After reading Vodniks review on the Academy Sheridan, I shuddered to think what I was getting into. Well, I was disappointed to say the least when the mail-man dropped it on the doorstep. I did a brief side by side comparisson of it and the Jaguar kit and if you can find it and afford it, the Jaguar kit is the way to go. I've heard some negative things about the Jag kit, ie. warped hull, chipped parts etc. but I have no such problems with mine and I think it looks a lot better than what Academy has just issued. I know this isn't earth shattering news to any of you out here, just thought I would share with you all. Planning a side by side build of them sometime in the future. "Q"

Thanks for the post this is good news for me since I have the Jaguar kit on the shelf (just been too intimidated to assemble it).

I look forward to seeing your side-by-side build... I always enjoy seeing a compare and contrast kit construction...

Even in real life the Sheridan was a fairly unpopular vehicle. I remember in Armor school as I was finishing up we were all hoping for a real tank (M60a1) assignment. So once again another lousy kit. Well hopefully the Academy is better than the old Tamiya. I scratched out a few major changes to make it (the Tamiya) Viet Nam era and would dare say it is as good or better than the current offering as well as the pride of my first scratch effort. I think I'll avoid it

I had the same thought - I'm already 80% complete with a side-by-side comparison article between the Jaguar and Academy Sheridan. Both are nice, both have hiccups - but I don't hate either of them. I've seen worse...

Gunnie

Oh well... I fully agree that there are worse kits than "Academidan" - this one at least can be built quickly and easily, but I wouldn't call it nice. That would be an insult to truly nice kits. But of course everyone can have their opinion based on their own expectations.

Pawel

Well - I didn't set out to insult you for your commentary...

Nice means many different things. I am building the kit and find the process more enjoyable than the Jaguar effort. That needs to be said. Both kits really missed the mark in some areas - major and minor. That also needs to be said. My expectations of a miniature are as high as yours - or dare I say higher - I just don't feel the need to rip a kit apart that does have problems. And, for a model building site - I feel it is a greater service to modelers to actually build a kit and work through the problems instead of just shying them away with a scathing review.

Both Jaguar's and Academy's efforts are better than the previously available model kits - and deserve at least a shot at modeling and commentary.

The focus of my efforts is to work with what is available in both kits - and then model one that is more accurate - without all the zeal I've read elsewhere.

Gunnie

I didn't mean to insult you either! I'm sorry if it looked that way. In the last sentence I just meant to say that everyone has the right for their own opinion and yours is as good as mine.


And here I cannot agree. I will always loudly and openly criticize every bad researched kit released to the market. Dragon are excellent example that it actually works - they listen to all such critical comments and improve their kits in each subsequent release. The same can be told about Trumpeter - they also retooled some of their kits after reviewers and modelers started to complain about inaccuracies (e.g. Challenger 2). Even Tamiya corrected some of their kits (M1A1 turret is a good example). If Academy choose to ignore such comments it would only show what kind of company they are... But I will still criticize if I see reasons to do so. That's my style and there is always a hope that manufacturer's rep will see it. And at least some modelers reading my reviews actually appreciate it.

And regarding building Academy Sheridan - in my opinion it is not worth the effort. There is not a single part in the model that would be accurate, so the model would have to be practically rebuilt from scratch to make it accurate. And I see no point in fixing just some of errors, leaving the others. Probably Jaguar kit is indeed better starting point. I personally will wait for new Sheridan kit from other manufacturer.

Pawel

Well, I guess by that reckoning, no one should have ever bothered building Tamiya's Stuarts (M3, M5, and to include the M8 Scott), the Academy and AFV Club HellCats should have been turned into dog toys, Tamiya's classic M4A3 Sherman and Italeri's M4A1 Sherman should be melted down and the slag used to cast something better...

I wholeheartedly believe the best thing modelers can do for each other is to shout out problems with a kit subject and help each other in correcting it. That is model building - something forgotten nowadays. These plastic bits are NOT real and never will be REAL. Nothing manufactured by the human hand is perfect - in reality and in scale. To slag a manufacturer's perceived willingness to listen to you (or anyone else for that matter) misses the point of the fun of the hobby. I'm not so quick to hold Dragon, Tamiya or any other outfit out there like that - a paragon of virtue, accuracy, value and approach. I do want the best I can get for the money I spend - to be sure.

I don't think Academy should be applauded in this instance, and I think this kit earns a critical review - with modeling approaches to fixing it. Let the individual modeler decide if that is their forte and definition of "fun" in the approach to the hobby. I think if the product (in this case the Academy Sheridan) is so badly received - it calls for that extra bit of attention - not dismissal to the garbage can.

