Nostalgia Plastic has it up for pre-order...
http://www.nostalgicplastic.com/comesoon.cfm?DTTM=20040905211152&RequestedTimeout=500&KI=487

Hey Steve,

Very interesting. And some say this hobby is dead......

Dave

any pics of the new kit??

No pics I'm afraid. It is a pretty odd subject for an armor kit though...Just makesyou wonder what goes through their heads at Trumpeter . I'm not criticizing the choice of subject just the fact it is a weird subject to choose....Jim

First rumors about this released appeared many months ago. Italian company Corazzati revealed that Trumpeter contacted them and Corazzati sold them masters of their resin Ariete kit. From that moment it was obvious that Trumpeter will release plastic Ariete based on Corazzati resin kit.

http://www.italiankits.com/corazzati.html

Pawel

not familiar with this tank but it looks like a challenger turret on an abrams hull!

personally i think its good that trumpeter are releasing this kit. something unusual is always good!

cheers

joe

Hi all,
Italian Kits sold something like a year ago the C1 Ariete Moulds to Trumpeter. Now the kit is in pre-order in sveral Itnternet shops and release is due by November 2004.

A picture of the boxart of the Trumpeter kit acn be seen on the PMMS's site.

The MBT Ariete is an 100% Italian developed MBT armed with a 120 mm gun. It's manufactured jointly by Oto Melara and Iveco.

If someone is interested in more details about the Ariete I've got a few dozen of pics on my site Modellismo Più . The site is in Italian and needs registration to get access to the pics that are located in Gallerie fotografiche > Riferimento.
A good description of the Ariete is available at Army Technology's site.
Ciao

I think Trumpeter made a good choice producing this model, first it is a good looking tank, second it is a tank made in Italy, so modelers will have a tank to add to their collection, that is made in Italy.

All the other modern tanks from the other countries that make their own tank,and they made models out of them, and they sold, so it would only stand to reason, this would to.

Kerry

Following thru with this it would be nice if Trumpeter bought the moulds off Corazzati and did a Centauro as well....Jim

Jim,
the Ariete moulds were quite easily "convertible" into moulds for injection plastic. The Centauro is made out (hull and turret) from two solid resin blocks.
By the way by the beginning/mid 2005 Italian Kits will make available an injection plastic Centauro "long" (or station wagon) as they abandoned the idea of having it made in resin.
The long Centauro it will available by the end of the month by Model Victoria. I've seen the prototype and lloks really great.
By the way Italian Kits is going to release quite a bit of new injection plastic kits in 1/35 during 2005:
- Autoblinda AB41
- Carro Leggero L6/40
- Carro veloce L3
and a few more...
Ciao

I'd like to see Trumpter do the applique armor for the Ariete when they release this kit or do a Operation Iraqi Freedom rebox with it. Someone posted photos of the tank (they brought 6 to Iraq with them recently) a couple months ago and it looks sexy...for a tank #:-)

I had read some rumors elsewhere several months ago as well that stated Trumpeter was going to start doing some Italian subjects.

I actually don't know if Trumpeter will do this OIF version of the Ariete, because the kits are only experimantal and not officially adopted yet.
For what concerns Trumpeter and other Italian subject I do not know if they will manufacture more Italian stuff or not. What is for sure is that they were intersted in taking over the injection plastic moulds Italian Kits is going to make, but the deal was not successful...
Ciao

Hi All,
I can only applaud Trumpeter for having the guts and vision to produce the Ariete. To date, they have kits that NO ONE has had the vision to tackle: Osorio, K1A1 and "S" tank, for instance. Not the big T, DML or Italeri. While not a modern fan per se, I know I'll have one in my collection. I know it doesn't fall under the M1, Challenger, Leopard, T-80 heading but that is EXACTLY why it's a welcome addition to their line. Just my 2 cents.
Regards,
Georg

Count me in for this one.I to am glad trumpeter is doing this kit...now if they would do a centauro everything would be great!!!!!!