Has anyone seen/purchased any kits from "UM Models" - a mnufacturer in the Ukraine? I couldn't find any reviews on the net or armorama. I'm interested in their T-34/76 in 1/72. I'm wondering about the quality of these kits.

Many many thanks in advance
...Kevin

Check out this site: http://www.ontheway.us/. Go to kit lists and then to Unimodel (UM). I have several UM kits including the T-34/76 1940 w/F-34 gun, PzKpfw 38t, and the D-38 artillery tank (BT-7 hull). I've got a couple others as well. Fairly nice little kits. The T-34 has separate vinyl road wheel rubber.

I have the T-26-4 Artillery Tank. I have not build it yet (1:72 is not really my thing) but the plastic parts looks reasonably well molded, with plenty of detail. Even the hull underside is fully detailed with covers and hatches etc. The tracks look terrible, very basic, but I think that with some imaginative painting and weathering that could be overcome. I like the inclusion of a small fret of PE, 20 pieces, for things like toweyes and various brackets. For the price ( I paid £ 8 ) it's a nice kit of a unusual vehicle.
As I have not build it, I can't comment on the fit of parts, but on the strenght of the parts themself, I would say go ahead.

Cheers
Henk

Kevin,
I live in Romania and I saw many of these UM kits here. I'm not a fan of 1/72 models, I make them very rare. And this producer has only 1/72 kits. As I heard from the modellers of this country, the kits are very nice. Molding and the plastic is just fine and assembling the pieces goes well enough. I had the opportunity of examining some of them. They've attractive prices, too. they have also a large quantity of different models.
I suggest you to try one of them.
Regards

I've got a couple UM kits in the stash, mainly because they were recommended elsewhere... even if the kit is a dog, I don't feel I'm out much. I did look in the box, and was pleased at the lack of flash, sinkholes, etc.

I'm actually building the t-34 right now, and its a nice kit. However prepare to replace the molded plastic handrails with some brass wire instead, they just looked and fit better. THe roadwheel system is very nice, it uses a seperate roadwheel made of rubber for the rubber roadwheel part. So you can paint the both seperatly and get a nice demarkcation line.
That's about it so far.
Bill

Thanks for the replies everyone! It sounds like these are pretty good kits so I'll probably pick up a few in the very near future. I'm very new to the world of 1/72 armor as to date I've only built 1/35. I bought a few Revell 1/72 tanks and am looking forward to building them. All this time I thought braille scale was historically more popular. It appears now that resources, aftermarket sets, and kits are more easily accesible in 1/35.

Sabot, thanks very much for the link. This is a great resource!

Thanks...Kevin

An early issue of AFV Modeler (the UK publication) featured a build of the UM T-70 kit (Soviet WWII light tank). It was practically box-stock, and were it not posed next to a coin, could have passed for 1/35.

I have quite a few UM kits waiting to be built.

On a recent trip to my LHS I discovered a batch of UM kits I had never seen before. Despite being there to only get a magazine (yeah, right) I picked up the BT-7A . I'm very impressed with the kit (at least in the box). The details look crisp and it's a great subject. Looking more online I see they have a large selection to choose from. I'll post more about this kit's construction once I begin (hopefully in a few days when I finish my Revell PzKpfw III L)
...Kevin

I have a Russian 45mm atg in 1/72 from UM. Its a little beauty that you can just about sit on a quarter---the only complaint is that there is no gun crew to go with it. 4 rounds of APCR (you can see the banding) are included. If I can find me some appropriate Ivans, I'll set it up with a KOed late Hasagawa Tiger 1.

I have most of the T34 based kits. i would say that they are not as good as the Revell kit but are an improvement on the Eastern Express. As has already been said the major problem with these is the joint on the upper and lower hulls needs to be filled and sanded. It is difficult to sand it down without damaging thev adjacent rivet detail. The earlier kits, T26, T70 and SU76 seem much better though.
The Club Hyperscales site has many reviews on these kits.

Last night I started work on my UM BT-7A. This is my first experience with an Eastern European manufactured AFV build. Now I know what people mean by those multi-part lower hulls! I was a little concerned about the fit until I got the top of the hull on. It seems better now. It looks like I'll need a little putty here and there to fill gaps, but nothing catastrophic. I also noticed that there's a little pinhole in the top of the turret hatch! Maybe it was dmaaged in shipping as some of the parts are scratched. No biggie.

I'll post a photo when I'm done. It's a cool kit.

Kevin