From what I've seen and heard, early academy stuff was just tamiya knock-offs they bought up tamiya's old molds and went from there.....

DONT BUY THE MERKAVA-II, "TRUST ME" IT'S NOT WORTH THE EFFORT!! IF YOU WANT A MERKAVA MODEL, "BUY A TAMIYA KIT"


DAGGER-1

Well Lets see Where do I start. 1. Too small of Turrent hooks, Parts that came off after having been glued on, And yes I used the right amount of glue. Main gun space had to be shaved some in order to fit the gun into it's slot. missing two poly caps. ( Thank Goodness for spares) The left tread was too tight of a fit and had to be struggled with briefly before finally glueing into place. Staoge rack gave me problems with not lining up correctly.
Is that enough ?? Or is something regular with academy. OH And let me forget about the Tiger-1 kit that I had last year that had a "TOATALLY WARPED MAIN DECK " And you wonder why I dislike Academy kits ?? Hey I got talked ionto buying this kit. And had I know the results. I would have turned it down. And bought something else. PREFERABLY A TAMIYA....Or Something equivelant to one. So there is my thought on Academy.. OR is this something normal to Model building.. I Dont think so.. I NEVER had this many problems with the Tamiya kits that I have built lately !! Okay I will quit Gripping now.

DAGGER-1

I believe that Academy kits are very good alternatives to expensive Tamiya and Hasegawa kits. Reviewers and modellers are raving about the latest kits that have come out. Personally, I prefer Academy over anything else because I get a lot of value for my money. I also don't go into a fit when I destroy a kit because they are not that expensive in the first place. I read reviews and ask around before buying a kit, though, because every model company has its duds. It helps that they have a factory around here somewhere though I haven't really looked for it yet. Maybe I can get a kit at factory price #:-) .



Give them a chance.

Academy's M113 series is the best out there. They borrowed a bit from the Tamiya kit and they modified it to make it better and added A2 options. Much like Trumpeter did with the M1A1. The Academy HMMWV series is the best one too. Doesn't change the fact that the direct, un-modified Academy copies of Tamiya kits are worse than the Tamiya kits they copied. Yes, old Tamiya kits are bad compared with today's modern kits, but they were the best things going (and only as with the T-34) 30 years ago.

Tamiya's down fall is that they toss a new sprue or set of figures into a 30 year old kit and charge $30+ for it. But when Tamiya does a new kit from scratch, like the Japanese Type 90, Leopard 2A5, Dragon Wagon, M8/20 Armored Car, or US 6x6 cargo truck, the results are superb kits that set the standard. Even when they re-do an old kit from the tracks up like the Willys Jeep, Schwimmwagen, Pz III, StuG III, Pz IV, they produce quality products.

It's only when they try to skimp by modifying an existing kit, like the Marder 1A2, M60A3/A1, T-34 ChTZ, M4A3 75 and 105 that we get something less than what they're capable of producing.

Talking about Academy Tiger I, is there a PE set for it? Because I asked my local hobby shop, they said no. And unfortunately of me, I had crossed into the dark reign that if there is no PE upgrade, I don't want to build that kit. Can't stand the plastic blob for the tool clamps...