Maquette kits could be any worse.
Cookie Sewell (AMPS) did a review on Track-Link of the Maquette T-34/76 1941 and he seemed to like it.

Have a good one
Mark