How good are these kits? I know the Tamiya ones are regarded as the top of the line but I've seen plenty of the Academy kit going for around 5 bucks on Ebay. The review I found on TL sounded favorable.

Who's built one and has comments?

I have built a couple, Decent kits, Pretty accurate. You are correct in saying it isnt of the same quality of the Taymia kit, but for the price, you can't go wrong. Some accuaracy issues are the wheels, smaller than the old style Humvee wheels. Kit detail is missing in some areas, interior floor board is one. Some assembly simplifications lead to less detail in the Academy kits. But again, not a bad kit for the price. About 1/5th for the cost of the Tamyia kit.

PMMS has a great review of all 3 major Humvee kits. Check it out for more info.

http://www.perthmilitarymodelling.com/reviews/vehicles/misc/hmmwv.htm

As with all model kits - there are details and fittings that the modeler can change and improve.

Before the new Tamiya HMMWV's hit the scene, the Academy kits were the best all around in detail quality/fidelity, price, and extras offered in their kits. They're still nice, though recent ones I've purchased seem to have a bit more flashing than the earlier releases. Anyone else seen this? Likely aged molds...

Of all their HMMWV's, I think the M997 Ambulance is a real stand out. I built them all and enjoyed them. If you can get a M997 Ambulance for five bucks - pat yourself on the back, run away and go buy a lottery ticket!

Perhaps other HMMWV model nuts will chime in here too...

Gunnie

Hi Kory,I built one of their Humvees two years back cant remember its designation but it has the Tow launcher on top and three crew .I enjoyed building it and the detail was good plenty of stowage included i cant compare it with Tamyias but it was very cheap in comparison. I also built their MUTT that was a nice little kit as well Im trying to get the Isrealie version next. hope this helps.

I usually see the M998 Cargo/Troop Carrier kits going for cheap. The M997 Ambulance kits are around but for quite a bit more, although they look like they would build up quite nice.

Does the Ambulance come with interior for the back end?

The Academy HMMWVs are very nice. The M996 TOW Carrier is the best deal for the money. They also include all the parts from the M1025 Weapons Carrier with the added TOW parts and two more crewmen.

The M997 Ambulance does come with full interior that includes the patient area, two stretchers, and a couple of medical treatment chests, very nice kit.

On the wheels, it depends on when the kit was made. Original kits came with rounded, small tires that were not accurate. Academy corrected them and later kits came with larger tires with squared-off edges that were more accuarte and looked great. No idea how to tell which tires are in the kit though.

I highly recommend the Academy HMMWV kits. As stated above, until the new Tamiya HMMWVs came out, they were the best on the market, still the best deal for a good HMMWV kit.

Thanks for the information everybody. The Ambulance kit just jumped to the top of my list of kits to watch for.

You can probably pick up a Hobby Craft (Trumpeter) one pretty cheap at Hobby Lobby , I picked up a couple of them marked 'Liberator' for a few bucks each last 50% off sale because they were mismarked and I got half off. lol I can't attest to how accurate the vehicles are, but they're cheap.

The Hobby Craft HMMWVs are not Trumpeter repops. Trumpeter doesn't make a HMMWV. They are copies of the old Esci/AMT HMMWVs with even worse tires than they originally had. I would stay away from them. They era incorrect in proportions and the interior is horrible. About all they are good for is a burned out vehicle. No where near the same quality as Academy, definitely the worst of the HMMWV models.

Saw the Tamiya Tow version at Hobby Lobby yesterday. picked it up and set it right back down. at $40 even half off was $20...can pick up the academy on ebay for less than 10 and with shipping still beat the price no sales tax either. Sorry, but Tamiya has OUTRAGEOUSLY priced theirs

Maybe you should have a look at Luckymodel.com :
http://www.luckymodel.com/scale.aspx?item_no=AC%201352

Frenchy

Luckymodel.com has special prices on Academy, Tamiya, Italei that will last till the 28th of Feb. Check it out.

Kory, if you can get it for 5 bucks, that would be a real good deal, them are the kind of deals I look for, and that is even a better model then what I'm used to, I've heard they are better then the Italeri 998 that were built from the prototypes, which none of the ones they used, looked like the prototypes.

So you got an oddball model with Italeri, that will take a lot of changing to make it look like the ones they used, but I got them for the same price you say your getting that, so I thought it was worth it.

I enjoy the task of bringing a substandard up to power, I have plenty of time, plus I enjoy that kind of work. Just as long as I don't haft to spend more money on plastic to bring it up to power then what a good model would of cost, and the only way that would happen is it is totally out of proportion.

Now you got a lot better model then that, even if it is an older one, all you would haft to do is fix the floor, and change the tires, if it is.

I don't know what is wrong with the floor, but they say there is problems with it, so I believe them, cause I never had a Academy one before.

Kerry