After having red vodnik's review and info on the Academy Sheridan and some of the debate about the merits of the old Tamiya kit, which has the least problems in looking like an actual M551? In other words, which would you build?

The tracks on the old Sheridan kit (Tamiya and Academy's exact copy) were bare on one side with only a token center guide. It was designed as a motorized toy and a lot of detail was sparse because of this.

The latest kit, despite the errors, will look like a detailed tank model. To Sheridan experts, some dimensions will look "not quite right". To non-Sheridan folks, it will look like a Sheridan.

I would buy the new one. Aside from what Rob already mentioned I am cerain that as old as the Tammy kit is it has to have the nasty pioneer tools, jerry cans, etc. that were typical of Tammy kits at that time. Why fight the old problems when you can fight the new ones if you choose to or build a decent looking Sheridian out of the box?

Just a thought.

Shaun

Is the Tammy kit still available? For some reason I thought it was OOB?

Well, I looked on Ebay for an old Tamiya kit (it's amazing what some of the starting bids are for these) and found an Academy one for sale that linked to another review of the kit. Not that Vodnik's review wasn't very thorough, but this one actually superimposed the Academy turret on a drawing. (probably from the Hunnicut book) I knew the turret was off, but not by that much. I'm convinved the Tamiya turret has to look better. And as mentioned earlier, won't have the gorrilla welds. As for the track, the jury's still out on that. I haven't yet purchased more liquid gasket to try the track pad trick. At any rate, it looks as if a combination of the two kits will do it for me...

I built the Tamiya one a few years ago with a replacement resin turret someone gave me. It looks like a toy Sheridan. It also lacks the machine gun shields, the grenade dischargers are solid, details are oversized and, IIRC, purists have said it's closer to 1/32 than 1/35.

To the best of my knowledge the Tamiya kit is OOP, but there are usually several on ebay, but they do sometimes command a premium. But, I have found if you bide your time, you can usually get a kit for a lot less than what retail is and also for less than some other guy paid for on the week before.

About the old Tamiya Sheridan, Hobby Easy webshop in HongKong still sells this kit (about 13,50 USD):

Hobby Easy - Tamiya Sheridan

HTH.

Whichever kit you decide on, you should check out Atelier Infinite's upcoming release of replacement tracks for the Sheridan.
If they're anywhere near as nice as the already-released 1/48 Tiger I and StuG III tracks, as well as the 1/35 Maus and E-100 tracks I've seen (and handled!), then they should be winners.

One of the guys in our KC AMPS club is working on this and showed us his work. In a nutshell, he's using the Academy hull and the Tamiya turret -- plus lots of the parts out of the Tamiya kit and a bit of scratchbuilding. Looking at Vodnik's review and my friend's kit, I'd say a bash is the only way to go for a somewhat accurate Sheridan.

Tamiya Sheridans can still be had at model swap meets for cheap -- but maybe not for long once word gets out about using parts to correct the Academy kit. Tamiya has re-released this kit many, many times.

I built the Tamiya one some time ago and went back and had a look at it after all these years and it really does look like a toy. I wasn't much of a detailer when I built it (not much more of one now I'm afraid), but it really is lacking a lot of visual Sheridan-ness. After looking at reference shots of Sheridans for the past few months trying to get into the mindset for the Academy build, when I look at the Tamiya model now it just really doesn't look right at all.
I'd like to see someone compare the Tamiya against some scale drawings. I don't think there's a part on that model that could be better than the Academy version.

I built the old Tamiya kit years ago. Found an Eduard PE set for it and scratch built a few parts. Hearing about the flaws with the new academy, I guess I'll just stay with "my" version of the Sheridan.

How about the full resin Sheridan kit from Jaguar (ja63903)? I have not read any reviews on it or don't know much about it so can't say how accurate it is but it's an option. It is around $110 but if it is an accurate and complete model, it can save you time and hassle of scratch building and, Academy + Tamiya + new track + Eduard update sets will be close to that amount anyways. It is Operation Desert Storm version however.

Jaguar actually has both versions. There was a review of the Vietnam version in a MMIR at one point. I have the DS version but its boxed and I can't vouch at all for the accuracy. Some folks on here have said its a dog of a kit though.