If you truly ever expect Academy to "wake up" and listen to modelers familiar with the subject matter - this is the way to go. It isn't through snootiness, it isn't like trying to come across as an "old hand" on the subject matter, and it comes across as less than sincere to breakdown virtually every bit of one kit while touting a relationship with a rival manufacturer. Again - my opinion and no insult intended whatsoever.

I just think that the more critical a review - the greater the burden to aid the modelers further in building that kit after panning it. I can't just walk away after that and say it's not worth building - that's like half a review and a disservice...

Gunnie

Every new release has to be compared to other products released at the same time or before it. If any of the kits you listed were released today, then yes - they would deserve the same kind of treatment as Academidan. But they were released long time ago, when standards were slightly different and access to reference materials much more difficult, so they have to be viewed from that perspective.


I'm honestly very interested to read your article where you would show how to correct all the Academidan flaws. I really want to have fun from this hobby and cutting the new kit major parts to slices to reassemble it back correctly, and rebuilding most detail parts from scratch is not fun... But if someone likes such kind of modeling - it is just as good approach to this hobby as mine!


Well - for me it is a full service. Those modelers who care for accuracy can save some bucks thanks to my review and stay away from such bad kit. And those who don't care for accuracy would not be influenced by my review in any way. And those ambitious types who will try to correct errors also benefit from my presentation of kit problems, as they see what has to be done.

Pawel

Arrggh! I wish the Academy Sheridan had never ever been thought of. I've seen more posts on it that have come the closest to flame wars as any I've seen here in over two years. Now it seems we have Jim and Pawel coming very close to the type of flaming that really depresses me. I have a great deal of respect for both of you. I hate to see you arguing. It's like a family to me here and I feel the same way when my kids bicker. Oh, I'm NOT calling either of you kids by the way. Both of you have your own opinions, and both are entitled to them. For one the kit is a nice kit, for the other a piece of junk. Can we just agree to disagree and go back to friendly discussions of other kits?

Ditto Rodger ! Maybe we should just add the Academy Sheridan to the Black list of "sensitive topics" that should be tackled with caution on armor modelling forums (along with the quality of AEF Designs sets ...)

Frenchy

You are absolutely right. I admit that it is my fault - I should have just be quiet and not send any comments to Jim's first post in this thread. I have big respect to his modeling skills and if he considers Academy kit to be nice then let be it - everyone has the right to their own opinion. Indeed we just have to agree in our disagreement.

Pawel

I think that both Pawel and Jim make interesting points, what is also positive (in my book at least) is that they are both sufficiently passionate on the subect to express their ideas as two, mature adults.

It's an important part of human nature, to be able to express one's own ideas and at the same time respect the other's standpoint.

What strengthens the site, is this kind of exchange of views. Personally I don't want to be part of a "Let's all sit in a circle and sing Kumbaya" type operation. Gritty is good. It makes all of us learn more. Sitting here passively agreeing with everyone else's opinion is non-creative in the extreme. Obviously it needs a certain degree of common-sense, something both Jim and Pawel have in abundance.

I'm learning more about the Sheridan thru this thread than the over-polite exchanges which too ofen happen...Jim

Good timing I would say: http://www.network54.com/Forum/message?forumid=409173&messageid=1118954005

Pawel

:-)
Thought everyone was over the Sheridan discussions by now.
Hell im still gonna buy it, as will anyone who wants a vietnam sheridan but cant afford jaguars resin beast.
Cheers

I'll take the blame for stirring the pot on this issue, but I just wanted to share my thoughts AFTER having received mine in the mail AND having laid eyes on the actual kit. If I stirred up a hornets nest, then I'm sorry. Anyway, hope everybody is ok now :-) I'm going to go and see just what I will need to do should I decide to accurize (sp?) this thing. Hope all of you have a great modeling day. BTW, the Silver and Pink TIger met an untimely demise. Seems to be the victim of sabotage
Have a great day folks. "Q"

Well in some good news Legends is supposed to release come correction sets for the Academy Sheridan, but in this day and age with all the major errors that Academy has in the kit, theres no excuse for putting out something like that from a major manufacture. Hell even the Russian manufactures did alot better job with the BMD series then Academy did with the Sheridan.

I'm trebleming at the thought of the M3 Lee/Grant Series they are supposed to do...hopefully they'll turn a new left over and it wont be too bad.

LOL.... me too!!!!! :-) :-) :-)