Hi

I found a store which sells a lot of zvezda kits for a very low price (13 €). Has anyone ever built any kit from zvezda, and would you recommand them?
I'm especially interested in the BTR-80A Russian Personnel Carrier.
Never heard of Zvezda before, and searching the net didn't give much info either.

thanks in advance

Here are some reviews on track-link

http://www.track-link.net/reviews/T_Z/Zvezda That BTR-80 may be originally from DML

I have built the 1942 T34 and I thought it was fine. A little bit of flash and a little bent plastic but it turned out looking like battle damage. But my price of 20 bucks was too good to pass on.

HastyP

I believe the BTR 80-A is the DML kit with a new turret. It should be a good kit for the price. I am interested in building this kit myself. Is it already released?

Scott
Squadron mail order has it listed

http://www.squadron.com/ItemDetails.asp?item=ZV3560

Thanks Chad I will have to order it. Seeing Red is coming up soon.

Italeri rebox some of the Zvezda kits and the quality is is somewhat similar, IMO. I think they are the best, of what the Eastern block countries have to offer, in injection moulding. Before Dragon released their range of T34s, zvezda had probably the best. When they are cheap, and that suits your budget better, with a little care and attention, they should come up quite nice.

Yes the kit has already been released. The hull is DML one with its flaws, the rubber tires to mention the most painful.
I don't know much about the new turret. I personnaly used the SP Designs turret with the Modelpoint barrel when converting the BTR80 into 80A some years ago.



the pictue is just to see you the turret as the hull is a MB Models kit, OOP I think.

Thanks for the info!

It looks like these kits are not too bad, so, given the price, I'll give one a try.

I have built the italeri rebox of the Zvezeda T-34/76 and I thought it was an excellent kit....of coarse this was before the release of the new dml kits!!!!!!happy modeling

Zvezda is pretty much hit-or-miss. Some kits are very nice (the T-34s, or the Pzkw I {italeri rebox??}) but others are more problematic; like my JS II with its warped rear hull, or their BT tanks, that aren;t too good.

As for the BTR, not terrible, but not the best. Mine turned out pretty badly, so it became a painting testbed.
The amazing technicolor troop transport. what with its jaguar spots on one side and winter white wash up top.

zvezda are verey basic kits. okay they are very cheap but they need also a lot of work. the molding is somewhat between okay and bad (different from kit to kit). Forgot the BT-Series they are awfull just like the t-26. The Panzer I series isnt bad and i realy liked the Panzerjäger 1. Also the Isu 152 isnt bad. if i see one i them again in a model-shop i will buy it surely again.

The ZIS-5V is a great ZVEZDA kit.
Also, I'm buildint the BMD-1 and I'm very happy with it so far ! The build is easy, the quality realy great !

Zvezda models are a very mixed bag, some are moulds from other manufacturers.

The Panzer 1 is orignally Italeri, and the Panzerjager is a hybrid with both Italeri and Zvezda parts. While the T-26 isn't Dragon, it's far better than the other plastic T-26s out there which are derived from the Spojna 7-TP from the early 80s.

The best of the Zvezda models (like the lorries and the later figure sets) are very good, though their really early stuff (I'm thinking of the T-60 here) is terrible.